Follow Me (Corrupted Hearts) (6 page)

“Of course not. She’s a good kid, not into alcohol or drugs. Too smart for her own good and a downright prodigy at math.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Now it was my turn to look at him like he was an alien. “I’m not a mother! I don’t know the first thing about how to deal with a teenager, even if she is related to me.”

“Well, they’re just like normal people, right? Just younger.”

He’d obviously not dealt with many teens.

“I think there’s a little more to it than that,” I said. As to what the “more” part of it was, though, I had no clue.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

I appreciated the vote of confidence.

“. . . so all we have to do is designate you my temporary guardian and then I can enroll,” Mia finished.

I continued dishing up the beef and broccoli (Tuesday was Chinese night) onto two plates, along with fried rice and eggrolls.

“Did you get sweet-and-sour chicken?” Mia asked.

I paused. “You didn’t say you wanted sweet-and-sour chicken.”

“Everyone loves sweet-and-sour chicken.”

“That’s not really Chinese food. It’s Chinese food for Americans who don’t like Chinese food.”

“Then what do you call beef and broccoli? That’s about as un-Chinese as you can get.”

I decided to ignore this rather than argue the merits of beef and broccoli versus sweet-and-sour chicken. Grabbing my plate and fork, I headed into the living room. Mia followed me, plate in hand as well.

“So?” she asked. “Will you do it?”

I curled up cross-legged on the sofa and clicked on the television, digging into my apparently pseudo-Chinese food.

“Aunt Chi?”

What choice did I have? I’d researched the public school Mia wanted to go to and it was a really good school, better than her one back home, with an accelerated math and science track. Oslo had e-mailed me PDF copies of Mia’s medical records, birth certificate, and insurance information—in short, everything I needed to take care of her for the next however-many months.

I swallowed my mouthful. Although I’d told Oslo I’d take care of Mia, I still wanted her to work for it. “Yeah, I’ll do it.”

“Yes!” She pumped her fist.

“But—” I interrupted her celebration. “But you have to promise to obey my rules and dedicate yourself to your homework. This isn’t some kind of vacation. You’ll need to work, especially at this school you want to attend.”

“I swear, I’ll work hard and I won’t be any trouble.”

I wasn’t sure about that last part, but if Mia needed to have a few months away from home for whatever teenage reasons were bothering her and coming between her and Heather, then I could give that to her. She was family.

Navigating the DVR menu, I pulled up the episode of
Castle
that I recorded. Tuesday night I watched the shows I’d recorded—
Castle
,
Doctor Who, Downton Abbey
, and
Rizzoli & Isles
.

“Ooh, I love
Rizzoli & Isles
,” Mia said, grabbing a blanket off the back of the couch and tucking it around her legs. “Let’s watch that first.”

“But I watch it last,” I said. “Not first.”

“Does it matter?”

I hesitated. “It’s just . . . how I do it.”

“Okay, that’s fine,” she said, backing down. “It’s your thing so we’ll watch however you want.”

She was making me feel crazy OCD again, but obviously didn’t want to rock the boat since she was now a semipermanent houseguest.

There was a loud thump outside, interrupting our conversation.

“What was that?” I asked, setting down my plate.

“Probably your new neighbor,” Mia said.

“I have a new neighbor?” I headed for the door as another thump sounded.

“Yeah. They moved in this afternoon. A couple of moving guys, but I didn’t see who it was.”

Pulling aside the curtains in the front window, I peered outside. The duplex next door had been empty for a couple of months. A new neighbor would be nice, so long as they didn’t play music too loud or smoke.

I couldn’t see who it was, but could see a man bent over behind a sofa, apparently trying to move it himself. Hurriedly, I opened the door.

“Here, let me help you,” I said. He was going to hurt himself. I rushed forward to grab the other side of the sofa, then realized I’d vastly underestimated how heavy it was.

A low chuckle made me look up from where I was straining to lift the furniture, and I forgot how to breathe.

