“You’ll have to ask them for their Awakening memories, Tamara.”
Tamara took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay, I suppose I just have to keep working with you then and not think about who’s going to channel me. Or not.”
A smile spread across Greg’s face. “It’s wonderful to hear you comfortable with the idea of Awakening, Tamara, because I truly believe your experience will be like ours, maybe even identical.”
She sighed. “I’m not exactly comfortable, more like willing to see this through. If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. I might as well cooperate and make it as easy as possible.”
Greg did not hug her but it almost felt like he had. He gave her a warm smile. “You’re doing great, Tamara.”
“Thanks. Let’s go out and see who has appeared since we came in here. I have some friends coming to this tonight.”
They entered the main room together. Tamara hovered on the edges of the crowd, staying near the door, until a group of three women came in talking and laughing. “Hey guys,” she said, coming up behind the group.
“Tam!” Kari said, hugging her. “I managed to get most of them here, as you can see. The only one who had other plans was Pam.”
“Yeah, Pam’s got a hot date,” Alice, the tall brunette, said. “She’s too good for us now.”
“Hah,” replied Jenna, who—at five two and blond—was cute as a button and quite aware of it. “At least she has a date, which is more than I can say for myself.” She looked around the embassy at the other people milling around. Most of the other people were human, but there were a few Azellians in the mix, including the four Azellian exchange students and Merran. “I haven’t been here since Jerryn broke up with me.”
“Well, have at it, girlfriend.” Alice nudged Jenna. “There are plenty of Azellians here right at the moment. Mostly men, too.”
“Wait a minute. Is that Kellie Darren?” Jenna hissed, staring in the direction of the door. Tamara, Kari, and Alice turned to look. “It is. Who invited her?”
“She’s a diplo student too,” Tamara replied mildly. Tamara didn’t like Kellie either, but she wasn’t quite as hostile about it as Jenna. But then, she’d never been in competition with Kellie before—or been so aware of Kellie’s attention shooting across the room to stare at Merran.
“Yeah, just because she slept with the dean. It’s not like she ever comes to class.” Alice’s tone was hardly any nicer than Jenna’s.
Tamara shook her head. “They say the same thing about Pam, you know. And we know how true that is.”
Kari made a face. “Well then, it must be.”
Alice laughed. “Pam? Come on. Pammie’s way too laid back to have the ambition to sleep her way to the top, Kare. You’re just jealous that she manages to get good grades and not study.”
“Hey, isn’t that the ambassador? The one in the robe over there?” Jenna interrupted the argument, nudging Tamara.
Tamara glanced over. “Yes, that’s him.” There was a crowd of women surrounding all the Azellian men, she noticed. By far the larger proportion of humans here at the party were women, although Greg seemed to have lost his following—probably because he wasn’t showing any signs of being interested in the women.
Jenna whistled between her teeth. “Wow. He showed up personally. I’m impressed.”
Tamara looked at Jenna. “Of course he did. He’s the one who organized the party. It would be pretty rude for him to blow us off.”
“I’m still impressed.” Jenna was silent for a moment. “Do you think he’s looking for a girlfriend? The last time I watched Entertain.com, they said he was going out with Zarra Star.”
“Zarra Star?” Tamara turned to stare at Jenna. Merran’s words echoed in her head. He said he is attracted to me—but did he say he wasn’t involved with anyone else? No, he didn’t. She didn’t voice her sudden fear. “The actress who just won a Golden Globe for her part in Three Lives Apart?”
“That’s what they said. You’d think she’d be here if he was seeing her, though, wouldn’t you?”
Tamara could vividly recall the little interlude between her and Merran not an hour ago in his office. “Uh. You’d think.” He wouldn’t have kissed her if he had a girlfriend, would he? It occurred to her that she’d never asked if he had one or not.
Kari nudged Tamara. “Well, attached or not, it looks like Kellie’s making a beeline toward him.”
