Forged in Stone - Alyssa Rose Ivy Page 0,54
for naked, or nearly naked, breakfast in bed. Unless he was naked too. The thought of that warmed my body. No. I wasn’t going there. I wasn’t going to think about the way he felt pressed against me. I already knew he was large. The kind of large that made me nervous but excited me at the same time. Would sex with him be different? He was still human even if he was from another world. He had to be. I mean Liam had gotten Charlotte pregnant.
A light knock on the door pulled me from my less than pure thoughts.
“Ainsley?”
I sat up with a start when I heard Charlotte’s voice. “Yes?”
“May I come in?”
“Of course.” I pulled the blanket over my lap.
Charlotte walked in. She was once again wearing a long dress. “I wanted to see if you needed anything. I should have offered last night. If you want to take a bath I can help because of the problems with your ankle.”
“Oh, thanks. I managed one last night.”
“Good. I hope it wasn’t too hard.”
“It wasn’t.” I kept the help from James to myself. At least he’d left before Charlotte showed up.
“Did you sleep well?”
“I did.” My body warmed thinking of the company I’d had. I hoped I wasn’t blushing.
“He’s a good guy.”
“James?”
“Who else would I mean?”
I turned toward the window.
“He looks like he is walking on cloud nine right now.”
“You saw him?” So the timing hadn’t been random.
“Yes. I ran into him on the stairs.”
“So you know he…”
“Slept in here?”
I nodded.
She smiled. “Yes. There’s no reason to be embarrassed. You two have a connection. That’s a good thing.”
“A connection?”
“Yes. I can see that in people. It’s part of my job. I have final say on whether to grant a uniting if the parents object or are not around.”
“What does that mean?”
“A uniting?”
“Yes. James said it was like marriage but stronger.”
“That’s essentially what it is. The two of you become connected. It’s especially strong with a Guardian if he finds the right partner.”
“Why?”
“I might leave that to James to explain.”
“It’s fine. I’ll never need to know about it.”
“You sure?” She raised an eyebrow.
“I’m going home. There will be no uniting with anyone here. No offense of course. Energo is great.”
“Some people try to control their feelings, and you can alter the artificial ones somewhat, but you can never change the real ones. They are what they are.”
“You sound so much older than you look.”
“It’s part of the Essence thing.” She laughed.
“Before you leave, I might need your help getting dressed.”
“Absolutely. These dresses take getting used to.”
“They’re pretty, but they don’t seem particularly easy to move in.”
“You can wear pants. My sister-in-law insists on wearing them, but I’ve gotten used to these.”
“Is she from our world too?”
“Samantha? No.” Charlotte shook her head. “She’s from here, but she was trained as a warrior. She takes bad ass to another level.”
I laughed. “Sounds cool and scary.”
“You’ll get to meet her.”
“When you say sister-in-law… are they actually married?”
“It’s habit. They are united. Kevin didn’t feel the need to do a ceremony back home. Liam and I did, but that was mostly for his mom. “
“Debbie is nice.”
“She is. I wish we saw her more, but what can you do?”
“Does she know about all this?” I couldn’t imagine returning to my old life after knowing that another world existed. It wasn’t the kind of thing you could easily forget.
“Yes. We had to tell her… but she’s sworn to secrecy. You will be too, if and when you leave.”
“It’s when. I have to leave.”
“Let’s pick out a dress for you.” She walked over to the armoire.
“How about purple?” She held out a long purple dress. It was made of an ultra-soft cotton, and it had laces running up the back.
“That works.”
“Great.” She walked over.
I grabbed my clothes and picked up the bra I’d been wearing when we left. That would have to do.
Without taking the shirt off, I slipped on the bra.
“I can probably do this myself.”
“I’ll wait here just in case.” Charlotte handed over the dress.
I turned my back to her and pulled off the t-shirt. Then I started to pull the dress over my head. It was heavy and took a few minutes to pull into place.
“Ok, now how do I tie this?” I struggled to reach around to the back.
“See, that’s why I stayed around.” She walked behind me and tied up the back of the dress. “Some of these dresses require some help.”
“Thanks.”
The door burst open. “Hope I did not—” James stopped