Page 14 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?! (Carry A Faerie #1)

Chapter Ten

Winter

M iles seemed to tense up more the longer I sat there, so I scooted back a tiny bit.

It was a shame because I liked being close enough I could smell his unique scent.

He didn’t wear cologne, but his strawberry shampoo and clean scent made me want to drift closer to him and tuck my face into his neck.

It made me want to pull him into my arms and bury my nose in his hair.

Earlier, when I’d carried him out of the mansion, I’d been too concerned about getting him out of that house and away from the gnomes for me to really appreciate having the smaller man in my arms.

That was a shame too.

Maybe one day he’d let me carry him for a different reason. Maybe I could pick him up so he’d wrap his arms and legs around me, and I could carry him to bed.

Maybe I—

The firebird let out a loud whistle, startling me out of my thoughts—good thing too because I didn’t want to be caught adjusting my pants, which I absolutely would’ve had to do if my mind kept down that path.

She pulled her attention back to herself as if reminding me of what I’d said about giving her a name.

Knowing the firebird was Miles's familiar—or on the way to being his familiar—made me feel so much better about the whole thing. When he didn’t respond right away, I asked, “Got any ideas?”

He sighed. “Not really.”

“Want me to start throwing names out?”

He snorted. “Sure.”

“Okay, hmm… Ember. Tova. Petal. Sunshine. Sparkle. Cinder.”

He chuckled. “How the hell did you come up with those so quickly?”

I tapped my temple with my finger. “I’ve got a mountain of useless information stored up here, including random pet names. She’s not a pet, but…” I trailed off with a shrug.

“Do you want more pets? Is that why you have all those names on hand?”

I grinned. “I’d love more.” After a few seconds, I decided to tell him the truth even though it was embarrassing.

“When I was locked up, I used to use my computer time to look at rescue animals a lot. I’d pick out the ones I wanted to adopt and look up the meaning of their names if it wasn’t obvious.

Sometimes I’d pick new names for them. It was dumb, and I was lucky no one else ever caught me doing it.

” I snorted. “I knew I couldn’t actually adopt any of them, at least not any time soon, but it was nice to… pretend for a little while.”

He stared at me for a long moment. “I bet it was lonely in there.”

I huffed. “You wouldn’t think so since you literally have zero privacy and are almost never alone, but yeah. It was. It was difficult to trust anyone else, so…” Not wanting to stay on this topic, I blurted, “What about Solara? It means of the sun . Kinda goes with the whole fire thing, right?”

Miles let me get away with the subject change after only a brief hesitation. “Solara? That’s pretty.”

“Agreed. Could do Sola for short.”

“I like that.” He turned his eyes to the firebird, and her head swiveled to meet his gaze without hesitation. “What do you think, pretty girl? Do you like the name Solara?”

She let out a trill of happiness, making Miles—and me—grin.

“Do you like Sola for short?”

She let out another trill, and I couldn’t help but laugh a little. How in the hell was she so intelligent? It was clear that she understood at least part of what he was asking her.

After fussing over Sola for a bit longer, Miles turned to me and asked, “Do you want to stay for dinner? I’m just ordering food because I’m too worn out for cooking, but I’d love for you to stay so we can… talk about everything.”

“That sounds great. Thanks.” I shot him my most winning smile.

We quickly picked out some food, and Miles placed the order for delivery, all while Sola hung out on his shoulder. She kept staring at me, so I kept reaching over to give her pets.

She was darling, so I didn’t mind, and I liked that it kept me close enough to Miles to smell his shampoo.

I should probably stop perving on the guy, but I seriously couldn’t seem to help it. He was just so damn pretty, and he didn’t even realize it.

When we sat on the couch, I realized he had his gloves on, so I said, “You can take those off around me. I can’t set you off.”

He glanced at me, then stared at the coffee table for a few long seconds before he finally pulled them off.

Slowly. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought he was taunting me on purpose—making me picture him taking off the rest of his clothes that slowly—but I could see on his face how difficult the move was.

Miles had gone through his entire life needing to protect himself from others’ emotions. It wouldn’t be easy to let his guard down, even after seeing how I could stop the emotions.

Once his gloves were off, I held out my hand in invitation. He stared for several beats, so I slowly reached for him, asking, “May I?”

He blew out a long breath and gave a small nod.

I took his hand in mine, and he tensed. Since I knew he’d been worried I could still set him off, I rubbed my thumb over the back of his hand, giving him a chance to realize exactly what it meant being around me, touching a null.

He huffed out a loud breath and let out a small sort-of laugh. “Wow. I… you… I really can’t feel anything.”

Meeting his gaze, I sent him a tentative smile. “I’m a null.”

“I know… I know you explained it, it’s just… I spend so much of my life… avoiding…”

When he didn’t finish, I hesitantly said, “Touch?”

