It occurred to Eve that she had no idea where to meet Khiva, considering the size of the area, but she had faith that they would somehow find one another. Anticipation to see him, to hold him had kept her impatient all day and she’d passed her Sunday restlessly, spending most of it in the study once again, going through her father’s documents.
Eve stepped into a clearing, near the shore of the lake, and she breathed deeply as her eyes glided over the rippling water. She’d often wondered what air had smelled like, if it had had a smell, on old Earth. Did it smell any different from their air, which went through constant filtration?
She didn’t know how long she stood there, listening, waiting, but eventually, she sensed movement behind her, in the thick grouping of trees that were spread all throughout the Lake District, like the mysterious and mesmerizing forests she’d seen in pictures of Old Earth.
When Eve turned, she saw him, watching her from the edge of the trees. She smiled and immediately hurried to him, giddy, her heart thumping in her chest. He was wearing a long overcoat that fell to his ankles, with a large hood pulled up over his head. But there was no mistaking the swirling colors of his eyes when the light drifted over them, or his size. Still, even if a stranger saw him, they might just think he was a burly giant of a man. Certainly, they wouldn’t expect him to be a Keriv’i.
As always, when she was with him, she felt that need, that pull, that attraction.
“Khiva,” she said softly, hardly able to believe that they were there, in the Lake District, in open space, with a breeze rustling through their clothes, and not in a small, incensed room in a luxurious brothel.
She reached up to cup his jaw and he growled low in his throat when she tugged him down for a kiss, the sound needful and impatient.
And as always, her head swam when he kissed her and her skin tingled when his tongue did wicked things to her mouth.
Eve clung to him, pressing closer, feeling one of his hand cup her waist under her overcoat and the other curl around the back of her neck to keep her in place. It was unexpectedly sensual and dominant…but it was all Khiva.
Eventually, she smiled and pulled away, her gaze slightly dazed as she stood on the tips of her toes. He murmured something in Keriv’i, something she didn’t recognize, and then pulled her deeper into his body in an embrace. Eve tucked her arms underneath his overcoat, reaching around his back, and pressing her face into the steady warmth of his chest, breathing him in.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she whispered, glancing up at him. The difference in lighting made his skin appear more blue and less gray.
“I needed to see you,” he murmured down to her. “I could not wait until next week.”
“Valerie said there would be consequences if Madame Allegria found out,” Eve said softly.
Khiva exhaled out a long breath. “It is not anything I cannot handle. Let us not speak of that now.”
“Khiva…”
“Please,leeldra,” he said, smoothing a hand down her hair. “I just want to be with you tonight.”
“Okay,” she whispered, though it didn’t lessen her worry. “Okay.”
“Come,” he murmured, leading her back into the thickness of the trees where they would be shielded from sight. “There is a clearing back here.”
Eve followed him through the closely clustered trunks and branches until they came across a small, cleared area in front of a large boulder. Trees protected them on both sides, with the boulder at their back, their own private little circle. In front of them, through a gap in the trees, she could see the shimmering lake.
“Have you been here before?” she asked, looking at the clearing.
“Pax,” he murmured. “Whenever a client cancels or if I can manage to sneak out, I come here. It is peaceful. Quiet. No one comes here this late at night.”
She’d asked the question before she’d even realized it. “Did a client cancel tonight?”
Then she froze, not quite sure if she wanted to hear his answer.
He let out another long exhale, but said, “Veki. I had Valerie cancel my client this night.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, reaching out to touch his forearm. He shook his head, but settled them both into the mossy, soft ground. Sprigs of grass tickled her ankles as she leaned into him. “I just hate the thought of you with other women. Hate is probably an understatement even. But I’m trying.”
“Leeldra,” he rasped, his arm reaching around her back to curl around her hips. He nuzzled his forehead into her temple and whispered in her ear, “You do not know how much I wish it was only you.”
Her chest ached at that, but it hurt even more when he continued.
“Keriv’i…we mate for life, with one being,” he murmured. “I have heard of humans that do the same, though I do not think my clients are prime examples.”
Eve’s lips parted and she met his gaze. “I imagine not,” she said softly, her mind racing at his words.
“You have not spoken of your mother,” he pointed out gently. “Were they a love pairing? Or a pairing of convenience?”
