Allie's War Episodes 1-4(96)

An hour later, he’d switched to bourbon.
He contemplated a walk to the neon bar to try his luck, when he felt eyes on him and turned. A slender woman in tan slacks and a form-fitting ivory sweater stood a few paces behind him, probably in her early forties.
He’d seen her walk in, but dismissed her when she pulled out a book and settled in a corner to read, an appletini parked on the round cocktail table in front of her. She had money, clearly, but looked the type who wouldn’t go near a seer bar if her life depended on it. The kind whose human husbands tended to be Ullysa and Kat’s most regular customers.
He saw her study the clip on his collar, then glance down the length of his torso and legs. Seeing his eyes on her, she hesitated only a second longer. Clutching a small black purse in one hand and the martini glass in the other, she walked briskly up to the bar, her lips pursed.
Approaching him directly, she leaned against the wood.
He didn’t move his leg when she pressed into his thigh. She glanced up at him cautiously, an odd mix of nerves and daring and curiosity in her eyes.
“Are you what I think you are?” she said, soft.
He nodded, still watching her face.
“Yes.”
She studied his eyes, looking from one to the other as if trying to see past them. It was almost a seer’s stare. He found he was already reacting to her, and kept his mind carefully away from hers. As if she’d heard him, she said,
“Are you reading me now?”
“No,” he said, smiling.
“Do you want to?”
“Yes,” he said truthfully.
When she didn’t move away, he slid down further in his seat, glancing for the bartender. The woman looked down at him, reacting to his mind’s nudge, and reddened. Giving a nervous laugh, she brought her martini glass to her lips.
“I see. How much?” She hesitated. “You charge, right?”
“Yes.” He thought fast. “Five hundred.”
“Five hundred? Are you worth that?”
He dipped lightly into her mind. She waited, as if she knew what he was doing. He pulled out a moment later, shifting slightly on the stool.
“For you, yeah,” he said.
She smiled wanly. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
He smiled politely.
“This is crazy,” she muttered, taking another swallow of her drink. “I’ve never even talked to one of you before.” She switched her purse to her other hand, looking down the bar to buy herself time.
Revik didn’t answer. He’d learned more than he wanted in his brief tour. She was lonely. Her husband was on the cruise, too, but with someone else, likely someone he’d arranged to have come on the ship so he could slip away from his wife every chance he got. This woman knew, obviously, but for some reason wasn’t ready to leave him.
Human sexual relationships depressed the hell out of him.
He was about to tell her to forget it, when she nodded decisively.
“Okay.” She downed the rest of the martini, her eyes bright. “What the hell. Do you have a place, or—”
He shook his head. “Not yet.”
She pursed her lips. “Really? Then when?”
Revik hesitated. He hadn’t thought this through. Now that he had an actual person to react to, he realized he wasn’t worth anything close to the price he’d quoted. He needed an appetizer first, even if it was just his hand. He nodded towards the fireplace.
“In an hour? There’s something I have to do first.”
She looked doubtful, and he shook his head.
“Not that,” he assured her.
She nodded, but clearly didn’t believe him.
Hesitating another beat, he got up from the barstool, realized he still had an erection and paused, willing it to subside. When it wouldn’t, he felt his face warm. Instead of walking away, she lingered by him, shielding him from the rest of the room. His pain worsened briefly.
“Thanks,” he said after a moment.
She glanced down, a faint smile on her lips. “So the rumors are true, then? Is your kind always this...enthusiastic?” She waited for his answer, then added, “It’s good to know I don’t repel you, at least.”#p#分页标题#e#
Bitterness colored the last of her words.
Impulsively, he touched her hand that held the glass, letting his fingers linger on her skin. She shivered as it turned into a caress, and for another instant, he hesitated. He would lose her if he left now, he realized. He made up his mind as he felt her blush under his stare. He circled her wrist with his fingers.
“Forget the money,” he said. “And the hour.”
She blinked at him, and for the first time, he noticed her eyes were green. His cock hardened painfully again, even as nausea slid through his chest, making it hard to breathe.