Ten #2
His gaze lowered as he straightened his silverware. “I suppose that depends on how you define the term.”
“No, no.” She waved a finger at him. “No fancy smart talk. Is. This. A. Date? I’m being direct, so you have to give me an answer.”
Meeting her gaze, his nostrils flared as he drew in a slow breath. “Yes. It’s a date.”
Playing off her relief, she opened her menu again. A slow heat bloomed in her belly as she inwardly celebrated. “Good. I’ll have a Cobb salad.”
The waitress arrived and took their drink orders. “Do you need a few more minutes to decide?”
Elliot, again, spoke before she needed to. “No, we’re ready. I’ll have the penne in the vodka sauce and my date will have a Cobb salad with the filet mignon.”
Her eyes went wide, that was not what she planned to order.
“How would you like that cooked?” the waitress asked and he looked at her.
“Um … rare, please.” Once they were alone she gave Elliot a pointed look. “I said salad.”
“I don’t expect my date to starve herself for my benefit. You said you were in the mood for steak, so I ordered you exactly what you wanted. End of story.”
She sat back and folded her arms loosely in her lap. “You can be quite bossy when you want to be, mister.”
“Direct,” he corrected.
Whatever. She liked it.
The meal was delicious. She only managed to eat a quarter of her filet, but it was worth every bite. “We should bring this home and have it for lunch tomorrow.”
“We won’t be here. Our flight leaves before dawn.”
The entire week passed in a blur and she was hardly prepared for the trip. “I still have to pack and now you’ve put me in a food coma.”
“How much could you possibly pack? You came to my house with a bag.”
“I picked up more of my things this morning. I was missing some sweaters.”
His hand stilled as he held his glass to his lips. “You went back to Ian’s?”
“I was only in and out.”
“I didn’t realize. Did you see him?”
She laughed. “No, Ian was not there. Thank God.”
He visibly relaxed. “Customs will only allow a seventy-pound bag.”
“That should be enough. I hope.”
“Well, if you still have to pack we should get moving.” He looked for the waitress.
“Don’t you have to pack too?”
“No. Martha took care of that.”
“You had your maid pack for you? Aren’t you worried she might have forgotten something?”
He shook his head. “I wear the same thing every day. It’s a little difficult to screw up.”
“Why do you dress like that? Do you wear ties on the weekends when you’re sitting around at home?”
He again looked for the waitress. “Everyone has a preference.”
“Yes, but I wear heels because I think they’re sexy, not because they’re comfortable. Why do you prefer to wear a tie around your neck?”
He shrugged, notably avoiding her question and gaze. “Where did the waitress go?”
“Relax. We have plenty of time. Tell me why you’re always so buttoned up.”
He adjusted the position of his butter knife. “I like it. It’s proper.”
Her lips twisted. “That’s not the reason. Tell me why you like it.”
Giving up on his search for the waitress, he huffed. “Why does it matter? When I was a boy it was how I always imagined I’d dress. Men wear suits.”
“Not all men.”
“The sort of men I admire do.”
Perching her chin on her palm she studied him. “And what sort of men do you admire?”
He rolled his eyes. “This is stupid.”
“No, it’s not. Tell me. I won’t laugh. When I was a little girl I wanted to be a unicorn. You can imagine my disappointment when I realized that was impossible.”
He chuckled, an unguarded dimple forming under the slight flush of his cheeks.
“Please,” she cajoled, desperate to know how his mind worked.
Drawing in a deep breath, he flashed her a bashful glance, so teasing and boyish her heart skipped a beat. “I wanted to be like the best of them, Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, Tony Stark, James Howlett, and Matt Murdock.”
Tone teasing, she laughed. “I can’t believe I told you I wanted to be a unicorn for that. I don’t know who any of those people are.”
“What?”
She shrugged, not believing they were presidents or anyone she should recognize. “Who are they?”
“You don’t know who Bruce Wayne is?”
“Should I?”
“Yes! He’s Batman!”
“Oh, I know who that is. Christian Bale.”
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” he grumbled, dropping his face into his hands. “Christian Bale was just one actor who played him. Batman originated long before Bale was even alive, in DC Comics back in 1939.”
It was amusing how scandalized he was that she didn’t know this. “Sorry, I’m a girl. I don’t read comic books.”
“Plenty of girls are into comics.”
“What girls?”
“When we go to conventions there are lots of women there.”
“Really? Are they mothers, taking their sons to buy comic books?”
He narrowed his eyes, his smile fading. “No. Forget it.”
Okay, so he really liked these comic characters. She regretted taking her mocking too far. “I’m sorry. I was only teasing.”
He shrugged, no longer in a playful mood. “I’m used to it.”
She frowned. She hadn’t meant to offend him or make him feel foolish. She told him she wanted to be a unicorn. That was foolish.
Not only did she regret pushing his buttons, she wondered if she was somehow lacking because she didn’t have this comic book connection with him that other women might.
Folding her napkin on her lap, she murmured, “Do you only like girls who are into these characters?”
“They’re heroes, and I think it would be awesome if a girl understood them like I do.”
She bristled, trying not to take his remark personally. “Will you teach me to understand them?”
His mouth opened, but no words came out. He blinked and frowned. “You don’t have to pretend to be interested—”
“But I am. Please tell me about them.”
He hesitated. “I’m not really sure where to start.”
She truly wanted to know what made him feel so fervently about them. She wanted to know that passionate side of him, more than she was willing to admit.
“Tell me about your favorite ones. What do they do?”
“The characters are cool, but it’s not just about what they can do.
Comics were a source of escape for me. Even the bad guys …
Lex Luther, who had nothing, taught me not to sulk about the things I couldn’t have.
Peter Parker showed me I could pursue a career while still acting as a student.
There are hidden morals. They taught me people aren’t always what they seem.
That was something I really needed to learn at one point. ”
“Why did you need to learn that?”
His gaze skated away, his voice dropping. “Because for a very long time I hated everyone.”
She drew back in her seat, unable to imagine a cruel side to him. “Why? Hate is such a strong word, Elliot.”
Keeping his focus on the table, he whispered, “There are a lot of mean people in the world. I think I met half of them before I was fifteen. Comics made me strong enough to walk back into hell … day after day after day.”
“Hell?”
“High school—and middle school—and a good part of grade school. I hated most of school—hated it. I love learning, but the entire process of social integration has always eluded me. Comics gave me hope that one person could suddenly show up and change everything. It’s what got me out of bed each morning, the hope I might find that person. ”
He shook his head, his eyes staring off just beyond her shoulder.
“But no one ever showed. When I realized the real world was short on heroes, I decided to try to be one. I run a club for kids like me, and I try to show them intellect’s more of a superpower than anything else.
They don’t have to be ashamed because they love math or chess or whatever makes them tick.
It gives them a reason to enjoy school when so many social factors make it unbearable. ”
Nadia tilted her head and studied him, assuming she should see some physical shift from the impact this man’s words had on her.
It was quite an evolution from who she assumed he was that morning and it was difficult to imagine him being picked on or hurting in any way—even if his pain was over a decade old.
“You make children brave? Build their confidence?”
“I try.”
“I think that’s amazing.” Most people didn’t go to such lengths to make strangers feel better about themselves. She thought he was just a computer guy.
“If I believed what others saw in me as a kid … I probably wouldn’t be here. So, yeah, figuring out that underdogs can sometimes be the most powerful men of all is a lesson that stuck, a lesson I got from reading comics.”
She had no idea how to respond. There was nothing lacking in Elliot’s appearance that made him seem … less than anyone else. The truth was, once she cracked his shell, he was hiding so much more than most men. This man had depth, and she’d only grazed the surface.