by Dara Joy
“You mean the wings?” She was studying a map of their air route, half listening to his remarks.
“Wings…like a”—he paused, waiting for the right word—“bird.” Light was beginning to dawn.
“Yes, how else would it fly?”
He immediately unbuckled his seat belt and made to rise.
Deana grabbed him by the waist band of his jeans and yanked him back into the seat. “Whatever is the matter with you?”
“You fly in a machine?” He seemed revolted at the prospect.
She looked at him askance. “I’m not going to ask you why flying in a machine is upsetting you, because I just know I am not going to like the answer.” She patted his knee. “You’ll be fine.”
He accepted what she had to say; whether he believed it was another matter.
The plane soon turned down the runway and took off. Lorgin clutched the arms of the chair tightly, but took it quite well, considering. Once they were in the air, he seemed to relax somewhat.
“The fight attendant will serve us breakfast soon. You must be very hungry, you haven’t eaten since…You haven’t eaten.”
He agreed. “I am very hungry. Breakfast will not be…greaseburgers, will it?” That idea worried him.
A mischievous gleam sparkled in her eyes. “Not unless we’re lucky.” He shot her an I’m-not-amused look.
Breakfast turned out to be scrambled eggs, hash browns, toast, and orange juice. He ate everything, seeming only really excited about the orange juice. And coffee. The man loved coffee. He drank four cups before Deana warned him about the effects of caffeine.
“I would go easy on that stuff if I were you.”
“Why?”
“Coffee contains a stimulant called caffeine. If you drink any more, I’ll have to scrape you off the ceiling.”
“I vow I would brave the effects of this caffeine if I could have more of this wonderful elixir.”
Deana placed a hand on his arm, gently lowering the cup from his mouth. “Trust me.”
He complied immediately, his intelligent gaze intently capturing her own. “I would that you also trust me, Adeeann.”
Deana, flustered by his sudden intensity, returned to her tray of food.
After breakfast, they settled in for the long flight, Deana opening a paperback book, Lorgin leaning back in his seat, a look of stoic endurance on his face.
When Deana noted that Lorgin had been quiet for some time, she raised her head from her book, wondering if he had nodded off. Instead, she saw him staring intently out the window. He seemed fascinated by the wide blue yonder.
The plane bucked slightly in mild turbulence.
The captain’s voice came over the loudspeaker, requesting the passengers to fasten their seat belts due to unexpected clear air turbulence. Deana leaned back in the seat and gazed out the window beyond Lorgin’s golden mane. Just before she closed her eyes to take a nap, she idly noticed puffs of clouds fluffing by the window. Those clouds are moving rather fast, she thought as she yawned.
Too fast!
Deana bolted up in her seat and stared out the window, noting clouds rapidly and unnaturally converging together. Even as she watched, a bolt of lightning arced from cloud to cloud.
The plane bucked again.
The low rumble of thunder vibrated through the plane. She turned her horror-stricken gaze to Lorgin.
The plane took another hop and dive.
“Lorgin!” He turned to her.
“Are you doing this?” His smug look was admission enough for her. “Are you crazy? Stop it at once! Are you trying to get us all killed?”
He sighed and leaned back in the seat. The ride immediately smoothed out.
If she wasn’t so shaken, she would be tempted to thump his head with her book. “What possessed you to do something so stupid?”
He shrugged. “You make too much of this, Adeeann. I was just…playing, to pass the time.”
Playing? Causing a lightning storm was playing to him? Good grief! She’d have to watch him every minute to make sure he didn’t cause a disaster. Chi’in t’se Leau my foot! Just who was guarding whom, she moaned. Cripes, an alien with a warped sense of humor! And supernatural powers.
Deana had never been so happy to land in her life.
They arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon.
Since there already was a line at the reservation desk, Deana sat Lorgin down in a chair outside the ladies room, and went in to splash some water on her face. She was patting her cheeks with a paper towel when Lori, an old convention acquaintance, walked in.
