Exposed King (Boys of Brisley 2)

“Sharing is extremely overrated,” I said, reaching out to lightly brush her hand with my fingertips. “One person always gets less attention and everyone goes home feeling bad about it. But now I have to meet your sister. For science. It’s physically impossible for her to be prettier than you.”

With a playful roll of her eyes she pulled up a photo of them together and slid it over. “But thank you for the compliment. There’s no way your brother compares to you either.”

“Nah, I’m way hotter than he is.” I tried to keep a straight face as her jaw dropped, but I couldn’t help it. I laughed way too loudly for where we were, then picked up her phone to get a closer look — and while her sister was pretty, she didn’t hold a candle to my Mia. “Nope. You just handed me proof that you lied.”

“I didn’t lie.” She snatched it back with a grin. “What’s the saying? Beauty is in the eye of the one trying to get laid or something?”

I shrugged, sitting back with an amused expression. “That’s fair, but I’ve never once tried to fuck you. I’ve tried to take you out on a date, tried to marry you, and tried to get you to admit you wanted to fuck me, but I haven’t tried to fuck you.”

“No?” She thought about it for a moment, looking every bit as amused as I did and then huffed. “I guess you’re right. Too bad then. That was the one I would have said yes to.”

My face fell just a little — most of me knew she was teasing, but a little part of me wasn’t so sure. “Fair enough. I can’t fault you there.”

Her boss yelled for her a moment later, making her cuss under her breath and stand up. “I’m still not saying yes to a date, Papí.”

I nodded. “I wasn’t asking this time.” I held her gaze, keeping my expression as neutral as I could until I physically couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you sure though? I’m a really fun date.”

She laughed and turned away, her head shaking slightly as she went back to work. “Not this time, Oliver Bishop.”

God, she had me hook, line, and sinker. I stared after her, nearly screaming that I’d just fuck her if that was really all she wanted — but the boy with the coloring books was mean-mugging me like he knew exactly what was on my mind, and it made me blush. “Sorry, Little Hombre. Make good choices and stay in school.”

“What are you looking at when you watch her walk away?”

My eyes widened slightly. “Um ... her hair,” I lied quickly. “It bounces in that ponytail.”

He looked around the diner curiously and then shrugged. “It’s just hair. Valentino probably likes Luna’s hair too, huh?”

“I don’t have a clue who that is, but yeah, I bet.” I grinned, leaning forward a little. “How old are you, hombrecito? Ocho? Siete?”

He smiled for the first time, sitting up a little straighter before he responded. “I’m almost siete, but my mom always says I have an old soul. I don’t know what that means.” He flipped the page of his coloring book but didn’t look down at it, he was still watching me like he had questions of his own. “Do you know what it means?”

“Means you’re the coolest kid around, honestly,” I said, leaning forward a little. “I’m an old soul, too. Can I see your coloring book?”

“Okay.” He stood up and walked to my table, showing me the front. It was space-themed — not dinosaurs or whatever the hell else six-year-old kids liked. Space. “This one is almost filled up and I have a Marvel one, but I really want this one.” He flipped it over and showed me one that said Planets with an excited expression. “My Titi said it’s the same thing, but it’s not. This one has all the planets, not rockets and human stuff. Did you know Pluto is a planet again? I guess it wasn’t for a while? I don’t remember that, though.”

“I remember. That was weird. It was always a planet to me,” I said seriously. “I never stopped believing.”

“Technically it’s a dwarf planet and we have like five of those but they discover new stuff all the time, science is cool. There’s Ceres, — which is actually smaller than Pluto — Pluto, Eris, Hau—” He paused so abruptly I couldn’t help but frown. “I don’t remember the last ones.”

He looked so disappointed in himself for forgetting I panicked a little — the poor guy was already smarter than me, so it wasn’t like I could help him out. “That’s okay. Do you know who Neil deGrasse Tyson is?” I asked, whispering like I was telling him a secret to try and distract him.

“Yeah!” he yelled, and when I looked up, I saw Mia watching me with curiosity written all over her face.

“Don’t tell anyone, but I met him once,” I whispered again. “He’s exactly as cool as you think he is.”

“Lucky! I want to meet him one day. Did you shake his hand?”

I nodded quickly, then stuck my hand out for him to shake himself. “There. Now you have, too. There’s probably some law of physics or something that backs me up there, right?”

“No,” he giggled, reaching out to take his coloring book back. “You’re funny. What’s your name?”

“I’m Oliver, but most people call me Ollie. You can too, if you want. What’s your name, Little Hombre?”

“Okay, Ollie. I’m not supposed to tell my name to strangers so you can just call me Little Hombre. I like it.”

I smiled softly at him. “Smart. You were taught well.”

An older boy walked in a moment later and whistled for him, so he waved at me and ran off to join him. I glanced one more time over at Mia before standing to head home— despite the weird look on her face, I knew I wasn’t going to make any more progress with her today.

I had patience.