And I am a man of opportunity.
I drop onto the couch, pick up the book, and flip it open to a random page?—
Just as Anna walks into the room.
Shestops short.
For a full two seconds, she juststares.
Then—
“What the fuck are you doing?”
I glance up, all innocence.“Oh, you meanthis?”I hold up the book, grinning like a goddamn Cheshire Cat.“Just broadening my literary horizons.”
Herentireface goes purple.
“Put.It.Down.”
I turn a page leisurely.“You know, Ace, I gotta repeat—‘barbarian king’ wasn’t really the vibe I expected from you.”I skim a paragraph.“Although, I do see the appeal of a man who can lift a horse with one arm.Very practical.”
Her nostrils flare.“Joel.”
“Or wait—” I flip to another page, pretending to be fascinated.“This might actually be my favorite part.The way he justthrows her over his shouldermid-battle?Incredible.Functionalandromantic.”
Then, I flip another page, lips parting as my brainshort-circuits.
Oh.
Oh,what the fuck?
My eyebrows shoot up.My smugnesswobbles.
Becausethisis?—
Holyshit.
I wasn’t expectingthat.
Then, I reread the paragraph for good measure, because there’s no fucking way I just read that correctly.
Oh.Nope.I did.
There are two men.And one woman.And a very enthusiastic use of?—
I shut the book and reopen it, because my brain refuses to accept this as reality.
Holy shit.
My grip on the book tightens slightly as my brain processes the veryintense—veryexplicit—arrangement of bodies currently described in vivid detail.
I can actuallyfeelthe heat creeping up my neck.
Anna is reading this?
MyAnna.No—Ethan’s little sister.The same girl who used to argue with me over the ethics of looting in video games and who once refused to read Harry Potter because “the magical system lacked logical consistency.”
And yet, here she is, reading something that would make a Roman orgy look tame.