Pulled to the Dark (The Siriena Series) (23 page)

I thought about her dojo and pulled, but I didn't go anywhere.

"It didn't work."

"Try the bedroom."

That worked. I smiled then walked into her dojo. I looked around for a moment, took a big breath of air,
then
pulled myself to her tower. I immediately popped back and forth between the tower and the dojo a few times, finishing in her tower.

"Come sit with me," she said. I sat down next to her. She lifted my chin to her and kissed me gently. Then I leaned against her with my head against her shoulder.

"You can not travel between two points in
Siriena
or between two points on Earth. But you can travel from Earth to any of your allowed points on
Siriena
, then back to Earth. If you wanted to go from your bedroom straight to mine, you would go to your tower first. To go from my tower to your tower, you travel via your bedroom."

I nodded.

She smiled then patted her lap. I turned around and then crawled into her arms, my arms around her neck. She kissed me deeply.

"I belong to
Renea
," she told me. "Not this way, but all the magic ways. You belong to me. And that means you also belong to
Renea
."

"What about Andrea?"

"She also belongs to
Renea
. She and I can spar with magic, but neither of us can do the types of things I can do to you or
Renea
can do to all of us." She paused. "Kelly belongs to Andrea."

"Lovers?"

"Yes."

I thought about all of it. "Do you love me?"

"Yes," she said.

"This is permanent?"

"Unless you ask to leave." She paused. "Permanent on
Siriena
is a very, very long time, Felicia, and at some point, leaving isn't an option. Do you understand?"

"In about sixty years?"

"Yes, something
like
that."

I smiled. "Okay."

She smiled at me. "The rest of the night is yours," she said. "We can do anything you want, as long as it involves food at some point."

"Anything I want?" She nodded. "I can be playful?" She nodded.

It didn't take me long to get her clothes off her.

We cuddled in bed later. Petra was lying on her back, and I was curled up around her with my head on her shoulder. I had my ha
n
d on her breast, but she growled at me when I tried playing.

"I'm worn out, Love," she said. "I can't take any more for at least a little while. But I like you holding
me just like that
."

I cuddled in closer.

"I know I wasn't very good," I told her. "But I'll get better."

"Did I sound like I was enjoying what you were doing?"

"Yes, but-"

"But what?" she said sharply.

"Um." I said.

"Were you going to suggest I was faking it?" she asked me.

I thought about it.

"I'm waiting," she said. "Don't make me ask again."

"I was going to suggest," I said, "that perhaps the noises you made were half in appreciation and half in encouragement so I wouldn't lose heart."

"Hmm," she said. "How about eighty-twenty?"

"Really?"

"Yes."

I looked up at her and grinned, then settled back in. "I still think I need more practice."

"That's true," she said seriously. "We'll have to see to it you get plenty."

I started moving my hand.

"Stop it!" she said.

I giggled. "Just practicing," I told her.

We cuddled quietly for a few minutes.

"I'm going to miss Dream Petra," I told her.

She laughed.

"I'm serious," I said. "I went to bed every night looking forward to her. I wouldn't go back, but still, I'm going to miss that, in a way. The mystery."

"So I'm old hat already?"

"Please don't tease," I said. "You know what I mean. I wouldn't give this up for anything."

"I do know what you mean," she said. "It was so hard pretending with you, but it was an exciting game, too. But I got really scared when you told me you thought you were going insane." She paused. "There will be new games. You're very playful, and it's catchy."

"You weren't expecting playful, were you? When you saw my interview."

"You had self image issues that were obvious, if entirely undeserved," she said. "I would have bet a significant amount of money you would never have dressed the way you did for Halloween." She paused. "You thought you were fat. You weren't."

"I feel better now, though," I told her. "It's only been two months, but I feel so much better." I reached up and caressed her cheek.
"What now though?"

She reached up and held my hand. "Dinner."

"Tease," I said. "Petra, what now?"

"Be more specific?"

"All right. Where do I sleep at night now? Are we dating or are you inviting me to move in?"

"Ah, that type of what now," she said. "I hope you'll move in."

"With the cats?"

"Yes."

"Is there room in your closet?"

"No. There's a closet in the guest room."

"Good, then you can move your out of season clothes in there and make room for me."

She lied there for a while thinking about it.

"Petra, I don't want to be a second class citizen. If you want me to move into the guest room entirely, then we can talk about that. But if I'm moving into your bed, then it's our bed, our bedroom, our closet, our bathroom." I paused. "You already have all this power over me, but I should at least have a space I consider mine."

"Are you going to insist on half the closet?"

"You've seen my wardrobe," I told her. "You tell me."

She didn't say anything for a while. Finally she said, "How about this? We'll remodel the bedroom. I think we can fit another closet."

"You can do that?"

"We can knock out every interior wall and start over, if that's what it takes. That's drastic though, and we would want to move into your place while it was happening."

"I don't have the kind of money to pay my half of that."

She didn't say anything. I was getting antsy, and it was really hard to not trace lines on her skin with my finger. I was pretty sure she'd get upset if I did.

