Page 112 of Even Robots Die
As we walk down the stairs, I watch her type the amount of money she needs to transfer to her father on her holo, and even if I hate the idea that I’m enabling an addict—because that’s what he is—I’m still glad I have the means to help her with this.
When we’re at the bottom of the stairs and past the entrance door I don’t bother with walking to the little park we landed in earlier, I pull Florentine against me and I fly up.
The night has set completely while we were in the apartment and I have a feeling it’s going to be a long one.
The flight is short, but I’m surprised to see that Florentine is completely relaxed in my hold and that even her head is against my torso and her arms around my neck, even if she doesn’t need to while I’m carrying her bridal-style.
Her arms are loose, though, she’s not trying to hold on for dear life.
I have no idea what happened over the course of the day, but during each flight, she became more comfortable in my arms.
I don’t know what happened, but I’m grateful all the same.
When we finally land on theparvis,something becomes very obvious to me, though.
Florentine was so comfortable in my arms that she fell asleep.
I’m grateful when the guard on duty opens the door for me because I don’t want to wake her.
When I get upstairs, I’m torn for a second.
I want to bring her into my room, into my space, into my bed, but after the whole debacle in her workshop I don’t know how she would react if she wakes up and I find that I’m liking it a lot more when her cheeks redden for reasons other than her being mad at me.
It’s not like I would have slept with her in the bed.
I don’t think I’m going to sleep anytime soon.
Against my primal senses, I walk to the room she’s been given when she arrived earlier and softly tuck her in.
I kiss her forehead before walking out of the room
But when I close the door, I hear her moving in the bed.
“Brice?” she asks in a small voice. “Can you see if the girls are awake? I need to take a shower and sleep a bit before Dad comes back, but I’d like to tell them he’s alright before I sleep.”
I’m not surprised.
I nod to her before remembering that she doesn’t have bat sight and that she probably can’t see me in the dark.
“I’ll be back with them in ten minutes. Is that enough for you?”
“Yes, perfect,” she answers before I finally close the door and hear the sound of her feet on the floor as she undresses and gets in the shower.
I want to open the door again and join her there, but I have to force myself to walk away and go find her sisters.
I’m certainly not going to shower just now, knowing that I can still smell her on my skin.
Instead, I walk down the stairs in the direction of the kitchens.
I need to find her something to eat because she barely ate anything today and that can’t be good with all the blood she lost.
Her sisters can wait a few more minutes.
Taking care of Florentine is higher on my list of priorities.
63
Florentine
