She’d said in combat, which seemed a little askew from being a bodyguard. He filed it away. Perhaps that avenue of investigation could stand further probing. The thought brought him back to the present and where his fingers were embedded.
“Find something else to tell me. Something pleasant about your past.” He couldn’t resist moving his fingers again, down below. It mightn’t have quite been appropriate considering what she’d just said, but it worked in distracting her. He figured she needed diverting as much as he did.
“You had a childhood, Claire? Surely they didn’t deny you that.”
Claire stayed quiet a moment as she felt his fingers stroke inside her. This felt odd, even uncomfortable, yet combined with everything else he did, it triggered ripples of heat.
“My childhood. We’re made to be about the same as an eight-year-old human,” she said, opening her legs an inch and letting her eyes drift to half-closed. “Does that shock you?”
“No. I knew this. Our country has studied the making of, uh, the birth of, frankenstructs for some time.”
“Birth?” She spat the word. She heard the hiss of exhalation from Theo. He withdrew his fingers. Ah, now that was a pity.
“You’d rather another word, Claire? Words are just words. How we use them makes them what they are. And I say, you were born. Your childhood?”
She shrugged, wondering what he hoped to gain from this. “Rarely, they let us run about the compound or play ball. The training runs outside were fun but not like the children’s games in those books you gave me.” She paused. “Is it really like that, all the time, for children?”
“Not all the time,” he murmured. “But that someone is doing this deliberately to frankenstructs, simply to train you to do what they want…”
She turned her head and looked into those near transparent pupils, saw sadness there, and put up her hand to touch his cheek. “Thank you, Theo.”
He raised those thick eyebrows, questioning her.
“For being so…nice.”
“Nice?” His voice deepened to a sensuous baritone. “Nice is for men who wear frothy pink shirts and makeup.” He smacked the side of her bottom, hard, and she jumped. “Come. Time to swim.”
Naked, wading into the river, surrounded by reeds and water lilies, with the morning sun glinting off the ripples of water, and Theo by her side—it was beautiful enough to make Claire wonder, Why am I here?
Upon diving beneath the water, she saw the line between blue sky and the cold realm of rounded rock and drifting weed, submerged tree root and fish—it seemed to spell out the transformation of her life. Why indeed. Why does Theo bother with me?
The other side to it, she thought, as she parted the cool waters with her skin, was to speculate what would happen when Theo suddenly decided she was no longer interesting. She had nothing to offer, except her body. No matter how much she willed it otherwise. It couldn’t last, could it?
Then why did it feel so genuine when he told her he wanted her as his mistress?
For a human, perhaps, it would mean little. A mistress wasn’t forever. To her, it was a world of difference from “slave.” The word made her someone of consequence, who mattered. Girlfriend, wife, fiancée, betrothed—any of them were wonderful because they all said she was a part of his world.
Yet humans are fickle. I know that too, and being a part of his world is no longer enough. I think…I know, I want forever.
More likely for the wind to always blow in one direction than for her to remain a part of Theo’s heart.
She did a swirling kick to roll and swoop toward him.
Enjoy. Stop worrying. What else can I do?
She blew bubbles in the cold water, surfacing near him, gasping for air. Hugging her from behind, Theo’s arms enfolded her below her breasts—hard, muscular arms. She felt across his biceps. Every muscle was delineated like a diagram from a book. No matter how much exercise she did, she never quite changed into this. His body pressed against her, and she laid her head back. Though their skin had grown cool, his breath warmed her cheek.
“What a lovely armful you are.”
“I could say the same.” She stretched back and ran her hand down his side. “I love the way you feel too.” She heaved a sigh. “The way you hold me.”
“Ahh. That’s some confession—from you, Miss Blabbermouth. Maybe if I tickle you some more, I’ll get even more out of you.”
She giggled and slipped down through his arms. With a kick of her heels she dived away.
“Hey! Come back!”
For a while they chased each other through and under the water, until he cornered her in some reeds and forced a wet, slobbery kiss on her. It made her giggle even more. They ended up lying side by side in the shallows, just holding hands and looking at the clouds drifting past overhead.
Theo pulled himself upright and sloshed toward the embankment.
“Swim’s over!”