Page 61 of Skinwalker's Bane
“No, it’s true,” he insisted. “We don’t look alike, thank the stars, only that’s just surface. I became a skinwalker because they told me I couldn’t. And look at you. How long did you and Lincoln keep secretly seeing each other?”
“Six years,” she murmured, her heart beating.
“Why? Why for so long? And don’t tell me again it was just the sex. You could have had spectacular sex with anyone with a drop of creativity in them, and they wouldn’t cause your campaign manager to screech in shock if he’d ever found out. No, you saw Lincoln because it was wrong. Because if anyone had ever known, they would have told you no.”
She stared at him. “That makes me sound…”
“Stubborn,” Adam said. “Independent. Able to make up your own mind. And you did that again last night. That Dreamhawks woman looked about the same way I figure Bishan would have looked, if he’d seen you sitting with the Plebian skinwalkers, drinking their throat-burning coffee.”
“I did that because….”
Because she resented not being able to.
Devin hugged her knees even harder. “Do you want me to be like you because it would make your choice easier?”
“It makes it hard, damn it!” He slapped the cover with a muffled thump. “If you were anyone else, my choice would be dead simple. I don’t want to change, any more than you do, Devin. Ilikebeing a skinwalker. Not the hype and the glamorous stuff and the…other things.”
“Women, booze and parties,” Devin said stiffly.
“Not that,” he said and hesitated. “Although, it’s fun, sometimes. That wasn’t what got me out of bed every day for my shift. It was the thought of going outside. You’ve never been out there, so you have no idea what I mean.”
“I’ve seen the starfield on the screens,” Devin assured him.
“Then youreallydon’t know what I mean. Being out there…it’s breathtaking. Nothing moves, not that you can see, yet everything is moving. All at once. You look up at the stars and you feel very small and insignificant. It makes any problem you take out there look pathetic and stupid and irrelevant. You can’t help but be completely awed and humbled. Which is why a lot of the time, I keep my head down, or I’d never get any work done.”
He smoothed out the cover where he had hit it and piled up wrinkles. “Did you know the Droolies—the new trainees—get helmets that have the top half blackened, just so they don’t get distracted by the view?”
Devin shook her head, smiling at his passion. “I can see why you wouldn’t ever want to give that up,” she said truthfully.
“Ialsowant us. You and me. Together.” Adam’s gaze met hers. “I don’t know what that means, yet. I want to find out, though.”
“Didn’t you…just make the decision?” she asked carefully.
Adam pulled her to him, shoving the cover aside and drawing her onto his lap. “Remember when I said this was going to be complicated?”
She nodded, moving her head only a little, for his lips were hovering very close to hers and she didn’t want to discourage him.
“I was wrong,” he murmured. “It’s far beyond complicated.”
“I don’t like simple, anyway,” she assured him.
He kissed her.
Chapter Sixteen
Every second day, actual shipboard morning coincided with the arrival of the daylight in the Palatine. Which meant every second morning, the Table woke to nighttime darkness. This morning was one of those mornings and it seemed like a warning, to look out the window and see the inky black night and the glow of the pale earth reflecting the daylights on the other side of the Palatine.
Devin had work to do, so they hurried through a quick breakfast, which was made longer because Adam couldn’t stop drawing her into his arms whenever she came close and kissing her full, soft lips, or burying his hands into her hair and holding her head still while he nuzzled her throat, moving lower with every kiss.
Devin didn’t protest. She held still, even while he could feel her quivering in response. When he finally did let her go, she would start moving even faster, a small smile playing at the corner of her gorgeous mouth.
She picked up her jacket when the house AI alerted them to an arrival. “That will be the taxiboat,” she said and kissed him. It was not a long kiss, yet there was feeling there and he had to keep his hands curled into fists to stop himself from dragging her against him once more. They had agreed to let each other be who they were. She was a working politician. He had to let her go and do that.
“Will you be here when I get back?” she asked, her lips moving against his cheek.
His body throbbed at the light strokes. “Today is day one of my off-rotation. I can’t think of anywhere else I should be.”
“Good.” She smiled at him and walked away and he watched her go, certain she was aware of his scrutiny and implicitly giving him permission to enjoy the view. He let himself appreciate her figure with every skerrick of his body and sighed as she turned into the lounge and he could not see her.
