Carlisle frowned. “About what?”
“Humans, of course,” the Star Queen replied. She held his gaze, smiling down at him mysteriously as the guard came around the table to stand behind her. The guard put her hands to the Star Queen’s hips, slipping the skirt down.
“Of all the members of your team,” the Star Queen said, slipping one lithe leg up and over his hips, then the other, “I am pleased that you are the one we captured. I’m sure you, too, have curiosity that must be…satisfied.”
Alex awoke to the oddest sensation on his hip. Lorelei lay across his legs once again, but rather than waking him with naughty indulgences, she had her face buried in his hip. She seemed to be…giggling?
Realization hit him like a pie in the face. “Oh, no,” he groaned.
“Alex, were you dreaming of being in a…television show?” Lorelei laughed quietly. Her eyes turned up from under the veil of her hair just long enough to confirm her suspicions. Alex blushed uncontrollably. She laughed again. At him. Not cruelly, but definitely at him.
“You can watch my dreams?”
“If you dream of desire, yes.”
“God, I don’t remember all my dreams,” he said, one hand covering his face. “Are they all that embarrassing?”
“No, no,” she said, stifling her laughter. “That one was so developed and definite in its imagery that I did not think it could be from pure imagination. You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”
“Yes, I do,” Alex groaned.
“Perhaps a little,” Lorelei conceded with a grin, and then a giggle as Alex added his other hand to the one covering his face.
“The matter will never be shared with anyone,” Lorelei said with a sweet, solemn smile. Her hands began to slowly caress him, nails dragging sensuously across his groin.
“Hah.” He wasn’t mad at her. Couldn’t be mad. But still… “You must think I’m such a geek.”
“My feelings and desire for you are not diminished in the least,” she assured him sweetly. “Although I admit your entertainment value has increased this morning.”
Alex sighed. It was hard to be mad at her, particularly when she touched him like this. “So you saw other dreams?”
“Those of desire, at least. I am curious…this tall, green woman with superhuman strength? ‘Jennifer?’ She is a comic book character, yes?”
This time, he pulled one of his two pillows over his head entirely and groaned loudly. Lorelei just laughed.
“Hey, are you awake in there?” his mother’s voice came through the door. Alex yanked the pillow down from his head to look at Lorelei in alarm.
She simply winked at him. “Lie still. She won’t notice me,” she whispered, and then pulled the bedspread over her head where she lay atop his legs.
As was typical, Michelle knocked twice and opened the door without waiting for an answer. They’d had to talk about this before, but she seemed incapable of understanding how annoying that was. His mother entered, once again dressed for work.
“Morning,” Alex grunted, hoping to appear a bit more bleary. He wasn’t going to bring up the knocking issue. It would only make her feel bad.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Michelle smiled. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I got beat up and shot last night,” he admitted.
“Well, make sure you take those painkillers, but don’t go nuts with them. You’re staying home to take it easy today, right?”
“Yeah, I’m gonna call in sick as soon as there’ll be anyone at the office. I’ll be good and just lay around the house, Mom. Either I sit or stand up straight or I lie flat, ‘cause everything else kind of hurts my chest right now.”
“Mm-hm,” Michelle nodded. “Well…” she frowned, looking down at him as if coming to a decision. “If you want to go lie down on my bed, it might be more comfortable than yours. At least I’ve got a television in my room.”
Alex blinked. “You sure?”
She just shrugged. “It’s fine. I’d stay home with you myself if I could. Just-I better not find any evidence of shenanigans on my bed if your girlfriend comes over to give you some tender loving care, mister.”
That only made him blink more. “Um. Wow.”
Michelle rolled her eyes. “Look, I’m sorry if I was rude last night. I was just freaked out and probably still a little tipsy and I made a complete jackass of myself. But she just seems so…Not only is she older than you, but it’s like she comes from a very different world, y’know?”
“Oh, I know,” Alex said. He felt Lorelei’s grin as her cheek tensed against his inner thigh.
“I don’t want her taking you off to be her kept man for however long you amuse her and then have it mess up your future.”
“Not even an issue. I’m going to college ‘cause I want to, remember? I’m being careful, Mom. Careful as can be. Okay?”
“Okay,” Michelle nodded. “I’m still suspicious.”
“Go ahead and be suspicious,” Alex shrugged, and then winced at the pain it produced.
“That bad?”
“Probably be a lot better tomorrow. I’m just being a big baby for today. I’ll tough things out for school even if I’m still hurting.”
She smiled a bit. “Good call,” she said. Then she returned to the other subject. “Anyway, I just hope you’re being a gentleman with her.”
Alex felt Lorelei’s lips press sweetly against him. “As much as she’ll let me.”
Michelle cocked an eyebrow. “Look, I know what young men do with beautiful girls as soon as they get the chance. I’m just saying you can always talk to me about anything. Even if it’s complicated or if it’s about sex.”
“I know,” Alex said. “You’re going to be late for work.”
Michelle leaned in to kiss him on the forehead before leaving. Lorelei and Alex remained as they lay until they heard the front door close. “That was less awkward. Thank you,” Alex remarked dryly.
“You’re welcome,” Lorelei said, casting aside the blanket again.
“Did you have anything to do with her calming down like that?”
“No. I am as surprised as you are.”
Alex let out a long breath at that. He needed to change this subject. “Any other dreams?”
“You dreamt of our wedding,” Lorelei grinned.
“Wow.”
“It was a rather sweetly pornographic affair. My dress was imaginatively whorish.” This time, she was laughing with him.
“Have you been married before?” he asked.
“Several hundred times,” she answered with a shrug, “though never for very long, of course. It’s not my usual approach. Ceremonies such as weddings are often problematic for my kind.”
“How so?”
“Holy ground can be spectacularly inhospitable to my kind, depending on the sincerity of the faith among its attendants and caretakers. I have been wed in churches, synagogues, temples and mosques. It’s easily handled if the flock or the shepherds are far from their religious virtues. Other times, faith has been strong and I have had to engineer different plans.”
“I hope that dream didn’t seem like a hint,” Alex said. “I hadn’t even consciously thought about that.”
Lorelei took to her hands and knees, crawling over him with her hair spilling all around his head again. “Alex,” she said, “it was flattering and sweet, but it was just a naughty dream. Nothing more. You need not concern yourself, for I am not troubled.”
“Is there anything that does trouble you?” he asked softly. “I asked the other night, but you never answered. Is there anything I shouldn’t do? I don’t want to hurt you, Lorelei. Ever.”
She looked away then, seeming thoughtful, distant, and reluctant. “I guess maybe that’s a little too sensitive to just ask, huh?” he frowned a bit. His hand reached for her hair, stroking it. “Kind of like I’m asking you how to hurt you?” Lorelei nodded, still saying nothing. “Nevermind. Forget I asked.”