“This is who I am.” Job said flatly and ate another mouthful of his sandwich.
“Is it?” Tessie challenged. “Are you happy?”
Green eyes met violet for several heartbeats.
“Right now?” Job asked.
Tessie nodded. “Right now, are you happy?”
Earth Kings didn’t care about personal happiness. Certainly, Job hadn’t even considered it since the Fall. He never remembered being happy. But, at this precise moment, having this woman in his house and eating lunch with her… “Yes.” He kept his eyes on Tessie. “Right now, I’m very happy.”
Tessie’s mouth parted as if she hadn’t been expecting that answer.
“What happened to Antoine?” Even though Job detested the man, he was curious how the Quintessence had lost her knight. A Divine being should’ve been able to keep him around forever if she wanted.
“Um…” Tessie gave herself a slight shake. “He was murdered. Kay ripped him to pieces to hurt me.”
Job hadn’t been anticipating an ending like that to her fairytale. His set his sandwich down. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, me too.” Tessie twisted the chain at her neck, again. “The part that makes me feel terrible --Besides the Antoine dying and being shredded part, obviously-- is that I don’t really remember his face, anymore.” Tessie cringed. “He died because of me and I can’t remember his face. How sucky is that?”
“There are faces of people who died in the Fall that I wish I could forget.” Job shoved away the mental picture of a little girl clutching a toy duck. “It’s been a thousand years since Antoine died. You shouldn’t…”
Tessie cut him off. “I didn’t love him. I wanted to, but I didn’t. I just didn’t want to be alone. It’s hard to be by yourself every day, ya know?”
“Yes. I know exactly how that feels.”
“I’m kinda getting that you
do
know and that’s making me sad for some reason. Those damn caring feelings are bleeding into me, too.” She made a face. “Look, it’s too late for me, Job. But, if you tried, I bet you could find a Match. The humans…”
“You feel the feelings?” Job latched onto that with an inexplicable surge of hope. “Explain what you feel, exactly.”
“I don’t know. Kind of…” Her eyes flicked to his, again, and then away. “Connected to you. Like I can sense you inside of me or something. It started last night, but it’s getting worse.” She rubbed her palm on the leg of her jeans. “It’s not real, though, right?”
“It’s not real.” Job repeated. He had incredible control over his energy, but, against his will, it still brushed against her effervescent powers, wanting to Phaze.
Tessie sucked in a sharp breath. Her spoon fell from her hand and hit the table. “Job, God, be careful.” Her eyes closed. “It feels really good when you do that. It feels real.”
Job’s gaze latched onto Tessie’s shirtfront, again. Her breathing was too fast, her nipples pressing against the black fabric. “It feels real to me, too.” He got out hoarsely. He let a little more of power free, manipulating the situation and heightening her sexual desire. It was against all the rules of civilized behavior.
Job didn’t care.
Didn’t care if it was underhanded.
Didn’t care if the Phazing energy wasn’t real.
Didn’t care that she was a Divine creature and he was just Job.
He suddenly didn’t care about anything except having her.
Tessie gasped and slid down in her chair. “Shit.” She panted as his energy swirled around her. “You did that deliberately.”
“Yes, I did.” Job agreed. “But, to be fair, your energy has been driving me crazy all night. I feel it constantly. It’s like bubbles over every piece of me.”
Tessie shook her head a little frantically. “No, no, no. That’s impossible.”
Job chalked that up to a lie and moved on without arguing it. They both knew the truth. The important thing was Tessie
felt
something. She felt the feelings, too. He would’ve accepted far less as an excuse to approach her with his new idea. “You don’t have anyone and I don’t have anyone. We could just face these feelings more directly.”
“We aren’t even sure what they are or how to get rid of them.”
“Exactly. So maybe we should just accept them.”
“You said to ignore them.” She reminded him. She shifted in her chair as if she was trying to find relief from the building tension. “You said you didn’t know what would happen if we Phazed.”
“I know.” Job glanced at her breasts and wanted to feel them so badly his teeth ached. “We probably shouldn’t Phaze. We can’t be sure of the ramifications. But, it may not be possible to entirely ignore this problem. The Phazing energy is very…” He trailed off and swallowed. “Firm.”
Tessie licked her lower lip. “It’s not real.”
“The firmness is extremely real. Believe me.”
Her mouth curved at his tone. “Alright, I’ll believe that one, but I’m still not going to sleep with you just because you screwed up some energy thing last night. What kind of girl do you think I am?”
“I didn’t do anything last night. That was
your
powers.” Job realized all his time as High Seat on the Council had been preparing him for this moment. So, he could negotiate with Tessie and come out of this with something.
Anything.
He knew she wouldn’t let him sleep with her, but just permission to touch her would be a miracle. “We don’t have to actually Phaze in order to get rid of some of the pressure.”
“We don’t?” She whispered.
“No, we don’t.” Job tried to keep his voice reasonable. She wasn’t shooting this down. God, please don’t let him ruin it, now. “Think of it as medicinal petting.”
“The pressure
is
tight.” She allowed.
“If it gets too bad, we might not be able to control it, at all.” Job wasn’t much of an actor, especially in his current condition, but he still tried for a dire tone. “Then, we really would be in trouble.”
Tessie thought that over. “Avoiding trouble. Very practical of you.”
“Yes, well, I never get into trouble.” Job admitted and even he recognized the regret in his voice.
“You don’t, huh?” Tessie gave her hair a toss and Job had to stop himself from begging. “What do you call hooking up with me, hon?”
“Lucky.” The word was out before he could censor it.
Tessie snorted. “Did you hear the Antoine story? What about Parson’s death? Guys who get too close to me are in danger. I told you last night, I have a lot of enemies.”
