Catalyst
Author: FeistyFox
Rating: M
Pairing: DG/Cain
Summary: She really needed to put a better lock on her door because Cain was definitely violating her personal space. Then again, knowing him, he’d shoot the lock off and then where would she be? Probably in a room that had a door with a smoking hole in it… She needed to make some friends that didn’t pop out of cramped and questionable materials, but she digressed.
Disclaimer: Not mine!
When she woke up sunshine filled the room and she stretched out lazily. She really felt rested for the first time in over a week. When she began to move she felt a warm weight over her waist and glanced down as a shot of adrenaline crashed over her. When she saw a familiar arm memories from the night before flew through her head and she relaxed. Happiness exploded in her chest and she went still as she luxuriated in the warmth Cain was giving off.
The arm pulled her backward and the tin man murmured over her head. “Go back to sleep, Darlin’.”
As much as she wanted to she had things to get done today. She hadn’t managed to search out the spell she’d been after yesterday despite her rather frantic search. Tutor had even rolled up his sleeves and dove in to help. They still came up short. All they had to show for their work was a pile of spell books as tall as she was that didn’t contain the spell she needed. She had managed to learn one about turning a muffin into a weasel. True, she didn’t know when that was going to come in handy, or who would make up a spell like that to begin with, but so help her when the opportunity arose there was going to be a ferret on the breakfast table. “I think I overslept my sleeping in by about three hours already.”
“Considering you didn’t fall asleep until at least three I tend to doubt that.” He shifted so they were pressed more closely together.
She mumbled a sleepy protest at his attempts to keep her in bed despite the urge to stay right there with him for the rest of the day. They could spend a month in bed together when she was sure she wasn’t going to be murdered in it should she let her guard down. “Have things to do.”
“What things? You told me all your meetings were canceled.”
“Have to research a sound in the library.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Since when are sounds stored in books?”
“Actually, it’s a spell Tutor remembered hearing about once.” She didn’t really want to think about his let alone talk about it, but the tin man had asked. “The man that attacked me-“ His arm tightened as her voice got a bit strangled. “-I kept hearing this sound when he was showing me things. I thought if I could get the sound to repeat outside my head someone might know what it was.”
“What sound?” She could tell he was already edging toward angry. This wasn’t how she wanted to start the day.
“A banging.”
“What sort of banging?”
“Metal or something. If I knew I wouldn’t have to go hunt down a spell and could continue to snuggle with you.”
“Snuggle?” He repeated the word as if a pack of fluffy and insanely cute kittens had leapt upon him and started purring with joy as they slowly crushed him under their combined miniscule weight.
She laughed softly as she twined her fingers with his. “A cross between cuddling and getting snug.”
“Who comes up with these words? Does everyone on the Otherside talk like this or do you make them up as you go along?”
“You actually think I’m capable of making up such an abundance of catch phrases and mashed up words by myself?”
“Without a doubt.”
She smiled as she patted his hand. “That’s a wonderful thing to hear. I’m glad you think I’m so creative. I didn’t think I could keep up the lingo for more than a year or so before running out of unique and tin man baffling expressions.”
“After the jumpin’ conversation I’m not sure how much more bafflin’ it can get.”
She yawned before asking. “What jumping conversation? I don’t remember that one.”
He hugged her a bit more tightly and kissed her shoulder. “Never mind, it’s not important.”
“Okay.” She stretched again before starting to sit up. “I just don’t see what’s so confusing about jump…” The next several seconds were strange to say the least. For some reason her half formed sentence translated into a tidal wave of bad. It was like a dam breaking. Memories slammed into her from her night of shame and she froze as she replayed the entire, once blissfully forgotten incident. A strangled sound that honestly couldn’t be interpreted in a positive way escaped her.
“Kid?” Cain began to pull her back and she batted his hands away in horror as she whirled to her feet beside the bed.
She flapped her arms erratically as she caught her balance from the swift spin. “You said I didn’t have anything to be sorry for!” She didn’t even know what to do. She fell into a tizzy in less than two seconds that she was sure couldn’t be calmed no matter what he said or did. The tin man was sitting up and reaching for her as she wished for a deep hole to fall into. He knew exactly what she had just remembered. She’d never been this embarrassed in her entire life. “I’m never drinking again!”
