The She-Hulk Diaries by Marta Acosta Read Free Book Online Page B

of the elevator.
    I did a quick assessment to see if I’d been thrown into a parallel dimension, but the clock on the wall didn’t show lost time and everyone around us was still speaking English and wearing the same clothes. No one had any extra limbs or was walking on the ceiling.
    Ellis Tesla said to Quinty, “I thought I’d have to drag you out of your office.”
    My brain felt like it had driven off a freshly paved interstate and down a steep embankment when Quinty said, “Hello, Ellis. Meet our newest recruit, Ms. Walters. Ms. Walters, this is Ellis the fourth. My family is not very imaginative with names. Ellis—Dr. Quintal—runs a science school in Jersey. He takes after his mother, who taught physics.”
    Quinty was E. Charles Quintal III = Ellis Charles Quintal III. So Ellis was teaching science instead of working in the family business.
    “Hello, Ms. Walters,” Ellis said with a brief smile. He still had that appealing roughness to his voice.
    I was FREAKING OUT because I didn’t know if he recognized me, and I didn’t know if I wanted him to recognize me in a quaint suit. His deep chestnut hair was still thick, and his eyes were still the mutable browns and golds of autumn leaves. His face was still ruggedly handsome, as if he was the ideal genetic offspring of pirates and lumberjacks.
    He still had those broad shoulders that a girl could hang on to while he held her by her hips and shoved her up against a wall and made her scream for more.
    He wore a navy suit and a pale blue shirt. His one concession to quirkiness was his tie, which had an atomic structure motif.
    My throat constricted so tightly that I could barely choke out, “Nice to meet you.”
    When Ellis shook hands with me, all I could think of was the delicious things he’d done to me with those long, strong fingers. I was SO FREAKED OUT that I felt like unsweatable parts of my body were sweating, like my teeth and my kneecaps.
    I tried to keep my voice steady and said, “I haven’t actually been hired yet.”
    “Sure you have. It’s just not official.” Ellis turned to his father. “Dad, ready for lunch?”
    “Give me a minute.” Quinty said to me, “Scientists are selfish with their time because they don’t bill by the hour,” and he left us in the lobby.
    Ellis hadn’t really focused on me yet and was glancing down the hallway. “Ms. Walters. Are you the Ms. Walters who used to be in the DA’s office and at GLKH?”
    He could say absolutely anything in that voice, which sounded like he’d been swigging tequila and gravel since preschool, and it would seem like a perverse and irresistible proposition.
    “Guilty as charged,” I said, trying to sound blasé, and feeling relieved—or was I?—that he didn’t remember me. I could start fresh, and he’d see me as a successful professional and not a drunk coed dancing in front of the stage at a concert.
    “You’ve tried some very high-profile cases,” he said.
    “I wasn’t looking for publicity. I was looking for justice.” Agh! I sounded dull and pretentious, which wasn’t a significant improvement over drunk and slutty.
    “Really?”
    I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic. Whatever it was, I felt a bead of sweat slide down my spine, but I wasn’t finished proving that I was both tedious and prissy. “It’s the duty of those with access to power and privilegeto protect and defend the rights of the common man, or woman, or children, those who have no voice…”
    I wished to heavens that I had no voice, but I could not stop, even though I saw Ellis’s smile drop away, and he turned to face me straight on. I kept telling myself,
shut up, shut up, shut up!
but I continued to jabber and at the same time I was thinking about him naked. I was remembering the taste of his mouth and the touch of his hands. I may have glanced down at the front of his pants.
    Ellis took a step toward me and said quietly, “Genevieve?”
    My brain short-wired. I said “Uh, uh,”