by Allie York
“Noralee!” My hands freeze over the keyboard and I look at Greer across the counter.
“Yes?” I ask innocently, but I’m sure she’s said my name at least three times since she’s yelling.
“I picked up the cheese tray on the way in, drinks are ready, and next week we need an extra thirty minutes to get ready. If a hundred people actually show up this time, how many do you think will come next time?” She props a hand on her hip.
“We can close half an hour early next week. What do you guys think of making this annual?” I say it louder so Tuesday and Rae can hear me. I get a thumbs up from Rae and Tuesday shrugs.
“Maybe next year we can find me a hot cop at speed dating.” Tuesday sighs wistfully.
“Or you can just tell Leo you love him and want to have his babies. I think you’d make a great sister-in-law.” Rae gives her the famous Rae stare that begs her to argue. Tuesday only rolls her eyes. Poor Tuesday can’t seem to understand that if she would just tell Leo, they could live happily ever after, but they are far too stubborn.
“I think annual sounds fun! Sounds like you’re off the market, but Tuesday and Rae still have hope of finding love at this thing.” Greer shrugs, not realizing she set herself up for Rae to say something about her ‘boyfriend.’ Surprisingly, Rae just throws her hands up and goes back to stacking the new forms before going to set up two cameras. The video last week on her YouTube channel did pretty well as extra content. For some reason, the same people who like watching her play games also like to know what she does in her spare time. Her highest views on a bonus content video is the one where we went to the grocery store as a group and the four of us raced carts in the parking lot until they asked us to leave. We haven’t been back since.
“Are you off the market?” Rae side eyes me.
“I’m not a car for sale.” I roll my eyes. “And we’ve been on one date.” I have no idea what that means as far as a relationship status goes, but it was a really good date.
“Hey, connecting is connecting. It can be one date or twenty years.” Rae blows a bubble.
“Says the person not in any form of a relationship.” I notice the cars pulling in the lot and wave my hands to make everyone stay on task.
“I’m in a joint dictatorship with you,” Rae scoffs. “Don’t even try to argue.”
“I know better than to argue with you, Rae,” I assure her.
Rae follows me behind the counter to make one last social media post. “So, he hasn’t had the talk with you yet?”
I give her my best put out face. “When was this supposed to happen? Directly after our first date when I got robbed?”
“That can be a text conversation,” she insists.
“Can we get another date out of the way first?” I glance back up at her after making the post to all our social media. “One date isn’t enough for that kind of talk.”
“What kind of talk are we having?” Tuesday props her slender frame next to me.
“Oh my gosh! Did he bring up the relationship talk?” Greer suddenly looks all starry eyed. I shake my head and wave them off to go unlock the doors.
Outside, a light snow is falling, leaving just enough on the ground to make footprints, and the crowd is way bigger than I had been expecting. I sweep my arm to let them know to come in. Tuesday is the tallest, so she’s at the table with the surveys and waivers. Rae has a podium set up with her timer and a gavel. I’m so glad she’s not dramatic. Greer is on drinks tonight and it doesn’t take long before she has a line for hot drinks. I’m glad I brought the extra coffee holder out. I head over to help her since Rae and Tuesday seem to have it under control. I make it past the young adult graphic novels when I’m grabbed from behind. In typical Noralee fashion, I flail my arms for a solid three seconds before grabbing the arms around my waist and realizing who it is.
“You jackass!” I turn and stick a finger in his face, still encased by his arms.
“You almost took me out with those arms flopping around.” Wyatt laughs. “At least it would have felt better than that door hitting me.” My heart rate finally starts to return to normal and I pat his chest roughly.
“You scared me. What if I had knocked over a shelf again or something?” I try to sound mad, but I can’t. Instead I take a step forward.
“It was a risk I was willing to take.” He leans in and presses his lips gently to mine. “Is it weird to tell you I missed you?” He whispers it close to my mouth.