“Deeg-“
This was all his fault. It was his fault she wanted to curl up in a ball until she disappeared. She was sure about that. “You weren’t supposed to be there!” She glared at him accusingly and she saw him trying to either back peddle or rein her in. He clearly had no idea which way he should try to go. “You were supposed to be camping with your son!”
“I know I was, but-“
“I asked you to leave! More than one time!”
He was scrambling as her panic fueled rant continued. “You were upset. I wasn’t goin’ to leave you by yourself.”
She let out another strangled sound. This one was more frustration than anything else. “Yes! I remember being rather distraught that day! I have to tell you I don’t feel any better about it now!”
“You don’t have a reason to be embarrassed-“
“Are you serious?” She put her hands over her face. “I can’t believe I said those things! That wasn’t supposed to happen! All I wanted to do was fall asleep and you had to go and interrogate me?”
“Bit of a difference between interrogation and you talkin’, Kiddo.”
“Cain!” There wasn’t much of a difference to her at this point. She didn’t care how logical his argument was.
He caught her around the waist while she blinded herself with her own hands and tried to start pacing in her agitation. “We don’t have to talk about this. I’m sorry I brought it up that way. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Oh really? Are we just going to pretend that conversation never happened then? Because ignoring things so often goes right in my world!”
He tugged her back on the bed and she was in his lap a second later. “You’re right.” He grabbed her hands and lowered them. “Let’s go ahead and get through this.”
She couldn’t manage to look him in the eye. “Where to start? So many wonderful possibilities.” Sarcasm was dripping off her tongue.
A smile tugged at his mouth as his hand grazed up the column of her neck. Distracted by the waves of sensation that caused she momentarily forgot her anxiety. The tin man must have felt her relax because he palmed the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his. She returned the kiss a bit hesitantly and his thumb circled over her skin before he leaned away. “I didn’t love you the first time I saw you.” He ran his free hand over her cheek. “But I did like you. You were just spunky as all hell. Didn’t know how to handle you at all.” He wasn’t letting her look away from him. “I fell in love with you later.”
“Decided to go right for the big thing then?”
“I tell you I love you and you’re makin’ jokes?”
“You’re holding me still. I can’t exactly reciprocate that statement properly when you won’t let me jump you.”
His grip loosened a bit. “I’m not about to let you take advantage of m-“ She was kissing him before he could finish. He smiled against her and then he moved fast. The next thing she knew her back was against the mattress and he was balanced over her. The urge to giggle insanely hit her and she fought it down hard. He would think she was crazy for sure if she started to laugh while they were making out for the first time. He leaned up and kissed her nose as his eyes twinkled playfully. “I’m nothin’ but a good lookin’ general to you am I?”
She studied him critically for a few seconds. “Nah, you’re not that good looking.”
He growled at her indignantly as he kissed her jaw. “Only my position then?”
“You caught me. Princess is such a looked down upon profession. I need you to elevate my socioeconomic status before I get laughed out of the palace.”
That had his head dropping to her shoulder as he started to laugh. “I don’t know what to do with you.”
She reached up tentatively and brushed her fingers through his hair. “That’s all right. I don’t know what to do with me either.” Cain let his head settle on the bed beside her and she turned her face so they were facing one another. They studied each other for several long seconds. They were both trying to stabilize again and she wondered how many times they were going to go through this before they were comfortable with one another al the time again. Probably quite a few. This was pretty unsettling all around no matter how good this felt. At least he wasn’t shying away from her. She did appreciate that he was trying so hard. “Sometimes I forget you can be sneaky. You’re usually so blunt it throws me off.”
His eyebrow popped up. “How am I sneaky?”
“If you weren’t I wouldn’t still be in this bed with you. Well played.” She was actually fairly impressed with how smoothly he’d pulled this off. But, she was generally impressed with the things the tin man managed to accomplish. Why she thought she would be any different from any other person he ever managed to run in circles or flabbergast was beyond her. She wasn’t nearly as clever as she thought she was apparently.
He hummed under his breath as he watched her. “This was a special circumstance. I didn’t want to scare you off.”
“Because I scare so easy.”
