Candidate (Selected Book 4) (63 page)

"Am I obligated to return her to her cell?"

"You are responsible she returns there by breakfast, and you may find she becomes testy if she doesn't get her morning swim. Good evening, both of you."

We watched Jasmine go, then I turned back to Charo.

"Tell me, Andromeda. Do you
put out
on the first date?"

"I've been known to."

She stood, and I was blinded before we even made it to the door.

* * * *

It was some time later that we lay together. I'd shown her mine; she had shown me hers. And then she had demonstrated something that human women attempted, but, in my experience anyway, never worked. But when she did it, it worked, and it worked quite well. Then a little later, she'd shown me a few other things she could do, and a few things I could do.

And I felt really, really good.

"I wish an agreement," she said.

"I agree that was amazing."

"I do, too, but that is not the agreement I wish. I am aware of your status. I know you are Jasmine Brighteyes' experiment. She asked me, through my mother, not to interfere."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I am not to ask for an exclusive arrangement nor a hasty decision."

"Ah."

"I will remain on Earth, at least for a while. I will go back and forth from this place. When I am here, I expect you to have time for me."

"My other duties-"

"I understand those duties. I will work within your schedule, and I will coordinate. But you will give me your attention and not ask me to share you when I am here."

"And then you will stay here, and Jasmine will grow angry?"

"No. I will come for a few days at a time. I will spend the rest of my time learning who I must influence for permission for my colony."

"All right," I said.

"I wish us to spend the day together tomorrow."

"I am needed. My duties-"

"I have offered my assistance. Jasmine Brighteyes tells me you can teach me how to drive the cameras, which will free you for other tasks."

"All right," I said again. "I'd like that."

"And tomorrow night, you will also be wearing a little black dress. And I will stare at your legs. You will proceed to cross them and wave one. And I will stare some more."

I laughed. "Maybe your legs are the ones that will receive attention."

"I believe we would be good mates, Andromeda. I was worried about this part."

"I think this part has worked out quite well, but I was also worried. I'm not anymore."

"I must tell you something. I can be quite the hedonist."

"I think I can handle that."

"I must tell you one more thing."

"Oh?"

"I really, really enjoyed our initial conversation."

I stilled. "You did, did you?"

"Am I clear?"

"You think you're going to do that to me again, do you?"

"I do. Do you doubt my ability?"

"No. Do you doubt my ability to get pissed off?"

"Did you just say 'no'?"

"Not necessarily."

"Will you speak clearly?"

I considered it for a minute. "If you want to do that to me, then for now, you're going to have to win challenges."

"For now?"

"Maybe I'll decide I like it. Or maybe I'll decide I hate it."

"Oh, I can answer that."

"If you ambush me, I will probably become angry. If you win in a challenge, it will be fun. We have a level of trust, but that's more trust, Charo. Help me learn to trust you, and you might not need to win a challenge. But you will always have to ask."

She caressed my face. "When you win, you are not getting the same agreement. Think of something else."

"I enjoy being pampered," I said. "You may offer different styles of pampering."

"That is good," she said. "Will you go to dinner with me tomorrow?"

"I would love to. Inform Dark Skies. She manages my schedule as a mating candidate. Now, there's something I enjoyed doing to you, and I think I'm going to do it again." Then I began kissing my way down. Soon, she was squirming.

* * * *

Something was crawling on my face. I brushed it away. It flew away, but then came back. I slapped at it, encountering a hand.

I opened my eyes, and Charoite was leaning over me, brushing some of my own hair across my face.

"Wake up, Andie. You have time to swim before breakfast."

I smiled. "I could get exercise another way." I reached for her, but she captured my hands, and I let her press them to the bed beside my head.

"Kitsune swim," she said. "And I have heard you swim naked."

"You've seen everything, and I bet you've seen a certain video besides. But I only swim naked once per batch, and you missed it. If you want to see it, you need to be here in just under two weeks from today."

"I do not know if I will allow you to continue to swim in this fashion."

"You just told me you wanted to come watch. And it's not your decision. That decision belongs to Jasmine Brighteyes and me."

She leaned closer, staring into my eyes -- she'd made me take the visor off the minute we were inside her apartment. She paused then said, "For now."

"For now," I agreed. "It's not that it's something I want to do, Charoite. I pretty much hate it, actually."

"Then why do it?"

"Because Jasmine Brighteyes is very convincing."

"Ah. Yes, I suppose she is."

"She has reasons. She tells me she is not lying. I can't judge whether she is or not. There are days I think she is laughing at me."

"You are developing a reputation, Andromeda."

"As a slut?"

"As a human to be reckoned with. As a human who does what is necessary. As a human who is willing to work with us, but we better not betray you."

I nodded. I could live with that sort of reputation. "Are you coming swimming?"

"I believe I am."

* * * *

I missed Cherish. I missed her the most during my swims. I thought I could like Charoite, but I knew I liked Cherish.

But she left, and she didn't even have the courage to say "goodbye".

I still missed her, even with Charoite swimming with me.

She swam, but for her, swimming meant splashing around in the water. It didn't mean proper swimming. So I splashed with her for a while, but I kept eyeing the lap lane.

