He sat up, and the fleece blanket covering him fell to his lap. “Fanfiction. Discuss.”
Her muscles all seemed to be functional again. Which was convenient, since tilting her head in confusion required their assistance. “Huh?”
“Fanfiction.” He spoke slowly, as if to a dunderheaded child. “Fiction written by fans, featuring favorite characters from books and television shows and movies.”
“Oh.” Her best friend, Sionna, read fanfiction sometimes, if Lauren remembered correctly. “What about it?”
“I wondered whether you’d read any before. What you thought of it. If you subscribed to any specific writers.” He heaved a dramatic sigh. “I’d hoped for an intelligent conversation on the topic, but alas.”
Brushing the blanket off his lap, he stood. “Someone I know writes fanfic, and he—they want me to help proofread and give feedback on their stories. But I can’t give useful feedback unless I know what a good story looks like, so I’ve been reading fics about Cupid. The ones with the most kudos.”
She rubbed her forehead, making a mental note to research fanfiction and its related terminology on the plane ride back to L.A. “Kudos?”
“Lord, you’re slow.” He rolled his eyes. “Kudos are basically a thumbs-up. The more you have, the more people who liked your fic.”
Ah. Those sorts of kudos. “And after all your reading, have you figured out what a good story looks like?”
His face split into a self-satisfied smirk. “Maybe not, but I’ve found out what a popular story looks like, at least in the Cupid/ Psyche fandom. And I wanted to ask your opinion. When you think of Cupid, do you …”
He paused, lips pressed together.
“What?” Absently, she straightened the couch cushions and stacked the paperbacks on the coffee table into a neat pile. “Do I what?”
“No.” He gave his head a little shake. “I shouldn’t.”
Alex had hit some sort of conversational limit? Alex?
She had to know. “Tell me.”
“I can’t.” His voice wasn’t a purr or a whip crack now. It was a whine. “You’re not my employee, but you’re still working, and I can’t.”
She studied him. “Is this something sexual?”
It was the obvious conclusion, based on one simple fact: Other than their very first meeting, when he’d sneeringly suggested calling her Mistress Lauren, none of his endless mockery had ever involved sex. Not a single time. Which didn’t precisely make him a saint, but it certainly removed him from the circle of hell reserved for sexually predatory men.
Come to think of it, ever since that bird reference during their first, fraught standoff, he hadn’t mocked her appearance either, other than her height. Alex Woodroe was damnably hard to pin down sometimes.
Not in this instance, however. He bowed his head, and that was her answer.
“So, yes, it’s sexual.” She closed her eyes for a moment, already knowing her next words were likely a mistake. “Fine. I won’t be offended. Just tell me.”
He peeked at her through a dangling lock of his obnoxiously lustrous hair. “Really?”
“Yes, really.” When he still hesitated, she spread her hands in exasperation. “Well, I’m not going to beg you, Alex.”
“All right, then. But let the record show I tried to exercise some self-control. For once.” Straightening, he propped his fists on his hips and grinned at her. “Here’s what I want to know: Does Cupid seem like a bottom to you?”
“A bottom?” She frowned, lost. “Like an ass, do you mean? Because, sure, the way he treats Psyche sometimes—”
“Sexually,” he reminded her impatiently. “Sexually, you dense woman.”
“Oh.” She thought for a moment. “Oh.”
His uncharacteristic reticence disappeared, possibly never to be seen again.
“Because all the most popular Cupid fics seem to involve Psyche pegging him. Often with dildos described as having the same width as her forearm, which is somewhat alarming.” He stared at her arm, clearly doing some mental calculations, then winced. “And within the fandom, popular consensus says my character is clearly a bottom, and I’m not certain I fully understand why.”
She understood. Now that she’d grasped the context, she totally understood.
“You—” Alex flicked a hand at her. “You know things. Explain it to me.”
You know things?