Page 22 of Lumi

“Because exercise helps ease stress, and I can tell ye’re pressured.” I yanked the handcuffs a little. “Ye need an outlet for yer frustration that isn’t me.”

Lumi and I shook hands on it, and the next two hours, I watched an action movie with a headset on while she sat next to me on her couch in a cross-legged position with her laptop balancing in front of her. Her hair was back up in a large bun, and her eyes glued to her screen. When the movie ended, I sat for a moment watching her. Lumi was reading through some documents, and I couldn’t believe how fast she was scrolling down. Studying her eyes, I could tell she was reading from side to side but her speed was so fast I couldn’t fathom it.

Putting down my headset, I asked. “Are you skimming or reading it?”

“Reading it.”

“How can you read that fast?”

“Conor taught us speed reading when we were young. We’re all fast readers. I thought you knew that.”

I shrugged. “Sometimes, I think of ye Robertson people as superhumans.”

Lumi stopped and stared at me like it was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard. “Because we have money?”

“That and because ye’re different from everyone else. It’s like yer brains operate in a different way than the rest of us.”

“Everyone’s brain is different.”

“True, but none of my other friends are as educated or successful as you are. I feel stupid compared to ye.”

Lumi tilted her head. “And I feel weak compared to you.”

My eyes fell to her biceps. “Ye’re a woman. Of course, ye’re weaker than me. I work out four to five times a week and have a physical job.”

“It’s the same with speed reading and fast thinking. I’ve studied thousands of hours and read thick books for as long as I can remember. Every day at work, I’m required to consume large amounts of information fast and form an opinion about it. How many books do you read?”

I lifted my shoulders in a small shrug. “Maybe four or five a year.”

“So what would you tell me if I only worked out four or five times a year, and yet I complained that I didn’t have a fit body like you?”

“That you needed to work out more.” I turned the TV off. “Are ye done working?”

“I’ll never be done.” Lumi closed her computer and pushed up from the couch. “My work never ends.”

“But we can go to my gym now?”

“Sure look it,” she said with a thick Irish accent.

I smiled. “It’s adorable when ye try to speak Irish.”

“That’s your thing, isn’t it?”

“What is?”

“Women with a strong Irish lilt. Jaime, Caroline, Megan, and Siobhan, they all spoke with an Irish accent.”

“So? I can recall a few of my girlfriends who didn’t,” I said and changed the subject. “We can’t use the changing rooms at my gym with us in handcuffs, so we should change into work-out clothes here.”

It was the third time that we unlocked our handcuffs, and this time we remembered to document it with a short recording.

“We’re takin’ my car,” I said when we walked down to the small parking lot in front of her building.

“No, I’m driving.”

“Forget it. I gave in when ye wanted to work before the gym. This time, I’m takin’ charge.” I used my size and strength to pull Lumi to my Audi A5, which was five years old but still my pride and joy.

“You haven’t thought this through. There’s no way you can drive without your right hand free. How would you change gear?”