Taking a deep breath before pressing the entry alert at Major Sekar’s very imposing door in the exclusive Swaminithan corridor, Lazlo tried to calm himself. He was anxious about the dinner to come and hoped Dugal’s advice as to what to bring was going to be correct. He had a box of dark and light chocolates under his arm, hopefully not melting from his body heat, and a bouquet of vivid pink lilies in his hand. The flowers’ scent had grown stronger and more exotic the longer he’d carried them, and he was almost dizzy from it. Lazlo hoped the major liked lilies.
Pressing the chime and trying to maintain a calm expression, he waited only a moment before the door was opened by a flushed and smiling Bara Kidd. She was dressed in soft gray trousers and sweater, her dark-blonde hair tied up on top of her head in a silky knot.
“Welcome, Lieutenant Casta. Come in, please.” She beckoned for him to enter and he couldn’t decide if he should apologize right away for allowing her to be stunned by her kidnapper or wait for a more appropriate moment. But when was it appropriate to make apologies for such a thing? It certainly hadn’t been covered in any protocol class he’d ever taken.
“Thank you. Citizen Kidd, please let me apologize again for what happened on the docks. I am so sorry you were injured.”
Bara Kidd shook her head, greenish eyes alight with good humor. “No need, you didn’t do anything wrong. But if that’s a making-amends box of chocolates, I will certainly take them. And I won’t let Theo have any because he didn’t get stunned at all. But I understand you did recently, so I suppose I should share.” She led him through a large foyer containing an enormous light fixture and a small aquarium filled with tiny darting yellow fish. They emerged into a spacious living area filled with well-worn antique rugs, books and leather furniture. It also contained Major Sekar, a large dimensional display of some section of the Outlands and a smiling Del Browen.
Having two good-humored females in his apartment must have agreed with the major—he looked positively cheerful. But Lazlo was too floored by the sight of Del to spend much time contemplating a smiling major.
“Ah, Lazlo has arrived. Now we can eat,” the major announced, rising and shaking Lazlo’s hand as he awkwardly handed the bunch of lilies to his commander. “Citizen Browen was just showing me some likely hiking trails. She certainly knows her way around the Outlands. Flowers for me and a lovely color too.”
“He brought me chocolates,” Citizen Kidd piped up and looked devilishly at the major, who returned her taunt.
“Are you that easily impressed?” Sekar questioned her. “I could have saved us a lot of time and simply sent you chocolates.”
“But the pursuit was so enjoyable.”
“I agree.” Lazlo was shocked when the taciturn Sekar leaned over and gave Citizen Kidd a solid kiss, which she returned enthusiastically. Glancing away, he caught Del’s eye and she raised her eyebrows. He tried to signal his confusion to her but she just looked perplexed.
“I’m not sharing the chocolates.” Bara Kidd smiled up at the major as he tightened his grip on her waist.
“Then I will have to try harder.”
“Yes you will.”
Lazlo moved away from the engrossed couple and headed over to Del, but before he could say anything to her, the hosts remembered their guests and announced dinner was ready. Sekar carried the flowers off to presumably find a vase and Ms. Kidd directed them to the dining room, which was spacious and dominated by a wall of terrace windows that looked out over a spectacular sunset.
Admiring the view before he sat, Lazlo went to the seat Bara Kidd indicated, which placed him across from Del. She looked a bit uncomfortable as she glanced around the large room and shifted her chair closer to the table. He wanted to speak with her, suddenly and completely, with no one listening. He felt as if he had several hours of conversation he needed to have with her.
The major returned and placed the lilies on the table, now housed in an extravagant crystal optic vase. He had also brought in a platter of warm appetizers, which they passed as they made small talk. Del responded to the other couple’s questions but kept glancing at him.
Lazlo felt as if he couldn’t be himself with her there, as if there was something unsaid between them that created a barrier to him participating. Or perhaps he was intimidated by being a guest in his commander’s obviously happy home.
Bara Kidd rarely took her eyes from the major and he always watched her in return. Their obvious rapport was both inspiring and envy-inducing. To have someone in his life he could trust and feel such comfort with had been something he had wanted for some time but circumstances had never allowed it. And his last relationship had damaged him enough he doubted he ever would.
