He smiled. “Ah, Kalli. Don’t feel bad for me. It all worked out in the end. When I was about twelve, my mother found this outstanding guy. He showered attention on her and on me. Would take us on fun outings, helped me with my schoolwork, taught me how to do men’s stuff. But most importantly, he listened to me. And provided answers to my questions. He made my mom happy, too. I had never seen her so calm and fulfilled. All the turbulence was left in the past. I had the father figure I had been missing my entire life and at last lived in a happy and safe home.”
“I’m glad.”
He looked straight at her. “He was a parbot.”
She shouldn’t have been so surprised, but she was. And she now understood where he was coming from. Still, his mother’s appalling taste in men didn’t mean that was the norm in human relationships.
“Thank you for sharing your story with me. It must not have been easy to talk about. I... understand now why you feel the way you do about human relationships and parbots.”
He was twirling a stem of grass in his fingers, his leg bent, one of his arms resting on it, his gaze on the distant horizon. He was the picture of relaxed confidence. How much strength of character would it take to rise above a childhood steeped in violence to reach the success he now enjoyed? She couldn’t even imagine.
“Do you? Or is your brain even now coming up with excuses and counterarguments about how not every human relationship is as extreme as my parents’ was? And how I should not let it shape my life and choices?”
She felt her cheeks heat under his knowing gaze because her mind had indeed veered in that direction.
He laughed softly and reclined back on his elbows. Damn, but he was handsome. Every line of his body was a study in classical elegance as he lounged. Her stomach fluttered with desire as she studied him. His eyes lowered to her mouth, and he inhaled before looking away again.
“Don’t bother. I made that mistake, too.”
“What?” That moment of awareness between them had scattered her thoughts.
His smile deepened, but his eyes softened as he looked at her now with something akin to fondness. “I made the mistake of thinking I could find love with a human. When I was twenty, I had my first serious girlfriend. I was so in love. I thought I had beat the odds. That I was so clever.”
“And then what happened?” Kalli held her breath, knowing this held the key to his present stance.
“Only the expected. Soon, the fights started. I don’t know if I have my father’s abhorrent temperament or my mother’s appalling taste in partners. But either way, the relationship soured quickly. I decided human partners were not for me.”
“But we get along well.”
“For now. Because we don’t have a romantic relationship. Not really. We are friends and colleagues who agreed to have sex. To pleasure each other while we are away from our parbots.”
It hurt hearing him describe their relationship in those blunt terms. But he had never pretended to feel otherwise.
“Don’t harbor any illusions about me, Kalli. After that breakup, I got my first parbot, and I have been happy in my relationships ever since.”
The finality of that statement didn’t leave any room for argument.
