A little shiver of uncertainty runs through me. Maybe I should have gone back to Morgan’s with him? It is the weekend and my day off, but that didn’t stop us last time.
I rinse the shampoo out of my hair. No, the kids need to spend time with just their dad. I can’t take up all his attention. I’ll be seeing them all soon enough.
A grin spreads across my face. My chest feels like it is about to burst with happiness. Fuck it. I’m going to let it out.
I open my mouth, and the shower reverberates to the sound of my singing. This feels damn good. I had forgotten it was even possible to be this happy. I sing and soap away for ages, but I can’t spend all day in here, sadly. Things to do, people to see.
I turn off the water, grab a towel, and nearly walk right into Lello.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Lello! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
Lello crosses his arms over his chest and fixes me with a stern stare. “Vampires can’t have heart attacks.”
I huff and barge past him, heading for my closet and my clothes. If he tells the others that I was singing in the shower, I’ll throttle him. Even if he is my best friend.
“How did your date go?” Lello asks, with bright blue eyes.
Damn it. I can feel my cheeks heating. I’m not sure if driving straight to a hotel and ripping each other’s clothes off, technically counts as a date, but whatever the official name for it is, it was the best night of my life.
“Lovely,” I say in as deadpan a tone as I can muster.
Lello squeals and brings his hands together as if in prayer. “Did you have nooky?”
I sigh in defeat. He is not going to let this go. “Yes.”
Lello jumps up and down. I roll my eyes and start pulling my clothes on.
“Tell me everything!” demands Lello.
“Like what?” I huff as I pull a tee shirt over my head.
“Where did he kiss you? Did he lick you? How many times did you orgasm?”
Hells. Lello’s questions are causing all sorts of delicious memories to flow through my mind. I whirl around to face my best friend.
“Jesus Christ, Lello, I’m not telling you that!”
His mouth lifts up in a pout. “I can tell you everything Carter and me did last night?”
I groan and pull on a pair of jeans. “I don’t want to know.”
Lello falls silent for a moment. “In the harem…” he begins, but I turn back to face him and silence him with a hand on his shoulder. I’m fully dressed now and more able to cope with this.
“Lello, sweetie,” I say, and his big blue eyes stare at me with rapt attention. “We’ve been through this,” I say gently. “The things that happened in the harem weren’t normal. Out here, in the real world, sex is private. It’s between the people doing it. No one else watches, and no one else talks about it.”
I watch as Lello tries to take in what I have just said. But then his face fills with confusion. My chest tightens. Poor fucking kid. Taken from his loch when far too young and thrown into the harem. He has no other life experience. No wonder he finds things bewildering.
“But Gray and Mal go to a sex club?” he says.
I blink. Then I sigh. For fuck’s sake.
“Okay, sex clubs are an exception. It is complicated, but most people, most of the time…”
“Oh!” interrupts Lello brightly. “Carter is awake!”
The kelpie gives me a quick peck on the cheek. “I’m glad you had a nice time,” he says, and then he is gone. Running to his mate.
I watch him go, and sigh wistfully. I wonder what it would be like to have a mate bond? To be so connected to someone that you can feel their emotions and sense when they are awake? I always thought it sounded terrifying before. No privacy at all. No sense of self. But now, imagining that depth of a bond with Morgan? It doesn’t sound so bad at all.