* * * * *
Rising with a sigh, Major Sekar began to clear the table, announcing dessert would be served in the living room. Lazlo complimented his hosts on the fine dinner—cheese puffs, braised greens and a wonderfully luxurious roasted chicken. He hadn’t eaten that well since the last time he’d visited home.
They had spoken about the events of the weapons recovery, with both the major and Citizen Kidd heaping praise upon Del. There had also been some lively discussion of Harata’s upcoming trial, with Bara Kidd recalling how difficult it had been to testify against her former friend. Lazlo knew he was going to have a great time testifying against Avo Kirk and Sheriff Harata and anyone else he could think of.
Citizen Kidd followed the major out of the room, balancing some plates in her hands and shaking her head at his offer of assistance. This left Lazlo sitting at the table alone with Del for the first time that evening. She looked at him and he didn’t know what to say. He’d sent her a few messages, which she had courteously replied to within twenty-three hours each time. She hadn’t initiated any messages or calls. Lazlo had spotted her once at a distance as she drove a cart laden with recyclables along the Boulevard, her brown hair gleaming in a beam of light, but she’d been moving away from him and he hadn’t been able to catch her attention.
He missed her.
“It’s been awhile.” Del brushed her hands along the smooth surface of the table.
“Yes. A month. How are you?”
“Well enough.”
“How is your family? Your mother?”
“All improving at various rates. She’s still not well, but recovering, so I’m grateful.” She leaned forward a little and Lazlo couldn’t help but mirror her movements.
“That’s good.”
“It is.”
“How are the repairs going?”
Del grimaced then. “Well enough,” was her terse reply.
This was becoming painful. What had happened to the easy camaraderie they’d developed in the Outlands? Maybe she was feeling repressed by their environment. He was. The major’s home was imposing—large, luxurious and clearly a slice from a more sophisticated background than anything normally found on Sayre.
“Let’s have dinner. I still owe you one.” Maybe afterward they could go on a hike and Del could tell him what to do for a few hours. That would put her in a good mood.
Del blinked and shared a hint of a smile with him. Her shoulders relaxed and she leaned his way. There she was, Lazlo thought with relief—the Del who could find a joke in the bottom of a dusty canyon. If he could just find a few mineral samples for her to fondle she’d be back to normal.
“We just ate.”
“Another time.”
“You do owe me.”
“Anywhere you would like,” Lazlo offered with a hint of anxiety. He really wanted her to say yes, to agree to see him. Before she could answer, Citizen Kidd entered and encouraged them to return to the living room. He reluctantly rose and followed her out of the elegant dining room, reentering the living area to find coffee and a gleaming fruit tart arranged on a low table in front of the sofa.
Del took a seat on the sofa where the major gestured and Lazlo followed instructions and sat next to her, trying not to roll in to her as the sofa sighed and engulfed him. Bara Kidd buzzed back and forth from the kitchen, bringing plates, cups, silverware and napkins, all while Major Sekar admonished her that one large tray would have solved the problem very efficiently.
“Yes, Theo, I am aware that a large tray would have been useful for this,” she replied tartly, taking a seat on a chair and busying herself with slicing the dessert. “But you don’t have one and neither do I.”
“Are you certain? I thought I remembered one from your old apartment, leaning on the wall…” The major trailed off, thinking as he poured coffee and handed cream porcelain cups around. Lazlo took his with thanks and tried not to look at Del as she listened to the discussion.
“That wasn’t a serving tray. It was part of my oven door that had fallen off.”
“Oh.” Corrected, the major looked decisive. “Let’s get one then, or two, or whatever you like. What do you think, Citizen Browen? You’re a native Sayrian. Where is the best place to shop for a serving tray?”
“I have no idea. It would probably be best to order one from off-planet,” Del gamely replied and Lazlo empathized with her discomfort. Most of what little she owned had been damaged or destroyed, so the purchase of new elegant serveware was hardly something she would consider.
He tried not to lean in to her on the sofa but it was difficult—the cushions seemed to conspire to collapse and incline him in her direction simultaneously. Remembering how good it had felt to touch and hold her was also making it difficult to avoid some contact. His body just wanted to be near her.
“Of course,” Major Sekar smoothed over her confusion with good manners.
“I’d rather not buy anything right now,” Citizen Kidd piped up as she handed around the desserts, serving the major a double-sized portion. “We might get one as a wedding gift.”
