Deliberately, Lone turned his back to Lizabeth and began to strip. He was willing to let her have her privacy if it was so important to her. She had never been exactly shy with him but he knew she was a modest person. Other than the time of her first and only needing, he had never seen more than her lower legs and her throat and wrists, since she wore business skirt-suits almost exclusively.
After a moment he heard the rustle of furs and other clothing and knew that Lizabeth was stripping too. He stood naked, waiting for her, keeping his gaze turned resolutely away although he ached to turn and feast his eyes on her ripe curves.
Gods how he wished he could see her—touch her—again. But it seemed that wasn’t to be.
Lizabeth was more than grateful for Lone’s consideration of her privacy. She was embarrassed at the idea of him seeing her naked. She wasn’t quite as firm as she’d been before her forties had hit and she was also considerably fuller-figured than she had been before her divorce. But her main concern was that he might see her swollen breasts and guess that she had been lying about the needing going away.
She looked down at herself ruefully as she peeled off her blouse and the bra with its nursing pads and left them on the floor, along with the heap of heat-keeping furs since there seemed to be nowhere else to put them. Her breasts, if possible, looked even bigger than they had ever been before. Her nipples were red and swollen, though for once they weren’t leaking. But her entire chest area ached—it made Lizabeth feel like a cow that needed to be milked.
How long can I go on like this? she wondered dismally. How long before I get mastitis or some kind of infection? God, it hurts so much!
Longingly, she remembered the deep, pleasurable suction of Lone’s hot mouth the one and only time he had helped her—the immediate easing of pain as he drew the sticky nectar from her nipples and freed her of the aching and tightness. God, if only she could ask his help again!
But no—letting him do that once had been bad enough. She wondered again if it had disgusted him or if he had only done it as a favor because he knew she needed it. Was he like other loner Twin Kindred with no sexual feelings at all? Had it all been a study in awkwardness to him—an unpleasant duty he'd had to perform?
But even if he’d liked it, it was still wrong…still wildly inappropriate. She was too old for him…she was his boss. There was no way anything could or should happen between them. If it did, she would be no better than her ex, Bernard, flaunting his ridiculous new relationship with a girl young enough to be his daughter. Lizabeth had been down the road of having a relationship with a younger man once in her life, before she’d gotten married. It had not ended prettily. They—
“Oh!” Lizabeth gave a little exclamation of surprise as she slipped out of the thick boots she’d been wearing and put her bare foot on the carved blue-gray flagstones.
“Lizabeth—I mean, Mistress?” Lone half turned his head and then seemed to stop himself before he looked at her over his broad shoulder. “Are you well?” he asked.
“I’m fine. Just…surprised.” Lizabeth raised her foot and put it down again. “It’s warm—the stones are warm. I didn’t expect that—I thought they would be freezing cold.”
“Joren did tell us that the interior of the Tower had been hollowed out by hot springs,” he reminded her. “Perhaps the water in the cleansing pools is also running beneath the flagstones—a kind of natural hydro-thermal energy source right below our feet.”
“Maybe so.” Lizabeth said. “That would make sense. Okay.” She took a deep breath. “I’m ready to go. Are you?”
“You can look at me and see that I am if you want to,” was his reply. “I don’t mind.”
“Oh, well…” Lizabeth cleared her throat. She couldn’t deny that her eyes had been straying to his tall, muscular naked form…his broad back…his tight ass…his long legs…In every way her assistant was completely mouthwatering.
And completely off-limits, she reminded herself sternly as her breasts ached even more at the thought. She wished she could see his front side too and then squashed the thought almost immediately. It was bad enough that she’d been ogling his ass.
“Um, we should probably go in,” she said, to cover her confusion.
“Agreed. I have never asked you this, but can you swim?” Lone asked, a tinge of worry in his voice. “The pool looks deep—especially in the middle.”
“I was raised in Florida, land of a thousand swampy lakes and a million backyard pools,” Lizabeth said dryly. “My mom and dad made sure I had swimming lessons almost before I could walk—it’s the only way to keep your babies safe from drowning down there.”
