Page 71 of Stags

“I just feel stupid about it,” she said. “This is what’s wrong with me, see? I want an adventure, but I don’t stop to ask if I’m even having fun during the adventure, you know? It’s like, I can’t stand going back home to the four walls where I spend every waking day of my life—I work at home, see? So I don’t leave much. And I don’t even want to leave until I do, and then I’m kind of… I probably need professional help.”

“I work at home, too,” he said.

“I’m a freelance graphic designer,” she told him. “I make ads and book covers and logos and all sorts of things. I have regular clients.”

“I write code,” he said. “Programming.”

They gazed at each other.

“So, what is it about me that makes me so different?” she said finally.

“I don’t know,” he said. “That’s probably why I’m here with you now, trying to figure that out.”

“What if I don’t want you back?” she said.

“You just said you did,” he said. “But you think I’m bad for you. However, you like things that are bad for you.”

“I didn’t say that,” she said.

“You’re interested in them, anyway,” he said.

There was a knock on the door. “Room service.”

She got up, opened the door, and brought in the tray, thanking the guy at the door and giving him a tip. She came back and looked at where he was sitting, in the only seat next to the table. She thought of letting the buck have sex with her to be polite. She thought of Rora, unable to wake up the guy to give her more room on the bed. “I want to sit where you’re sitting.”

He eyed her for a minute. His tail twitched. Then he got up out of the chair and gestured for her to sit down.

She sat, putting the tray on the table. She had ordered a portabella burger and french fries. The burger was wrapped in foil and she was glad. They tended to be sloppy, lots of juice. “Going to watch me eat?” Wow, that had come out more sultry than she’d intended.

His mouth curved into a smile and he sat down on the bed and gazed at her. “Yeah.”

She took a bite. She chewed.

He stared at her.

Her tongue darted out to get a little of the mayo on the burger.

His smile widened, showing off his sharp teeth.

She set the burger down and looked him over. “Are you thinking about… eating me?”

His smile slid away from his face. “Well, I wasn’t.”

A rush of something hot went through her belly, and she wasn’t sure if the sensation was unpleasant or not.

“I think that’s horrifying, you know,” he said in a low, rasping voice.

“Do you.” She picked up the burger again.

“That’s not why,” he said, and his voice was rumbling, deep, certain. “Not why I want you, I mean. I’ve been with preykin before, and it’s never been like this.”

“But you said you’ve never been with a deerkin.”

“True,” he said.

“I don’t get hot from the prospect of being hurt,” she said, taking another bite of her burger.

“I never said that,” he said.

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