Free High Energy by Dara Joy Page B

appropriate response to that, Tyber lifted her in
    his arms and carried her into the house. He didn't put her down until she was
    gently deposited in the center of his bed.
    Which happened to be a giant oyster shell.
    Zanita blinked up at him, nonplussed at his presumption. No other man of her
    acquaintance would have dreamed of acting so assertively. Then again, no other
    man of her acquaintance could have brought her so completely to satisfaction.
    Nonetheless, she was not about to let the man haul her around without her
    express consent. In triplicate.
    She glared up at him. "Excuse me, I must have missed something. When did we leap
    back two centuries?" Tyber looked up at the ceiling as if he were seriously
    thinking about her question.
    "Can't do that. At least according to Einstein. However, a wormhole—"
    "Stop that doublespeak right now! You didn't even give me a chance to answer
    you!"
    Tyber shrugged. "It was not a question."
    "Tyber!"
    He grinned down at her. "Technically speaking," he amended to sooth her ruffled
    feathers.
    She threw him a pointed look and sat up. It appeared that she was in the middle
    of another one of Tyber's flights of fancy. Three walls were floor-to-ceiling
    aquariums. The fourth wall contained two doors which presumably led to a
    bathroom and dressing room.
    "I'll admit the aquariums are relaxing, but an oyster shell bed?" Her eyes
    traveled above her, where the top half of the open shell loomed over her head.
    There were recessed colored lights embedded in it.
    Tyber picked up a control box on a driftwood table beside the bed. He pressed a
    button and the lights dimmed romantically.
    "What if you want to read in bed?" she asked sarcastically, still miffed at his
    overbearing behavior. Men! Boil them in oil! He pressed another button, and two
    bright reading lights came on, spotlighting her. "Now I feel like the Little
    Mermaid."
    He snapped the reading lights off, leaving the soft pastel lights on. "You do
    look like a little pearl in there." She stuck her tongue out at him. He wagged
    his finger at her. "Obviously not a cultured pearl."
    "People who live in glass aquariums shouldn't throw insults. You have a
    television in your bedroom. Talk about cultured…"
    "Which reminds me, we missed The Curse Of The Mummy's Finger. I wonder how we
    could have forgotten?" He gave her a very male look.
    "I wonder." She couldn't help it; her mouth curved in response. He was such an
    incredibly sexy man. And very sweet.
    Despite his godawful arrogance.
    To be fair, she supposed that just being Tyberius Augustus Evans came with an
    arrogance factor. There was no one quite like him. The world knew it. And he
    probably knew it. She really did want to stay with him a little longer. So what
    could one night hurt?
    Tyber sat on the edge of the bed. "Does that alluring little smile mean you are
    going to spend the night with me?"
    "Is that a question?" He picked up her hand and brought it to his lips.
    "Yes, Zanita mine, that is a question. Please stay; I want you to. How's that
    for humility?"

"I don't know. Somehow the Uriah Heap routine doesn't suit you. And, yes; I'll
    stay, but just for this one night. I've given up men."
    Tyber raised an eyebrow. "You mean as in, I've given up red meat?"
    "Something like that."
    "Dare I enquire why?" She tugged her hand away.
    "No, you may not."
    "I see. So tonight you're going off the wagon, so to speak? I don't know that I
    like being compared to a behavioral slump." He walked his fingers up her arm.
    "Be serious, Tyber. There's no insult intended. Consider it more like an…
    aberration."
    "An aberration." He stared at her stonily.
    "You're not upset, are you?"
    "Of course not. I've always aspired to be someone's aberration. Now I'm yours.
    My life is complete." He flopped down sideways across the bed.
    "Don't take it personally."
    "So now I'm not even an individual aberration? I'm not even special, am I? I'm
    just an average run-of-the-mill aberration." He rolled