The man on the other end of the sofa was probably the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. No. Scratch that. He was
definitely
the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. Wavy black hair and crystal-blue eyes like the best incarnation of Superman ever. Dimples creased his cheeks as he gave me a thousand-watt, whiter-than-white, perfectly-straight-teeth smile.

His wide shoulders and muscled arms were giving the cotton of his black T-shirt a run for its money as it stretched to accommodate his body. I couldn’t see the rest of him because of the couch, but I had no doubt he was as perfect below the waist as he was above it.

That sent my thoughts spiraling in a direction straight out of the racier Harlequins that I kept meaning to send to Grandma. And I would send them . . . eventually. Just as soon as I finished
Love’s Pure Delight
.

“I’m Clark,” Superman said, reaching a hand across the sofa toward me.

“No way,” I murmured. His eyes were
so
blue—

“What was that?”

I made myself blink, breaking the spell of his amazing eyes. “Nothing,” I said, thrusting out my hand. “I’m China.”

“China?” His hand engulfed mine.

“Yeah.” I shrugged. “My parents met there. It’s better than being named
Beijing
.”

Clark laughed and I was mesmerized—a throaty chuckle that made me want to record it just so I could hear it over and over.

“Good to meet you, China.”

He looked down and I realized I was still holding his hand. I snatched it away, my face burning.

“So, yeah, I came out to help you,” I said, trying to act natural, or at least what passed as natural for me. “Because you, ah, looked like you, ah, needed help.”

“No offense, China, but I’m guessing this couch weighs nearly three times what you do. I appreciate the offer, but I can get it. It’s just a little awkward.” He smiled again.

“I’m Mia.”

She popped over my shoulder, wearing a brilliant smile, her long blonde hair blowing softly in the breeze. Some aunt I was—I’d completely forgotten her presence once I’d seen Superman.

“Hi, Mia.” Clark glanced between the two of us. “Are you sisters?”

“I’m her niece,” Mia said. “I’m here visiting for a few months. So you’re moving in next door?”

I wanted to shush her for being so nosy, but I was dying to know, too, so I didn’t say anything.

“Yeah, I closed on the lease a few days ago,” he said. “My work relocated me here from Huntsville.”

“Alabama?” I asked.

“The very one.”

“So what do you do?” Mia asked. “Don’t tell me . . . you’re a model.”

I was mortified, but Clark just laughed.

“Thanks for the compliment,” he said. “But I’m actually in human resources.”

“That’s great,” I said, grabbing Mia’s arm and squeezing. “We’ll just leave you alone then.”

“We should help him,” Mia said. “Between the two of us, we can help.”

Before I could say anything, she’d taken a position next to me. “Okay, on the count of three.”

Clark grinned and bent to grab the couch. “One, two . . . three.”

We all heaved. Mia and I scrabbled backward through the door.

“Ouch!” I’d banged my side against the handle as we maneuvered.

“You okay?” Clark asked, not even huffing slightly, whereas I was trying not to grunt with the effort I was exerting. She-Ra, I was not.

“Yep . . . fine,” I gritted out.

We managed to get the couch inside, where Mia and I unceremoniously dropped it, both of us out of breath.

“Thanks a lot,” Clark said. “That went faster than I thought it would.” He pushed the couch a few times and I admired the muscles bulging in his arms and back. Then the couch must have been arranged to his satisfaction because he stood back to take a look.

“Glad we could help,” Mia piped up. “Hey, we just ordered Chinese food. Have you had dinner?”

My jaw was somewhere in the vicinity of the floor. I never in my wildest dreams would just invite a man over for dinner—
especially
a man who looked like Superman.

“Actually, I haven’t,” Clark said, glancing at me. “I’d love some Chinese, if it wouldn’t be too much of an imposition.”

When I didn’t say anything, Mia dug her elbow into my side and I winced. “No, it’s fine. We’d love the company,” I said on cue.

