touch of cotton against the hairs of her body was like a petting touch all over all at once. Her legs and feet were bare. She hadn’t even put on any underwear. Just his shirt.
“What will we do first? When I come back?” she asked.
He chuckled. “I’m thinking sex might be involved. That seems to be the way of it lately.”
“You’re probably right.” She smiled up at him, tipping her head back so she could see the peacock green of his eyes. “After all, we kind of had over a year of long-distance flirting, however subconscious it might have been.”
“True.” He drew soft fingers along the side of her fa expression on his facesouhrdce, drawing on her as though tracing her image. “Can you try to remember something for me?” She nodded. “Just be yourself. When you meet her? She’s not a pharaoh. She’s not a figure of a larger than life romance. And she’s not even a Bodywalker when she’s there. She’s at the purest form of her soul, and she will want to know you on the same level. She won’t expect more than you can give. She won’t try to bully you or subjugate you. That doesn’t interest her. Next to her relationship with me, her relationship with you is going to mean everything to her.”
“That’s … it’s comforting to hear you say that,” she confessed. “I’m still nervous as hell.” She glanced down at her hand, rubbing her fingers together. They were starting to feel a little numb and she felt the first hint that she was being affected. She’d never tried recreational drugs, but the sensation lapping like a soft tide throughout her face and body was probably what getting stoned felt like. Suddenly she wished she knew.
“I’ve never been drunk. I should have done that,” she observed. “I don’t suppose a Bodywalker gets drunk?”
“No. We process the alcohol too quickly. It’s fun to try. Sometimes if you work hard at it you can catch a good buzz.”
“That’s what I have at the moment. A good buzz.” She was silent for a moment, focusing inward to the sensations walking sluggishly through her. “Promise me something? If something goes wrong—”
“It won’t,” he said sharply. “I’m not promising you a damn thing until you come back and make me.”
“Okay.” She paused for a beat. “But you’ll take care of Lina, right? So that she’s safe? She needs a keeper, you know.”
“I got that feeling,” he agreed dryly. “And we’ll take care of her together. We’ll keep her here with us and try to keep her from getting into too much trouble.”
“Ihron. Or no, better yet, Ahnvil. He’s big and strong and damn serious. She needs some seriousness to countermand her special kind of crazy.” She smiled, thinking of all the things Lina had done over the years. In a way she had been jealous of her sister. She just threw herself into her every passion, chased after anything if it seemed interesting enough, and dug her feet in for whatever cause she deemed justified her loyalty. Marissa had spent her entire life trying to be what was expected of her. Trying to be the steady. The rock. And now, suddenly, here she was doing the craziest thing of all, outstripping her sister.
“I’ll make sure she gets an appropriate bodyguard.”
“Not Max,” they said in unison. She laughed, the sound resonating muzzily and warmly inside of her, clearly an effect of the drugs wending their way through her system.
“No,” he agreed. “I think Max likes her a little too much. We’ll find someone else for her daytime endeavors. Although she might find herself becoming more nocturnal if she hangs around us constantly.” He paused for a moment. “You’re feeling it, aren’t you?”
“Yes I … can you tell?”
“Your pupils are dilating. Come now, rest your head, and close your eyes. You’ll just go to sleep. expression on his face pag.”
She hoped so. She had seen some drug overdoses in the past. They didn’t always go quietly and peacefully. She didn’t want him to suffer while she went away from him. She just wanted to go to sleep and then wake up in his arms exactly the way she was.
“I feel like Juliet,” she whispered. “But I hope we won’t end up as tragic as that.”
“No. I’m going to wait for you.”
“You did this, didn’t you?” she asked him suddenly. “You said something before … you killed yourself when you lost her last time, didn’t you?”
He was silent for a long