“It’s probably weird, but I’m super awkward and don’t know the difference.” I wink at him and he pushes me back gently to look over my outfit. I went with a khaki pleated skirt over brown leggings with brown boots, a maroon button down and suspenders.
“I legitimately have no ideas on this one.” He shakes his head and walks around me.
“Captain Malcolm Reynolds.” I spin to help him out.
“From that sci-fi show with Alan Tudyk? Nathan Fillion’s character?” He taps his chin. “You pull it off much better.” I stare at him for a beat, completely surprised by this knowledge he just dropped.
“Why thank you!” I curtsy, recovering from my shock, and lead him over to the rapidly growing line at Second Breakfast. I pull him behind the counter with me and start taking orders off the counter to make.
“So, I…” I glance up to see him scratch the back of his head. “Cruze wants to come back and hang out with you. It’s all he’s talked about for a week.” Wyatt looks up at me sheepishly.
“Oh.” I fumble a coffee cup, but quickly recover.
“If that’s too weird, I can tell him he has to wait,” he assures me, steadying my hand with his.
“Sure, I mean, I don’t know why he would want to come hang out with me, but all kids are welcome.” I realize how I sound as soon as I say it even though I don’t mean to come off like I don’t want Cruze around. It honestly doesn’t bother me that he has a kid, especially after meeting the kid in question. Cruze is the coolest in my book.
“I know kids are welcome, it’s a comic shop, but is my kid welcome.” I realize that he’s asking way more than his words are saying.
“Your kid is totally welcome,” I promise him with a smile.
“Good.” He nods and hands me the next cup, looking over my shoulder at the tickets lined up on the counter.
Rae calls for everyone and we pick up the pace to get everyone a coffee or tea before we get started. I start taking names so we can deliver coffees when we’re done brewing more and Wyatt starts helping, running coffee to people faster than I can get them made. Greer keeps ringing them up without missing a beat and we finally get the line down to nothing. Rae tells everyone to take a seat then does an inventory to see how many people still need chairs. Seventeen. This means we are uneven again. I count again, and again. It’s still not an even number of people. One extra man. Again. This means we need a woman to step in and even the playing field. Tuesday and I look at each other.
“I have to make drinks and food,” she insists.
“I’ll take one for the team.” My shoulders fall. I really don’t want to sit through thirty or so dates with people I’m not interested in. Plus, I kind of want to spend some time with Wyatt, alone, upstairs.
“Am I allowed to veto that decision?” He comes between us and wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Not to sound possessive, but I kind of came to spend time with you, and watching you date fifty other men is not my idea of a good time.”
Tuesday turns to wait on a customer, and I take advantage of the moment. “What is your idea of a good time?” I make sure to look at him clearly with my intentions.
Wyatt leans close to my ear. “Taking that entire outfit off and leaving it strewn about your apartment on the way to your room.” He looks me dead in the eyes. Did I expect a reaction? Yes. Did I expect him to say that? No. Am I game? Hell yes. I shift under his gaze. “What’s your idea of a good time?” he challenges.
I am a lot of things, one to back down is not one of them. “I like your
plan.” I make sure to meet his light blue gaze with the same amount of heat he’s giving me.
“Glad we’re on the same page. How do you feel about a really late dinner?” He inches closer, hands on my hips. I can feel the heat rolling off him, burning through my clothes where his hands are resting.
“How late?” My turn to move forward.
“Depends on how early we head upstairs.” Wyatt moves this time and our bodies brush against each other, barely touching. The sensation sends a shiver down my spine. The anticipation of intimacy and the anxiety that goes with that floods my body, making me tingly in all the right places. “Also depends on how long we take upstairs.”
I close the rest of the space between us, pressing our bodies flush together. “We can sneak off whenever you want because I’m not taking that extra chair tonight.” He cups my face and pulls me to him.
“You don’t have to, seven people just got here.” Tuesday interrupts our private moment to point out the group coming in late.