Tamara’s stomach clenched as the beautiful woman cornered Merran. He certainly was polite, giving her a bow and listening intently to whatever it was she was saying. “Excuse me for a moment, will you?” she asked her friends.
“What are you going to do?” Jenna asked, staring at Tamara.
Tamara shrugged. “Oh nothing. I just have a question to ask the ambassador about my new internship.”
“Wait a minute. What internship?” Alice demanded.
“Kari will tell you,” Tamara said and headed over to talk to Merran. The awareness that he might actually have a girlfriend and not have told her made her nervous. She also knew Kellie would proposition him anyway, attached or not. The idea disturbed her far more than she wanted to admit.
“It won’t be a problem, Ms. Darren,” Merran was saying as she came up to them. “I will have—”
“Ambassador,” she interrupted as Kellie glared daggers at her. “May I have a moment?”
He took her interruption in stride, looking up at her politely. For a moment she wondered what she was doing, approaching the Azellian ambassador while he was talking to someone. “Certainly, Tamara. What can I do for you?”
“I need to ask you about the internship. Could I speak to you privately for just a moment?” Tamara asked.
Merran bowed to Kellie. “If you’ll excuse me, Ms. Darren. Thank you for the information. Come,” he said to Tamara, motioning her into a small office just off the conference room. Kellie stalked off, muttering to herself.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Tamara shrugged, holding onto the door handle, her back against the door. “I really didn’t have anything to say. I just thought Kellie was getting a bit too predatory and you might need rescuing.”
Merran turned to her with a broad smile. He stepped close, pressing his body against hers and kissing her so thoroughly that she gasped, breathless. “Don’t you have cameras?” She fought to catch her breath when he finally released her. “What about your aura?”
“The cameras are for humans, not for Azellians.” He kissed her again. “As for your aura, you don’t have one at the moment. Mine’s already blue from earlier.” He grinned but did not release her. “Thank you for rescuing me.” He nuzzled her hair. “I like it when you’re jealous.”
Tamara pushed at him, almost serious. “I am not jealous. Who is Zarra Star? Is she your girlfriend?”
“Fine. I like it when you’re watching out for me.” Merran kissed her neck. She shuddered at the sensations that spilled through her. “Who’s Zarra Star?”
“Zarra’s supposed to be the starlet you’re dating.”
He hugged her tighter. “Oh, you mean that story Ecom ran on me? I talked to Ms. Star all of ten minutes one night and they’ve plastered the rumor all over the planet that I’m seeing her. I don’t have a girlfriend at the moment. Unless we count you.” He kissed her neck. “Hmm. You smell very good.”
“How is this behaving? How is this avoiding gossip?” Tamara protested faintly, not really wanting him to quit, but a little miffed that he could tease her while she wasn’t allowed to tease him. The sense of relief at his information was enough to make her lightheaded. Or maybe that was just the feel of his mouth on her neck.
He kissed her neck one more time, then pulled away. “All right, we’ve been in here long enough.” He looked at her critically. “Not a hair out of place. Although you do look like someone just kissed you pretty thoroughly.”
She returned the favor. “Hey, it’s not fair. You don’t look like that. You look perfect.”
&
nbsp; “I know,” Merran grinned. “One of the benefits of my abilities.”
Tamara made a face. “So, how do we explain my mouth?”
“There’s a bathroom through there. We go out separately.” She could tell he was enjoying this thoroughly.
“I thought you didn’t want to sleep with me.” She didn’t quite understand his behavior.
“That’s not true. I certainly do, quite badly. But I can’t.”
“So what’s this? Not that I mind, but aren’t we going to drive each other nuts?”
“Probably. I thought I could stay away completely, but I’m realizing that might not really be possible.” Merran sobered. He lifted his hand and brushed it down her cheek, his expression becoming very gentle. “I may not be allowed the whole thing, akila, but at least allow us this.”
“If you can stand it, I guess I can too. I must admit, I did enjoy it,” Tamara replied. It was kind of exciting and at the same time liberating to know they were going so far but no further.
