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continued, kissing down the backs of my shoulders, then down the curve of my
spine. I was wearing a black dress with a mandarin collar and an open back
(the better to show off my tattoo) and nearly every kiss hit bare, sensitized
skin. I made mmmmnnning noises and then he straightened a little and unhooked
the collar. The front of the dress fell forward and I wasn't wearing a bra and
he put his hands on my naked breasts from behind me, pinching my nipples ever
so gently as he did so, and I tried futilely to keep my clothes on my body. I
ended up trapping my dress against his hands with my own hands, and as he
moved his palms in circles I made a strangled sound in the back of my throat.
"You know& he murmured in the hollow of my ear, "I saw this comedian once&
"If he wasn't telling a dirty joke, I don't see where this is going&
"Give me a chance& " He nipped my earlobe and I gave up the dress struggle, and
then I was just facing the naked top half of my little ol' body and his giant
beautiful self in the mirror. I looked at him it was easier and tried to
capture my dress as he unzipped it the rest of the way and slithered it down
my hips. "So anyway, this guy was talking about the death penalty and how we
needed to make it more humane&
"This is so romantic, I said, but I couldn't summon any sarcasm because he'd
pulled me back against him, and I was wearing pantyhose and nothing else now
against the roughness of his jeans, and even through his jeans he was as hard
as a rock and suddenly banquet seemed like a burden I couldn't bear.
"Hush& what he said was that instead of making someone wait and wait and wait,
just knowing they're going to die because that would be awful, we should just
pop our heads into their cells one night and take care of business& bang& the
end& that the anticipation was the most awful part& " As he was talking, his
hands slid from my breasts down to my now-flat stomach, then under my
pantyhose as he started the top rolling, and down past the vee of the juncture
of my thighs that I refused to see in the mirror, and then they were down my
thighs and he stepped on them and hauled me up by main strength until they
popped off my feet. I let him. I reveled in his hands on my waist, and then
they slithered down again to palm my inner thighs and my brain was torn
between going completely bye-bye and trying to figure out what he was telling
me. He turned me in his arms then and kissed me, gently, teasingly, pulling
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back from me when I wanted more, kissing the corners of my lips, my chin,
using his long fingers to tease my spine, my hip, the cleft of my bottom, and
I was almost in tears because I wanted him so badly that the world seemed to
stop breathing, just so my skin could beg for his touch.
He picked me up then, wrapping my legs around his waist and my tender, aroused
sex was abraded by his jeans, and he carried me into the bedroom and I tried
to make some sort of protest& we had things to do, and then we had had things
we must do, and it wasn't going to be like this, not just the two of us, not
spontaneous, not wonderful& with another part of my brain I heard my door open
and close quickly, and before I could look up and see who had come in, Bracken
laid me on the bed and kissed the hollow of my throat and now my eyes crossed
under kissed lids with the effort to not lose myself.
"Cory& he murmured.
"Mmmmnnnnnnmmmmmmmm?" I wanted to be lost.
My beloved smiled, pulling back just enough for me to see his lazy grin.
"Bang, he said, and Green and Nicky joined us on the bed.
ARTURO
Yarn Over
Arturo never let Grace know how hard it was to get Chloe to leave the boys
there that night.
Chloe skewed up the driveway in her pale, colossally sized Toyota Tacoma just
as Arturo was finishing his walk of the land. He had been making preparations
for the banquet all day and had put off his walk until the very end for one
thing, he wanted to be fresh and strong for the ceremony that night. When he'd
been a god, they'd had many such ceremonies, and he'd reveled in them. The
only thing that gave a god more energy than his subjects fucking each other
blind was the slough of joyous births that followed, and he'd always been
enthusiastically in favor of both events. There had been other gods who'd
taken more joy in the spilled blood than the touch, blood, and song, but blood
magic without the touch and the song was dark magic, frightening and
uncontrollable, and Arturo had always tried to be a merciful god.
He'd be the first to admit, though, that in the merciful god department, he
didn't hold a candle to Green.
For instance, he would have killed Chloe weeks ago for torturing his beloved
the way Chloe was torturing Grace. But then Grace would never have forgiven
him, so it was probably a very good thing that Arturo wasn't in charge. That's
what he'd told himself when Green had changed the power flow in the hill, and
nothing had happened since to change his mind. Cory's ups and downs didn't
bother him she was young, and just as it had been hard for him to adjust to
being a subordinate to Green, it would be difficult for her to adjust to being
a goddess. Arturo had no doubts whatsoever that Cory would someday achieve
immortality, but unlike Green, he was not looking forward to the day. He'd
seen it happen before, to humans he'd loved, and he knew that the Goddess had
a way of balancing the universe. Not one of the humans who'd become immortal
wouldn't have traded their immortality for the thing they'd sacrificed to get
it. Not one. The problem was, the immortality was usually a sort of
consolation prize, given for something truly valuable, and Arturo didn't want
to see Cory go through that sort of pain. But he did want to serve under her
for longer than a mortal lifetime, so he wasn't planning on telling any of
them about his doubts.
And speaking of sacrifices&
Chloe squealed to a halt, spewing gravel, and threw herself out of the truck
with force. If he'd have told her then that she looked exactly like her
mother, she may have lunged for his throat, but it was true nonetheless, and
even Arturo knew she had a right to be pissed, even if she couldn't put her
finger on why.
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He'd had to compel her over the phone, using all of the formidable power in
his control, to get her to leave the boys for the night and then turn around
and go back to the hotel she'd been staying at. Grace had been paying Chloe
and absurd amount for working in the store in order to keep her nearby until
the situation was settled. Chloe was in possession of dangerous knowledge, and
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