His fingers danced over her bare arm. “Sometimes you do.” Unease raced through her and he soothed her without much effort. “We all have our weak points, Darlin’. I wasn’t about to hit yours too hard.” She grimaced slightly at the thought of the emotional turmoil she went through when she got here. Honestly, it had taken her months to deal with the things she’d learned although she thought she’d hidden her problems a bit better than she had. Cain continued. “I have a fair few of my own and you never went at ‘em with a hammer. Most of the time you’re nice enough to avoid as much as brushin’ against ‘em.”
“I don’t like it when you get upset. I have a particular dislike of being the one that upsets you.”
“I know.” His eyes darkened a bit as he cupped her cheek. “Deeg, you don’t upset me. The things that happened to me upset me. It isn’t your fault that you occasionally say or do things that make me remember. You can’t help that.”
She searched his eyes and nodded slowly. “Will you at least tell me why they upset you?”
“Yes.” He said without hesitation.
Feeling a bit better about this whole conversation she inched closer to him. Considering they were about that far apart it didn’t take her too long. Tilting her head just a smidge she kissed him again. He returned it easily and his hand traced her side as her arms went up to wrap around his shoulders. Within seconds she knew two things. She wasn’t sure how long it was going to take her to get back to the library and Cain really knew what he was doing. His hands were gliding over her in a way that had her squirming and wet in under two minutes.
This wasn’t like anything she’d done before. True, she wasn’t innocent, but her previous encounters had either been full of fumbling and unsure hands or quick hurried encounters in some dark corner before anyone could get caught. It had all been in good fun, or at least adolescent mischief, but this was different. Cain was experienced and interested in more than a quick roll in the hay so to speak. She hoped she could keep up with him. As soon as that thought passed another one took its place. She thought his hand gliding from her knee down her thigh might have been a contributing factor. He knew what he was doing and she had some serious questions about this whole sex thing. She had always been deeply suspicious that there was more to it than her experience had managed to convey. She wondered if he could clear those questions up for her. She was about ninety-nine percent sure he could as lust flushed through her.
When his fingers slid a centimeter under her nightgown her breathing hitched. He let out a quiet groan before squeezing her leg gently as he moved it back toward her knee. “You aren’t goin’ to make this easy on me are you?”
“Huh?” She was distracted by the sudden halt on their forward progress. It left her less than eloquent in it’s wake.
He kissed the side of her mouth. “I was plannin’ on romancin’ you. You-“
Her giggling cut him off. That may be the funniest thing she’d ever heard come out of his mouth. Why she didn’t know, but it was just so… Un-Cain like. “What?”
He rolled his eyes. “Why is that funny?”
“Say that again.”
“What are you talkin’ about?”
She imitated his accent. “Romancin’.” Then she started to laugh again. “Say it.”
“No.”
She poked him in the ribs. “Come on! Say it again!”
“I’ve changed my mind. You don’t deserve it.” He rolled to the side and she followed him. She ended up on top of him and smiled happily down at him.
“Say it!”
“I’m not sayin’ it.” Despite his grumpy tone she could tell he was teasing. His eyes were dancing playfully up at her. She made her own eyes big and stared down at him as she pushed her bottom lip out into a subtle, but very effective pout. “I’m not.”
She lowered her head so she was hovering over him. “Please?”
“No.”
“Pretty please? For me?”
He grumbled before giving in. “Romancin’.” She started laughing like crazy. Hunched over him she shook silently as she tried to regain control. “Are you happy now?” She nodded wordlessly since she couldn’t talk. He growled and wrapped his arms around her as he rolled her back to his side. He kissed her between giggles and she finally managed to stop.
“That was wonderful.”
“Should I ask why?”
“It just was.”
He huffed out a laugh and sat up, pulling her with him. “I see.” She kissed him again and he returned it before sliding her to her feet beside the bed. “Now, before you make this any worse for me or decide to laugh me out of all my dignity we should get up.”
“Aww.” She sent him a falsely contrite look. “I didn’t mean to dent your manly pride.”
“No, of course not.” He stood up after her. “You want me to elevate you up the social ladder too much to intentionally insult me.”
