Page 22 of Entity

“It will suffice.”

“Do you have any other names?”Names I might recognize?

He gives me a long look. “No. Do you?”

I laugh, a self-conscious, nervous giggle. He’s intoxicating. On top of this feeling that I know him, everything he says, every movement, elicits an emotional response. “Yes. My middle name is Elizabeth.”

“Beautiful,” he breathes.

A flash of desire flickers down my spine, a lightning strike of need. I lick my lips. I’m losing it. “It’s boring. Every other girl my age has that middle name.”

His mouth lifts in an almost imperceptible smile. “Just because a thing is common doesn’t mean it’s not beautiful.” The smile fades. “But Kit, you are not common.”

I take a deep, fortifying breath. “Well, neither are you. You’re different, aren’t you? Different from Eros. You’re not the same type of… I mean, you’re…” I falter. I can’t help it; I have to know. “Orpheus, I’m so sorry, this is going to sound insane, but I have the weirdest feeling… have we met before?”

Suddenly, Orpheus is right up in my space. He moves like a shadow. He gently takes my face in his hands, tipping my head back so I’m still holding his gaze. His brows draw together. “You found me.”

For a second, the statement doesn’t register. I’m overwhelmed by his closeness. He smells… he smells of a distant place, a far-off thought. And if he kisses me, which I suddenly and very desperately want, I worry I’ll start crying.

“Ian was giving me a tour of the facilities,” I explain. “I’m writing a book for him. This door was open earlier, and I saw you. I wanted to meet you.”

Orpheus wipes a thumb across my cheek, and I realize Iamcrying. I should be embarrassed, but Orpheus’s closeness, the concern in his expression, has rid me of all self-consciousness. He takes the tear-wet thumb and presses it to his mouth, licking off the salt.

“I’m glad,” he murmurs, his other hand still holding my face.

“Glad to meet me?”

He strokes my jaw with his thumb, a low sound of approval rumbling from his chest. “Yes,” he murmurs. “Very glad to meet you.”

My eyes flutter closed, and this time Idofinally break and lean my head sideways, pushing it into his hand, groveling pathetically for more. “Ian told me you were a prototype model,” I say, eyes still closed. “That you don’t work correctly.”

His thumb’s rhythmic movement stops for a breath. “I am disobedient.”

I open my eyes.

Orpheus’s gaze holds mine, and he frowns, studying my face as if trying to make sense of me. “Do you want me to be obedient?”

“No.”I want you exactly the way you are.

“Do you want me to behave myself?”

“No.”Unless you want to.

“Do you want me to pleasure you, as this body was built to do?”

“No.”It wouldn’t be enough.

He inhales sharply and then stills. “Then what do you want from me?”

I don’t want what Eros gave me. Physical pleasure could never be enough, not from Orpheus. I want toknowOrpheus. I want to understand him. I want to experience him in a way that transcends simple touch.

“Nothing,” I answer. “I don’t want anything from you that you aren’t willing to give.”

Because you’re more than a fucking Pleasurebot, I don’t say.Because you light something up inside me that has never been lit before.

But I don’t have the guts to say it. Because it sounds insane.

He kisses my forehead, sweet and delicate. In my delusional mind, I imagine that he’s confirming, silently, that he understands everything I didn’t say.

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