“A pet?” I asked. “You listed a pet as a dependent?”
I could see her in my frame again, positioning her device, and wiggling into her bed before pulling up the covers. She didn’t cover up to her neck like she did the first time, and my eyes lingered over her collarbones and bare shoulders. Had she worn this thin, tiny garment whenQhevcalled her?
“I love him. I would never leave him behind,” Cora said.
She could bring a brood of these cats with her if she wanted. It made no difference to me. “It’s much cheaper to transport a pet,” I told her. “You cut out a lot of less affluent suitors listing him that way.”
“Oh, did I?” My little mate’s smile turned coy. “Maybe I should fix that and broaden my search for a husband.”
“I don’t think so,Aneah. You wouldn’t be happy with anyone else.” No one else could see to her happiness like I could. I could give my pretty little pinup girl whatever she wanted with no expense spared, and give her any pleasure she needed with my capable hands. I was lucky to find her, but she was lucky too. She’d come to see it soon enough.
“Are all daernir males so confident?” she asked.
“No.”
“You’re kind of monosyllabic,” she said, her small nose scrunching.
“Would you like to hear more of my voice?”
“Yes, I would,” she said. “I wish I could turn off the translation thing. Qhev explained that I’m not actually hearing your voice, but like… an AI version of it?”
“You can turn it off,” I said. “The translation would be written for you instead.”
Her face lit up. “Seriously? I’ll try that.” She poked at her device for a moment and then set it close to her face. “There, I think I did it. Say something.”
“What would you like me to say,Aneah?”
Her lips parted, her breath catching. “Your voice is deeper than I thought,” she said.
“Do you like it?” I didn’t need to ask. I could tell by the way her eyes dilated and her chest rose with quickened breaths. I wanted to hear her say it, though.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s as sexy as the rest of you.”
I smirked, feeling smug. “You haven’t seen the rest of me yet.”
Her pale cheeks tinged pink at my words. “Keep your clothes on, Tiger. As tempting as the rest of you probably is, I think we should save that for later.”
I chuckled, digging some of Evik’s sellah out of my pocket and settling down on the edge of the bed. “What things do you do for fun?”
“I’m kind of boring,” she said, tracking the motion of my hands as I tapped some sellah into a slim, silver cartridge. “I watch TV, read. That’s about it. Sometimes I have brunch or dinner with people, but I’ve moved around so much my whole life that I don’t have any good friends. So unless I’m working with someone cool, I don’t hang out with people much.”
“That’s very solitary,” I said, depressing the button on the cartridge to get the sellah burning. The first thin stream of smoke curled upwards and I bent forward to suck it into my lungs. The warm tingle it gave me spread slowly as we watched each other through the nexus.
“It is,” she agreed.
“No human male in your life?” I asked.
“Not lately,” she said, sighing. “I was with someone for a few years, but he cheated, and the handful of guys I’ve dated since haven’t made any kind of impression. At least not good impressions.”
I leaned back, my nexus core mod following me. “I don’t understand,” I said. “There should be males lining up for the pleasure of your company.”
She gave a little snort, her mouth curling into a grin. “Yeah, well, the daernir males certainly lined up quickly. Guys here might show more interest if I did. Like I said, I don’t go out much. What are they supposed to do, break into my apartment?”
“Is that something that happens?”
She blinked. “Home invasions? Sure. People break in, rob you. I was thinking about it today, actually. Now that I’m spending more time at home, if something like that did happen, I’m more likely to be here for it. It’s a little scary.”
I grunted and took another hit of sellah. “I don’t like that.”