“Well shit,” Wyatt says in surprise. “Those are some of East Hollow’s finest.” He nods at the group, not stepping away from me, and they all nod back. I recognize one of them as the taller of the two cops who handled the break-in.
“You held up your end of the bargain.” I smirk at him.
“I always do,” Wyatt promises.
Rae’s voice interrupts our moment further and both of us back up a step. Wyatt tries and fails to discreetly adjust his fly. As snug as his jeans are, it’s going to be impossible to hide it. He clears his throat and I realize that I’m staring at his crotch and he caught me. I can’t even look him in the face, but I can see his shoulders shaking next to me.
“Stop laughing,” I hiss at him.
“Like what you see there, Miss Reynolds?” he whispers back.
I’m so glad no one can hear us over Rae talking and the low murmur of conversation. “I see a jerk laughing at me.” I brush off my skirt and focus on Rae at the front of the room talking about the video recording waiver and then how the events of the evening will transpire. My plan was to stay through speed dating, lock everyone out, and then get him upstairs. Or just anywhere. I feel like everyone knowing we’re going upstairs to bump uglies is going to make it awkward to actually do the bumping of uglies. At this point getting through speed dating is going to be difficult if he keeps looking that good and making innuendos about going upstairs. As Rae wraps up her speech about rules, harassment, and time frames, Wyatt reaches behind me to take my hand. I’m suddenly being led away from Second Breakfast and around the corner into the alcove of display cases. We can still be seen from the front door and the checkout desk, but the mass of people about to speed date can’t see us. He spins me toward him and backs us in between the Marvel and video game figures. The seven-foot-tall display cases house our really expensive figures for the serious collectors and hide us perfectly.
My back hits the wall and Wyatt presses in close, making sure I feel the erection he’s still sporting. “I think we should talk about this.” He kisses me, taking my hands in his and using them to pin me against the wall harder. A breathy sigh rushes out of me and every nerve in my body is on fire.
“What is there to talk about?” I tip my head up to brush his lips with mine.
“We’ve been on one date.” He kisses my forehead. “And I don’t want you to think I won’t take you on a second.” He kisses my nose. “Or a third.” He kisses my cheek. “If we end up taking this upstairs later.” Wyatt finally presses his lips to mine, and I lean as far into him as I can while still being held against a wall.
“What if I told you that I’m a big girl and understand how sexual relationships work?” I counter, still straining against his grip on my wrists.
“How do they work?” He looks so earnest when he asks. “I may need a refresher.”
“When speed dating is over, we go upstairs and have sex because neither of us is going to be able to focus during a real date if we don’t. We can talk about the rest later.” Do I want another date with Wyatt? Yes. Would I rather risk that he’s using me for sex than actually have sex with him? Also, yes. Do I think that’s the case? Not for a second. The guy is trying to talk me out of sex in favor of another date while pressing a very hard dick into my stomach.
“Your plan sounds solid,” he agrees and kisses me again, releasing my hands so I can wrap them around his neck. He braces a hand on either side of my head on the wall and leans into me. His full lips colliding with mine makes my head spin. I press into him, hands in the back of his hair, body flush with his.
“I need to go work and if I don’t walk away, I won’t make it through this speed dating either.” I sag back into the wall, hands resting on his shoulders.
“Well.” Wyatt pushes off the wall, and blatantly adjusts his cock in his pants, “You go. It’s going to take me a second.” The tips of his ears turn pink and a devilish smile twists his lips.
“Want me to stay with you?” I glance down at the bulge behind his zipper.
“If you stay, it stays. That’s kind of how that works,” he deadpans and I laugh.
“Fine. I’ll go work the crowd and you settle down.” I walk off, shaking my head and smiling like a damn idiot. I glance back for a second to watch him lean against the wall I was just pressed against. That is a fine man.
