In a Badger Way (Honey Badger Chronicles #2) - Shelly Laurenston Page 0,38
she said, pointing at the pastries he held.
“I’m not really a honey bear . . .”
Her lips pursed in annoyance. “I know that. These are bamboo buns. You may hate them, though, because I kind of created the recipe from different things and borrowed some of your raw bamboo. And if you hate them, you can tell me. But I felt bad that you’re here all the time and everything is so grizzly-centric. Pandas deserve treats too.”
Yeah. He really liked Charlie. She was awesome.
“Thank you. That’s really sweet.”
“Enjoy,” she told him before slapping her sister’s ass—which didn’t wake her—and hauling her up the stairs.
Once alone, Shen picked up one of the buns, sniffed, and took a little nibble; which gave him nothing. So he took a bigger bite and chewed. Before long his eyes were rolling to the back of his head and he was moaning. Charlie MacKilligan had managed to combine sweet bun yumminess with bamboo crunchiness.
See? She. Was. Awesome.
* * *
Charlie put her sister down on her bed and began to tug off the jeans.
“Wait,” Stevie muttered. “I’m awake.”
But she wasn’t. Not really. She still managed to push herself up, though, and stand.
Charlie crouched in front of her and pulled the jeans down. Stevie attempted to help by lifting her legs, but she kept lifting her legs. Like she was marching with a band. It was ridiculous and made Charlie laugh.
“Do you think Shen likes me?” Stevie asked, still mostly asleep.
“I think he likes you a lot.”
“Do you think he’s too old for me?”
“Do you remember what I did to the professor I thought was too old for you?”
“That was mean,” Stevie said.
“It was, but when it comes to sex, men only learn when you hurt them very badly. Besides,” she added, finally tossing the jeans aside, “he got to keep his legs. Just had to wear a cast for a few . . . months.”
“Still mean.”
“But back to your original question, notice I haven’t done something like that to Shen.”
Stevie, wearing only a T-shirt, started to march her way over to the bedroom door. Charlie quickly caught her shoulders and turned her around.
“Let’s get you changed for bed, sweetie.”
“Okay.”
Charlie went to the dresser and grabbed a pair of shorts and a little T-shirt. “Besides, regular guys your age just irritate the hell out of you.”
“True.”
Charlie turned around and discovered her baby sister dancing. Well . . . it was more like standing and bopping, her head going from side to side, her little hips wiggling. Stevie was listening to the music in her head. As powerful and real to Stevie as Charlie’s car radio. It was her gift, music. And since she’d been here, in this big house in the middle of Queens, New York, Stevie had been moving back toward her first love.
Charlie didn’t know if that meant Stevie would be going back into that world. A world that had been hard on her. Cruel, sometimes. So Charlie wasn’t sure she wanted her baby sister to return to it. But, as always, Stevie’s career was her own. Her choice. Her decision. Her risk. Charlie, as her mother had told her, was Stevie’s protector. She was there to make sure her little sister was safe to do her work. Whether it was music or science.
Charlie only became involved beyond that when what Stevie was involved in could harm innocent people. But from an early age, Stevie understood how dangerous she could be and acted accordingly. She never wanted to hurt anyone. She just wanted to help people.
“Put these on,” Charlie ordered with a smile.
Stevie tugged the shorts on and removed the T-shirt she’d gotten from Kyle’s house earlier that day. Charlie didn’t know if that belonged to Kyle’s crazy sister, too, but it was best to get it now rather than having to wake Stevie up later. That dancer was clearly . . . intense. She wanted her jeans. Charlie could hear her barking orders about her jeans from the living room.
Was it really that hard just to buy a new pair of jeans?
“Now this,” Charlie said, handing Stevie’s T-shirt to her.
She pulled it on and sleepily smiled at her sister. “All set.”
“You feel okay?”
“Waiting for me to die?” she asked.
“What? No! Of course not.”
“I pretended to die at lunch.”
“Did you scare poor Shen?”
“You know I hate when people watch me take my meds. It’s too much pressure.”
Charlie shook her head. “That poor guy. You’re not going to be an easy girlfriend.”