“Good.” Merran gave her one last kiss and left the room. Tamara went to the bathroom, leaving by the back door, and stared at herself in the mirror. Her eyes wide and dilated, her lips just a little bit swollen, she looked like someone had just done to her exactly what he’d done—kissed her fully. No red mark colored her neck, thank God, despite his attention to it. She splashed cold water on her face and thought about Merran’s kisses.
Kari came in as she stared at the mirror, water dripping off her face. “I was wondering where you were. The ambassador came back ages ago.”
Kari had come in too soon. Tamara’s face had not quite calmed down, and she was still thinking way too much about him.
Kari stared at her. “What happened to you? You look like someone just … I don’t know, kissed the life out of you or something.”
“Nothing happened.” She managed to sound mostly normal, bending over to splash more cold water on her face, hoping it explained the reddening of her cheeks and chin. “I just had to go to the bathroom.”
Kari walked over, locked the bathroom door, peered under the stalls, and leaned up against the washbasin. She scrutinized Tamara’s face more closely. “Beard burn on your cheeks and chin, too. Or just too much cold water.” She grabbed Tamara’s upper arms. “The ambassador didn’t do that to you, did he?!”
Tamara snorted. “The ambassador? You must be dreaming, Kare. Like I should be so lucky. Did you see him? Why would any gorgeous guy like that be after little ol’ me?” There must have been enough conviction in her voice to convince Kari, because she moved on, successfully diverted.
Kari took her by the shoulders. “Then who was it? I didn’t see you go off with anyone else. Who was it? One of the other Azellians?”
“A guy. I don’t want to jinx it, Kare, so please don’t tell anyone.”
“Who was it?”
“I told you, I don’t want to jinx it.”
“Then I was right, you did get kissed?” Kari wriggled a little, vicariously enjoying Tamara’s conquest.
She ducked her head. “Yeah.”
“How was it?” Kari leaned forward hungrily.
“Pretty intense. Oh God, is he hot.”
“Are you going to sleep with him?”
“No, we’re taking it easy.”
“Easy? Being kissed like that? You’ll be sleeping with him in two or three days if he keeps going like that. Exactly how did he kiss you?”
Tamara touched her mouth, remembering. “As I said, it was pretty intense.”
“Was he pressed up against you?”
Tamara grinned. “I was pinned against the door actually.”
Kari sighed, putting her hand to her throat. “Feel anything?”
Tamara giggled. “Hell, yeah.”
“Circumcised?”
Tamara stared at her in shock, choking on laughter. “I don’t know that … I couldn’t tell by feel. I wasn’t exactly touching it, you know. It was more just this hard area pressing against my stomach.”
“Why not?”
“Because we weren’t exactly going to take it any further in the hallway!”
Kari laughed. “Two weeks. If it’s that intense, I give you guys two weeks and you’ll be in each other’s pants.”
Tamara couldn’t fully argue with her, but she didn’t know what Merran’s strength of will might be. She shook her head. “We’ll see.”
“You have to tell me. Please? Promise me.”
“All right, you voyeur. I’ll at least tell you if it happens. I don’t promise details, though.”
Kari sighed again. “God, would I love to have one of those Azellian men kiss me like that. Can you imagine the redhead? Ooo, would I like to have those long fingers on my breast.”
Tamara hit her friend. “Oh God, you’re disgusting. They’re actually friends of mine, Kare. I don’t need to be thinking of them that way. Besides, Alarin has a girlfriend on Azelle. He’s the one with the long distance relationship, remember?”
“Damn. What about the dark one? The one who is not the ambassador?”
“I wouldn’t get too involved with him. He’s pretty young. But if you want to have a story to tell posterity, then that’s the one I’d go for. Justern’s just your speed, too.”
“Is the blond one gay or something? He’s spent the whole evening dodging us women.”
“Yup. So don’t even try.”
“You’re serious? He’s gay? Oh damn.” Kari sighed. “And the ambassador’s unattainable. Maybe involved with Zarra Star. Pity. I think he’s one of the most gorgeous of the lot. He’s certainly got power and influence. God, are you a lucky duck! Are you sure you want to keep going with this guy if you’re going to be working with the ambassador? Your new guy might get jealous.”
