sure? Why did so many men have such wonderful eyelashes? Oops. No side trips. She closed her eyes, visualized the door. "A dollar thirty-eight." Her eyes popped open. "Wow."
"Good job."
She jolted at the knock on the door.
"Delivery guy. Do him."
"What?"
"While I'm talking to him, paying him, read him."
"But that's-"
"Rude and intrusive, sure. We're going to sacrifice courtesy in the name of progress. Read him," Fox commanded as he rose and walked to the door. "Hey, Kaz, how's it going?"
The kid was about sixteen, Layla estimated. Jeans, sweatshirt, high-top Nikes that looked fairly new. Shaggy brown hair, small silver hoop in his right ear. His eyes were brown, and passed over her-lingered briefly-as bags and money changed hands.
She took a deep breath, nudged at the door.
Fox heard her make a sound behind him, something between a gasp and a snort. He kept on talking as he added the tip, made a comment about basketball.
After he closed the door, Fox set the bags on the table. "Well?"
"He thinks you're chill."
"I am."
"He thinks I'm hot."
"You are."
"He wondered if you're going to be getting any of that tonight and he wouldn't mind getting some of that himself. He didn't mean the egg rolls."
Fox opened the bags. "Kaz is seventeen. A guy that age is pretty much always thinking about getting some. Any headache?"
"No. He was easy. Easier than you."
He smiled at her. "Guys my age think about getting some, too. But we usually know when it's just going to be egg rolls. Let's eat."
HE DIDN'T TRY TO KISS HER AGAIN, NOT EVEN when he drove her home. Layla couldn't tell if he thought about it, and decided that was for the best. Her own thoughts and feelings were a tangle of frayed knots, which told her she'd need to take Fox's advice and go for the meditation.
She found Cybil on the living room sofa with a book and a cup of tea.
"Hi. How'd it go?"
"It went well." Layla dropped into a chair. "Surprisingly well. I'm feeling a little buzzed, actually. Like I knocked back a couple of scotches."
"Want tea? There's more in the pot."
"Maybe."
"I'll get you a cup," Cybil said when Layla started to rise. "You look beat."
"Thanks." Closing her eyes, Layla tried the yoga breathing, tried to envision relaxing from the toes up. She made it to her ankles when she gave it up. "Fox says I should meditate," she told Cybil when Cybil came back with a fancy cup and saucer. "Meditation bores me."
"Then you're not doing it right. Try the tea first," she said as she poured some out. "And say what's on your mind, it's the best way to get it out of your mind so you can meditate."
"He kissed me."
"I'm shocked and amazed." Cybil handed Layla the cup, returned to the couch to curl her legs up. She gave a careless laugh when Layla frowned at her. "Sweetie, the guy's got those foxy Fox eyes on you all the time. He watches you leave the room, watches you come back in. Boy's got it bad."
"He said- Where's Quinn?"
"With Cal. Maverick found himself a card game, so Cal's house is empty for a change. They're taking advantage."
"Oh. Good for them. They're great together, aren't they? Just click, click."
"He's the one for her, no question. All the others she tried out were like O'Doul's."
"O'Doul's?"
"Near-love. Cal's the real deal. Easier to talk about them than you?"
Layla sighed. "It's confusing to feel this way. To feel him feeling this way, and to try not to feel him feeling it. Because that's only more confusing. Add in we're working together on multiple levels, and that creates a kind of intimacy, and that intimacy has to be respected, even protected because the stakes are so damn high. If you mix it up with the separate physical or emotional intimacy of personal relationship and sex, how do you maintain the basic order needed to do what we're all here to do?"
"Wow." Lips curved, Cybil sipped her tea. "That's a lot of thinking."
"I know."
"Try this. Simple and direct. Are you hot for him?"
"Oh God, yes. But-"
"No, no qualifiers. Don't analyze. Lust is an elemental thing, potent, energizing. Enjoy it. Whether you act on it or not, it gets the blood moving. You'll layer the rest onto it eventually. You'll have to. You're human and you're female. We have to layer on emotions and concerns, consequences. But take the opportunity to appreciate the right now." Cybil's dark eyes sparkled with humor. "Enjoy the lust."
Layla considered as she sampled