Smiling like crazy she went up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “On that note I’ll go. I don’t want you to loose interest with me before I manage to trick you into a marriage or something.”
“Mhmm.” He kissed her swiftly. “Don’t stay in the library all day. Jeb and half his spies are workin’ on this too. You don’t need to burry yourself under books.”
“Yeah, all right. I’ll limit myself to eight or nine hours.”
“I’m coming to drag you outa there if you aren’t done by then.”
“Will you at least drag me to some sort of sustenance?”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “Have a good day, Darlin’. I’ll see you a little while.”
“You too.” With that and one last smile she teleported herself back to the room she was currently inhabiting.
She had barely caught her balance when a voice spoke up to her left. “Where have you been?”
She squeaked as she whirled around. Az was sitting on one of the small couches flipping through a book. “Ummm.”
“You’re lucky that double you made told me you were still in the palace or I would have had the entire royal guard out after you.”
“I can’t tell you how glad I am you didn’t do that.”
Az set her book down before propping her cheek on her hand as she leaned into the side of the sofa. “I’m impressed with the illusion. It took me five minutes before I worked out she wasn’t you.”
She brightened. “That long?”
“I was rather startled to be perfectly frank with you.”
She sat on a chair close to her sister. “Sorry, Az. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”
“I’ll forgive you if you tell me where you were all night.”
“You’re blackmailing me?”
Az smirked. “Don’t be silly. If I were blackmailing you I would threaten to tell Cain you were missing for the better part of ten hours. He’d skin you alive and then it would get nasty.”
She thought it was rather funny that Az threatened to tell the tin man instead of their parents. On second thought he would be a whole lot worse to deal with. “Cain knew where I was.”
Her sister’s dark eyes sparkled with curiosity. “And where was that?”
“With him.”
There was a slight pause. “You were with Cain?”
“Yeah.”
“All night?”
“Staying with a general seems to be a pretty safe place to be when crazy people are after you.”
Az stared at her hard. She didn’t like that. Az always knew when she was lying. Her sister had an unfair advantage being able to remember all the times they’d lied about stuff together when they were little. “Deeg?”
She tried to appear as innocent as possible. “Yes, Az?”
“What’s going on?”
She waved her hand toward the dresser in her room. “I was about to get dressed.”
“If you don’t tell me I swear I will make all your hair fall out.”
She clutched at her hair protectively. “What? What’s the matter with you?”
Her sister raised her hand lazily and sparked with magic. “Sorry? What was that?”
She stood up hastily and backed toward the bedroom. “I… I uh.”
“You?” Az asked.
“Please don’t make my hair fall out.”
“Tell me.” She demanded as she rose gracefully to her feet.
“Fine, but only if you promise not to freak out.” She paused before adding another demand. “Or make my hair vanish. I can’t pull off bald. Short hair sure, but not bald.”
“Deeg!”
“He told me he loved me.”
Az stopped in her tracks. “Cain said that?”
She continued to back away. “And, you know… there was some mutual affection that got shared.”
Her sister was stuck on the first part. “Wyatt Cain told you he was in love with you?”
“Yes.”
“The Wyatt Cain? The one you pulled out of an iron maiden?”
“Yup, that one.”
Her sister shook her head as if she was trying to get a fly out from between her ears or something. “I can see we need to start at the begging.” She pointed to her room. “Get dressed and you can tell me while I put your hair up.”
“It’s really not that great a story.” She didn’t really want to tell Az she’d been so trashed she told Cain she was in love with him first. That was really not classy at all.
“I’m sure it is.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re telling me.”
She sighed. “Okay.” She dragged out slowly. Then she retreated to her room and shut the door so she could change. She heard Az muttering about insanity running in the family right before the latch clicked closed.
Author Note: Sorry this is a couple days late. I got turned down by the agent that had my manuscript for six months and it took me a day or two to bounce back to perky. Having said that I am now in need of a literary agent. Anyone know one who might be interested in an excellent chick-lit sci-fi novel? Anyone out there reading my stuff an agent? Honestly, it’s pretty awesome, not to toot my own horn or anything, but really it is. I would love for someone to read it. Just… you know… drop me a line… It’ll be great fun for all involved! I have a query letter ready and everything!
