The next morning Shane woke up and smiled when he saw Morgan next to him. Had he really thought that she wasn't his type? Or that they'd have nothing in common? He didn't know how it would all work out, but they had chemistry and he could see that when it came to some things, they were definitely on the same page.
Things like being kind, helping people, not playing mental games with anyone. Those were solid places to start, he thought.
He propped up on one elbow and was debating the best way to wake Morgan up when he saw her tattoos and took a minute to study them.
There was a purple flower, about three inches in diameter, on her left arm below the shoulder. A small bird hovered near the flower, and the letters RTA were on one of the petals.
Under that was a black band in what he though was a Celtic design, and he remembered the circle of eight arrows from the night he'd first been to the store. She murmured in her sleep and shifted forward, and he saw a small banner with three Chinese characters on her shoulder blade. He wondered what it all meant.
"You're staring at me," Morgan said, her eyes still closed. "You'll make me self-conscious."
He laughed and kissed her neck, pleased when he felt her shiver a bit in response. "Somehow I don't think anyone could make you self-conscious."
"I'll put on a good front, anyway."
"You have a gorgeous front," Shane said, sliding a hand around to cup her breast. "See? Perfect."
"Mmm." Morgan squirmed against him. "That feels really nice."
"Only nice?" He nipped at her ear.
She giggled. "Okay, more than nice. Unfortunately, I think I need to get to work."
"Oh, no. I'm a bad influence on you. That's my line." He nudged her to roll onto her back. "Next thing, you'll be working overtime without compensation."
"Ooh, talk finances to me," Morgan teased.
He cracked up. "I don't think anyone has ever said that to me before." He cleared his throat and pitched his voice low. "Compound interest. Capital gains. Return on investment."
"Oh, baby, baby," said Morgan before she started giggling.
"Did it work?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "Did that turn you on? Did it convince you to stay?"
She smiled and dragged a finger along his jaw. He caught her hand and pressed his lips to her palm.
"Staying sounds great," she said, "but the drawback of owning your own place is having to work weekends."
"Yeah, but who's going to give you a hard time if you're late? You're the boss."
Morgan rolled her yes. "Casey would never let me forget it. She'd guilt me all day. Probably end up with me buying her lunch."
"Terrible. I guess I'll have to let you go, then." He kissed her forehead, then her lips. "Which will be harder the longer we stay here."
"It will," she agreed. "I'm sorry I have to go, but maybe I could see you later? Or tomorrow?"
"That would be fantastic." He kissed her once more and then moved so she could get up.
"Do you need a ride anywhere?" he asked after they were dressed. "I was going to go meet my brother, I could leave early."
"I'm going home before I go to the store, but I can call an Uber."
"No, I'll drive you." He smiled and pulled her to him. He couldn't help it. "Gives me more time with you."
"How can I resist that?"
"You can't, that's the idea. Come on, I'll treat to coffee and you can explain your tattoos on the way."
"You want to know?" she asked, surprised.
"I do." He nodded. "It's not my thing, but I know they have meaning for you, and I'd like to know what that is."
They left, stopped for a coffee and as they drove Morgan explained her tattoos. The flower and hummingbird on her arm were a remembrance of a high school friend, Reina, who had died of leukemia. The Chinese characters were for strength and confidence. On her other arm there was the Enterprise from Star Trek.
"Casey has one too," Morgan said. "We got them when we opened the store."
"What's the broom with the girl on it?" he asked.
"Character from a movie. A reminder to be yourself, have faith in your abilities."
"And the gray rabbity thing?"
"Another movie. It's a Totoro, a protective, helpful forest spirit. Fictional, but very cute."
"I sense a couple of themes."
"I suppose so." Morgan smiled.
"So do they all mean something?"
"Well, I like all of them, or I wouldn't have gotten them, but I have some that are less serious. I have a couple of Pokémon, some other flowers, things like that." She looked at him and he was surprised that she seemed nervous. "Does--do my tattoos bother you?"
"No, they don't," he said. He patted her knee. "I think they're pretty cool, really."
"Okay," she said. "Thanks. I know tattoos are really common anymore, but still, not everyone likes them."
"I get that, but I can honestly say that they don't bother me."
"Good." Morgan looked relieved.
He pulled up outside of her building and leaned over to kiss her once more before she stepped out. She sighed and his blood shot right to his groin and he wished he had either more time and a larger car.
"Bye, thanks for the ride," Morgan said.
"No problem." He shifted in his seat and Morgan stifled a grin when she saw his discomfort. "Don't laugh. This is awkward," he said, but ended up laughing himself.
Morgan kissed him once more before stepping out of the car and heading into her building. He watched her go, wishing the day would go faster already so he could see her again.
x-x-x-x-x-x
As Morgan scanned the store's social media feed later that day, she kept smiling, remembering the night with Shane. She suspected she was falling, and hard, but at the moment it felt good and she was happy, so she wasn't going to talk herself out of it. Besides, if she had doubts, she could talk to Casey and her friend would no doubt set her straight.
Casey had observed even before last night Morgan smiled whenever she thought about Shane, and was relentless in reminding her.
Being with Shane had felt right, which was not something Morgan thought she could say about previous relationships. Not that they'd felt entirely wrong--if they had, she wouldn't have ended up with the verbally abusive asshole--but none had felt like this. Shane was funny, and open-minded, and honest. He didn't say much about her geeky interests, but he didn't criticize them or make her feel bad or silly over them. He accepted that it was part of her, and that was a big departure from her previous experiences.
All in all, it was great, and she let herself revel in it for a while.
Her good mood faded as she read some of the insults people had posted. She went through the usual steps: block, report, delete wherever she could. People loved to yell about censorship when she did that, but she had no patience for it. She was not the government, and they could go complain about The Neutral Zone elsewhere. She and Casey and their customers did not have to put up with trolls and threats.
The chime sounded and she looked up to see two guys, both probably in their late twenties, enter the store. One wore a leather jacket, the other a hoodie. She tensed for a moment before realizing they were not the same men who had thrown a brick through the window. Even so, Morgan was wary.
She could be wrong, she reminded herself. They could be potential customers, and she should treat them as such. Don't judge, she reminded herself. For other concerns, Josh was there, so she wasn't alone.
"Hi, is there anything I can help you with?" she asked. "Are you looking for something in particular?"
The guy in the hoodie spoke first. "Hi, I'm Jim. This is my buddy, Dave. We do the Comics Confidential podcast and video channel."
"I'm Morgan, I run the store," she said. She thought she'd heard of the podcast, but couldn't quite recall.
"You do?" Dave looked surprised.
Morgan managed not to roll her eyes. "I do. My friend, Casey, and I have been here about three years."
"Well, one of the things we do besides check out comics and all is check out stores," said Jim. "We wondered if maybe we could talk about your store on the show."
"What would you want to talk about?" asked Morgan. She was still uneasy; her spider-sense was tingling.
"Different stuff," said Jim. "We talk comics, sci-fi, fantasy, that kind of thing. We've had some other people on that run bookstores."