Lazlo was shocked. He had no idea they were even engaged. “Oh Lieutenant Casta, were you wanting a larger serving?” Citizen Kidd must have misinterpreted his look of confusion for disgruntlement with his portion size. “I automatically serve Theo extra sweets. He needs to gain some weight. But I’m sure you would appreciate more as well. You look as if you burn up a few calories with your physique.”
She boldly sliced another piece of tart and slid it on to his plate. He thanked her and retreated to silence to consider the staggering news that Major Sekar and Bara Kidd were engaged to be married. Major Sekar, the coldest, toughest man on the planet, was getting married to this sweet, humorous woman. Remarkable.
“Congratulations. Have you scheduled a date?” Del asked, shaking her head at Citizen Kidd’s offer of another slice of dessert. The major nodded quickly.
“We’re still negotiating. I’d be happy to commandeer Judge Titus into officiating first thing in the morning, but he is busy with the cases against our arrested deputies. Judicial imperatives take priority.”
“That prosecution is wonderful for every citizen on Sayre, but wedding folderol is going to take a break until you have that all squared away,” Bara Kidd said as she ate a bite of tart and smiled. “And you will soon enough. Are those military police working out?”
Within a day of the loss of nearly all law enforcement for the agricultural areas, the major had scheduled bare-bones patrols by any off-duty port security officer. Lazlo hadn’t had a day off in weeks. The commander had also requested a full complement of military police to arrive and take over until special elections could be held to establish a new sheriff and hire deputies.
There was much chatter and excitement when the grim contingent had arrived in a dark-gray craft studded with weapons. They took up part of a field near the port for their camp, which was surrounded by spiked walls that they’d thrown up within an hour of their arrival. Lazlo had timed them.
Rumor had it that on their off hours they did forced marches and weapons training in the Outlands. The agricultural workers were thoroughly intimidated and port security nearly was.
Major Sekar looked at Bara Kidd with affection and then turned to Lazlo. “They are. Their commander says they’re growing bored with patrolling fields and warehouses, but she has started them on some survival training near the hot springs to keep them occupied in their off hours. That happens to be a nice segue for this announcement. Lieutenant, in part because of the stellar work you did with recovering the weapons material—”
“And ridding us of Harata!” Citizen Kidd broke in gleefully while Sekar tried unsuccessfully to glare at her. Del grinned at her with shared happiness.
“Because of your stellar work in several areas, I’ve enrolled you in the Academy’s special course on territorial law. You will have to wrap things up here quickly. The session begins in about ten days, but you may want to arrive sooner to acclimate.”
Del stilled beside him as he absorbed this news. Coming on top of the engagement information, he was reeling.
“Thank you, sir, I don’t know what to say.”
“You just did. A thank you is sufficient. I expect you to do very well. A lot of opportunities will come your way if you rank in the top of your class. I use skills I learned from that course every day here on Sayre.”
“Yes sir, I will do my best.” Territorial law? Lazlo hadn’t begun to hope for that training yet—maybe after a few years here on Sayre with a lot of administrative experience to boost his application. But the major had gotten him in with a week to spare.
After successfully completing the course, he could transfer to any new colony and take over all law and order, serving as judge, enforcement—even draft special laws. If he recalled correctly, the initial training was for thirty-five days, then there was remote coursework for five hundred days and a final month of practica and testing. It was a large time commitment, but he had a feeling he could manage it. The major was right. It was an incredible opportunity.
“Then neither one of us have anything to worry about.” The major turned his attention back to Citizen Kidd where he clearly preferred it. “This tart is very good. We should make it again.”
“Yes, darling. Would you like another slice?”
* * * * *
Del had agreed to be escorted home by Lazlo because she missed him, and even though she knew he was going to be leaving soon, she would regret not spending time with him while she could. He looked more cheerful once they left his supervisor’s apartment and she realized he’d felt the need to be careful there as much as she had.
They walked close to each other along the corridors, passing a few pedestrians but not rushing or talking much. Del wished he would touch her but gave herself an admonishment. He wasn’t interested in her. He was going away very soon for his new assignment. She’d just be friendly and maybe he would message her a few times.
