Dashing devil 5 bold beg.., p.9
Dashing Devil 5: Bold Beginnings, page 9
“Mmmm,” Boyd hummed as he decided that only using it occasionally would keep it a novel experience. “No, it’s nice for waxing sometimes though, I don’t want to get too used to it so it stays special.”
“Okay,” Tinker agreed with a soft smile as she focused on his horn, running the little device over every inch of exposed black bone. Once she was done with the right, she went back to touch up a couple of spots on the left.
Just as she was finishing, Laura sang from the steps that led to the platform they had chosen, “Hello everyone! Raev said I could join in once I was done with… oh, what is this?”
Her tone overflowed with innuendo as she continued, “Giving Boyd’s horn a good polish are we, Tink?”
“Just about done,” Tinker commented, missing the joke in her focus on getting the finish just right. “There… I think that’s a bit better than using a soft cloth like the instructions said.”
She went to step to one side but Boyd scooped her up, turned her around, and then sat her in his lap. He wrapped a possessive arm around her middle, putting her between him and their trauma specialist like a physical barrier.
Laura looked too damn good for his own good, and that was when she wasn’t in a bath with the several of his loves. If he’d known she’d be this aggressive, he might not have been so quick to agree to stop avoiding her. Boyd was not used to feeling like he was the prey instead of the hunter—not since he’d integrated his Gestalt. But that was exactly how she made him feel.
“A soft cloth, huh? With all of you, I figured a rag to finish up is the last thing Boyd would need,” Laura said and then laughed as she approached the pool.
Chapter 8
Glancing at Laura, Boyd saw that she had a towel wrapped around her and noticed the thin straps of a swimsuit on her shoulders. She strutted forward with a purpose, obviously aiming to enter the bath. He wanted to ask what she was doing, but her challenging look and determined stride made the answer too clear to bother making an issue of it.
Unless he planned to physically prevent her from doing so, she was going to join the group bath.
“Hello Laura,” Boyd said, settling on a simple greeting before wondering if it might be a good time to get out of the bath.
‘We still have to do your wings,’ Mindy said, mental tone rich with wry amusement. ‘We’re not going to let anything happen today. Laur is just anxious because you’ve made it clear that your interest in her is dependent on Hope. I can’t blame her for wanting to take this chance to get your attention before your angel gets here and you forget about the rest of us.’
“The horns look sharp, good job Tinker,” Laura said.
She still had a challenging look on her face as she took her first steps into the pool. She expected at least to be questioned about what she was doing—meaning she likely had a response prepared for anything he might ask. Deciding not to make a scene, Boyd just accepted it, and did what he could to maintain some control of the situation.
He gave her a knowing smile.
Raev had sat on his other side, across from Mindy at some point. She added, “Yeah, Tink, the Big Guy’s horns look really nice. Not too shiny but they definitely stand out a bit more than they did.”
“Thank you, I like it too,” Tinker murmured as she settled back in his lap against his chest.
Boyd used the time the comments bought to decide how best to handle Laura.
He had noticed that the way he often accepted things threw Laura off balance—she must get a lot of push-back due to her relatively young age, as normally it was her medical expertise or right to do her job that was called into question. They irony of it was, that although she was young to be the Chief Nurse of a major trauma unit in Glorith City’s hospital, she was older than everyone else here by at least five years.
He would use what he could here. She’d obviously intended to put him on the defensive with how she chose to arrive. Instead of being on the back foot, he would return the favor. It was time to seize the initiative.
‘Kuh-he. My little shit… sometimes you just don’t understand women at all.’
Mindy laughed in his thoughts as Laura swayed into the center of the pool where it was deepest. This particular bathing pool had been designed so that everyone could lounge, half submerged, on the steps that ringed the center bowl. At its deepest, in the center where Laura now stood, it only came up to her shoulders.
Laura waded back out of the center of the pool, coming towards him. As water trailed down her, the towel she’d had on simply… disappeared. No, it wasn’t gone, it had turned nearly transparent as it clung to her well-muscled form. Beneath it, she wore a tiny… no, make that a miniscule black bikini. Small triangles covered the important bits—and little else.