Rating: M
Pairing: DG/Cain
Summary: She really needed to put a better lock on her door because Cain was definitely violating her personal space. Then again, knowing him, he’d shoot the lock off and then where would she be? Probably in a room that had a door with a smoking hole in it… She needed to make some friends that didn’t pop out of cramped and questionable materials, but she digressed.
Disclaimer: Not mine!
When she woke up sunshine filled the room and she stretched out lazily. She really felt rested for the first time in over a week. When she began to move she felt a warm weight over her waist and glanced down as a shot of adrenaline crashed over her. When she saw a familiar arm memories from the night before flew through her head and she relaxed. Happiness exploded in her chest and she went still as she luxuriated in the warmth Cain was giving off.
The arm pulled her backward and the tin man murmured over her head. “Go back to sleep, Darlin’.”
As much as she wanted to she had things to get done today. She hadn’t managed to search out the spell she’d been after yesterday despite her rather frantic search. Tutor had even rolled up his sleeves and dove in to help. They still came up short. All they had to show for their work was a pile of spell books as tall as she was that didn’t contain the spell she needed. She had managed to learn one about turning a muffin into a weasel. True, she didn’t know when that was going to come in handy, or who would make up a spell like that to begin with, but so help her when the opportunity arose there was going to be a ferret on the breakfast table. “I think I overslept my sleeping in by about three hours already.”
“Considering you didn’t fall asleep until at least three I tend to doubt that.” He shifted so they were pressed more closely together.
She mumbled a sleepy protest at his attempts to keep her in bed despite the urge to stay right there with him for the rest of the day. They could spend a month in bed together when she was sure she wasn’t going to be murdered in it should she let her guard down. “Have things to do.”
“What things? You told me all your meetings were canceled.”
“Have to research a sound in the library.”
He huffed out a laugh. “Since when are sounds stored in books?”
“Actually, it’s a spell Tutor remembered hearing about once.” She didn’t really want to think about his let alone talk about it, but the tin man had asked. “The man that attacked me-“ His arm tightened as her voice got a bit strangled. “-I kept hearing this sound when he was showing me things. I thought if I could get the sound to repeat outside my head someone might know what it was.”
“What sound?” She could tell he was already edging toward angry. This wasn’t how she wanted to start the day.
“A banging.”
“What sort of banging?”
“Metal or something. If I knew I wouldn’t have to go hunt down a spell and could continue to snuggle with you.”
“Snuggle?” He repeated the word as if a pack of fluffy and insanely cute kittens had leapt upon him and started purring with joy as they slowly crushed him under their combined miniscule weight.
She laughed softly as she twined her fingers with his. “A cross between cuddling and getting snug.”
“Who comes up with these words? Does everyone on the Otherside talk like this or do you make them up as you go along?”
“You actually think I’m capable of making up such an abundance of catch phrases and mashed up words by myself?”
“Without a doubt.”
She smiled as she patted his hand. “That’s a wonderful thing to hear. I’m glad you think I’m so creative. I didn’t think I could keep up the lingo for more than a year or so before running out of unique and tin man baffling expressions.”
“After the jumpin’ conversation I’m not sure how much more bafflin’ it can get.”
She yawned before asking. “What jumping conversation? I don’t remember that one.”
He hugged her a bit more tightly and kissed her shoulder. “Never mind, it’s not important.”
“Okay.” She stretched again before starting to sit up. “I just don’t see what’s so confusing about jump…” The next several seconds were strange to say the least. For some reason her half formed sentence translated into a tidal wave of bad. It was like a dam breaking. Memories slammed into her from her night of shame and she froze as she replayed the entire, once blissfully forgotten incident. A strangled sound that honestly couldn’t be interpreted in a positive way escaped her.
“Kid?” Cain began to pull her back and she batted his hands away in horror as she whirled to her feet beside the bed.
She flapped her arms erratically as she caught her balance from the swift spin. “You said I didn’t have anything to be sorry for!” She didn’t even know what to do. She fell into a tizzy in less than two seconds that she was sure couldn’t be calmed no matter what he said or did. The tin man was sitting up and reaching for her as she wished for a deep hole to fall into. He knew exactly what she had just remembered. She’d never been this embarrassed in her entire life. “I’m never drinking again!”
