Tisvali scoffed.“We use bows–what kind of savages do you take us for?”
“She thinks us cavemen,” Karim told his friend, lips quirked in a faint smile.As unfamiliar as he was with something so natural for humans as a blush, he sure knew some human history.
“But you do live in caves.”No.Filter.Whatsoever.“And you said youdragothers home with the intention to…” How had Deidre termed it?“Have mossy fun?”I smiled at Karim.“Sound familiar?”
An answering smile appeared on his handsome face.“We use the English worddragto the moss but don’t mean it literally.”His smile widened before he continued.“Though it does happen sometimes.For example, when the partner has been rendered unconscious by blood loss and is thus incapable of getting to the moss on her own to have her wound bandaged.Sound familiar?”
I frowned in confusion before it hit me.“Your moss!”
So that was the warm and spongy surface I was lying on.It spoke of how muddled my brain was that I only just now noticed the dark-green fabric covering my wounded forearm.A similar bandage was wrapped around my swollen ankle.I was in a sleeveless dress of the same color that covered me down to my knees, making almost indistinguishable the green of the moss under my body.
Looking closer, I saw that the thick moss thrived atop a long, flat rock that seemed to rise from the cave floor.My fingers explored the unique surface beneath me, the feeling of it against my skin close to addictive.“This is the richest, greenest, and freshest moss I’ve ever seen in my line of work.”
Karim’s face went slack for a moment but then a sensual smile spread across his lips.“So you like mybed, as you humans call it?”
Tisvali coughed.
My ears might as well have been on fire right then.
“There.”Karim chuckled.Mr.Always So Serious chuckled!“Blushing theory tested and proven.”
Our gazes met.Try as I might, I couldn’t break eye contact.His eyes were like an endless starless sky pulling me in.A black pool of infinity that I wouldn’t mind drowning in.
“My job here is done.”Tisvali’s words broke the strange connection.“My services are not needed for what comes next, so I’ll go take my much-needed bath and well-deserved rest.”
“What comes next?”I parroted as I tried to push up on my elbows, only to get dizzy and lie back down.
“What you agreed to, human,” Tisvali said, all serious now.“Idon’t want to be around to watch the two of you do it.”
“Do what?”Was he implying that Karim and I–No, that didn’t make sense–I had never agreed to…
Why did the idea of being with Karim make my heart flutter in excitement?Why did the unexpected thought of him joining me on the moss cause heat to bloom in my core?
Tisvali burst out laughing, his broad shoulders shaking.“Jesus, you’re so easy to fluster.”Apparently, that heat had spread not just down south but toward my ears as well.Not again!“Have fun with the replanting, both of you.”
“Oh!”The edelweiss!
Karim got up from his kneeling position in one swift move and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder for a second.“Graciem.”
“My pleasure.”Tisvali’s gaze was lowered as he said it, perhaps as a gesture of respect.
“I will call upon you or Deidre when I need Jasmine watched in my absence.Let her know on your way past her home.”
Tisvali nodded and left through a vine-covered opening in the wall to my right.
Leaving me alone with Karim.
– 11 –
Guilty Pleasure
When Karim turned to face me, his serious expression was back, and he didn’t look directly at me.
Was he one of those guys who behaved differently when his friends weren’t around?My ex had been like that: an exemplary boyfriend when with others and a dickhead when alone with me.I really hoped Karim wasn’t like Peter.
Pfft, what am I thinking?Karim wasn’t like anyone I knew–intense, magnetic, with a dangerous edge that drew me in… He was like a force of nature wrapped into the most attractive package.
And why did it matter, anyway?It wasn’t like I could hook up with the Elf Prince.That dream of mine was the closest I’d ever get to him.It was my recovery I should be thinking about, not my attraction to Karim.