“Very well—I’m glad to hear it.” Lone sounded relieved.
“Can you—swim I mean?” Lizabeth asked him.
“Twin Moons is a planet dotted with islands,” he told her, a little smile playing around the corner of his sensuous mouth, though he still wasn’t looking at her. “I was also taught to swim almost before I could walk.”
“Good then—let’s go get this over with.”
Taking a deep breath, Lizabeth headed for the water. She got right up to the edge of the pinkish-red half of the pool and dipped her toes in—only to pull back with a sharp hiss of pain.
“Ouch!” she exclaimed. “They weren’t kidding when they said hot springs—this water’s boiling! There’s no way we can get in there.”
“That hot, is it?” Lone knelt by the blue side of the pool and dipped his fingers in experimentally. But he pulled back as quickly as Lizabeth had.
“Hot, isn’t it?” Lizabeth said grimly.
“Actually, no.” He frowned, still carefully not looking at her. “It’s cold—freezing.”
“What? But that doesn’t make any sense!” Lizabeth protested. “How can one side be boiling hot and the other be freezing cold in the same pool? And how are we supposed to go into it and through it if it’s both too hot and too cold to stand at the same time?”
“Oh my dears, what’s taking you so long?”
Suddenly Mistress Anarrah appeared at the far end of the pool. She had some long swatches of fabric over one of her arms which might have been the clothing they were supposed to wear.
Lizabeth gave a little gasp and tried to cover herself with her arms. She didn’t want her new teacher seeing her naked any more than she wanted Lone—or anybody else for that matter—seeing her in the nude. She had always been an extremely private and modest person.
“We’re trying to get into the cleansing pool but the pink half is too hot and the blue half is too cold,” she called to Mistress Anarrah, her voice echoing and bouncing in the stone chamber. “How are we supposed to do this? Are we doing something wrong?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so if you’re attempting to go in alone. You must touch each other, my dear.” Mistress Anarrah made motions at them. “That way the male and female energy will balance each other out and you can traverse the pool together. No one can go through the cleansing pool alone, which is one reason we require all the Initiates to Knowledge who comes to us to bring a Novice with them.”
“Oh, well…all right.” Lizabeth nodded reluctantly. “Give us another minute then, we’ll, uh, be to the other side soon.”
“See that you are. I’m almost through choosing your robes and the Mistress Superior won’t like to be kept waiting for the oath-taking ceremony.”
With a nod of her silver head, Mistress Anarrah turned and went back into the small room at the far end of the pool.
“All right,” Lone said, still not looking at her. “Would you like to hold hands as we enter the pool, Mistress?”
“Yes. But you don’t have to call me that when it’s just us, Lone,” she protested.
“I think it’s better to keep in character,” he said mildly. “I don’t know what the punishment might be if I forgot and called you by your first name in front of the Mistress Superior.”
“That’s true,” Lizabeth agreed. “Since she nearly bit your head off just for speaking your mind back
in the entryway. I’m, uh, sorry I didn’t stand up for you more,” she added lamely.
“It’s all right,” Lone murmured. “We have a prescribed relationship here—roles that both of us have to play. I don’t mind playing along as long as we get what we came for.”
“Knowledge of how to beat the Yonnites at their own game,” Lizabeth said grimly. “All right…” She took a deep breath. “Ready to try again?”
“Yes.” He held out a hand, still keeping his eyes away from her.
Lizabeth took it and Lone entwined their fingers. She couldn’t help feeling like a child holding hands with an adult, his long, strong fingers were so much larger than her own. But there was a comfort in the contact too and she realized again how much she’d missed touching him—just being close to him.
Lone seemed to feel the same way because he squeezed her fingers lightly and a smile touched the corners of his mouth.
“Very well, Mistress—let’s try again.”
“On the count of three we’ll dip our toes in,” Lizabeth suggested. “All right?”
Lone nodded. “Count away.”
“One…two…three. Now!” Lizabeth took a deep breath and both of them put their toes in together, Lone in the blue half of the pool and she in the pink half.