“Any enemies you have are already my enemies, too.” Job said, honestly. “Look, we could just try touching.” His energy was still stroking her and if she made him pull it back it just might kill him. The Earth forces
loved
rubbing against Tessie’s unusual power. Job could feel the charge building as the energy fought to get loose. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll stop. I don’t see that it could hurt anything and it might actually help.”
She just stared at him for a moment. Tessie’s power didn’t seem to have restraints, but it somehow grew bigger. Job felt like he was on the rack. The sparkling energy slid over him and aroused him so much that he couldn’t even think straight. The Phazing energy pushed at him, the Earth forces screaming at him to touch her. But, he couldn’t do anything unless Tessie agreed.
Earth Kings didn’t ask for things, but Job still heard himself say, “Please.”
Tessie’s eyes narrowed. “Okay.”
Job actually opened his mouth to come up with another argument, when he finally processed that. “Okay?” He parroted.
Was she serious?
Tessie stood up and pulled her top off. The black fabric hit the floor.
Job forgot how to blink.
Yes, she was serious… And bra-less.
“But, this is not how I expected to spend the afternoon, ya know.” She informed him grandly.
“No, me neither.” Job concurred. His hands were shaking and he clenched them on the arms of his chair.
Holy Gaia.
She was gorgeous.
“Well, you started this, hon.” Tessie headed straight for him. “I can’t even think straight. All these fake emotions filling in places where there shouldn’t
be
anything. Fucking energy touching me and binding me and whatever. Tightness all over me.” She stopped directly in front of him. “So, you’re going to at least fix that much, right? That’s the deal?”
“Yes. I’ll take care of it.” Job promised. He vaguely processed that the pendant she wore was a thin, rectangular bar with asymmetrical enamel lines running across it. He only noticed that much because it was dangling between her magnificent breasts. Tessie had the most beautiful breasts in the world.
He would have stood up as she approached, but she stopped him by straddling the chair and sitting down on his lap.
Job just gaped at her as she arranged her legs on the outside of his, so she was pressed up against his erection. Tessie was facing him, her breasts inches from his body, her gaze on his shoulder. “Okay.” She said, again. “But, we’re not going all the way. Remember, just medicinal petting. Like an NC-17 rated doctor’s office.”
“Yes. Of course.” Job agreed, although he had no idea what those words meant. The weight of her against him was incredible. He instinctively pulled her down, holding her exactly where he wanted her. Even through the fabric of her jeans and his trousers, Job could feel the heat of her.
Tessie gasped, her eyes flashing to his and locking.
Better.
That was even better.
“Look at me when we do this.” Job commanded. He wanted that mischievous violet gaze on him. It was more intimate. Like the two of them really did have a connection.
Tessie slowly nodded. “Alright.” Without breaking eye contact, she reached down to unzip her jeans. “You sure you wanna do this? You don’t mind?”
Job nearly laughed. Earth Kings didn’t laugh, by he couldn’t help it. How could she possibly ask that question with a straight face? He didn’t answer verbally. Instead, he reached up to caress her breast. He shouldn’t have. Fondling was outside the parameters of their agreement to just provide a quick orgasm. But, her breasts were the flawless embodiment of every fantasy he’d ever had and he couldn’t resist touching them. His thumb rasped her nipple, his eyes blazing when it beaded for him.
It was the first time he’d ever touched her skin and the Phazing energy went wild. Job felt it swirling around him, tighter and tighter. How could this possibly be fake? It was the greatest sensation Job had ever experienced in his life.
Tessie let out another moan. “Job, it’s not getting better. Now, it’s even tighter. Make it
better
.”
That was all he needed to hear. Job’s fingers found the opening in her jeans, pushing her own hand aside. He instantly found warm, wet flesh.
Tessie wasn’t wearing underwear.
For the first time in his life, Job grinned.
Christ, when this woman left, it would kill him. The Phazing wasn’t genuine. She didn’t even like him. But having her there with him was better than anything he’d ever imagined. No one else could ever make him this happy. Just Tessie. Even if he
could’ve
one day found an actual Match, the other woman would never even compare to the one he held in his arms.
What did that mean?
She lifted her body to strip her pants off and Job’s world narrowed down to just her naked, willing flesh. When Tessie vanished from his life, he’d be alone, again. Only he’d be even more miserable than he’d been before, because he’d know what he was missing. Right now, he had her, though, and he wasn’t going to waste this moment. Job had already wasted too much time avoiding trouble.
She settled against him and he cleared his throat, wondering the proper way to begin. “Ready?” His hand brushed over the core of her, testing.
“Yes.” She glanced down at his hand and Job realized that she was nervous. Despite her bravado, Tessie was as out of her element as he was. For some reason, that made his heart turn over. He leaned forward to kiss her, unable to resist, and the Phazing energy just completely took over.
Tessie’s indescribable iridescent power slammed into his and, for the first time in a thousand years, Job lost control. His mouth was on hers, hungry and demanding. His palm slid against her fully, one of his fingers pushing into her body as deeply as he could go. Oh
Gaia
, she was soft. How had he gone a thousand years and never felt anything so soft? The power screamed around him like a tornado.
Tessie shrieked. “
Job
.” She broke off the kiss so she could meet his eyes. “My God.” Her forehead fell forward to rest on his. “You have so much energy. Don’t stop.” She sounded like she was struggling for air.
Job was prouder of that than of anything else in his life.
“I’m not going to stop. Trust me.” Nothing could make him stop, now. He moved his hand, so he’d get better friction. It was just supposed to be medicinal petting. He couldn’t go too far. Just get her to release. They had a deal.