Happy
I had our spread laid out on the coffee table and had given the gals a heads-up to come half an hour early so I could share my good news about Tanyn without rubbing it in Gayle’s face when she shared her tale of woe with us.
Part of that good news being Tanyn having text commed, I’m away when he took off on the soni-jet.
Seriously, the male text commed when he took off, which was about twenty minutes after he left me, so not only would I know I was on his mind but also giving indication he was a male who would communicate rather than one where I had to do all that work.
This set me to replying, Have a good flight and text when you arrive, please.
Which in turn meant I received, Will do. Let me know how it goes with Gayliliel.
To which I replied, Will do.
And to that, because I was seeing I was going to need to come to terms with him being adorable on a regular basis, my screen turned black, then a tiny red heart could be seen in the middle, growing, growing, growing until it exploded on the screen and turned it red.
Gah!
He was mega!
My besties (or two of them) arrived together, and I didn’t even get my hugs in before both of them squinted their eyes at me and Laura said, “You’re different.” While Mon said, “This flat smells like sex. Oh Gods, please tell me you didn’t rebound fuck Bash or some other male.”
Did the flat smell like sex?
I did a deep inhale using my demon senses.
All I smelled was nuances of Tanyn (with a bit of Hurley and me).
His cologne. His skin. His cum.
Dang.
My flat smelled like sex.
This made me want to giggle at the same time throw a tantrum that he was already hundreds of miles away from me.
“I think you need to sit down,” I replied to my gals. “I’ve opened a bottle of white, but what are you feeling like drinking?”
They clearly didn’t want to bother with me programming the Bev-Buddy to provide cocktails, because they shared a glance and headed right to the living area where Laura commandeered the open bottle and started pouring.
I joined them. We passed out glasses. We sat.
And I launched in.
I talked fast, because we didn’t have a lot of time before Gayle was conferencing in. I also explained why I was talking fast, because I didn’t want to subject Gayle to my hope and—it still freaked me, but it was what it was—the news I was falling in love.
Monique was speechless when I was finished.
But Laura was staring at me with an expression on her face I’d never seen before.
Thus, I asked her, “What?”
“Well, I mean…” She trailed off, took a sip of her wine, averting her eyes, and that I could read.
She was buying time like she didn’t want to say what she had to say, or she didn’t know how to say it.
Therefore, I asserted, “This is a good thing. He’s into me. Not politically. Me. I’m into him. He’s mega. It’s crazy, but now that we’re both agreed we’re doing this, we’re courting, and I’ve learned he’s actually kind of cute. He bops my nose, for goodness sakes.”
“He bops your nose?” Monique asked.
I nodded. “And does air kisses, without the hand thing. It’s super-hot.”
“You. Catla Truelock. He bops your nose and sends you air kisses,” Monique said, like she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around it.
I could see my reputation as a sophisticate (or some would say cynic, though, I preferred my word) preceded me.
“And sends me exploding hearts on his texts,” I added.
“By the gods, this I’ve gotta see,” Monique mumbled, but there was a happy light in her eyes.
However, Laura was still acting weird.
Therefore, I pressed, “What?”
“You say he has legendary, um…stamina?”
Historically, we gals had never had any issue discussing our sex lives.
That said, I’d noticed, although Laura made it clear she and Aleksei very much enjoyed that part of their relationship (very), she kept any particulars to herself.
Now, I understood why she did it.
That was theirs. It wasn’t just that it wasn’t anyone’s business, it was an intimacy that was so crucial, so a part of who they were and what they shared, it had to remain just theirs.
So, although I’d told them the sex with Tanyn was insanely good, I had not gone into detail, just like she did in the rare times this subject came up in regard to Aleksei.
And since she had to understand it too, I was wondering why Laura was questioning it.
“Yes,” I confirmed.
“What does that mean?” she asked. “About the stamina part.”
I didn’t want to answer, but I also wanted this to be over because the comm with Gayle was coming closer every second.
Hence, I said, “He could go all night. Or all day. In fact, he stays hard all the time, even after orgasm. He only loses it when it’s clear we’re done.”
Laura regarded the contents of her wineglass with a new expression, but it was another one I couldn’t read. It was also one I didn’t like.
“I don’t know what to make of your reaction,” I told her. “Except it’s upsetting.”
She lifted her head. “Aleksei stays hard all the time, if we’re, you know…into it.”
I stared at her.
“He says that’s only ever happened with me,” she continued.
I kept staring at her, but now my heart was beating a fierce tattoo in my chest, because Tanyn told me the same.