“Oh, I don’t think this guy’s going to be too worried about it.”
Kari shook her head. “Damn. Waste of a perfectly good man to have a girlfriend. Kellie certainly was hoping to move in on the ambassador before you broke in and interrupted. She was pretty hot about it, you know.”
Tamara shrugged. “I had a question to ask the ambassador about my internship and thought she looked a little predatory. So I figured then was a good time to offer it.”
“You did do it on purpose, didn’t you?” Kari stared at Tamara. “Oh my God, you broke in on Kellie on purpose.” She grinned. “That’s awesome! You go girl!” She lifted her right hand.
Tamara slapped it. “She deserves it. It’s disgusting how she moves in like that. I think I’m ready to go. Let’s go back out.”
“Sure.” The two women left the bathroom and went out to continue socializing.
Not much else happened the rest of the night, even though Tamara kept an eye out. Merran managed not to get himself trapped in any more conversations with predatory human women, and the other Azellian men proved to be even more slippery. Even Justern, which surprised Tamara somewhat, although Jenna certainly tried hard enough to tempt him.
Kari came up to her after a few more hours had gone by. “I’m not getting anywhere with the guys. Alice is going to bail, Jen is making moves and has no interest in anything but closing her deal, and it’s getting pretty late. Do you want to head out?”
“Yeah, sounds good. I’m getting tired.” And getting nowhere with Merran. He was too much of a polished ambassador playing host to take any more time out to whisk her into another room. Although she found herself somewhat disappointed by this, it was probably a good thing, or rumors might have started that very night. “Let’s go find our host and tell him we’re leaving.”
Tamara walked over to where Merran stood talking to a group, Kari trailing behind. “Excuse us, Ambassador. We are going to be heading home now. Thank you for inviting us.”
He turned to them. Tamara’s heart skipped a beat. He didn’t give her any particular indication of anything, but the sudden image of him kissing her and talking in her ear afterwards took her breath away. Something in his smile made her wonder if he knew what had just
run through her head. “Thank you, Tamara, Kari. It was wonderful to have you visit us. Please, come back soon.” He bowed to Kari.
She smiled at him, a coy look, but such an unconscious one that Tamara couldn’t blame her. Merran brought that out in a lot of people apparently. “When is your next party, Ambassador?”
“I’m not sure yet. Maybe in a month or so. But students who are interested in traveling to Azelle one day are welcome to make an appointment to come and see us at any time. And Tamara, we will see you at one o’clock on Monday?”
Tamara nodded. “Monday.” She would have liked to add more, but someone came up just then and pulled Merran’s attention away.
The two of them left, Tamara’s mind quite happily away from the present, thinking about dark eyes and thick, dark, soft hair.
It was not until very late that the rest of the group left. Merran stepped around the room, carrying a plastic bag and using a combination of mind and hand to pick up the used cups and plates. The movement gave him the chance he needed to think about Tamara and his lack of control earlier. It hadn’t been all that long since his last dalliance, but with Tamara it felt different. Wilder, better. And it was apparent she was most likely psi. What would it be like after she Awakened? What would an Awakened human be like? A tickle at the edge of his shields warned him that he was not alone.
“Doing manual labor?” Alarin stuck his head around the corner. He spoke in Azellian.
“Not gone yet?” Merran retorted in the same language. “Did you care to help?”
Alarin grinned and stepped into the room. “If you need it.”
“I can always use the help in cleaning up,” Merran replied as two more cups danced off the edge of the table into the bag. His method of cleaning consisted of holding the bag open and sweeping the table top clean with his mind. Alarin grabbed the bag and held the other side, helping with the boost.
“Don’t you have house cleaners for this?”
“Of course. But they don’t usually come Friday night. I don’t like leaving the leftovers of a party for the work crew the next day.” He whistled a fragment of a song through his teeth.
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