“That would be lovely,” she says sleepily. Her eyelids are starting to get heavy, but she looks blissed out. My beast is preening like a fucking peacock because he made her feel that way.
Lifting her into my arms, I carry her out of the bath, changing back into human form and wrapping towels around our bodies before moving into my new room. Although I haven’t completely moved my stuff in, the bed is made, and I can’t deny wanting to smell her all over my sheets when she’s not in it tonight.
Pulling back the covers with one hand, I lay her down, removing her towel before covering her back up. “Are you not going to join me?” she asks as I remove my own towel.
“I am, I just want to set the alarm to give us enough time for you to get ready,” I tell her with a wink, grabbing the tablet for the room off the bedside table. I set the alarm and then climb in on the other side.
“Can you shift back?” she murmurs as her eyes drift closed. “I like having your tentacles wrapped around me.”
My beast crows triumphantlyagaininside my head, and I allow my body to change once more, gathering her up and pulling her close. Her breathing evens out as I place a kiss on each of her eyes and her lips.
“I love you, my beautiful mate,” I whisper, but she’s already fast asleep. A feeling of satisfaction rolls through me as I close my eyes to enjoy my nap with my mate.
Lila
When Caspian and I woke up, I quickly showered again, because despite his beast’s best intentions, I was not going on my date with Link while Caspian’s spunk dripped out of me.
Wrapping a towel around my body, I have a sudden thought that causes me to panic. “Oh no.” I walk out into the living area, looking for Caspian.
“What’s wrong, beautiful lady?” he asks as the doorbell to our room rings.
“I have nothing to wear. All of my clothes are in my room in the pod. I only have uniforms, and that’s not sexy.”
Caspian gets up from the sofa to answer the door. “Actually, babe, you look fucking hot in the uniform, but I already thought about that.” He opens the door and takes something from the person on the other side before closing it again. He turns and holds out a dress bag. “While you were in the shower, I messaged Magenta, and she organized for one of the boutiques to send something up. Privileges of being the boss men’s granddaughter and all.” He sends a cheeky grin my way.
I’m an instant puddle of motherfucking goo. “Oh my God, my mate is amazing. Seriously fucking amazing.” I hurry over to him and throw my arms around his neck, kissing him hard on the mouth. He kisses me back before extracting himself from my grip and passing me the bag. “Here, go try it on. Link will be here shortly. I’ll keep him entertained until you’re ready. In the drawer of the bathroom cabinet is a makeup applicator. Just hold it up to your face and it applies it instantly. Sorry, but there’s nothing fancy for your hair, so you’ll have to manage that one yourself, but there is a dryer on the wall. If you stick your head up into it, it will at least dry it instantly too.”
“Holy shit! The technology here is fucking amazing. Where have these things been all of my life?” I sigh dramatically. “Thank you so much, Cas. That will make getting ready so much quicker, and I can’t wait to try everything out.”
Leaving him to let Link in, I hurry to the bathroom to get ready. I can’t wait to see what Magenta picked out for me to wear. Hanging it on a hook in the bathroom, I open the bag. There’s a little note from the devious little Skarrian attached to the dress.
No underwear because you can’t wear it with this dress, and hopefully you won’t need them anyway. ;)
Magenta
As I lift the dress out of the bag, I can see exactly why I don’t need underwear. It’s a short, body-con style dress with only one sleeve and a futuristic slash across the neckline. It’s made of a shimmery holographic fabric that picks up different colors depending on how the light hits it. It’s gorgeous, but it’s going to hug my curves, and there is no room for panty lines. Dropping my towel, I pull it over my head. Thankfully, it’s tight enough to control my breasts. I shimmy it down my frame, and it hits me at mid-thigh. Reaching back into the garment bag, I pull out a pair of silver heels to go with it. They are only about three inches, so they are perfectly manageable, but it brings me a little closer to Link’s lips if he needs, you know, mouth to mouth.
