Hero

Chapter Twenty-One

Here I was, hat in hand, standing in front of my boyfriend’s house and ready to tell him that I’d kissed another man and liked it.  Well, maybe not ready, but doing the responsible thing and admitting it.

Yeah, my future was about to be shot to hell.  I knocked on the door, surprised when it opened so quickly.  Ezra pulled me inside and planted a kiss on my lips, barely giving me time to notice that he was wearing an apron and holding a wooden spoon covered with something red.   I could taste tomatoes on his mouth and felt shame pile in my stomach, knowing the last person to kiss me wasn’t him.

“Hey,” he said, pulling away and smiling widely.  “You’re just in time for dinner.  We’re all in the kitchen, even Ko and Zoey, and I know you like spaghetti.  This is …wow, I actually can’t think of a more perfect time for you to meet everyone.”  He put the spoon down on a table so the sauce side was hanging off the edge and frowned at me.  “What, no coat?  It’s freezing out and you took the Lamborghini.”

Oh no.  This wasn’t good.  I had to tell him.  I had to tell him now.  “You know, Ezra, I really can’t stay,” I said, backing away guiltily from him.  My hands reached blindly for the door behind me but instead ended up closing it.  Shit.  “I just came over for a minute to talk to you about something, but if you’re too busy, I can…”

“No, stay.  We can talk at dinner.”  My breath hitched and he frowned.  “Or after dinner, if you’d prefer.  Is everything okay, Mina?  Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, brushing his concern off with a smile.  Oh, this was hell.  I’d died.  I was in hell.

“Then stay, please.  For me?”  He trailed one hand around my waist until it caressed the small of my back gently, pulling me closer to him before taking a step forward and pinning me to the wall.  His other hand was placed on the wall right next to my face.  “It’s just dinner.  If it goes horribly, we’ll leave and go bowling or something.  And afterwards, they’re going away for the weekend so we’ll have the place all to ourselves.”  His face got closer and closer to mine.  “We never have a place all to ourselves.”

I sighed shakily and forced myself to smile.  “Alright, you convinced me.”  He smiled back.

“Good.”  He closed the gap between us and I felt heat rise to my lips as he kissed me again.  It wasn’t like kissing Tempus Manum.  When I’d kissed him, it was like there was a current running through me and I didn’t even care.  With Ezra, it was like…well, like not that.  I’d never been aware of it before now.

Even so, just because Tempus Manum happened to be a good kisser, it didn’t necessarily mean that I wasn’t having just as fantastic kisses with Ezra.  I liked kissing Ezra.  He was nice and shy at first and…maybe he wasn’t a current type of guy, but hey.  I’m a robot; I have enough currents in me anyway.

Someone behind us cleared their throat and Ezra turned around to expose two girls leaning over a railing above us.  One of them was giggling and nudging the other with her arm.  She was the one who’d cleared her throat.  The other one was glaring at us with arms crossed over her chest and a tightly pinched mouth.

“Dinner’s just about ready,” the angry one practically spat at us.  She turned on her heel and marched back the way she’d come.  The giggly girl rolled her eyes and followed after her.  Ezra, meanwhile, groaned and covered his face with his hands.

“Great.  Perfect,” he said sarcastically.  “Well, you’ve met the girls; let’s go introduce you.”  He led me upstairs to a small dining room where the angry girl was sitting, quietly stewing as the giggly girl laid out another place setting for me.  She jumped back as we walked in, taking a seat hurriedly to the left of the angry girl.