I own nothing! But I will gladly fight for it if the owners decide to sell cheap...really, really cheap.

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CONSUMED

Diana Crescent

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Kenzi winced, stepping carefully out of the shower before wrapping a towel around her body. She'd been thrown into a rather hard concrete—as if concrete were ever soft—wall and was still tender from their fight with an underfae that had resembled a minotaur. Bo was already off to her date with Lauren—a real one that didn't involve the Dal, or at least didn't involve the Dal until after supper and a movie. She had mentioned heading off to the Dal herself, and Bo had nearly canceled on Lauren for Kenzi. As nice as that made her feel, she didn't want Bo to miss out with the doctor. Besides, Doctor Hotpants's comments about how she was trying to monopolize Bo had struck a chord. A small chord, but still a chord.

She slowly made her way downstairs. This was nothing a little cereal and chocolate milk couldn't cure. She stopped short to find Dyson settled in on their couch, reading. She glanced down at her towel and back up at him. Then back at her towel. Holy flaming cats Batman.

He merely raised an eyebrow at her display of skin—not something she was used to showing, but certainly not the reaction she wanted from a man given the amount of it she was showing. Especially if that man were Dyson, Mr. Love-Machine himself, who had gotten her hot since day one. He didn't stop reading.

Over the course of the last few months, he had gotten over Bo and everyone had written it off as a blood thrall, which everyone was happy to do so. Especially Kenzi, who wanted to do unspeakable things to the shifter.

God, he was hard on her ego. Not as voluptuous as Bo, nor as interesting as Ciara, Kenzi was Kenzi and she knew she was cute, but Dyson's inability to see her as female really grated on her femininity. It made her want to wear pink, or flash him. Though of the two she'd have to seriously think about the second, and she'd kill herself before the first.

She cleared her throat. "What's up buttercup?"

Dyson raised an eyebrow. Again, he kept reading. That eyebrow says more in a movement than his mouth in a month. Thank God I'm fluent in eyebrow.

"Bo asked me to check on you and to make sure you made it to the Dal alright. She said you got hurt in a fight today."

Kenzi pinched her lips and crossed her eyes briefly. She took a deep, calming breath and smiled. "Thank you. I'm fine. You may leave."

"Are you going to the Dal?"

"Not for a while yet. I was going to eat."

"I'll wait."

Her fake-happy smile fell off of her face. He was so cute and so far away.

She gingerly, so as not to flash anymore of herself than necessary and because moving just hurt too damn much, walked to the kitchen and began pouring herself some cereal.

"There's pizza in the oven. Extra cheese."

Heaven bless him, he might like her after all. That or Bo bribed him. Trying to be nonchalant, she went to the oven. "So, what are you reading?" She asked around a mouth-full of cereal. Pizza and cereal might not sound like a good combination, but it was all about comfort food.

"Hearts Aflame."

She very nearly choked. Somewhere inside of her, her pride withered and died. Left with only the tale-end of her dignity, she asked calmly, "Where'd you get that?" She almost felt proud of how normal she sounded.

He thought she sounded like she'd shut her hand in a door. He nearly laughed at how squeaky her voice was. "Under your couch cushion."

Somewhere inside of her, her dignity withered and died. She walked back over to the stairs, supper forgotten, before turning and asking, conversationally."Oh. Do you like it?" There was really no point in playing it off cool. She wasn't going to live this down.

"No, but this scene is particularly interesting. I don't think I've ever tried this position before. It's very informative."

Kenzi went bright red. "The one that starts on page one-ninety-eight?"

Dyson smiled, and innocently said. "Why yes, yes it does."

Kenzi nibbled on her bottom lip. "'Gaston trailed the rough pads of his fingers teasingly up Veronique's thigh. She gasped in wanton surprise. When the pirate had abducted her, she hadn't anticipated this burning passion she'd felt but now that she'd had a taste of the forbidden, she felt herself being consumed.' Yeah. It's a pretty good scene."

She turned quickly and climbed the stairs a quickly as her body would allow. She contemplated half a dozen ways to kill herself, and wondered if any of the efforts would be worth it.

Dyson watched her retreat, eyes blazing a hot trail over her long legs. She stirred him to the point of madness, especially with that unexpected display of delicious skin. It had taken all of his control to act normally. He glanced back at the book, then back at the stairs, then back at the book.

He smirked wolfishly. He had the gist of it anyway, and he was sure Kenzi could fill in any of the blanks.

He tossed the book carelessly on the coffee table and silently took the stairs two at a time.

He hoped she wouldn't mind being consumed.

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Text message from Kenzi:

Hey Bobo, decided not to go to the Dal. Dyson and I are busy discussing pirates. See you tomorrow.

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