Round two is already underway and the low murmur of fifty-three conversations at one time is loud in the small space. We’ve never had so many people in Words for Nerds, not even for comic signings. Apparently, everyone really is looking for love just before Valentine’s Day. Rae is at her post, watching the timer, Tuesday and Greer are at Second Breakfast refilling cups and lids for the break rush, and the whole crowd looks happy. I never guessed that this suggestion would take off like it has, but we are packed. So packed that I’m not sure how we’ll accommodate a larger crowd if this event gets even larger next week. I start dissecting the room in my mind, trying to figure out which shelves to move for more table space and where I can come up with more tables. I walk through the pop culture racks, the same ones I nearly died on recently, and suddenly get that eerie feeling of being watched. I scan the shop and don’t see anyone. I turn to the speed dating group right as the timer sounds and all the men stand up. I see him then. A taller man with a thin build and dark eyes is looking at me. He’s standing up, moving down a seat, and sitting back down, but his eyes never leave me. I stare him down until his new partner takes his attention by handing him her sheet and asking for his. His face transforms as soon as he looks away from me. He goes from menacing to charming in a blink and I realize I’ve been holding my breath. I blow it out slowly, relieving the burning in my lungs and settling my thundering heart rate. I have no idea who he is or why he was staring at me, but the guy just gave me serious creeps.
I’m distracted from the creepy speed dater when Wyatt appears from around the corner and says something to Greer as he passes Second Breakfast. He makes a line for me, looking less horny and more composed. I think I prefer the horny look. “Can I help? I’m here to assist after all.” He stands close to me, but not close enough for my liking.
“I’m just looking at what we can rearrange to make more space for next week. It’s a few days before Valentine’s Day and I really need to be able to accommodate more people. I imagine it will be even bigger, right?” I look up at him like he has an answer and cross my arms.
“I’d imagine it’s going to be pretty big, tonight is big, but next week you’re going to get the really desperate nerds in here.” He has a joking tone to his jab.
“Like you?” I look up at him.
“I’m not desperate,” Wyatt says defiantly.
“You came to speed dating to meet a woman,” I remind him.
“I came to speed dating to see you,” he counters. “You signed up to meet a man.”
“I signed up because you showed up. I like being single, there’s no one to steal the covers or tell me I can’t go to sleep watching Doctor W
ho.”
“There are people who tell you you can’t go to bed watching Doctor Who? No one needs that kind of negativity in their life.” Wyatt makes a disgusted face.
“You didn’t even know what Doctor Who was until last week,” I remind him, rolling my eyes at him.
“No, but I went home and watched a whole season after that.” He gives me a look saying the ball’s in my court, but I don’t have an argument. Not a single one.
“You… You did?” I let my arms fall to my sides.
“I did. I love sci-fi.” He shrugs and starts to walk away all cocky and proud of himself.
I grab him and kiss him. “Have I told you tonight how hot you are?” I ask.
He leans in so no one can hear him. “Nope, but save it for later when we’re both naked trying to make it through your apartment without knocking over furniture to get to your bed.”
And suddenly I don’t know why I even bothered wearing panties. They are completely useless if he’s going to talk to me like that.
13
Noralee
“Tonight was a massive success!” Rae puts a rubber band around the cash in her hand and throws it at me right as I turn from stacking the last chair in the supply closet. I stumble forward to grab it, somehow managing to not fall and face plant into the carpet. The money lands about six inches in front of my hands. I stoop to pick it up and Wyatt walks by, carrying a table and shakes his head at my near fall. I glare at him. I flip through the fives from everyone’s entry fee and head to the safe to put it in the proper envelope. Something hits me in the back of the head before I make it to the hidden safe. I turn to see another stack of money in the floor; the Gryffindor sticky note says, ‘Second Breakfast speed dating’. Since we offer special prices for speed daters, we keep the cash separate. Tuesday is across the store looking as innocent as possible. I pick up that stack of money and put them both in the safe hidden behind the massive framed Scrooge McDuck poster. Maybe it’s obvious, but not so obvious that the robbers found it when they broke in.