"I will make some ro
om in my closet," she said, "by
moving my seasonal clothes to the other closet. Your seasonal clothes will also go there. I know I have room for your dresser and a
free standing
wardrobe cabinet. There's a TV in the bedroom I never watch. It can go elsewhere. You will pay the same rent you're currently paying, and it will go into a separate, shared bank account. When there is enough money in it, we will either spend it on the apartment or take vacations."

"What if the vacation we want to take is more than we have money?"

"Then we'll add as needed."

"Equally?" I asked.

"No. Pro-rated based on relative salaries at the time."

I lifted my head and looked at her. "You're inviting me to move in?"

"Yes."

"I'd love to."

* * *

We popped home after that and took a shower together. I popped to my tower and immediately to my apartment to select clothes, but I took the return route and dressed in Petra's -- no our -- apartment.

I dressed as nicely as I could and she took me to a nice restaurant. I flirted with her shamelessly throughout dinner.

After dinner, we changed into grubby clothes. I helped her move her seasonal clothes to the spare room. She actually cleared out quite a bit of space for me. "Let's go ask Karen if she wants to help us move you up here," Petra said.

She took my hand and we walked down to Karen's door. We were holding hands when Karen answered the door. She took a look at both of us and started squealing. "You two look like you spent the entire afternoon in bed."

"Not the entire afternoon," I said. "Just most of it."

"Did you come by to tell me or to ask me to help you move?"

"Both," Petra said.

"Let's go!"

It took us a couple of hours, but we moved everything in my bathroom and all my clothes. I had to use the dresser in the guest room for now. "Love," said Petra. "I want the furniture to match. We'll have to buy something this weekend."

The cats weren't happy about their cat carriers, but they immediately made themselves at home when we got upstairs. Karen stuck around for a little while, helping to unpack, but then said, "Gosh. You two haven't been in bed for hours. I should go."

We made love again before falling asleep. For the first time in a very long time, I slept in someone else's arms.

* * *

In the morning we did our yoga in Petra's dojo. "I only started going so early in the mornings because you did," she said. "I'd rather get dressed here."

She helped me with my yoga, teaching me a new pose. It was difficult. Afterwards, we show
er
ed in separate showers. I wanted to follow her to the main shower, but she glared at me.

Once we were ready, I asked her, "Why don't you just pop there?"

"That's awfully hard to explain to anyone else," she said.

"Oh, of course.
Where is our last good morning kiss
?"

She thought about it. "I will allow you to walk me to my office," she said. "But if you start stopping by al
l the time for some affection, I wi
ll have to implement a no office affection rule."

I grinned.

* * *

After work, I asked her, "How did you get everything to your tower?"

"You can bring anything with you if you can pick it up." She paused. "Don't try to bring the cats. I don't know if it will work."

I smiled. "Will you make dinner? I'm going to get sweaty."

She raised an eyebrow.

"It's a surprise," I told her. I changed clothes and went into the dojo, then from there popped to my tower then my old apartment. I gathered all the bedding from my old bed, now in the guest room, and popped to my tower. I popped back to the apartment then wrestled with the mattress. I managed to pick it up and popped to the tower. The box spring was easier. And I didn't even have to disassemble the bed frame itself. I set it all up then popped back to the apartment to check on dinner.

"Ten minutes," she told me. "Okay," I said. I went back to the dojo, closed the door, then double popped and moved the dresser. Then I popped back and headed to the kitchen again.

"Perfect timing," she said. "Would you set the table?"

I smiled. "Come to my tower first." I popped out. She was behind me by a few seconds.

She looked around and laughed.

"I was going to move the stuff in storage, but I figured I'd get caught on camera."

"How are you going to explain to Karen where your old bed is?"

I stared at her. "Oh hell. I have to put it back."

She laughed. "It will be okay
. But don't move too much more. The movers will need something to do."

* * *

We went home and had dinner. Then I learned new ways to please her.

* * *

We established fresh patterns.
Dojo in the mornings, then a professional day at work.
We traded off cooking, although the things she made were better.

Saturday rolled around. We bought a matching dresser for the one she already had and arranged for delivery. Dinner was at Andrea's.
I rearranged with Beth; she would join us for movie night again. I hadn't told either Beth or Erika about the new arrangements.

At first I thought
dinner at Andrea's
m
eant her house. Petra made me wear
my best dress and wrapped a necklace around my neck. She collected a bottle of wine and said, "Your tower." We popped over, and she offered me her arm. I took it, and we walked out of my tower and over to one of the others. "This is Andrea's," she said.

"Oh," I said. "I thought we were going to her house."

Petra stood in front of the tower. "How do we get in?" I asked.

"I'm knocking," she said. "I'll teach you, but not tonight."

A doorway opened and Andrea stood there. We stepped in and hugged. We proceeded to the top of her tower. Near one wall she had a dining room table with five places set. Along another wall was a comfortable conversation area with seating for eight. Tapestries hung from the walls, and the space was brightly lit.

"This is beautiful," I said. "Who else is coming?"