“Deana? Is that you? Wow, you look great! What did you do to yourself?”
Deana stared at her reflection in the mirror. Hey, she did look great! No, great wasn’t it; she looked…beautiful. Her hair, always an auburn red, now looked somehow deeper, almost garnet, and it was absolutely luminous. Her features were the same, but in some undefined way, better. Her eyes, usually a drab gray, sparkled like crystals. Her light, rather dull skin tone glowed with a pinkish blush. Even her body felt slightly fuller and rounder. It was a magical transformation…
Magic!
She stormed out of the bathroom, leaving Lori talking to the wall. Leaning over Lorgin, she placed her hands on the arms of his chair and glared down at him.
“What did you do to me?” she demanded.
He looked up at her, eyes half closed. “What do you mean?” he asked lazily.
“When did you make me look like this?”
Lorgin reached up and smoothed back a lock of silky hair which had escaped her braid. “You have always looked like this, Little Fire.” His voice was husky as his hand came up and cupped the back of her head. He bent forward, knowing his eyes were beginning to spark. She was a most pleasing prickly gharta.
With a great effort, Deana twisted free of his hold. “You didn’t put some spell on me?”
“I do not do spells. Only a sixth—”
“Don’t start that business again. Why do I look like this?”
He looked genuinely perplexed. “You have always looked thus.”
She pondered that statement. Perhaps to him. But something had happened to her. Obviously, Lorgin knew nothing about it, so she’d have to wait for an answer. Noticing that the line had thinned at the desk, she told Lorgin she was going to check them in.
Lorgin’s heated amethyst gaze followed her to the desk. In truth, he had wanted to take her from the moment he had first seen her. Now he suspected it was something more. Much more. Of course, this he would know later, when he tasted of her.
Deana looked around the lobby, noting the indoor waterfalls, marble floors, and lush plants. It was beautiful. Getting a copy of the reservation confirmation out of her purse to give to the desk clerk, she briefly thought of getting two rooms, but the cost of even one room in this palace for the week was exorbitant. She also was afraid that if she got separate rooms, she’d wake up to find Lorgin sitting in the hallway in front of her door, guarding her from Darth Microwave.
The woman behind the desk scanned the form and punched her name into the computer. “So, that’s one room.” The clerk glanced at Lorgin. “King-size bed—”
“No! Two double beds.”
The woman looked over at Lorgin again, her eyes traveling the impressive length of him as she raised her eyebrows. She leaned forward, whispering to Deana. “Are you sure, girlfriend? I’d take the king and tell him that’s all we had left.”
“You don’t understand.” She sighed. “The doubles will be—”
“We will take the king bed.”
Deana turned around to Lorgin open-mouthed.
“Am I not a Knight of the Charl and therefore entitled to sleep in a king’s bed? I will take no other.” He swept his hand through the air, as if to finalize it.
The woman behind the counter shook her head and tittered. “I don’t know what he said, but if I were you, I’d go with the flow.”
So, here she was in a lovely hotel room, sitti
ng on a kingsized bed in her short cotton nightgown, going with the flow. Lorgin was in the bathroom taking a bath.
She looked down at the bed.
It was certainly wide enough for the two of them. She hoped he wouldn’t get any ideas. No, that wasn’t true. She hoped he’d get a lot of ideas, just not act on any of them. She didn’t think she could deal with an intergalactic Don Juan.
Especially not one that looked the way he looked…
She shivered. Just the thought of anything physical with him could turn her into a bowl of jello. And it wouldn’t take him long to find it out either! No, she was not stupid enough to play with dynamite. She didn’t have enough experience to handle a man like…
Her thoughts drifted off as the door to the bathroom opened and Lorgin walked into the room wearing nothing but that dangling crystal earring.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she squealed.
He padded over to the vanity and retrieved her blow dryer, affording her a splendid view of his taut backside. He had the most perfect buns she had ever—
Lorgin looked innocently over his left shoulder at her, asking guilelessly, “It is not permitted?”
