Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99485 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 497(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Slade saw where I was looking and raised an eyebrow.
“Would you like a cocktail?”
I started to say no, but then I remembered the enormous 3-D holo ad for liquor that we’d flown through before the ceremony.
“What about a Kiss?” I asked him. “I mean the bright pink liquor, you know?” I added hastily, lest he think I really was asking for a real kiss.
Slade gave me a half-lidded look and I somehow knew he was thinking of the long, delicious kiss we’d shared at the end of our Binding Ceremony. It made me blush the way he looked at me and I felt my nipples getting tight again.
“Sure, Princess,” he murmured. “I’d be happy to give you a kiss. Just wait here.”
He rose from our table and made his way across the restaurant, crossing the dance floor to get to the bar. There was a line and only one bartender, so it looked like he might be waiting for a while. I hoped he didn’t miss any of the food he had ordered for us. I had no idea what any of it was or how to properly eat it, but the restaurant was filled with delicious smells.
I was watching a couple sway sensuously across the dance floor and wondering if I might ask Slade to dance with me like that—after all, it would probably kill some time—when a second server came up to the table.
“Pardon me, Miss, but this comes to you compliments of the gentleman sitting over there,” he murmured, putting down a fluted glass filled with some bright yellow drink. He nodded across the restaurant and I saw a Brutal male with curving horns painted a metallic red and slitted red eyes. He seemed to be wearing a kind of cloak draped over his shoulders. When he caught my gaze, he nodded at me.
“Oh, er, thank you but I couldn’t possibly accept,” I began but the server was already rushing off to serve someone else.
I sat there, unsure of what to do. I didn’t want to drink any of the yellow liquid—I had no idea what it was. But more importantly, I had no idea who the man who had sent it was. He appeared to be an Enforcer like Slade, though his eyes and horns were a different color. I didn’t find him attractive at all but even if I had, I was certain it was the height of impropriety to be accepting drinks from strange men—especially since I was here with my husband.
Before I could think of a way to refuse the drink and send it back without being impolite, the Brute who had sent it came over to my table. The cloak he was wearing rustled and I saw that it wasn’t a cloak at all—there was an enormous pair of bat-like wings folded against his back.
“Well, hello there, pretty lady,” he murmured smoothly, sliding into Slade’s chair. “You look awfully lonely sitting here by yourself.”
“Oh, I’m not by myself,” I said quickly, seeing a way to clear up the misunderstanding. “I’m actually here with my…my husband.” It took a minute to get the words out. It still felt so strange to call Slade my husband.
“I don’t see anybody here with you.” The Brute gave a casual glance around the circular restaurant.
“He’s right over there,” I said and pointed at the bar. But to my chagrin, Slade wasn’t there. In fact there was no one at the bar at all now. Where had he gone?
“Over there, huh? Is he invisible?” The Brute who had sent me the drink chuckled at his own joke. “Look, why not just admit you’re here on your own and you’re new in town? Let me show you around—we’ll have a lot of fun.”
“Pardon me, Sir, but I really am here with my husband,” I insisted, falling back on my Court manners to deal with the situation. “So I’m afraid I can’t accept the drink you so generously offered. I am truly sorry for any misunderstanding but I must ask you to leave.”
This cool little speech would have sent any man from L’Crist packing in under a minute. But the Brute with the metallic red horns and blood-red eyes just sat there, not budging.
“Say, you’re an Untainted, aren’t you?” he asked, his gaze moving over my body in a way I didn’t much care for. “Pure human DNA? No other species mixed in?”
“That’s right, though I hardly think that’s a topic to bring up in polite conversation,” I said pointedly. “Please Sir, I must ask you to go. My husband will be back at any moment and I am afraid he won’t be very happy to find you here.”
At last the Brute seemed to give up.
“Ah, well—you can’t blame a male for trying,” he said, shrugging. “Tell you what though—just take a sip of that lassie-banger and tell me if you like it.” He gestured at the bright yellow drink. “I hate to send a pretty lady a cocktail without at least getting to see her try it.”