“Deeg-“
This was all his fault. It was his fault she wanted to curl up in a ball until she disappeared. She was sure about that. “You weren’t supposed to be there!” She glared at him accusingly and she saw him trying to either back peddle or rein her in. He clearly had no idea which way he should try to go. “You were supposed to be camping with your son!”
“I know I was, but-“
“I asked you to leave! More than one time!”
He was scrambling as her panic fueled rant continued. “You were upset. I wasn’t goin’ to leave you by yourself.”
She let out another strangled sound. This one was more frustration than anything else. “Yes! I remember being rather distraught that day! I have to tell you I don’t feel any better about it now!”
“You don’t have a reason to be embarrassed-“
“Are you serious?” She put her hands over her face. “I can’t believe I said those things! That wasn’t supposed to happen! All I wanted to do was fall asleep and you had to go and interrogate me?”
“Bit of a difference between interrogation and you talkin’, Kiddo.”
“Cain!” There wasn’t much of a difference to her at this point. She didn’t care how logical his argument was.
He caught her around the waist while she blinded herself with her own hands and tried to start pacing in her agitation. “We don’t have to talk about this. I’m sorry I brought it up that way. I didn’t mean to do that.”
“Oh really? Are we just going to pretend that conversation never happened then? Because ignoring things so often goes right in my world!”
He tugged her back on the bed and she was in his lap a second later. “You’re right.” He grabbed her hands and lowered them. “Let’s go ahead and get through this.”
She couldn’t manage to look him in the eye. “Where to start? So many wonderful possibilities.” Sarcasm was dripping off her tongue.
A smile tugged at his mouth as his hand grazed up the column of her neck. Distracted by the waves of sensation that caused she momentarily forgot her anxiety. The tin man must have felt her relax because he palmed the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his. She returned the kiss a bit hesitantly and his thumb circled over her skin before he leaned away. “I didn’t love you the first time I saw you.” He ran his free hand over her cheek. “But I did like you. You were just spunky as all hell. Didn’t know how to handle you at all.” He wasn’t letting her look away from him. “I fell in love with you later.”
“Decided to go right for the big thing then?”
“I tell you I love you and you’re makin’ jokes?”
“You’re holding me still. I can’t exactly reciprocate that statement properly when you won’t let me jump you.”
His grip loosened a bit. “I’m not about to let you take advantage of m-“ She was kissing him before he could finish. He smiled against her and then he moved fast. The next thing she knew her back was against the mattress and he was balanced over her. The urge to giggle insanely hit her and she fought it down hard. He would think she was crazy for sure if she started to laugh while they were making out for the first time. He leaned up and kissed her nose as his eyes twinkled playfully. “I’m nothin’ but a good lookin’ general to you am I?”
She studied him critically for a few seconds. “Nah, you’re not that good looking.”
He growled at her indignantly as he kissed her jaw. “Only my position then?”
“You caught me. Princess is such a looked down upon profession. I need you to elevate my socioeconomic status before I get laughed out of the palace.”
That had his head dropping to her shoulder as he started to laugh. “I don’t know what to do with you.”
She reached up tentatively and brushed her fingers through his hair. “That’s all right. I don’t know what to do with me either.” Cain let his head settle on the bed beside her and she turned her face so they were facing one another. They studied each other for several long seconds. They were both trying to stabilize again and she wondered how many times they were going to go through this before they were comfortable with one another al the time again. Probably quite a few. This was pretty unsettling all around no matter how good this felt. At least he wasn’t shying away from her. She did appreciate that he was trying so hard. “Sometimes I forget you can be sneaky. You’re usually so blunt it throws me off.”
His eyebrow popped up. “How am I sneaky?”
“If you weren’t I wouldn’t still be in this bed with you. Well played.” She was actually fairly impressed with how smoothly he’d pulled this off. But, she was generally impressed with the things the tin man managed to accomplish. Why she thought she would be any different from any other person he ever managed to run in circles or flabbergast was beyond her. She wasn’t nearly as clever as she thought she was apparently.
He hummed under his breath as he watched her. “This was a special circumstance. I didn’t want to scare you off.”
“Because I scare so easy.”