What was it Tinker had said when she’d seen Silvie’s lingerie gift for their first time? Boyd suppressed a chuckle, recalling how Tinker had barely managed to get out ‘I’ve seen more cotton in the top of a bottle of aspirin!’, she’d been laughing so hard.
The triangles that barely covered Laura’s nipples and the bottoms—that proved she must shave down there, because even a landing strip would have been revealed—were connected by strings which could easily serve as dental floss.
The brunette cocked her hip out the side and planted a hand on it once she was thigh deep and gave Boyd a smug look with a raised brow. “I find it hard to believe you’ve never seen a woman in a wet towel before.”
“I’ve never seen this particular woman in a towel quite so thin,” Boyd corrected her.
He had to remind himself that Laura was still an ‘if’ and not a ‘when’—no matter how well she presented herself. He forced his eyes from her barely there bikini bottoms back up to her face. It was not easy, though, and he enjoyed the view along the way.
Raev let out a velvet chuckle as Laura’s smugness shifted towards confusion and added, “He can see a bit more than the towel, Laura. It’s a damn good look, but at some point, the towel loses its purpose.”
Laura looked down at herself and laughed, “You’re not wrong. Wow… would you look at that. You can see right through it.”
“You didn’t know that would happen?” Tinker asked, sounding amused.
“Nope,” Laura admitted, glancing up then back down, before shifting back and forth to get a good look at herself.
It was clear that she’d come here fresh from the gym, the extra definition of recent exception clear.
“What was the number on the shelf you grabbed it from?” Raev asked, her mirth clear from her tone.
“Ten, I think. There were so many options that I just grabbed one that felt nice,” Laura responded, grinning as she unwrapped and then tossed the useless towel out of the bath. “I suppose there really was no point in wearing it, then.”
“For future reference, OWS stands for Opacity When Saturated,” Raev explained, laughter dancing at the edge of her voice. “The lower the number, the more see-through it gets when wet. One hundred stays opaque… ten? Not so much.”
“Silvie?” Laura asked with a laugh of her own as she dipped down to scoop up some water in a hand and spread it over her shoulders.
“Who else?” Raev grinned. “I’d recommend staying above sixty if you want to wear it in the bath. Much lower ends up like what you saw. Between sixty and seventy-five will give that little tease you were probably aiming for when you picked it out.”
“Noted.” Laura smiled as she continued to dip down to scoop up and then spread water over her shoulders.
Boyd found his gaze following her hand and then the droplets of water that trailed down from it over her subtly flexing form.
“Is my swimsuit a little too… distracting, Boyd? This one was bought on a dare but I’m afraid my other one is in the wash.”
The question broke the trance she had lured him into and he once again forced his eyes up to her face. When his brain finally caught up and he processed the words she’d said, he found himself rather skeptical that a woman who had a swimsuit like this only had two. But he hadn’t seen her in a swimsuit before, so couldn’t be sure.
Honestly, her presence frustrated him and not just sexually. But the mood was still good and he didn’t wish to ruin it by being rude. If things got more uncomfortable than this, he could excuse himself. Boyd understood she meant no harm by it, but her rather aggressive version of flirting wasn’t the kind of distraction he wanted on Hope’s special day.
His vixen seemed to sense his discomfort, or maybe she was tipped off by Mindy, but she addressed the elephant in the room. “Well, much like with the towel, there comes a point that one has to question a swimsuit’s redundancy.”
“Oh?” Laura laughed, reaching around her back as if to untie the top. “I suppose I may as well ditch the top, then.”
“Watch it,” Raev let out a decidedly dangerous growl, her tails swinging around Boyd’s back in a defensive hug. “It was a joke. There is a line that you’ll notice none of us have crossed.”
Laura’s amused grin dropped a moment later as she flinched.