He blew out a breath. “Yeah… yeah. And… this is just… you’re so quiet.

” He huffed out a small laugh. “I can sense other people’s emotions, even when I’m not touching them.

I have to work to ignore it, you know? Most of the time, I don’t really notice because I purposefully don’t pick out individual emotions, but…

there’s always this sort of buzzing in the back of my mind, if that makes sense? But with you, there’s… nothing.”

His gaze was distant, and since I definitely wasn’t an empath, I had no idea how he was feeling. Did he think this was a good thing or a bad one?

After a few seconds, he met my gaze again and sent me a soft smile. “It’s… nice, peaceful. You’re peaceful.”

I licked my lips and swallowed around my dry throat. When we were kids, I’d had a small crush on the cute emo loner. In the past couple of years, when I’d seen Miles in passing, that crush had never truly gone away.

But with him staring at me like this, like I was someone worthy of his time, that crush bloomed and blossomed in my chest, and I had the desperate longing to kiss the man.

His gaze flicked down to my lips, and for one glorious second, I thought that maybe he wanted to kiss me too.

But then he looked away, cleared his throat, and pulled his hand out of mine, leaving me cold and unsure.

Miles stood and headed for the kitchen, saying, “I’ll get us some drinks while we wait for the food. Let me see what I have.”

I sighed out my frustration and flopped back on the couch.

Odin immediately climbed onto my lap and up my chest to rub his cute head against my chin. I petted him. “Heya, buddy. Your daddy’s frustrating.” I gave the top of his head a kiss, wishing it was the top of Miles's head instead. “Do you think he likes me, Odin?”

His answer was a purr, and I couldn’t help but wish that meant yes .

I took a bite of my food, then pointed my fork at Miles across the table. “What do you think happened? I’ve never seen gnomes act like that.”

“Me neither, and I have no idea. They practically attacked me.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t even realize they were smart enough to understand what an empath is, let alone how to hurt one.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t think so either. I mean, I know they have at least some brains in them—it’s one of the reasons I fight for catch and release, you know? But that was… I honestly don’t even know what the hell that was.”

“There’s gotta be a reason they were acting like that.” I paused. “Unless Martha Cohen has the smartest gnomes alive in her mansion.”

He snorted out a laugh that turned into a long sigh. “Maybe something set them off.” He shrugged. “Hopefully, we’ll figure it out when we go back.”

I blinked. “Go back?”

He met my gaze with a furrowed brow. “We didn’t finish the job. Plus, I gotta grab all the traps and release the things at the sanctuary.”

“You seriously want to go back? Are you insane?” What the hell? Why the fuck would Miles want to put himself in that situation again? “We need to turn the job over to someone else.”

Something flashed across his eyes, his entire body turning rigid, and I knew I’d made a mistake. “You don’t need to come with me.” Before I could protest, he continued. “I’ll pay you for today, but you don’t need to come back.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it. I just don’t think you should go back there, Miles.”

He flinched, and I knew I’d made another mistake. “I’ve been doing this job by myself for five years, Winter. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of this.”

“That’s not what I meant at all. I just… the mansion is dangerous for you.”

His nostrils flared, and he flinched again when I said you . Fuck . He thought I didn’t think he could do his job, but that wasn’t what I meant. He thought I was putting him down for being an empath or something, didn’t he?

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Fuck my stupid mouth.

After a brief pause, he said, “Thank you for your help with… everything. But I’ve got this. I’m sure you can see yourself out.”

When he got up from the table, I scrambled to get to my feet and stop him from escaping upstairs.

I blocked the staircase, and Miles wouldn’t meet my eyes.

Sola sat on his shoulder—she hadn’t left the entire time I’d been here.

She glared daggers at me, but her practitioner wouldn’t look up from the floor.

“Miles?” When he still didn’t look up, I added, “Miles, please look at me.”

I saw him take a deep breath before he steeled himself and lifted his head. His eyes were filled with pain, and I felt like an ass for putting it there.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to… to hurt your feelings.

I didn’t even mean it. I know you’re good at your job—I know it.

You’re the best damn exterminator in the county, and I swear I’m not just saying that.

The fact that you do a good job and you save all those faeries is…

beyond impressive. I just… I’m… worried about you, worried you’ll get hurt. ”

His jaw clenched, teeth grinding. “I’ll be fine.”

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair before I stepped forward and grabbed onto his upper arms, keeping his gaze on me. For a second, I thought Sola was going to peck my hands to make me back up, but she simply stared at me.

“Miles… I… today scared me, okay? I just… I don’t want to see you get hurt. It has nothing to do with how capable you are, I swear.”

He searched my eyes for a long moment before he sagged a little. “I can’t leave the job undone. I have to go back.”

I might not have known him very well—yet—but even I could tell I wasn’t going to change his mind. So after a few seconds, I gave him a nod. “Fine. Then I’m going back with you.”