He zipped so quickly through the aisles, he was making the pages flutter on the copies she’d set out on end caps.
“Hey. No running. Especially you, you speed-demon…” Darcy glanced back down at the book she had open on the counter in front of her. Ever since these superheroes had taken up residence in NYC, her little used bookstore had been teeming with them.
Mutants on field trips from upstate, looking for some book or another for a class.
She regularly seemed to be buying and selling rare volumes to Dr. Banner on Tony Stark’s account.
In fact, it was Tony who she suspected of sending her all this business. It had been a gamble, starting a used book store in this economy, but it seemed to be paying off. Thanks in no small part to the supers who frequented her establishment.
Soft drumming of fingertips brought her out of her reverie, and she lowered the book to look deep into the eyes of Stark Tower’s newest resident and the speed-demon himself, Pietro Maximoff.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“Maybe,” he said, stopping abruptly and looking back at her floor to ceiling shelves. “Do you have anything I haven’t read?”
“What have you read?” she asked, closing her book and waiting for his reply.
“Pretty much everything…” he said, smirking. “I speed-read.”
“Oh unknowable universe,” she said, deadpan in the face of his smirk. “You could be my worst customer, you know. You could read everything and leave. I’d never know the difference.”
He shrugged. “I have money. I’d like to spend it. What would you suggest?”
“An e-reader. For someone who reads the volume you do… yeah. An e-reader.”
“Do you sell those?” he asked.
“Not new ones. I’d suggest going and asking Tony to Starkify one for you. Super fast to keep up with your speed.”
“I could probably stand to slow down a little…” he said, still leaning over the counter. “Can I take you to lunch?”
“Whoa, you don’t waste time, do you?” Darcy asked, laughing.
“Why should I? And can I? Take you to lunch?”
Darcy bit back a smile and nodded. “I have a break coming up anyway. So sure. Take me to lunch, Speed Racer.”