Tinker pressed back into Boyd, one hand gripping the arm he had crossed over her middle as she frowned at the woman while the other stroked the back of his hand. “I know you think you have to force the issue, Laura,” the petite woman said with a pout. “Boyd isn’t like that. You’re more likely to succeed if you don’t try so hard.”
“Shit, I… I’m sorry.” Laura frowned after she was done flinching, holding her hands up in surrender. “I knew I was going too far, but I couldn’t help myself. Jeez, now I’ve got all three of you ticked at me. Mindy with the mental smackdown, Raev with a rather menacing growl, and Tinker with a damn good pout.”
“Yeah, well you almost caused Boyd to leave and Tinker is looking forward to him washing her hair,” Mindy’s voice was as cold and emotionless as he’d heard it since their PAC days.
His little inventor twisted in his lap to look up at him, turning what he had to agree was a damn good pout on him. He wondered if Silvie had started giving lessons on the topic, with how well Tink pulled it off.
Her lip even quivered just a little as she asked, “You’re not leaving, are you?”
“No.” Boyd smiled down at her, he could deal with an overly aggressive trauma specialist if it turned that frown upside down.
“But we may ask Laura to leave if she makes him uncomfortable again,” Mindy’s tone remained cool as frost. “Boyd wants to spend time with us now because he knows Hope will take up the majority of his attention for at least a while. We won’t allow you to spoil our time together as a family—which is that last thing you should want to do if you expect to have any hope of joining it.”
Laura gulped. “Understood.” She smiled weakly at Mindy then took in Boyd’s thin-lipped expression and narrowed gaze. Her pale greens showed clear remorse. “I got swept up in the joke, I apologize. I’ll ease way back if you let me stay. I can also change, I have other swimsuits, that part was a lie.”
Boyd relaxed and shook his head. At least her instinct was to fess up to all of it once it was clear she’d stepped over a line. “No, that one isn’t quite completely redundant… as long as it stays on. It does look wonderful on you, but like Tinker said, you don’t need to go this far. It’s not that you aren’t attractive Laura, or that I’m not attracted to you. The spark is there. It’s…”
“No need to explain.” Laura shook her head with a rueful smile. “I get it. I allowed my insecurities to mess with a big day for you. I am truly sorry, and I apologize. I’ll go ahead and leave if I’m making you uncomfortable.”
Boyd nodded as Tinker settled back against his chest and wiggled slightly in his lap, relaxing as the tension lifted. “Thank you,” Boyd rumbled. “You are welcome to stay as long as you keep it to light flirting.”
“Define ‘light’, please.” Laura’s tone made it clear she was looking for clarification, not trying to be snarky.
“Verbal flirting only, and nothing overt or crass. No touching. No ‘accidental’ flashing…” Boyd listed off what seemed the most prudent .
“Act like he is a friend you have known for a couple of months,” Mindy clarified. “Raev was an exception, not the rule.”
Laura blinked at the pale skinned woman, then her expression darkened for a moment and she nodded gravely. “Point taken. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Boyd got the impression more information had been passed along mentally, either coaching on how to do better or a further rebuke. He wasn’t sure he liked either option. The coaching might get Laura’s hopes up, a sign that she had Mindy’s support—like she clearly had Raev’s. It would make things harder for her if they didn’t work out.
Then again, the fact that he was starting to feel a need to defend Laura as Raev and Mindy ganged up on her might just be a signal that any coaching was justified.
“Alright, unless anyone has anything else to say about the matter, let’s put it behind us,” Boyd rumbled before the tension could build again. Raev shrugged when he glanced her way.
“She flinched when I growled, that’s good enough for me,” his kitsune said.
“I’ve said my piece,” Mindy added.
Boyd knew Tinker would rather not speak, given the slightly tense atmosphere, so gave her a squeeze before saying, “Good… then welcome to our bath, Laura. Feel free to relax. We don’t have much in the way of entertainment, I’m afraid. I was going to wash Tink’s hair in a minute.” He grinned down at his suddenly blushing inventor. “Which I find entertaining.”
