Chaos & the Geek (Grace Grayson Security #1) - Elizabeth Stevens Page 0,26
you know how hard it is on a guy when he feels like he has to choose between his best mate and his little sister? I could see the strain it had taken on Hawk over the years and, if I could remedy it, then I would. All that other stuff that was all in my head would get over itself.
“Ah, well. Nico does have a nickname.”
Her eyes widened and she looked at me expectantly. “What is it? I have never heard Pat use it.”
I grinned. “We only use it over comms.” Or when we were making salacious jokes at his expense, obviously.
“Why? Is it scandalous?” she gasped, her eyes shining brighter than I’d ever seen them.
I shook my head as I sat back with my coffee. “We used to call him Overlord. He’s always been the tech guy, usually at base, barking instructions at us over the comms and the name kinda stuck. But over time, that unfortunately shortened to O Lord–”
She snorted. And, evidenced by the fact her hand flew to her face, I think she lost a little coffee along with that. She stared at me, eyes wide and inquisitive, her hand still over the lower part of her face. I nodded, enjoying this moment between us.
“Oh, yes. The jokes became endless. Between Rollie moaning at him over comms and your brother counting off how many orgasms he had with each bullseye… Well we save that stuff for jobs, now. Give Nico some respite.”
“Because I’m sure you’re far too sensible for orgasm jokes,” she said teasingly.
I kicked my head to the side. “Of course. Orgasms aren’t a joking matter. I thought, as a woman, you’d take these things more seriously,” I teased.
Weirdly, she shrugged and pushed her glasses up her nose before picking up her coffee mug. “I don’t know that I qualify for a vote to be honest,” she said before taking a sip.
I blinked and watched her for a few seconds. “What? Why?”
“I would assume only the O Lords minions got a vote in whether orgasms are to be joked about or not.”
I was still confused. Was she referring to Nico now or…? “Are you saying you’ve never had an orgasm?” I blurted out like a complete numpty.
Her cheeks coloured and it was something like the third time ever I’d seen them do that. She cleared her throat and put down her mug. “Uh. Yeah.”
“You’ve been with the wrong guys, Amber,” I scoffed.
She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and snuck a look at me. “I technically haven’t been with any guys, Christopher.”
My mouth dropped open and I stared at her.
She was twenty-three and she wasn’t unattractive. How was she still a virgin? I mean, the geek thing was a little lost on me. Always had been. Until this week when I still didn’t get the geek thing but I got the Amber thing. But to never have…? And to not even have…? Even by herself…?
“What?” I spluttered.
She shrugged nonchalantly, but there was some of that self-consciousness in her. “I thought it was common knowledge.”
“Common knowledge?” I laughed, but there was no real humour in it. “You think Hawk talks to us about that stuff?”
She shrugged and wouldn’t look at me again. I reached out to her and put my finger under her chin. She let me turn her head to face me and I tried to catch her eyes.
“Amber, I swear he’s never mentioned it.”
Her eyes flew up to mine and the breath was knocked out of me for a moment. I couldn’t remember a time we’d ever looked at each other in the eye, and now we’d gone and done it twice in one morning. I’d seen her eyes plenty, but she’d always been avidly not looking at mine. Now though. Now she wasn’t just looking at me, she was staring into my eyes and I saw something in there I’d wanted to see. But now I’d seen it, I wished I hadn’t. Even if it did take my mind off thinking about her fingers on my ribs.
Something was hurting her and it tugged on something in me. I didn’t know how I was going to help her. I just knew I had to try.
“Amber…?” I said softly.
Her eyes widened for a moment and she pulled away, clearing her throat and pushing up her glasses; an action I was starting to see as defensive. “Yeah?” she asked as she went back to her breakfast.