This time the water was pleasantly warm.
“Oh!” Lizabeth breathed in surprise. No matter what Mistress Anarrah had told them, she had more than half expected to get burned again. “That actually feels really nice,” she said, looking up at Lone.
“It does,” he agreed. “Should we get all the way in?”
“I’d love to.” Lizabeth shivered. “It’s actually kind of chilly in here without clothes.”
“Agreed,” Lone said. “All right, let’s get in.”
There was a long set of broad, shallow steps that led down into the pool. The two of them walked in together, making certain to keep holding hands as they did so.
“Oh, this feels nice,” Lizabeth murmured as the warm, steamy water came up to her waist and then up to her chest. The deeper she went, the more relaxed she felt. The warm water seemed to soothe away the tension she’d been carrying for weeks, making her feel both calmer and rejuvenated at the same time. It even felt good against her aching breasts and sore nipples. It didn’t take away the ache exactly but it seemed to change it in a way she couldn’t exactly define.
“It’s very soothing,” Lone agreed. “But…does it seem to be getting cooler to you?”
“No…” Lizabeth frowned as they moved deeper into the pool. They were getting near the middle now and even though the water was almost up to her neck, it hadn’t quite reached the small, flat copper disks of Lone’s nipples yet. “Actually…it seems like it’s getting warmer to me.”
In fact, though the water had started out a very pleasant temperature, she was beginning rapidly to feel overheated, she realized. What was going on?
Lone shivered and she saw that the exposed skin of his muscular arms had broken out into goosebumps.
“It’s getting really c-cold now,” he said, his teeth beginning to chatter.
“And I’m beginning to feel like I’m getting boiled alive,” Lizabeth complained. “I—oh!”
The last word ended in a gurgle. The pool had been sloping gradually downward until she was walking on her tiptoes and the next step she took, her foot encountered…nothing. Her head dunked under the water as she slipped abruptly down into the heated depths.
“Lizabeth?” Lone’s deep voice was muffled by the water between them but the next thing she knew, he had pulled her to him and lifted her head out of the water. Holding her close in his arms, he studied her face anxiously. “Are you all right?”
“I…I think so.” Lizabeth coughed and wiped at her eyes. “The pool dropped off so sharply there! Did you feel it?”
“It was a steep step down,” Lone admitted. He was up to his neck now, Lizabeth saw but he still appeared to be standing firmly on the bottom of the pool. It was a good thing he was so tall, she thought.
“Ugh…” She pushed her wet hair out of her eyes. “I didn’t mean to get my hair wet. I must look like a drowned rat.”
“Not at all. You look beautiful,” Lone murmured, smiling down at her.
“Oh…thank you.” Suddenly Lizabeth realized how very close they were. Lone was holding her against his side with one arm wrapped around her waist and her full breasts were bobbing just under the water, pressing against the broad planes of his chest. In her fright, she had involuntarily wrapped her legs around him and her bare pussy was rubbing against his corded abdomen.
The sudden closeness caused her body to throb all over with the needing and she hoped that her nipples hadn’t started leaking, though it would be hard to tell in the colored water.
“Um…” she coughed. “I, uh, guess I’ll be swimming the rest of the way.”
“You could,” Lone said softly, making no move to let her go. “Or you could just let me carry you. It’s going to be damn awkward trying to swim while we’re holding hands.”
“I don’t know about that,” Lizabeth said uneasily. She had a sudden extremely unprofessional urge to kiss him…to run her fingers through his thick hair and draw him down to taste those sensuous lips of his…
Can’t do that! Have to get away.
“I think I can swim all right,” she said. Determinedly, she began untangling herself and Lone let her though she thought his face looked sad.
“Just be sure we keep holding hands,” he said. “We don’t need one of us to boil and the other to freeze.”
“True.” Lizabeth clasped hands with him again and began treading water but the minute she was away from his big body, she felt the pinkish water, which had been pleasantly warm only a moment ago, starting to get too hot—way too hot. “Oh, what is it?” she exclaimed with a gasp. “It just got hot again!”