“It’s a fated mate thing,” Laura whispered.
I heard Mon’s swift intake of breath.
“Demons don’t have those,” I stated something she knew.
“I know,” she replied. “It’s still…” She looked to Monique, to me, to her wine, back to me. “I don’t know what it is, honey. I don’t even know who to ask about what it is, except maybe a physician.”
I hadn’t thought to question it, just revel in it.
But now I was thinking…
“Do you mind if I tell Tanyn about this?” I asked.
“I need to ask Aleksei, so do you mind if I tell Aleksei about you two?”
“I think you’re both going to have to just share,” Monique entered the conversation.
“She can’t ask Tanyn without spilling about Aleksei, and vice versa.
And you guys need to ask, because something is up with all of this.
” She threw out a hand to indicate Laura and me.
“Along with Gayle and Prince Cormac, there’s something deeper at play, even, it would seem, mystically. ”
It would seem.
“And now Gayle is going to be holoing in about thirty seconds so top up,” Monique concluded.
We all just managed to top up before the bleeps sounded that shared Gayle was comming.
I accepted the holo, and she appeared, curled up in a rather attractive armchair.
She also looked good, even if she was partially transparent and had a greenish tinge to her. Perhaps not rested, her eyes appeared tired, but she had a cute outfit on, and it was one I’d never seen her wear before, and she certainly seemed chilled out and comfortable in that armchair.
“Oh my gods!” she exclaimed. “I’m so happy to see you guys!”
“And we’re happy to see you,” Laura replied. “You look…good.”
“You look like you’re not sleeping,” Monique filled in what Laura’s hesitation was about.
“That’s because I’m not sleeping all that great,” Gayle confirmed.
“Tell us what’s been happening,” I urged.
Gayle shrugged, reached for her own wineglass, took a sip, then said, “Nothing.”
We were all silent for a long beat before Laura broke it.
“Nothing?”
“I’m here, at the Fleur de Flora Fortress, which is, by the way, absolutely gorgeous.
I have the run of the castle, the gardens, the grounds.
I can order whatever I want to eat, and they serve it.
I have access to a lapcomp, my Palm, my tablet, so I can work and even holo in for meetings.
That said, all incoming and outgoing comms are blocked except work, Mom and Dad, and you guys. And I see no one but staff.”
Her comms were blocked?
And she saw no one?
“Blocked?” Laura had my question.
“Yes,” Gayle verified.
I got down to the meat of the matter (or the meat to me).
“Is that a new outfit?”
Was the holo glitching or was she blushing? “They only grabbed me. They did it when I was at work. They didn’t give me time to pack. So there was an entire wardrobe waiting for me when I got here.”
Monique, Laura and I stole glances at each other because…
What?
Again, Laura voiced it.
“I thought he kidnapped you on the spur of the moment due to the threat.”
“He did,” Gayle said.
“So how was he ready for you with a whole wardrobe?” I asked.
She peered down at herself not only to indicate her clothes, but where she was sitting, which was not in my living room in Nocturn, before looking between us. “When Prince Cormac wants something done, it gets done. And he doesn’t mess around doing it.”
Obviously, that was true.
Equally obviously, he had good taste in clothes.
The thing was, they suited Gayle completely.
They were her style, except higher quality.
Gayle didn’t do badly for herself, but not so good she could be wearing a lightweight cashmere sweater I knew for a fact was from this season’s look book of the House of Giandra, the foremost designer of knitwear, maybe in all twenty realms.
Though, bottom line, they were her style. Something she’d choose herself.
But he chose them for her.
Like he knew her.
Or had been watching her.
“Have you…spoken to Sirk?” Monique queried hesitantly.
“I have not. But Cormac has,” Gayle told us.
“He has?” Laura asked, and she sounded surprised, as she would, considering Sirk was tight with Aleksei. And my guess, Sirk shared with Aleksei, and Aleksei told Laura everything.
“I don’t know what was said. I just know he ‘had words,’ which was how he explained it, and Sirk is aware that Cormac is assuming responsibility for my safety.”
We all took a moment to digest this, and Laura broke it again to mutter, “I’ll talk to Aleksei about that.”
“You see just staff?” I asked.
Her face twisted angrily. “Although Cormac lives here, this is his fortress, I rarely see him. Though, he prowls through occasionally to inform me the threat is still real, and I’m not leaving until he’s assured it is not.”
“So…essentially…you’re prisoner?” I queried carefully.
“Yes. Absolutely, yes. There’s no ‘essentially’ about it. I am prisoner,” Gayle stated firmly.
My blood started heating.