Del regretted not responding more openly to the overtures he’d made in the last few weeks, but she’d been terribly busy with taking on more cycling shifts and working hard to clear and repair all the damage at her family’s property. She hadn’t had a day to herself, or even an hour other than sleeping, since it had all happened.
So walking with him back to her home would have to suffice. It might be the last time she would ever see him, considering how quickly he was going to have to leave for his training. That thought made her feel desperate and lonely, which was ridiculous since she hadn’t even talked with him since she’d left his apartment that morning a month ago.
“Have you been well, really?” Lazlo asked as they passed a few quick counters busily serving up fragrant coffee and fried dough sprinkled with sugars to big groups of stevedores just coming off their shift. “I couldn’t really tell from your messages.”
“No, yes, I don’t know.” Del stammered a reply, unsure of herself. “I’ve just been so busy it’s hard to know if I am personally doing all right. All my attention has been on getting the family and the business back together. I would’ve liked to have talked with you when you called. I just haven’t had a moment.”
Lazlo nodded, seeming to understand the reasons she hadn’t been able to be chatty with him.
“I’ve been busy too, at least until the military police showed up and picked up the patrols outside the port. We’d been covering them and it was exhausting. Have you had your counseling?”
“Yes, a few sessions. I don’t like it.”
“It gets easier with time, when you’ve gotten to know your counselor and have started to recover.”
“Have you had yours?”
Lazlo nodded, looking calm and content, so Del assumed he was doing well. She wasn’t, not really. She was still nervous. Small rooms made her sweaty, loud noises made her jump, and she would have unexpected flashes of anxiety about her family. And her nightmares were epic. Her counselor said it was normal, but it was still difficult to relax, or to anticipate her feelings would improve.
“Do you need any help at your place?”
“No, not now. Most of the debris has been cleared, the new glass is in the broken windows, we have three vehicles up and running and parts are on the way for the other two. Dee Dee hated having to order and pay for new parts—we’re a family of salvagers, after all. She has really taken over the business side of things while my mother recovers. Which means all I have to do is do what she tells me.” Del smiled at the idea of her sister’s new motivation and determination. Dee Dee wasn’t the carefree woman she had been before the deputies came and shook up their world. “I’ve been doing cycling runs twice a day now since I’ve been back.”
“So no exploring?” Lazlo reached out a hand to guide her away from a loader bot that was trying to back out of a doorway while overloaded with pallets of bagged amaranth.
Del shook her head, wistful at currently being so tied to the port. But her family needed her. “Not yet. But I really want to get back out there. I have all of those places marked where I need to go back and collect samples. There are several I keep seeing in my mind, like visions.”
Del turned and smiled at Lazlo and he grinned back, looking tall and lovely and so attractive that she wanted to cry or grab him, she wasn’t sure which. And he was leaving.
Del realized she had been holding the idea of Lazlo in her mind like a sweet possibility, thinking perhaps sometime in the future something would happen to bring them together. Now that he was leaving for much bigger and much better things than Sayre it never would. Maybe this walk had been a bad idea. They were close to the port gates, which meant her apartment was only a few minutes away.
“You’re the only person I know who dreams about rocks,” Lazlo said in an entirely affectionate way, looking as if he wanted to give her a hug. Del wished he would. Her bruises were healed and the idea of his arms around her, his hands on her, was making her tingle. Just one more time, one more touch.
“I dream about other things too,” Del defended herself and he nodded and kept walking.
“Like what?” They passed through the gates with a nod at the keepers. Now the night sky arched above them—rich purple with stars barely visible in the drifts of orange and gold dust that glowed in the upper atmosphere. Del breathed in the air, enjoying the humid and fragrant contrast of the fields to the filtered and clean environment of the port itself, which was sealed and atmospherically controlled for optimum efficiency. Two different worlds and she knew where she belonged.
“You know the reward I got? For finding the weapons?” Del said.
Lazlo nodded as they ambled along past a warehouse still lit and buzzing with loaders and stevedores preparing a shipment of taro for an early-morning freighter.
“I had hoped to use it to attend a mineralogical conference on Weave. That was a dream I had.”
“But that one also includes rocks,” he reminded her with a chuckle, reaching for her elbow as a loader rushed past them, stacked crates of plump and fragrant ginger roots swaying in its arms.
Del grimaced. “You’re right and my other one does too.”
“You only have two dreams?”
