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“I…my feet hurt,” she said at last, since both of them were staring down at her expectantly. “I need to take my shoes off.”
It was true, she’d been standing and running and fighting for her life in the expensive Jimmy Choos all night and her feet were throbbing. Designer shoes were one of the few luxuries she allowed herself, but the sexy stilettos really weren’t made for all the action they had seen lately.
“You heard her,” Light said, but Dark was already off the couch—which was against the wall of the small sitting area they were in—and kneeling in front of her.
“Let me help you, little Lili,” he rumbled. Lifting one of her feet, he gently removed the four-inch heel. He brought the shoe closer to his face and examined it, frowning. “No wonder your feet hurt—how can you walk in these things?” he demanded.
Lili let out a watery laugh.
“They aren’t really made for walking—they’re supposed to make your legs look good,” she told him. “And in my case, they make me at least a little bit taller.”
“You are a tiny little thing,” Dark acknowledged. “I don’t blame you for wanting to be taller.”
He slipped off her other shoe and set it to one side. Then, to Lili’s surprise, he took her right foot in his enormous hands and began to rub and massage it.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that!” she exclaimed, trying to pull away.
Dark wouldn’t let her go.
“You said your feet hurt—let me help you,” he growled. Then he did something to his mechanical arm and the metal sheath over his hand began to warm and vibrate, just like it had in the club. He pressed his thumb to Lili’s instep, making her moan with surprised pleasure.
“Oh—that feels really good!” she gasped involuntarily. “But you really don’t have to.”
“He wants to,” Light told her. He still had one long arm around her shoulders and now he pulled her closer to his side. “Relax, Lilibet. Let Dark tend to you. It’s good for him to find a function for his enhanced hand other than killing.”
“Well…” Lili bit her lip uncertainly. She had always felt like feet were gross—whenever she had a pedicure, she gave an extra-large tip, just because she felt sorry for anyone who had to touch and handle feet all day.
But her foot was tiny in the big Kindred’s hands. And he didn’t seem to mind rubbing it. He wasn’t doing it in a weird, foot-fetish way, either. The look on his face was one of concern—he genuinely just wanted to make her feel better.
And Light was the same way. He wasn’t groping her like some guys might do, or trying to take advantage in any way. He was just holding her securely against his side, doing his best to make her feel cared for and safe.
Though she hadn’t known the two of them for longer than a couple of hours, Lili felt protected…and she also felt like they honestly cared about her happiness. Which was such a rare feeling—especially in today’s dating scene, she thought. Not that they were dating of course, but it was nice to feel comfortable and cared for.
“All right,” she said, giving up and just relaxing against Light’s side. “You’re really good at that,” she added, speaking to Dark. “You ought to be a massage therapist or something. People would pay hundreds of dollars to get your special foot massage.”
Dark scowled.
“Don’t fucking want to touch any other human’s feet—just yours, little Lili. But I’m glad you like it.”
“I do,” Lili admitted. She liked the way he called her “little Lili”, but it was difficult to forget the scary things he’d done. Still, he had been protecting her, she reminded herself. And there was no doubt that her attacker had deserved it—it had been clear to Lili that she wasn’t the first woman he’d gone after.
“Are you feeling comforted?” Light asked, looking down at her. “We want you to know you’re safe now, Lilibet. I hope your positive emotions are beginning to overcome the negative ones.”
“They are.” Lili looked up at him and smiled. “You two are the sweetest guys I’ve ever met. Thank you for rescuing me and taking me away from that horrible man! Did you say we were going to the Kindred Mother Ship?”
“We are.” Light nodded. “We’re in our ship right now, headed there. I hope that’s all right—the human authorities were coming and we needed to get away quickly, before they started questioning what we did to your attacker,” he added.
Lili nodded. She didn’t really want to spend her night in the police station going over and over the awful attack while some bored cop took notes either.
“It’s okay, only I left my cell phone and all my clothes in my hotel room,” she told him. She frowned. “I guess I could ask my best friend, Rachel, if she could go get them for me. She lives aboard the Mother Ship because she’s married to a Beast Kindred.”
“If you know his name, we can bespeak him and ask him to have her come visit you at the Med Center,” Light offered.
“Oh, it’s Brock. The two of them got married just a little while ago.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Dark promised. He stopped rubbing her left foot and started on the right again. Lili almost told him she was fine now, but his warm, vibrating fingers felt so good she decided to let him go on…just a little while longer.
“Okay, thank you,” she said. “Oh, but I still have that conference for Women in Academia I’m supposed to attend at the Tampa HKR building tomorrow!” she added, remembering. “I can’t miss that. I was hoping to meet Commander Sylvan there and ask him to facilitate a meeting between me and f’loon.”
