Zachary has a dilemma. His girlfriend,
Reese, has a special birthday coming up soon and he has absolutely no clue what
to get for her. It doesn’t help that Zach does not share or really understand
Reese’s biggest hobby—comic books, superheroes and everything that goes with
them. Zach raids Reese’s DVD collection for inspiration, and what he finds
there gives him an idea…possibly the best one he’s ever had.
Sure, Reese has fantasized about her
favorite superheroes. All those muscles and rakish smiles are to die for. She
didn’t think Zach would ever really understand, though. But he proves her wrong
in the best way possible.
Excerpt:
Zachary sighed at the calendar entry in his
phone, which was reminding him for the third time about Reese’s upcoming
birthday. And it wasn’t just any birthday—she was going to be thirty.
There were perks to dating a doctor—the
uniform was pretty hot, for example—but when that doctor had no particular
fondness for jewelry, flowers or chocolates, buying her presents was nigh-on
impossible. And because of her work schedule, a surprise weekend away was out
of the question. He’d long since learned to always keep the receipts.
Most people get their partners something to
do with their hobbies or interests. However, Reese was even awkward in that
regard. Her main hobby was so complex that Zach didn’t have the first idea what
to get her to do with it—Reese was an uber-geek. Films, graphic novels,
collectibles, all that jazz.
Obviously he could just ask what she
wanted, then go out and get it, but then it wouldn’t be a surprise. And it was
too easy—he wanted her to know he’d really made the effort.
Snoozing the calendar reminder once more,
Zach threw the phone onto the sofa, then walked over and started rooting
through their combined film collection for something to watch after dinner,
which was almost ready. Reese was on-shift at the hospital until silly o’clock,
so he had the house to himself and could watch whatever he liked. An action
movie it was, then.
Running his fingers along the spines of the
DVDs and Blu-rays, he suddenly paused. The Avengers leaped out at him, for some
reason. He’d seen snippets of it before, as Reese watched it pretty frequently.
The parts he’d seen hadn’t looked too bad, actually. It was essentially an
action film, he decided, but with superheroes in it.
He pulled the case off the shelf, an idea
beginning to form. Maybe if he watched it beginning to end, he’d seen what drew
Reese into that world so much, why she was so fascinated by the films, the
graphic novels and so on. Even if he didn’t get it, though, maybe it would
still give him some inspiration for a gift. He had nothing better to do that
evening, in any case, so it was certainly worth a try.
After putting the disc in the player, he
headed into the kitchen to see how his dinner was coming along. A meal in front
of the television was the order of the day, it seemed.
A few minutes later, he settled onto the
sofa with his lasagna and garlic bread, a bottle of beer on the table next to
him. Time for some Avengers action.
Within half an hour, he’d ascertained that
the film wasn’t just for geeks. In fact it was easy to see why it had such a
wide appeal—the cast was supremely attractive, whatever gender you were into,
the plot was interesting and the dialogue seriously witty. He’d already developed
quite the crush on the Black Widow, and Nick Fury’s right-hand woman had a
lovely pert backside.
Trying to put himself in Reese’s shoes,
Zach looked at the male characters. Okay, when it came to this film, straight
women clearly had more eye-candy than they knew what to do with. He vaguely
remembered a bunch of crazy stuff going around on the Internet about Loki—even
the villain of the piece had sex appeal, for heaven’s sake! So much so that it
had spilled over into even Zach’s limited social media presence. He barely used
Facebook, and he’d never gotten the hang of Twitter. And yet he knew about the
rabid fangirls. That was another score for The Avengers, then—truly mass-market
appeal. If only there were mass-market gift-buying options.
Sighing, he tried to empty his mind and
concentrate on the film. The more he tried to force an idea to present itself,
the less likely it would be to happen. He’d just enjoy the entertainment and
keep his fingers crossed that his subconscious provided something useful.
Once he’d made the decision, it wasn’t
difficult to get sucked back into the narrative. It was engaging, easy-going
and fun. Zach surprised himself by thoroughly enjoying the entire thing. Reese
would be pleased when the next film came out at the cinema and he offered to go
along with her.
He’d keep his new found admiration quiet
for now, though. He didn’t want to arouse her suspicions, although she was
bound to know he was planning something for her milestone birthday.
The question remained—what the hell could he
do or buy to blow her away?
Author
Bio:
Lucy Felthouse is a very busy woman! She
writes erotica and erotic romance in a variety of subgenres and pairings, and
has over 100 publications to her name, with many more in the pipeline. These
include several editions of Best Bondage Erotica, Best Women's Erotica 2013 and
Best Erotic Romance 2014. Another string to her bow is editing, and she has
edited and co-edited a number of anthologies, and also edits for a small
publishing house. She owns Erotica For
All, is book editor for Cliterati,
and is one eighth of The Brit Babes.
Find out more at http://www.lucyfelthouse.co.uk.
Join her on Facebook
and Twitter, and subscribe to her
newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/gMQb9