“Great! Thanks! Give me a few minutes to clean up and I’ll be right over.” Another full-wattage smile.

“Awesome! See you soon,” Mia said, taking my elbow and dragging me out the door.

It wasn’t until we were back inside my place that I regained full cognizance.

“What did you do?” I asked, turning on Mia. “You invited a total stranger here? For
dinner
? Are you insane?”

“Correction,” she said, going to the kitchen to get another plate and fork. “I invited the
completely awesome hot guy
to dinner. That’s way different and totally acceptable.”

“We don’t even know him,” I protested. “He could be an ax murderer.”

She paused on her way back to the living room, her expression dreamy. “There are worse ways to go.”

There was no reasoning with a hormonal teenage girl.

Luckily, I’d doubled our order tonight because I hadn’t known how much Mia would eat, so there was plenty of food. But that didn’t do a thing for my nerves as we waited for Clark’s imminent arrival. I redid my ponytail twice and pushed my glasses so far up my nose, my eyelashes were brushing the lenses.

I was feeding The Doctor when a knock sounded on the door. Mia bounded over to answer before I’d even put away the fish food.

“Hi again!” Mia said as Clark walked in.

He grinned and looked around the room, his gaze stopping when it rested on me. “Hi,” he said.

I was so nervous, I didn’t know what to say, even though I felt a smile curve my lips. It was impossible
not
to smile when a man who looked like Superman said hello to you. His sexy grin should have been outlawed, as should the jeans that clung to his hips and thighs and . . . oh God. I really needed to stop reading those damn romance novels.

“We have tons of beef and broccoli,” Mia said cheerfully. “Hope that’s good with you.”

“Beef and broccoli sounds great,” Clark said, heading toward me. “Is this your fish?”

“No. It’s just this huge tank of water I use for decoration. I can’t keep the fish out of it.” The smart-ass reply popped out before I could stop it. To my relief, Clark didn’t take offense. Instead, he laughed, the warm, rich sound filling the room and lighting up his already-sparkling blue eyes.

He’d laughed at my joke. Maybe he thought I was funny.
Funny
as in Ha-Ha, not
funny
as in Weird.

“Do you like fish?” I asked.

“Yes, but usually filleted and sautéed in a nice butter sauce,” he said with a grin.

I looked at him. “Goldfish are technically edible—they’re a freshwater fish—but I wouldn’t think they’d taste very good.”

“Not literal, Aunt Chi,” Mia hissed to me as she walked by. “Here you go,” Mia said more loudly to Clark, handing him a plate heaped with food.

Oh.

“Thanks,” he said.

Unsure what to do, I headed back to the sofa and my lukewarm beef and broccoli. The television was paused at the beginning of
Castle
.

“I love that show,” Clark said, sitting in the middle of the sofa between Mia and me. “But I’m a big Nathan Fillion fan.”

“You are?” I asked.

“Yep. He even tweeted me once.”

“No way, really?” I’d had a crush on Nathan Fillion for years.

“Yep,” he said, taking a bite of his food. I waited while he chewed, then he said, “It was Valentine’s Day and he was throwing his annual virtual party—”

“I’ve been trying to get into his parties forever,” I interrupted.

“I know, right?” Clark grinned. “So I tweeted him and said ‘I know lots of useless trivia, like the last line spoken in
Return of the Jedi
.’”

“‘He’s my brother,’” I quoted.

He grinned. “Very good. Anyway, I didn’t think anything about it but when I checked Twitter about eight hours later, he’d tweeted me back and said I was in.”

“Oh my God! That’s so cool!” My nervousness was nearly forgotten, the mutual excitement over Nathan Fillion obscuring my natural shyness.

“He was amazing in
Firefly
,” Clark said, taking another bite.

Now he was talking my love language. We spent the next thirty minutes talking
Firefly, Buffy
, and all things Joss Whedon.

“Did Mia go to bed?”

I glanced around at his question, just then realizing that Mia was nowhere to be found and my bedroom door was shut. The little shit.