SURROGATE : Conception (+18) BOOK 1 (COMPLETE)

| 23 | The Land of Nod ||

 "Gears of Utopian Forge? No way you have that!" Her voice got so high on the last words that it cracked.

Penelope ventured down in the basement an hour or so after her conversation with Liam out by the pool was interrupted by a work phone call. While zoning out by the pool thinking about her dream to be a fashion designer and making cloths for the runway shows she watched, she felt vibrations coming from inside. That's when she ventured into the basement and remembered what he seemed to be asking her out by the pool.

"It's still in the theaters." She grabbed a blanket from the chest in the back and made her way up to the front.

He nodded. Scooping freshly made popcorn out of a machine in an alcove off to the side. She peaked in and saw a cheese warming device and hotdog turny thing too next to the popcorn maker. "Yes way, I get 'em a week after they hit the box office."

"Bootleg?"

He laughed. "No. VIP."

"Mhm," she grumbled, shoving popcorn in her mouth after he handed her the bucket. "I've had my eyes on this movie for a while." She confessed. "Think I saw a trailer two months ago."

"They've been talking about it for nearly a year." He brought over two cups of water and put them in the cup holders in the chairs' arms.

She raised an eyebrow watching him. "You like fantasy like that, huh?"

"A good movie is a good movie."

"Touche'." She put the bucket of popcorn on the console between them as he took a seat next to her.

"You read the books?"

She looked over at him noticing somewhere after their chat by the pool he changed into night clothes, loose fitting pants and a plain black shirt. "I didn't know there were books." She responded bringing her attention to the screen as it went through the production companies' logos. She frowned. She couldn't recall if she'd ever seen him in pajamas though she knew that was absurd.

"Yeah, most don't. They weren't really popular. Well written though. I have them on one of the bookshelves in my office if you get curious."

"You're a nerd." She said with a little laugh. Her amusement sobered when she looked over toward the man and received his furrowed brows and bright blue eyes glowing in the light from the screen. He grabbed the popcorn bucket and held it on the other side of him away from her.

"Hey!" She said, reaching for it, but he kept it out of reach. "What?" She said with a raised eyebrow. "You mad cause I called you out for being a nerd?"

"Mad? No. Just sounded accusatory."

She paused her attempt at getting the popcorn from him and raised an eyebrow as a thought came. She offended him. He exposed his soft underbelly and she, unwittingly, offended him. "I think being a nerd is well, kind of sexy."

She waited a moment before glancing his direction to make sure his facial expression had changed as she'd intended.

The corner of her mouth lifted to see the sultry desire fill the man's azure eyes. She looked back toward the screen as if she had any interest in the movie anymore.

Frida's words by the pool a few days back bounced off the soft spots in her brain:

"The thing is with Liam, he needs to feel connected. Without me around to remind him of our shared goal, you might need to be more aggressive with him."

Aggressive with him.

Connected.

She wasn't certain what that meant, but suddenly she understood that she was going to have to explore that.