I look around the bathroom. It’s the first time I’ve used the bathroom in my living quarters, so I haven’t really had a chance to take everything in. Plus, I’m not currently distracted by a sexy purple and blue octoman who really knows how to use his tentacles. I spy what I’m assuming is the hair dryer. Much like the big ones in hair salons on Earth, it looks like I stick my whole head into it.
I gingerly duck and then stand up inside it. It covers my whole head, but my long hair is still sitting against my back. I’m not sure if this is going to work, but there’s a small screen on the inside giving me instructions. I press the green button, and a mask drops down from the front wall of the machine and covers my face. It’s kind of like one of those full diving masks. It suctions on and seals to the skin around my hairline, and air floods in so I can still breathe. Then I feel something start to gently gather my hair. It almost feels like a claw but without the bite. Pushing the blue button as instructed, I hear a humming sound, and then I have a slight moment of panic. Please don’t let it fry off my hair, or worse, perm it.
It goes on for about a minute, and then I feel my dry hair fall back around my shoulders before the mask unseals and rises, and the machine’s screen flashes that the sequence is complete. Ducking and stepping out of it, I reach up to feel my hair. Sure enough, it’s bone dry and silky straight, but the best part? I didn’t feel a fucking thing. I decide to leave it exactly as it is once I see it in the mirror. It looks like I’ve come straight from a salon.
Okay, that machine was successful.Looking good, Lila.It’s time to find this makeup applicator Cas was telling me about. Opening one of the drawers under the sink, I find another full scuba mask style thing. I’m guessing this is the makeup machine, because there’s nothing else that looks remotely like it could apply makeup.
With my heart beating fast once more, I bring the machine up to my face. Again, it’s pretty self-explanatory and has great step-by-step instructions. Holding it up to my face, I scroll through styles, but unfortunately it has only a name and no description. Tapping my finger on top of the machine, I consider my options. It’s not like it’s permanent, right? I can always remove it if I don’t like it. Taking a leap of faith, I press “okay” on the style on the screen—Zandarian. This machine doesn’t hum like the hair dryer, but it does vibrate ever so slightly. Closing my eyes, I hold still. Through my closed eyelids, I can see a light scan my face before I feel something spraying over my skin. It tickles, and it’s all I can do to stop myself from giggling.
At the end, there’s a small pause before I hear a recorded voice say, “Your transformation is complete.” I pull the machine away from my face and check out my reflection in the mirror. I blink a couple of times at what I see.
Hmm, Zandarian must mean drag queen chic. Blue glitter eyeshadow frames my eyes, with pink rouge highlighting my cheekbones and a bright pink gloss on my lips. Long, feathery false eyelashes round out the look. Holy crap, that’s way too much makeup. I look down at the machine in my hand and scroll through the options on the screen, finding removal. Hallelujah! I go through the process again and it cleans my face, and I become a blank canvas once more. This time I try to find an Earth style, and thankfully it’s there. A smoky eye look is what I need. Holding the machine up to my face once more, I repeat the process. This time when I pull it away, it looks fabulous.
Placing it back in the drawer, I smooth my dress down, feeling a little nervous but excited. I blow myself a kiss in the mirror and head back to the living area.
Voices in the living area bring a little flutter of nerves to my stomach. I’m still having a bit of trouble wrapping my head around the fact that I’m going on a date with my husband’s blessing. My lips spread into a smile at that thought. My husband! I wonder what Cas would say if I called him that. Maybe I could convince him to do a small Vegas wedding with me while we’re there. It’s something to think about a little later. Right now, I’m ignoring everything but this evening’s plans, never mind the other three marks on my shoulders. Nope, tonight is all about the two gorgeous men who both look like they want to devour me when I enter the room.
I can tell by their body language that I interrupted them mid-conversation, but I give zero fucks because the way they are both caressing my body with their gazes makes me feel like a damn queen.
“Whoa,” Link whispers reverently, his silver eyes darkening, but my heightened hearing kicks in, and I hear the word clear as day. I feel my cheeks warm slightly.