“No, it is not permitted!” She tried to make her voice project a firm, no-nonsense tone; what came out sounded rather shaky.
He turned toward her, giving her ample view of all of his generous assets.
Oh God.
He was awesome. She never would have imagined…
Deana flushed crimson. “Go into the bathroom and put a towel around you, or—or something!” she sputtered.
His hand covered his heart. “By your desire,” he literally purred before he turned and padded back to the bathroom.
As soon as Lorgin was out of her sight, a devilish grin slowly creased across his handsome face. He pictured Adeeann’s expression. No, she could not hide her emotions from him. He wondered what other reactions he could coax from her.
Deana heard the blow dryer go on, so assumed he had watched her dry her hair earlier. She lowered her still flaming face to her hands. She kept trying to think of something, anything, else, but it was no use. Her mind kept picturing him as he walked out of the bathroom, tawny skin still slick from his bath, with all the grace and beauty of a great golden tiger.
This would not do at all.
She heard the dryer shut off and braced herself for his reappearance, half expecting him to appear in the nude again. A moment later, Lorgin came out of the bathroom, graciously attired with a towel around his waist. However, his hair was going in every direction.
His face bore a thunderous expression. “What has that machine done to my hair?” The words were spaced and measured in an ominous tone.
Deana giggled. She couldn’t help it. Great warrior, Knight of the Charl, done in by a blow dryer. He did not appear to appreciate her sense of humor. His next words confirmed this.
“I do not see the humor in this, Adeeann.” He narrowed his eyes.
Still giggling, she patted the bed. “Here, sit down. I’ll see if I can brush the knots out.”
While he sat on the bed, she went to retrieve her hairbrush from the bathroom. Unbeknownst to her, his gaze followed her, flickering down the length of her bare legs in blatant interest.
Oblivious of his perusal, Deana sat down behind him cross-legged on the bedspread, saying, “You know, you’re supposed to brush your hair while you dry.” She looked at his head critically and smiled. “Unless you’re aiming for the wind tunnel effect.” He bunched his shoulders.
“Relax. I’m just teasing.”
“Be glad I do not challenge you for such a remark, Little Fire.” He spoiled the seriousness of his words by turning to grin wickedly at her.
She began brushing his long, silky mane, carefully smoothing any knots out. His hair was thick and straight, gleaming to the middle of his back. So beautiful…
Deana began stroking the length of his golden hair, letting the brush’s bristles glide down his back, while her other hand followed the same path, smoothing down the strands. It didn’t take long for her to lose all sense of time, getting lost in the activity.
Lorgin closed his eyes and leaned back into her small but capable hands, enjoying the sensuous tug and pull of the brush, the softness of her touch. He thought he might never master the use of this blow dryer, if the result would be Adeeann doing what she was doing for him now.
By Aiyah, such pleasure was almost pain.
She continued her long, sensuous stroking. The bristles of the brush lightly scraped over and down the skin of his naked back. Her sweet tasmin scent filled his nostrils. Occasionally her fingers lightly brushed against his bare skin, causing him to almost moan aloud. Enough!
Without warning, Lorgin grabbed her hand and brought it over his shoulder. He removed the brush from her nerveless fingers while holding her hand in his; then he turned his head to softly kiss the inside of her hand. Deana felt the tip of his tongue briefly touch the center of her palm.
Tiny ripples of electric current pulsed from his hot tongue to her fingertips.
Gasping, she tried to reclaim her hand, but he wasn’t ready to release it just yet. Tugging her forward, tight against his bare back, he sweetly kissed the inside of her wrist. Some sane part of Deana’s mind briefly wondered how such a strong man could have such soft lips.
Another shiver passed through her. What was that intriguing electric buzz she felt?
“Thank you, Little Fire,” he murmured, kissing her wrist once more. Again, a little shiver.
“L-Lorgin?”
“Mmm…” His answer was muffled by the skin of her arm, which he was now nuzzling very affectionately.
