Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 131364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
She slipped an arm around his waist within two steps, and he said to hell with it and put his own arm around her shoulders. He probably could’ve made it without her, but to have her softness so close one more time? No, he wouldn’t reject that.
His pace was slow regardless, but she didn’t rush him. Probably didn’t need to—even in a jet-chopper, it’d take Adam time to get here. Time enough for him to take one last walk with Dahlia.
The heat from her arm burned through the navy sweatshirt she’d brought him from Adam’s closet. “You two are about the same size,” she’d said. “He won’t mind.”
Because changelings were all about the group, all about community. “I need to call Saffy and Yúzé before…” He couldn’t just leave them without a word. “We aren’t a clan, but we’re family.”
“You can call them as soon as we reach the entrance to the cave system,” Dahlia promised. “I just don’t want to be late. You’re not exactly sprinting right now.”
He felt his lips curve. “Nice bedside manner.”
That got him a sniff of apparent annoyance but she still had her arm around him, and when his leg spasmed, she braced him against her side. “Good thing I’m a big woman,” she muttered.
“You’re the perfect size. Endless curves and valleys.”
Her cheeks glowed, her arm squeezing him as they began to walk again. “The way you look at me, Mr. J, I could almost believe myself beautiful.”
Bram didn’t get it. “You are.”
“I’m the first woman you’ve had sex with,” she said, her tone dry as they exited out into the cool desert night. “Of course I’m beautiful.”
He drew in the air like an elixir, the stars an endless horizon over the breathtaking ripples of the canyons and desert of this region—but not more enticing than her. “I wasn’t a virgin when we had sex.”
It was her turn to stumble, then stare at him. “What? I thought hanky-panky was illegal under Silence.”
He shrugged. “I stopped caring about a lot of things during the last few years.” Bram had known the Council didn’t give a shit about them, so what the fuck did he care about following their rules? “I just made sure I wasn’t caught.”
“Oh.” They began to descend the path lined with scrubby grass on either side where it wasn’t bordered by large pieces of broken stone. “So, you’ve been with other women? No, forget I asked that. We’re both grown people and it’s none of my business.”
“Five women,” he said. “Per non-Psy media, sexual contact was meant to be incredibly pleasurable and I wanted to feel pleasure. I chose an accredited professional for the first time, with the view that one of us should know what we were doing. The other four, I walked into a bar and found a woman who wanted to participate in sex.”
Dahlia snorted. “Not that you’re bragging,” she said, but he could hear a smile in her voice.
“I’m not. It’s just what happened.” He thought back. “The women all had a pleasing appearance per the norms of society, and seemed enthusiastic, but I felt…mechanical. There was release but no pleasure. I could find release myself should I have the need. I decided five was enough for the experiment.”
Dahlia laughed. “Ah, oh to be me, lucky number six.”
“You pleasure me simply by existing.” Turning his face, he nuzzled her neck just because she was there and didn’t seem to mind his touch. “I was drunk on you the first time we met. The sex…it was beyond pleasure.”
“Skin privileges,” she corrected huskily. “Not sex. Intimate skin privileges.”
“Yes, touching you was the greatest privilege of my life.”
Dahlia’s breath caught. “You’re one hell of a charmer, I’ll give you that.”
Bram had never been called charming in his life, but he’d take it from her. As he’d take this strange walk in the night, the stars a carpet out in front of them that vanished beneath the edge of the Canyon the lower they got.
He heard the sound of the jet-chopper before he saw it as a shadow against the night, its lights the only thing that delineated it against the black. The pilot brought it to a perfect landing down on a flat section Bram could just see. Someone got out, reached inside…emerged with another person in their arms.
Eleri.
His brain finally processed what Dahlia had said about the entrance to the cave system. “Dahlia, you promised me the desert.”
She looked up, her eyes shining with what he could almost think were tears. “I’ll take you. I had a clanmate park a vehicle next to where that chopper just landed. But please let us try this first. One last tinfoil hat?”
Bram realized then and there that he’d do anything for her. “If I get to spend my last minutes with you, then it’s a fair bargain.”