“That’s all I can think of right now. I think that dinner used up all of my brainpower. It’s been so long since I’ve had chicken, I’m having a problem paying attention to anything but recalling how good it was.”
Lazlo laughed and guided her closer to the building as they rounded the corner, the Browen property now visible across the service road—mismatched metal walls and gates visible in the lights, damaged but still working, just like Del was.
“You aren’t going to the mineralogical conference?”
“No, those marks are spent already. New parts for the carts.” Lazlo watched her, not commenting or looking at her with pity, which she appreciated tremendously. “I won’t be visiting Weave.” Or seeing you again.
“Should I walk you in?”
“No, someone will be wandering around and anxious to talk with a fresh face and then we’ll have to stand there for fifteen minutes pretending we’re interested.”
“I don’t know. I might be interested. I like your family,” Lazlo offered, sounding game. Del smiled at him. He was simply a nice person. She just couldn’t get over it, or appreciate it enough. Lazlo leaned on the warehouse wall, big shoulders braced against it, looking relaxed as he watched her with kind brown eyes. She wanted to fall against him and bury her face in his chest but that was certainly not the way to end this evening.
“Really?” Del finally replied, hoping to get herself off her lustful thoughts. “They mostly make me a little crazy.”
“Another reason you miss getting to the Outlands.”
“Exactly. They all have expectations of me and jobs for me. When I’m not around them I get to relax.”
Lazlo stopped smiling and touched her arm. “I know these past weeks have been hard. I’m sorry.” He lifted himself off the wall and stepped closer to her, both of his big hands gentle on her shoulders. “I am serious about dinner too. I want to go out with you before I start that class.”
The reality that he was leaving hit her again and she winced inside. “Yes, congratulations on that too. It sounds as if it’s quite an honor.” Lazlo nodded and gave her shoulders a little squeeze before he released her. Del wanted to kick something with disappointment.
“It’ll be a lot of work. I hope I can manage it.”
“You will.” Del automatically encouraged him. He was a wonderfully capable person.
Lazlo looked unconvinced. “You sound pretty sure of that.”
“I am. You will.” Sighing because she really shouldn’t stand there anymore, Del made her excuses. “Good night, Lazlo, it was good to see you.”
“Good night, Del Browen. I’m going to message you about dinner. I know you can’t be too busy to eat.”
* * * * *
“I’m coming back. Probably. Unless I’m reassigned after the first class block.” Lazlo sounded irritated and Del feared she was pushing too much. Several times during dinner she’d mentioned his upcoming departure, mostly because she’d been thinking about it with constant distress since their dinner with Major Sekar and Bara Kidd. “It’s just a thirty-five-day introduction, ten months of coursework and another thirty-five-day practica and examination.”
All of that sounded like at least a year away to Del and she shriveled inside. Lazlo, her favorite new person, was leaving and she missed him already. He’d been there with her through some traumatic events and she was getting used to him. She liked knowing he was around the port and she might see him as she went about the family business. She didn’t make friends easily and Lazlo was her friend.
When he’d tracked her down at the compound the day before and insisted she go to dinner with him tonight, Del had been giddy for several hours after he’d left. Just being near him, seeing his eyes light up with happiness when she’d agreed, had filled her with sparks of excitement.
Dee Dee’s advice from earlier in the day echoed in her head. Her sister had told Del to have a wild night with the man before he left, as a going-away present to him and for an experience Del could relive during the many long and lonely days to come. Dee Dee had said a good romp would leave Del in a much-improved state of mind, which she needed since she felt like crying right now as she watched Lazlo’s lovely face as he concentrated on one of his bots.
Being assaulted, stunned and having her family business nearly destroyed had overhauled Del’s sense of what she wanted from her life, just as Dee Dee had refocused afterward. Why not have sex with Lazlo tonight? Why wait for things that are never going to happen?
Del watched Lazlo’s big fingers move as he tried to assemble a wall-walker bot that had fallen and broken when he’d activated it a few minutes ago. They were seated on the floor in his apartment after a wonderful dinner at the self-service snail restaurant, and Lazlo was trying to get some of his experimental surveillance bots to work so Del could see them in action.