“My side just got freezing c-cold.” Lone shivered, his teeth chattering. “Lizabeth,” he said. “Come here—I want to t-try s-something.”
Lizabeth might have asked what he wanted to “try” but she was too uncomfortable and beginning to panic about getting boiled alive to worry about impropriety at that moment. She went to him willingly and when Lone pulled her into his arms again, the temperature abruptly normalized.
“Hey!” She looked around, wondering if there was some kind of temperature gauge somewhere. “What just happened? The water feels normal now.”
“Same for me.” Lone breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought I was going to freeze for a moment there.”
“And I thought I was going to boil.” Lizabeth gave a shaky laugh. “Why did it change?”
“I think the water senses when we’re too far apart,” Lone said, frowning. “Maybe we weren’t touching enough? For whatever reason, when we drift apart, the temperatures become too extreme to bear.” He looked at her apologetically. “I’m sorry, Mistress, but it seems as though I’ll have to carry you after all.”
“All right.” Lizabeth sighed and hooked her arms around his neck. “I don’t really mind. I just didn’t want you to feel…uncomfortable,” she said and cleared her throat.
“Why would I be uncomfortable carrying you?” Lone asked softly as he wrapped his arms around her and began moving forward again.
“You mean besides the fact that we’re both naked?” Lizabeth pointed out, her cheeks getting hot. “And the fact that it’s really wildly inappropriate for a boss to go skinny-dipping with her assistant?”
Lone frowned. “What is ‘skinny-dipping?’ I don’t think I’ve heard that phrase before.”
“It means swimming naked,” Lizabeth said. “And I haven’t done it since I was in college. Although back then, I actually was skinny enough to do it. Now…not so much. I’m too old and too, well, not-skinny to be swimming around naked.”
“Why do you always do that?” Lone frowned at her.
“Why do I do what?” Lizabeth asked, frowning back.
“Why do you always make
disparaging remarks about yourself? About your curves or your age?” he demanded. “You’re beautiful, Lizabeth—you shouldn’t speak so about yourself.”
“Oh, uh…” Lizabeth felt tongue-tied, not sure what to say. “Thank you,” she whispered at last.
“You’re what we Twin Kindred call an ‘Elite’—a female the Goddess has blessed with extra-generous curves,” Lone continued, frowning at her. “You shouldn’t wish them or the wisdom that you’ve gained in your life away.”
“I…never thought of it like that,” Lizabeth admitted. And she’d also never known that her assistant had a thing for plus-sized women, she thought to herself. If he had a thing for any women at all—as a loner, he probably didn’t. Maybe he was just being kind. “Thank you,” she said, still feeling awkward.
“I just want you to see yourself as I see you,” Lone murmured. He stopped moving for a moment and looked her directly in the eyes. “Gorgeous.”
Lizabeth looked up at him, her breath catching in her throat. Okay, so maybe he really did have a thing for plus-sized women. The sincerity and true admiration in his pale gray eyes made her body feel tight and achy all over. And the way he was looking at her seemed a lot more than just friendly.
“Lone, I…I don’t know exactly what to say,” she whispered. “ I just—”
“There you are—almost done. Come out, my dears,” Mistress Anarrah’s tinkling voice broke the moment and they both looked up to see that they were almost at the other end of the pool. Lone was still carrying Lizabeth, holding her cradled like a baby in his strong arms as though she was light as a feather—which she knew for certain was not the case.
“You’ve been in the cleansing waters long enough for the effects to last for years,” Mistress Anarrah went on. “Do come out now.”
“We’re coming.” Lizabeth started to tell Lone to put her down but they were still in the pool and she didn’t want to risk either freezing or boiling. So, still feeling self-conscious, she stayed still in his arms until he climbed out of the pool and put her down—rather reluctantly, she thought.
“Very good. Here you are—some warming blankets to dry you off.” Mistress Anarrah handed each of them a wide, sheet-like piece of puffy, blue-green material.
Instructing the Novice Page 8
