His rabbit frowned, which was quite an effort for an animal with no eyebrow muscles. It said,No,slowly.No, that would be bad. But Sabrina should know!
She should,Luke agreed patiently.I'll tell her?—
RIGHT NOW!
Never mind having no eyebrow muscles. Luke was also reasonably confident the animal had no sense of objectpermanence. A thought entered its mind, made itself known, and exited again with zero connection to any other thought it had ever had.When the time is right,he told it firmly.
It groaned and fell over to stare glumly into the distance, clearly fed up with Luke's wishy-washy human behaviors.Rabbitsget right down to business,it told him.So should you.
Luke coughed quietly on another sip of champagne and put the glass down almost out of reach so he would drink water going forward.Yes,he said with as little humor as he could manage.Rabbits are known for getting down to business.
His rabbit lit up.So GO LUKE GO!!!
Luke refused to dissolve into laughter, but it was a close thing. By then, Sabrina was watchinghim, not the toast-giver, her round eyebrows lifted and amusement sparkling in her eyes. Luke said,You're going to get me in trouble with our fated mate!to his rabbit, and the animal gave a horrified gasp.
No! That would be THE WORST. I can't do that! You can't be in trouble! I'M SO SORRY!!!!
Just hush for a while and let me handle the human things,Luke said, and the rabbit, trembling with sheer panic over the idea of getting him in trouble with Sabrina, fell blessedly silent for the rest of the evening.
"What onearthwere you thinking during the speeches?" Sabrina asked hours later, on their way back up to the hotel room. Her expression was all challenge.
Well, mostly challenge, and some amusement. Luke grimaced at his shiny shoes and dared a glance at her. "I'm sorry. Things get so solemn and serious."
"There are people who might think lifetime commitments are," Sabrina said dryly. The elevator dinged and they made their way out, down the hall, and to the room, where the lock randomly decided not to recognize the key card for the first three tries. Just before Luke was about to take it downstairs, it blipped the door open, and they went inside. Sabrina fell on the bed with a relieved groan, put one foot on the bed and propped the other against her bent knee, and started unfastening the straps of her shoes.
Her fluffy skirt fell around her hips, revealing her thighs almost up to her bottom, and Luke very suddenly didn't know where to look. He decided the wall was safe, and said, "It's not that the commitment isn't serious. I just think I might want the things around it to be...fluffier?"
Like her skirt was fluffy around her hips. Because that was all he could think of right now. Fluff.
I'm fluffy,his rabbit whispered. Luke snorted a laugh through his nose and, rather unusually, wished he could give the rabbit a hug.
Yeah, you are,he said fondly.You're the best fluffy buddy.
His rabbit sniffled happily and he wished, again, that he could hug it. In the meantime, Sabrina got one shoe off and switched feet to remove the other one, which did nothing for putting her skirt back where it belonged.
"'Fluffier,'" she echoed. "I never heard anybody use that word about wedding ceremonies. Unless the bride's dress is a real meringue.Which," she added strenuously, "I think is agoodthing, if that's what she wants. I get mad at people who are mean about wedding dresses. What's wrong with a million yards of lace if that's what you want? Or something really slinky and skin-tight, for that matter?" She threw her second shoe aside and thumped her feet—toward the floor, Luke had to admit. Lying on her back at the edge of the bed with her knees danglingover, Sabrina's legs just weren't long enough to actually reach the floor. It was incredibly cute, and he was pretty sure she'd punch him in the nose for saying so.
If she could reach his nose.
He grinned and sat beside her, taking his own shoes off with less theatrics. "So which is your vibe? Meringue or slink?"
"Oh, I don't know. Somewhere in between? I need something fitted through the bodice, like this, but the poofy skirt works on my body type because it just enhances the hips and doesn't make me look quite so top-heavy. But then again I've got the hips to go with the boobs anyway, so I could go fitted through the hips and a soft mermaid skirt or something. What I can't do is magically be tall, unfortunately."
"You're the perfect height," Luke promised her.
Sabrinahmphed. "Easy for you to say, Mr. Six Foot Five. At least our fake children will be normal heights."
Luke had a brief, vivid image of Sabrina round with pregnancy, and his heart seized so hard he thought he might pass out. His rabbit said,Kits are good!and Luke dizzily agreed, although it was at least as much the idea of the pregnancy as kids that got him. He'd had no idea he might be into pregnant women, as athing.
Except it wasn't the idea of pregnantwomenthat was his thing. It was very strictly the idea of pregnantSabrina. When he found his voice, he sounded wheezy: "We've escalated to fake kids, have we?"
Sabrina sat up, looking embarrassed, and started shimmying out of the little jacket that went with her dress. "Yeah, I don't know where that came from. Sorry. I'll try not to be such a weird fake girlfriend."
Luke, watching her shoulders appear from under the jacket, watching what that shimmy did to her considerable bosom, fought the urge to lean over and kiss her all the way back intolying down. She was, after all, right there sayingfakekids andfakegirlfriend, which gave him all the information he needed to know about where she saw this thing going, at least right now. He wet his lips, croaked, "You're the best fake girlfriend I've ever had," and tried to convince his circulatory system that it should be supplying blood to his brain and heart, not locations farther south.
Sabrina laughed, which did wonderful things to the expanse of now-exposed bosom. "Ah, the truth comes out. You've had a lot of fake girlfriends to compare me to."
"Guilty," he rasped. "Dozens of them, throwing themselves at me on social media. Entire fake lives to go along with them. You'd be amazed at the lives we've led, according to them. Frankly, I'm swamped."
