Page 36 of Lucifer's Revenge
“I would. In case you didn’t realize it already, I picked out this hotel because it is within walking distance of the town. We’ll have to drive over to the prison tomorrow, but it’s less than two miles away.”
“That’s fine, I could use the time to stretch my legs today.” They made sure they had everything they needed, and at the lastminute, Luc took the backpack from her, and swung it over his shoulders. Since it had several bottles of water, he didn’t want her to have to carry it.
Once they left the room, then the actual hotel, he took her hand in his and they started out toward the town. Neither of them tried to fill their time or space with idle chatter, and it was a comfortable silence between them. Because that day was for them, with no planned tours, or timelines to catch, they walked and looked at their leisure at anything and everything that struck their fancy. Around eight that night, they walked out of a restaurant, and Luc rubbed his stomach as he looked at her with a grin.
“That hit the spot. I know riding makes me hungry, with all the open air, but I never thought walking and doing what we did all afternoon would be the same.”
“Walking does burn calories,” she said with a giggle. They entwined fingers and headed back to the hotel, again, in companionable silence. When they entered the hotel room, they removed their shoes, set the pack down, and it surprised Luc when she reached for the remote.
“Really? You’re going to watch TV now?”
“No, at least not all of it.”
“What’s that mean? All of it?”
She looked at him with a grin. “I only want to catch the weather.” She walked over and opened the drapes on the window, and pointed out to the night sky. “Is that a storm front coming in, or just the setting sun?”
He walked over to stand behind her and looked out. “Oh, I never even noticed.”
“I know. Though our tours are indoors tomorrow, I really don’t want to get wet before starting and walk around miserable.”
“I totally understand,” he said as he took the remote, and aimed it toward the TV to find the weather channel. Fifteen minutes later they looked at each other with a nod of satisfaction that the forecast wasn’t calling for any rain for several more days. They stood around, not knowing what to do, until Lilith said she was going to go take a shower. She gathered her things, and went into the bathroom, leaving Luc to his own devices. Because he planned to shower after her, he gathered his things, and flipped through the TV until he found his favorite paranormal investigation show and watched it, trying not to picture Lilith naked in the bathroom with water sluicing down her body. He distracted himself with the show, but it was hard. He sighed in relief when the water shut off, making it easier for him to breathe.
What felt like hours later, but only ended up being about five minutes, the bathroom door opened, and Lilith stepped out wearing one of the hotel bathrobes, and was using a towel to dry her hair. In her other hand was a brush.
“I saved you some hot water,” she said with a grin. “It wasn’t hard.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I enjoy cool showers to begin with, and I barely cracked the hot water because it was so hot to me.” She shrugged as she continued to towel dry her long black hair. She looked at the TV, and was immediately entranced with what was showing, and Luc took that opportunity to gather his things and go into the bathroom. It was the hardest shower he had ever taken, because whatever shampoo or body wash she used, the scent seemed to fill the entire room. It didn’t take him long to realize that she had been correct about the hot water. Normally, he would have taken advantage of it, but not tonight, tonight, he needed to have it as cold as he could stand in order to calm his libido.
He quickly washed, then stood there and let the cool water wash over him to get his thoughts in order. As much as he wanted to have sex with Lilith, he didn’t want to push himself on her, nor did he want to pressure her to take their relationship to the next level. Once the water became colder, he shut it off, grabbed a towel, and after drying his face, he wrapped it around his waist. Like Lilith, he grabbed another towel to dry his hair, beard, chest, and finished drying with the towel around his waist. While his body was still damp, he stepped into his briefs and grinned when he saw the other hotel robe hanging on the door. He donned that, opened the door, and instead of leaving the bathroom, he brushed his hair, and groomed his beard. He had trimmed it earlier that morning, but he always combed it out after a shower. He didn’t mind if people didn’t but he personally always kept a well-groomed beard.
Satisfied with the way he looked, he hung the towels up, and walked into the hotel room. He stood there and watched Lilith as she watched the TV. He smiled as he saw her hair had only been half brushed, and she was riveted by the show on the TV. He walked over behind her, took the brush from her hand, and finished brushing out her hair. He looked up when she jerked and saw what was happening on the show. He quickly finished the task he was doing, then went to the bed and turned down the covers. He helped her to her feet, and they settled on the bed to finish watching the show, and ended up watching the next one before they turned off the entertainment. They sat there, side by side in the silence and then they both sighed heavily.
Luc took the first step by rising from the bed, he went into the bathroom, turned off the overhead fan, hung up his robe, and came back out with just his boxer briefs on. He didn’t bother covering himself, because he was proud of his body, but not obsessed with it.
As soon as he climbed back on the bed, Lilith rose, and when she returned, she was dressed in only a cami and a pair of boy shorts. He almost swallowed his tongue when he saw her. She climbed on the bed, but instead of getting beneath the covers, she took his hand and looked directly at him. “Did you bring condoms?”
“I did. I’m not pressuring you to have sex with me.”
“Shut up and kiss me, Lucius.”
He didn’t need any more prompting after that. They kissed for what felt like hours, and when they broke apart, he rose from the bed, walked over to where he had left his wallet, and withdrew several packets of condoms. He had brought a box with him, but didn’t want to scare her away with the sheer volume of how many he had brought. He figured he’d replace the ones in his wallet every morning. Back at the bed, he stared down at her as he tossed them on the nightstand. She kneeled in the center of the bed, facing him.
He sighed in relief when she reached out and took his hand in hers. “What I’m about to say, is the truth. I’m not saying it to scare you off, I’m saying it so that you might understand if I’m hesitant.”
“If you’re hesitant, we don’t have to do this? I’m not putting any pressure on you.”
“Shut up, Lucius.”
He grinned and shook his head at her. “You know, sometime down the road, you will probably have to pay for talking to me like that.”
“Probably, but it’s the only way I can get you to be quiet so I can state my piece.”
“Go ahead.”
“Okay, like I said, I’m not saying this to put a kibosh on our upcoming activities.” She drew in a deep breath, and let it out in a rush, staring at him as she spoke, “It’s been over four yearssince I’ve had sex with anyone. You will be the third partner I’ve ever had sex with.” She held up her hand and shook her head at him. “It’s not like I’m cautious, well, I am, but I’m also selective. I don’t date someone just to have sex with them, I date men that I’m interested in, and have similar interests as me. What I’m about to say isn’t anything bad.”