His fingers danced over her bare arm. “Sometimes you do.” Unease raced through her and he soothed her without much effort. “We all have our weak points, Darlin’. I wasn’t about to hit yours too hard.” She grimaced slightly at the thought of the emotional turmoil she went through when she got here. Honestly, it had taken her months to deal with the things she’d learned although she thought she’d hidden her problems a bit better than she had. Cain continued. “I have a fair few of my own and you never went at ‘em with a hammer. Most of the time you’re nice enough to avoid as much as brushin’ against ‘em.”
“I don’t like it when you get upset. I have a particular dislike of being the one that upsets you.”
“I know.” His eyes darkened a bit as he cupped her cheek. “Deeg, you don’t upset me. The things that happened to me upset me. It isn’t your fault that you occasionally say or do things that make me remember. You can’t help that.”
She searched his eyes and nodded slowly. “Will you at least tell me why they upset you?”
“Yes.” He said without hesitation.
Feeling a bit better about this whole conversation she inched closer to him. Considering they were about that far apart it didn’t take her too long. Tilting her head just a smidge she kissed him again. He returned it easily and his hand traced her side as her arms went up to wrap around his shoulders. Within seconds she knew two things. She wasn’t sure how long it was going to take her to get back to the library and Cain really knew what he was doing. His hands were gliding over her in a way that had her squirming and wet in under two minutes.
This wasn’t like anything she’d done before. True, she wasn’t innocent, but her previous encounters had either been full of fumbling and unsure hands or quick hurried encounters in some dark corner before anyone could get caught. It had all been in good fun, or at least adolescent mischief, but this was different. Cain was experienced and interested in more than a quick roll in the hay so to speak. She hoped she could keep up with him. As soon as that thought passed another one took its place. She thought his hand gliding from her knee down her thigh might have been a contributing factor. He knew what he was doing and she had some serious questions about this whole sex thing. She had always been deeply suspicious that there was more to it than her experience had managed to convey. She wondered if he could clear those questions up for her. She was about ninety-nine percent sure he could as lust flushed through her.
When his fingers slid a centimeter under her nightgown her breathing hitched. He let out a quiet groan before squeezing her leg gently as he moved it back toward her knee. “You aren’t goin’ to make this easy on me are you?”
“Huh?” She was distracted by the sudden halt on their forward progress. It left her less than eloquent in it’s wake.
He kissed the side of her mouth. “I was plannin’ on romancin’ you. You-“
Her giggling cut him off. That may be the funniest thing she’d ever heard come out of his mouth. Why she didn’t know, but it was just so… Un-Cain like. “What?”
He rolled his eyes. “Why is that funny?”
“Say that again.”
“What are you talkin’ about?”
She imitated his accent. “Romancin’.” Then she started to laugh again. “Say it.”
“No.”
She poked him in the ribs. “Come on! Say it again!”
“I’ve changed my mind. You don’t deserve it.” He rolled to the side and she followed him. She ended up on top of him and smiled happily down at him.
“Say it!”
“I’m not sayin’ it.” Despite his grumpy tone she could tell he was teasing. His eyes were dancing playfully up at her. She made her own eyes big and stared down at him as she pushed her bottom lip out into a subtle, but very effective pout. “I’m not.”
She lowered her head so she was hovering over him. “Please?”
“No.”
“Pretty please? For me?”
He grumbled before giving in. “Romancin’.” She started laughing like crazy. Hunched over him she shook silently as she tried to regain control. “Are you happy now?” She nodded wordlessly since she couldn’t talk. He growled and wrapped his arms around her as he rolled her back to his side. He kissed her between giggles and she finally managed to stop.
“That was wonderful.”
“Should I ask why?”
“It just was.”
He huffed out a laugh and sat up, pulling her with him. “I see.” She kissed him again and he returned it before sliding her to her feet beside the bed. “Now, before you make this any worse for me or decide to laugh me out of all my dignity we should get up.”
“Aww.” She sent him a falsely contrite look. “I didn’t mean to dent your manly pride.”
“No, of course not.” He stood up after her. “You want me to elevate you up the social ladder too much to intentionally insult me.”