He was wearing microspecs as he looked over the device, the magnifying lenses glittering in the lamplight of his living room. Tiny metallic bits and snips of wire were scattered on a chipped dinner plate and the minuscule wall-walker was resting in his hands, looking more like a smashed insect than any sort of spy.
“Regardless,” Del said, not wanting to argue with him about good intentions versus the lures of abandoning dirty and fungal Sayre for living in a much more pleasant place like Weave, where there were beaches and forests and lovely views and pretty girls. At least from what she’d seen in the entertainments. No one had ever made an entertainment about Sayre. “I’ve been thinking about something,” Del started to explain, watching Lazlo nod and continue to study his broken little bot with apparently deep thoughts. “I’ve been thinking about tonight.”
“Yes, I have too. Dinner was good, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, it was very nice. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Lazlo wasn’t making this easy. His polite niceness was keeping her polite and nice in return, which was hardly flirtatious. Not that she was adept at flirtation. Del needed to approach this as if she were cracking a geode—identify likely pressure points, select the correct spot, use the proper amount of force and then the beautiful interior would be revealed. Or the rock could shatter and she would be left holding dust.
“That’s not all I’ve been thinking about.”
“What else?” He looked up from his project with a grin, his big shoulders hunched. “You probably weren’t thinking you were going to be watching me destroy my latest project. I thought I had these bio-synth joints worked out. There was this new formulation on the advisory panel that was supposed to be impervious to dust contamination. I grew the sheathing last night and it looks as if they’ve developed these microfissures.” He sounded confounded.
“No, I wasn’t anticipating that. Hadn’t really thought about bio-synth joints at all,” Del agreed, feeling more and more nervous the longer it was taking before she communicated to him what she wanted. What approach would work with him? But first things first, she needed to make sure the way was clear. “You aren’t involved with anyone right now, are you, Lazlo?”
Lazlo stopped inspecting his bot and looked at her, one eye comically enlarged by the lens of the microspecs. “You mean intimately? No, I’m not. Not for a while. Why?”
Del swallowed hard. Her mouth was dry and her heart was pounding like a drilling hammer. Be brave, she told herself. Try to live tonight. She could have died before and now she wanted to live. And she really wanted him. There was no getting away from it. Lazlo Casta made her hot.
“I’ve been thinking more about something I’d like to do tonight. If you’re agreeable, that is. And if you aren’t, I understand, of course.” Now she felt like her peripheral vision was disappearing. Lazlo kept looking at her—friendly, kind and entirely unaware of what she was about to propose. If she could manage to get the words out.
“Sure, what would you like to do, Del? I have some new entertainments loaded and there’s the new nodule Trixie mentioned. We could go there. It has to be pretty dull watching me mess around with these things.” He lifted the microspec lens from his eye and smiled at her again.
“I’d like to, tonight, I’d like…” Del trailed off. For some reason, the philosophy of making bold choices and living her life was hard to articulate in front of a man you wanted to have intercourse with. Time to pick a spot and hit it.
“What?” Lazlo watched her with good humor glowing in his brown eyes. “What would you like tonight?”
“To be with you,” Del whispered quickly, finally getting it out and sure she was going to collapse with embarrassment right into the plate of miniature bot components in front of her.
“You are with me,” Lazlo replied obliviously, but then must have noticed her blushing because he was suddenly very still and wasn’t wiggling bot parts anymore. “Be with me in what capacity?”
“In an intimate way. Or in whatever way you’re comfortable,” Del managed to say. She hadn’t been very explicit, but at least she was still talking to him and not running for the door.
Lazlo put the broken wall-walker down on the dinner plate and moved the whole mess away from them by pushing it under his sofa. He looked hard at her and she quivered, blinking. Del could tell from the glow in his eyes and the tiny smile on his mouth that he was starting to understand what she was having a hard time saying.
“I’m a comfortable sort of person, Del.”
“I know. You’re very comfortable to be around and that’s rare for me to find. So that’s why, since you’re leaving, I wanted to try…while I have the chance.” She was only slightly babbling.
“Just so I understand—you want to be with me, tonight, intimately, because you’re comfortable with me and I’m leaving soon?”
Del nodded, that was pretty much her whole strategy, other than the potential vagueness of “be with”. A platonic sleepover wasn’t really what she wanted, but she’d take it if that’s all Lazlo offered. “I wasn’t suggesting we have some full-blown affair. I know we aren’t interested in that. Neither one of us. I’m busy with work and you’re going away. I was just hoping for tonight. But I understand if you can’t.”