"Go ahead," she said. "I know you come for exercise."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I'm going to get ready for the day and have breakfast. I am told you are allowed to be policed by your visor, so I may leave you here without acquiring the wrath of Jasmine Brighteyes."

I laughed. "Yes."

And so I moved to swim laps. But Cherish and Soft Rain were gone, and Dark Skies wasn't there that morning -- she hadn't yet been taken from me, although that was not so far off. She didn't swim every morning.

And so I swam my laps alone.

And really, really missed Cherish.

That made me feel bad, because I'd been in Charoite's bed just an hour previously. But I couldn't help it.

But I swam, and then the visor warned me my time was ending.

And so I showered and wore a robe back to my cell.

Breakfast arrived, and immediately after, an incoming call from Jasmine. "Have a nice evening?"

"Good morning, Jasmine," I said. "How are you this morning?"

"Aren't you going to answer my question?"

"I am sure you know I didn't spend the night in my cell. You may just use your imagination. What can I do for you?"

"If you ask, and if you have an offer, I would allow early termination of our agreement."

"I was told you weren't allowing that. You have an experiment, and you want it to play out."

"If you ask, Andie," she said. "You must know that."

"Well, I'm not ready to ask, and I believe we should continue your experiment."

"You do not have faith in this budding relationship?"

"I met her last night. You know humans don't work that fast."

"And yet you spent the night not in your cell."

"Well, you know sometimes we work that fast, but you also know that a romp in bed is not a commitment."

"So you romped."

"If you want details, you're going to have to check your video."

She snuffled. "You don't really think I'm foolish enough to bug a Kitsune's apartment, do you?"

"I have no idea how undetectable your bugs can be. For all I know, deactivating the visor doesn't turn it all the way off."

"Oh, maybe it doesn't," she said brightly.

"And for all I know, telling a visor to stop recording doesn't mean it necessarily does so."

"Maybe it doesn't."

"Which is why the visor wasn't in the bedroom, and I didn't spend the night on a sofa in the living room."

She snuffle-laughed again.

"I like her. We had a good time. I intend more good times with her. She's asked for my exclusive attention when she's here. But I'm not in love and I'm not ready to commit. And so our agreement remains intact, but perhaps you will choose to continue to drive off all my other choices, leaving me one single choice."

"How can you make such an accusation?"

"Until last night, Cherish and Dark Skies are the only aliens who have asked me on a date in several weeks. There have been more aliens looking for dates than humans available for them, and so even if I were the last choice, someone would have asked me. I may not be 20 anymore, but even I'd score better than I have been. Unless you're meddling. We have an agreement, Jasmine Brighteyes. Are you in violation of our agreement?"

"Your growing reputation may be scaring them off."

"Oh, please," I said. "You can do better than that. Come up with a lie I might believe."

"I might not be the one scaring them off."

"So you admit someone is scaring them off."

"It could be your reputation."

"Do you believe that?"

"It could be Sugilite's reputation."

I'd considered that.

"It might be Dark Skies, still hoping to keep you for herself."

"No one is afraid of her."

She laughed. "She has a legitimate claim on you, Andromeda, and by Octal rules, anyone who interferes opens themselves to being claimed. Now, she's not doing this, but she could be waiting to collect a half Octal all in one night, just waiting for two more females she wants in her family."

"Seriously?" I paused. "Oh, nice misdirection, Jasmine. It's not Dark Skies. It's Sugilite."

"I have handled it. You'll begin receiving a little more attention. And Charo and I have already talked."

"All right."

"So, how was it?"

"Voyeur."

* * * *

Charoite found her own way to Control Room 2 and was talking to Cedar when I arrived. As soon as I stepped in, Cedar told me, "You have twenty minutes to teach her the cameras. I want you on both livestreams." Yes, we were running two nearly simultaneous events. They would begin a half hour apart, giving us time to get one started before the other. But after that, we'd be watching both at one time.

"Got it. Hello, Charo. It's good to see you again."

"Hello, Charo," mimicked Cedar. "It's good to see you again after spending an entire night humping like clowns."

"Do clowns hump?" I asked. "And if so, how do they go about it. Do they do something special with those big, red noses? Maybe it's the clown shoes that make it special. Charo, did we do any clownish humping?"

"Not that I recall, Andromeda." She stepped towards me, and I leaned down and kissed her cheek.

I was not used to dating someone smaller than I was, especially lately, what with Ardents and Wookies running around everywhere.

"Let me show you what we do."

I took her hand and drew her to a workstation. I set myself up next door.

"Do I have to use this?"

"I can't teach you any other way, but once I show you, do what you like."

It didn't take that long to show her how to use the cameras. I helped her wake them up, getting them into the air and deployed in both arenas. Then I moved to my own workstation, setting up to watch both events.

"Cedar, are all contestants wearing visors?"

"Yes," she said.

"Excellent." I lowered my voice. "If they're wearing visors, then they're programmed to ignore the cameras. We can get them a lot closer and they won't recognize them."

"Got it."

"But you have to be careful you don't run into anyone."