Progress

“I can wear whatever I like, thank you very much, and I happen to like thongs,” she said, forcing herself not to smile.

“If you have a problem with it, go find something else to do. I am sure you have many things you would rather be doing than sorting through my dirty laundry. You never know, I might have a teddy or, heaven forbid, crotchless panties in there as well.”

Talon could only stare at her in shock.

The look on his face was priceless, and Wren started laughing.

“By the way. If you are not going to eat with me, make sure you tell me. I made enough for you yesterday, but it went to waste.”

Although she had spent the day training or at the piano, she had made the effort to make supper for him last night.

“I do not eat with others,” he reminded her.

“So I noticed.” Wren was not amused.

“It is still common courtesy to let the person who is cooking for the house know when you are not going to eat their food.”

Wren did not want to admit she had hoped he would make an exception and choose to eat with her.

“It’s not like I tried to poison it.” She muttered to herself as she made a point to turn her back on him.

Talon went back to sorting their clothes.

This time it was a sheer black bra.

He went to throw it in a pile, only to stop and take a look at the size.

He snuck a peek at her chest. ~How did I miss that? Damn, those clothes really do hide a lot.~

He took a peek at the tag. ~DDs! No way.~

He threw it in the pile with the rest and moved on.

“What is for supper tonight?” he asked as she unloaded the dryer and reloaded the washer after they had finished sorting the last of the clothes.

“I have not thought about it. What would you like?”

~You~, he thought, and then stopped himself.

He should not be thinking thoughts like that.

Damn, those panties had him all tied up with naughty thoughts.

“How about we order in? It is just the two of us, and you have been cooking almost every night since you got here,” he said.

“Can we do that?”

“Of course. We just choose not to.” Carrie was against eating anything they did not cook themselves.

“Is that all right with you?”

“Will you actually eat food you don’t cook?” she asked skeptically.

Talon sent her ~the look~. “Yes.”

“Will you be dining with me or…”

“Do you really want my company that much?” Talon was leaning against a nearby table, studying Wren.

This was the first time she had shown any interest in being in his company, and he was not sure what had changed her mind.

“It is lonely,” Wren admitted sheepishly.

He had been honest, so she felt she should be as well.

“I see,” Talon said, feeling a mixture of emotions bubble up inside him.

Happiness at her wanting to spend time with him outside of the training room and hurt that it was just because she did not want to be alone.

“I will order. Anything in particular?”

“No, not really.”

“Six-thirty then?”

Wren nodded as Talon left the room.

~Was that a yes or no?~

Talon decided he needed to work off some of this confusion.

~It is lonely~ rang in his brain as a taunt and a promise all in one.

An image of the red thong popped into his head.

He definitely needed to work some of this tension out as well.

***

“What do you think they are doing right now?” Lily was looking up into the night sky as she and Eric shared a lounge chair on the balcony of their hotel room.

Lily loved this time away from the compound that was not related to fighting.

Eric intertwined his fingers with hers and nuzzled his nose into the open neck of her robe.

“If you have time to think about them, I am not doing my job,” he said.

Lily giggled and his nuzzles turned to suckles, changing her giggles to moans in an instant.

Thoughts of Wren and Talon were gone as Eric’s fingers burned a lazy trail up her thigh.

***

“Even on vacation?” Carrie let out a sigh as she glanced down the alleyway.

They were heading back to the hotel after a delicious supper filled with seafood and lots of wine for Carrie.

This was a tough weekend for her and Michael.

She tried not to take her anger out on him.

After all, they had to take this time to keep the physical connection strong, but his touch made her skin crawl.

Several years ago, they had finally found the formula to make the weekend work: lots of her favorite food and a minimum of two bottles of wine.

She knew that it hurt Michael every time she did this, but it was the only way they didn’t end the weekend with Michael healing wounds and Carrie feeling like shit because she couldn’t tolerate his touch.

“I figured you would be happy for the diversion,” he said, his voice soft as they made a detour into the darkness of the alleyway.

“Why do they like alleyways so much?”

“It is dark, like their souls?”

Carrie let out a laugh.

“Come on. Consider this a pre-sex warmup.”

***

Emerald looked up from her book to Evan’s video game.

The guy was obsessed with that game, and it put her teeth on edge.

“Think you could turn it down a bit?”

“No.” The reply was short. “I cannot hear the dialogue if I do.”

“And I cannot hear my thoughts if you don’t.”

Evan let out a sigh but refused to turn down the volume.

“You are an ass.” Emerald stood up and made her way to sit next to Evan.

Thank God their physical bond only required that they have prolonged physical contact and nothing more.

“Come on. Put a movie on so we can get this over with.” Emerald reached for the controller.

“At least let me finish this level!” Evan pulled the controller out of the way.

“God, this weekend sucks.” Emerald flopped back onto the couch.

At least they had a nice suite to stay in, even if it was with Evan.

“I wonder if Talon and Wren are making any progress?”

“Why? Jealous that Wren gets Talon all to herself?”

Emerald flushed slightly.

“Of course not.”

“Puh-lease. It is no secret that half the female population at school is crushing—and crushing hard—for him. You included.”

“Shut up.” Emerald sent Evan a dirty look.

“Hurry up and finish so I can go to my room and avoid you.”

“Can’t. We are together tonight.”

“This sucks hard.”

“Agreed.”

***

At six-thirty p.m., Wren walked into the kitchen to find it empty.

No Talon and no food anywhere to be seen, but she smelled it.

They had to be around somewhere.

She peered through the door to the dining room that was never used, and there he was, sitting at the table with two plates, wine glasses, and Chinese takeout spread out all over the rest of the table.

It looked like they could eat Chinese for the next month before they ran out.

“There you are.” Wren stepped into the room. “Chinese?”

“Is that all right? I love the stuff, but Carrie hates it.”

“You let her make that decision?”

“Hey, even I am afraid of that woman when she is angry.” He reached for the nearest box. “Just do not tell her that.”

Wren smiled at his confession.

“No, this is great. I love Chinese and have been wanting some for a while now,” Wren said as she sat down. “Thank you.”

Talon shrugged.

“No big. Now eat before it gets cold.”

“But do you not know, day-old Chinese food is just as good.”

“I would not know. I never have any leftovers. I get to eat it so rarely now that I finish it all in one sitting.” Talon flushed a bit at his confession. “That is why I got so much this time.”

Wren laughed at his honesty.

He did not speak much, and it was always business, so it was nice to hold a simple conversation with him.

Talon stared at her.

“I do not think I have heard you laugh,” he said.

“There is not much to laugh about here. Everyone trains and works and works and trains.” Wren started to eat her supper, a bit embarrassed at her outburst.

“I like—” Talon spoke softly without looking up from his plate. “You should laugh more.”

They ate the rest of their supper in silence before cleaning their plates and heading out of the kitchen.

“Thank you for eating with me. I know you do not like the company,” Wren finally said.

The silence had been weighty, but not in a bad way.

“It’s no big deal. I don’t care to eat alone all the time either.”

“Then why do you?”

“I guess for the same reason you did at first. I don’t belong.”

“You mean you don’t feel like you belong here.”

“No… I don’t belong with them. I never have.”

“Why do you think that?” Wren asked as they left the kitchen.

“Why do you think you don’t belong here?” Talon shot back at her.

“I’m new here and have to find where I belong in this environment,” Wren explained.

“You’ve been here for a while. What are you looking for if it’s not to belong here?”