in the five minutes you’ve had to yourself since you lost your other one, of course.”
“No.” She smiled as she put her bowl in the dishwasher. Then she pointed inside the machine. “So you’ve got two items in here. At this rate, you’ll have to run it in February.”
“Can I take you to get a phone?” He put his hands up. “You’d pay, I swear. It’s just we could drive by the Verizon store on the way to your apartment.”
“Oh, it was just a burner, and I can get myself home.” She turned around and leaned back against the counter. “I can dematerialize directly into my apartment. I know the layout and I left the window cracked.”
Trez tried to keep a grunt to himself. “I can still drive you back.”
“I know you can.”
“Look, I’m not being a pain in the ass on purpose.” Nah, it was just a gift he had. “But you should have a phone, and not because you’re a female or anything—hey, what if iAm needed to get a hold of you? Or Enzo. To change shifts.”
When in doubt, play the job card, he thought.
“It’s Monday, remember.” Her eyes grew low-lidded. “Which was why we got to stay in bed for a little extra…”
“Yes, we did.” Trez purred. He couldn’t help it. “And you know, I didn’t realize how much I liked the start of the workweek until now.”
There was a long moment. During which he had a feeling she was considering the idea of a change of elevation—namely to the second floor, back to that bed. And he would be a “yes” on that, go figure.
Except then she looked away with a blush. “You are too hot for me.”
“No, you are.”
They both laughed. Then she shook her head. “You know, you’re probably right.”
Trez deliberately put his fingers to the bite mark that she’d licked closed. “About what? The fact that you can take my vein anytime you want?”
“I need to return the favor, by the way,” she drawled. “You didn’t feed from me. We got distracted.”
“In the best sense of the word. And I’d still be going down on you right now if I could.”
His female let out a bark and then a snort. After which she clamped both hands over her mouth.
“Now why you gotta do that?” he asked. “You don’t need to be quiet in this house.”
“I have the worst laugh in the world.”
Trez thought back to the time they’d spent together up at Rehv’s Great Camp, on the lake near Saddleback Mountain, the two of them huddled in an old Victorian four-poster bed, a homemade quilt pulled up to their chins, quiet conversation, whispers of love, and a glimpse of eternity uniting them whether they were joined sexually or not.
He had told silly jokes. And she had laughed.
Stolen moments… on a timeline that had been far too short.
“I love your laugh,” he said.
“You don’t have to be charming.” She walked over to where he was sitting at the table and put her arms around his shoulders. “You’ve got me already.”
Trez put his hands on her hips. “And I want to keep you.”
Her lovely eyes blinked. “I believe you do.”
“Why wouldn’t I?” God, that was all he wanted to do. “Why wouldn’t anyone.”
His female stroked his face. Then in a hoarse voice, she whispered, “That’s not a rhetorical question to someone who was abandoned by her birth mahmen and sire.”
Trez hugged her close. He’d never thought of the Chosen like that, but he supposed it was true. They had no true parents. They were bred to serve, given no choice in the matter—in spite of their name—and expected to suck it up if they didn’t like their role in the species. There was no love. There was only duty.
“I am so sorry,” he said with emotion.
They embraced and held each other for a long time. And he told her he loved her in his mind because he briefly lost his voice.
When she pulled back, she cleared her throat. “Where were we?”
“Just where I want to be,” he murmured.
She smiled. “Oh, right. My phone. Enzo and iAm. You do have a point—and I don’t know why I’m being so stubborn about getting a new burner. I didn’t pay a lot for it, and yet I resent like hell that I have to spend even a dime to replace the thing. And that’s just stupid.”
“So we’re going to Verizon.” He clapped his hands together in triumph. “Hot damn—”
“I have another phone.”
She walked over to her purse,