“I think…” She tried to pull her arm away again. He reluctantly released her. “I think we should go to bed—to sleep!” She stumbled over her words. “We should go to sleep now.”
He gave her a Mona Lisa smile—like a cat before it pounces on a hapless mouse, she thought.
She shakily got off the bed. This time she didn’t miss his provocative perusal of her legs. Okay. This is one fire she was going to have to douse and douse fast.
“I’ll take the right side, you can sleep on the left. Since there’s plenty of room in the bed, I’ll expect you to stay to your own side.” There, that was plain enough.
Lorgin rose off the bed, going to the left side as instructed. He gave her a defiant look before he lifted the sheet, got into bed, and proceeded to toss the towel he was wearing onto the floor. Leaning back against the headboard, he crossed his arms over his powerful chest, raising an eyebrow in silent challenge, as if daring her to comment.
She ran her now sweaty palms down the front of her nightgown. Just go on with a normal routine, she advised herself, as if giving orders to a huge, naked, “consequential” alien in one’s bed were a completely natural occurrence.
“Fine,” she said in a little voice. “Now I’ll say good night.”
She moistened her lips nervously and dived into bed, quickly shutting the bedside light. Deana couldn’t help but hear his low laugh echo in the darkness as he turned over and went to sleep. Did she say giving orders? Who was she kidding? She fumed silently. The man did whatever pleased him. Arrogant beast!
Unlike Lorgin, who slept soundly, Deana was not so trusting, tossing and turning half the night. She remembered thinking that she should’ve turned down the air conditioning before getting into bed. These hotel rooms could go arctic on you overnight. She briefly thought of getting up to turn it down, but then sleep finally overcame her and she drifted off.
Ahhh, her pillow was so warm, and smelled so cleanly of sandalwood…
She cuddled her cheek against the satin down, loving the smooth, taut feel of it against her skin.
Sandalwood?
She blinked her eyes and stared into a golden amber chest.
Oh, no. Please, no.
Worse than that, in her sleep, her nightgown had ridden up to her waist, and her leg, probably looking for warmth, had insi
nuated itself between his thighs. His naked thighs.
She didn’t want to know what her knee had been rubbing against.
As if that wasn’t enough of a situation, she felt two large toasty hands cupping her bottom, inside her bikini underwear. She didn’t move a muscle, praying he was still asleep and she could slowly untangle herself from him. Haltingly, she raised her head, apprehensively lifting her eyes to his face.
Lavender eyes burned down on her, sparking with passionate flame.
I’m in a fix here, she thought, swallowing.
Lorgin knew the instant she had awakened. He had been waiting patiently for her to do so for some time. It had not been easy. The woman had been rubbing and cuddling against him like a baby zeena. He had no intention of wasting the opportunity.
He swiftly dipped his head to claim her mouth. She tried to squirm away. Not to be denied this time, he held her fast. Leaning toward her, he chose first to lightly brush his lips across her closed mouth, back and forth several times, to leave no doubt in her mind who was in control. Who would always be in control. He had not liked her thinking she could order him about like some untried youth. He was a seasoned warrior, a Knight of the Charl; best she know it and know it well.
He paused to regard her silently, with smoldering eyes, for several minutes. Her frightened gaze locked with his.
Deana thought he must hear her heart pounding in her chest. This man is dangerous. She was terrified of his strength, of his power over her, of his alienness. But most of all, she was terrified of his uncompromising masculinity.
He continued to regard her silently for several moments. Without warning, he abruptly released her, saying, “Go get dressed, Adeeann. I am of a mind for something to eat. Best for you if it is food.”
Deana did not stop to question her reprieve. She leaped out of the bed and ran into the bathroom.
Lorgin rolled over in the bed and stared at the ceiling.
Aiyah, she was a woman who could surely test a Knight of the Charl. He sighed, knowing that if what he now suspected was true, eventually he would have no choice but to overpower her fear of him…