“Uh… Me, too,” the blushing Tinker nodded vigorously as she pressed back into his stomach and chest. “Very… umm… entertaining.”
“You could help me with my tails,” Raev tried to keep it casual, but a hopeful edge bled through. As if to cover for it, she added, “I would normally wait my turn for Boyd to do it, but we are running short on time and I still have to put the finishing touches on the decorations.” She grinned at Laura.
“I’d be happy to help,” Laura said and then smiled brightly. She was obviously pleased by the opportunity to make up for her slip up—at least with one of his women. “Mindy,” the nurse offered, “I could wash your hair, too.”
Mindy wasn’t one to turn down the chance to have someone else wash her hair. “Let’s team up on Raev’s hair and tails first, but then… yes, that would be lovely.”
Boyd chuckled and shook his head.
‘What? It will help make her feel better. I’m only being altruistic.’ Mindy defended herself in a wry mental tone.
Any remaining tension lifted as everyone arranged themselves to wash or be washed. Boyd took a moment to marvel at what his life had become in a remarkably short time. It was great. And soon, his angel would finally be home.
That would make it perfect.
Chapter 9
Boyd waited less than patiently where the elevator let out into the Great Room, tapping his foot in irritation. He could feel Silvie drawing nearer, and although the hastily forged Bond with Hope lacked the strength to gauge her distance from him, he was nonetheless attuned to her excitement, which had steadily built as the morning progressed.
It was Wednesday, just after the team would normally sit down for lunch—though they’d skipped the meal because Daisy was preparing a moderately sized buffet to welcome Hope to the team. Raev had grabbed a light snack, but Boyd found himself too excited to eat as a result of the emotions spilling across their bonds from both Silvie and Hope.
‘Kuh-he,’ Mindy giggled from inside what had become her room in his mind.
With an inward glance, he found her sprawled out on the crimson silk of the bed, wearing only a lacy black bra and panty set with fishnet thigh highs. His gothic love had discovered the portion of his memories that stored his fantasies and had gleefully begun cycling through some of the options she’d found there.
He found he really didn’t mind her literally living in his mind rent free if this was how she was going to play it.
He had not performed the act of will that would have had him metaphysically enter the space with her, just turned his mind’s eye on what he now thought of as her room. He wasn’t sure how he appeared to her when he did that, but she’d never had a problem meeting his gaze when he did.
She smirked up at him, ‘Sure, blame their emotions for why you are acting like a puppy who knows their favorite human is about to come home.’
Boyd scowled at her—well, at the elevator door, really—but she got the idea.
Mindy beamed up at him. ‘Don’t worry, I’d never spoil my little shit’s stoic reputation by telling the others how excited you are. Although anyone close to you would see right through you. Oh! They’ve entered my range… just a few more minutes for them to land and get up here. I’ll go ahead and let the others know.’
Thus began seven of the longest minutes of Boyd’s life, and he’d had several life-and-death experiences that stretched seconds into what felt like hours. He checked for the fifteenth time that his black slacks and white dress shirt hadn’t picked up any wrinkles, even though Tinker had made them to be both wrinkle and stain-proof. They were also fire, corrosive, and electrical shock-resistant, but that mattered much less to him at the moment.
Raev arrived first, wearing dark jeans and a green silk blouse that showcased her fiery red hair piled in an updo. She wanted to make a good impression on Hope, so she’d added extra curl to her hair and applied a bit more makeup around her eyes—not that they needed anything extra to make those emerald greens pop.
Mindy and Laura soon followed his foxy love. Their trauma nurse dressed in jeans and a white blouse while Mindy wore, of course, a black dress with lace and ribbon detailing, her amethyst eyes accentuated with smokey eye makeup.
Tinker would have been next, coming down the stairs in a modest, pale pink dress, but a silver blur sent Boyd sliding across the floor before she could reach the bottom of the stairs. Boyd’s arms went around his silver-haired love who had buried her face in his neck before they came to a stop. She must have put Hope on the elevator and then sped ahead of the fast transport to get to him first.