Lazlo took a breath and shifted closer to her, his long legs stretched out near hers. He reached out and caught up her hand and she shivered with the potential of that touch. Maybe she should draw back now before it was too late. Go back to being uninvolved Del Browen, just her and her rocks, unemotional and interesting. No reckless intimacies.
“Just tonight?”
Del nodded, stroking his hand since she couldn’t seem to bring herself to stop. “Forget I suggested it.”
Lazlo shook his head. “Maybe I don’t want to forget it.”
He shifted even closer, one of his heavy thighs pressing to hers as he circled his strong fingers around her palm. Del tried to look in his eyes but was distracted by the warmth of his body. “Intimate physical interaction, correct?”
“Yes,” Del breathed out, suddenly feeling lightheaded and nauseated. Lazlo was going to start laughing now. What big, smart, nice man would want to roll around with a grubby little trash picker like her?
“I think it could be good,” Del ventured, watching his face for any sign of amusement, not taking a deep breath now. Lazlo was very focused on her and she didn’t see any humor in his expression, only concentration.
“I think it will be great.”
Just as Del processed what he had said and started to feel a thrill of possibilities, Lazlo reached out for her and she clutched his hand as he pulled her close. He circled his arms around her and she slid her free hand up all of the hard swells of his biceps and deltoids. Her whole body was at least ten degrees hotter.
“Would you like to?” Del managed to ask as she stared into his eyes.
“This is a strange seduction,” Lazlo replied and circled one hand behind her head, staring at her and looking very serious.
“I know. I’m strange.”
“You’re fascinating.” Then he slowly lowered his face nearer to hers and Del felt swoony, his fingers on her back, his thighs pressed to hers, his warm scent dancing into her brain like really good anesthesia. But this was her idea—she needed to kiss him before he reconsidered the whole thing and politely escorted her to his door and said goodbye.
She sucked in a shaky breath and caught his mouth with hers and something popped in her brain. He was light and cautious and tasted better than anything. Del felt a moan rising up she tried to repress but Lazlo just kept kissing her, testing where her curves were, nudging her lips a bit farther apart, tightening his hold on her as his tongue touched hers and her whole body jerked.
Somehow Lazlo was lifting her and she was moving her legs to sit in his lap, panting as Lazlo kissed her cheek and nuzzled her ear. Del found his cheek with her fingertips and moved him back for another kiss, this one slow and soft and so much like Lazlo that she melted against him, her body anxious to fold into all of his angles and stay for a while.
With a few more tastes of her mouth, he eased back and looked at her. Del was sure she looked flushed and drugged, since that was how her whole body felt.
“Well, that was compelling,” Lazlo rumbled, not looking particularly nice anymore, more determined and warmed up than anything else. All Del could do was nod a few times and hold on to his shoulders. Somehow her legs had wrapped around him and most of her awareness was located where her body was straddling him.
“Right. I agree. So are we in agreement?”
“Were we arguing?”
“No, I’m just trying to be clear.” Lazlo was thwarting her efforts to reach a conclusion since he was busily investigating the fastenings on her clothing. Not undressing her, merely locating and noting them as if he were going to disassemble something complicated. Which was a promising idea. When his fingertips moved over her waistband, Del shivered and tried again. “Lazlo, what do you want to do?”
“Keep finding out how compatible we are.”
“Ah, so, right then. Just for tonight.” Del blinked at him, his face close to hers, and she sighed with relief. He wasn’t going to reject her—in fact, he was holding on tightly. He pulled off the microspecs and tossed them on to his sofa.
“Just for tonight.”
“Should we stay here, or…?”
Lazlo grinned then, his normal, happy and friendly grin and Del felt herself smile in return. Despite how entirely aroused he was making her, between his bunchy muscles, good smell and fantastic kisses, this was still Lazlo, the man she’d tromped around with in the sand, shared water with and survived with. They had fought to save each other.
One good night, that was all she wanted or expected. And she had sudden faith he would give that to her.
“I vote ‘or’.” He lifted her up over his shoulder and carried her back to his bedroom, the bedroom she’d slept in once, where she’d felt safe the whole night. The only night she’d felt safe in so long.