Smiling like crazy she went up on her toes and kissed his cheek. “On that note I’ll go. I don’t want you to loose interest with me before I manage to trick you into a marriage or something.”
“Mhmm.” He kissed her swiftly. “Don’t stay in the library all day. Jeb and half his spies are workin’ on this too. You don’t need to burry yourself under books.”
“Yeah, all right. I’ll limit myself to eight or nine hours.”
“I’m coming to drag you outa there if you aren’t done by then.”
“Will you at least drag me to some sort of sustenance?”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “Have a good day, Darlin’. I’ll see you a little while.”
“You too.” With that and one last smile she teleported herself back to the room she was currently inhabiting.
She had barely caught her balance when a voice spoke up to her left. “Where have you been?”
She squeaked as she whirled around. Az was sitting on one of the small couches flipping through a book. “Ummm.”
“You’re lucky that double you made told me you were still in the palace or I would have had the entire royal guard out after you.”
“I can’t tell you how glad I am you didn’t do that.”
Az set her book down before propping her cheek on her hand as she leaned into the side of the sofa. “I’m impressed with the illusion. It took me five minutes before I worked out she wasn’t you.”
She brightened. “That long?”
“I was rather startled to be perfectly frank with you.”
She sat on a chair close to her sister. “Sorry, Az. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”
“I’ll forgive you if you tell me where you were all night.”
“You’re blackmailing me?”
Az smirked. “Don’t be silly. If I were blackmailing you I would threaten to tell Cain you were missing for the better part of ten hours. He’d skin you alive and then it would get nasty.”
She thought it was rather funny that Az threatened to tell the tin man instead of their parents. On second thought he would be a whole lot worse to deal with. “Cain knew where I was.”
Her sister’s dark eyes sparkled with curiosity. “And where was that?”
“With him.”
There was a slight pause. “You were with Cain?”
“Yeah.”
“All night?”
“Staying with a general seems to be a pretty safe place to be when crazy people are after you.”
Az stared at her hard. She didn’t like that. Az always knew when she was lying. Her sister had an unfair advantage being able to remember all the times they’d lied about stuff together when they were little. “Deeg?”
She tried to appear as innocent as possible. “Yes, Az?”
“What’s going on?”
She waved her hand toward the dresser in her room. “I was about to get dressed.”
“If you don’t tell me I swear I will make all your hair fall out.”
She clutched at her hair protectively. “What? What’s the matter with you?”
Her sister raised her hand lazily and sparked with magic. “Sorry? What was that?”
She stood up hastily and backed toward the bedroom. “I… I uh.”
“You?” Az asked.
“Please don’t make my hair fall out.”
“Tell me.” She demanded as she rose gracefully to her feet.
“Fine, but only if you promise not to freak out.” She paused before adding another demand. “Or make my hair vanish. I can’t pull off bald. Short hair sure, but not bald.”
“Deeg!”
“He told me he loved me.”
Az stopped in her tracks. “Cain said that?”
She continued to back away. “And, you know… there was some mutual affection that got shared.”
Her sister was stuck on the first part. “Wyatt Cain told you he was in love with you?”
“Yes.”
“The Wyatt Cain? The one you pulled out of an iron maiden?”
“Yup, that one.”
Her sister shook her head as if she was trying to get a fly out from between her ears or something. “I can see we need to start at the begging.” She pointed to her room. “Get dressed and you can tell me while I put your hair up.”
“It’s really not that great a story.” She didn’t really want to tell Az she’d been so trashed she told Cain she was in love with him first. That was really not classy at all.
“I’m sure it is.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re telling me.”
She sighed. “Okay.” She dragged out slowly. Then she retreated to her room and shut the door so she could change. She heard Az muttering about insanity running in the family right before the latch clicked closed.
Author Note: Sorry this is a couple days late. I got turned down by the agent that had my manuscript for six months and it took me a day or two to bounce back to perky. Having said that I am now in need of a literary agent. Anyone know one who might be interested in an excellent chick-lit sci-fi novel? Anyone out there reading my stuff an agent? Honestly, it’s pretty awesome, not to toot my own horn or anything, but really it is. I would love for someone to read it. Just… you know… drop me a line… It’ll be great fun for all involved! I have a query letter ready and everything!