Free A Bitch In Time (Marina: Part One: Naughty Nookie Series) by Serena Akeroyd Page B

running
water come from the bathroom but I lie still.  Knowing what will happen if
I don’t move and looking forward to it.
    There are some advantages to
being skinny.  Yeah, clothes fit, but that’s nothing in comparison to
having a man haul you about as though you were lighter than air.
    Nate returns, a low whistle
sounding from under his breath and without a murmur, he returns to the bed and
lifts me up.  Carrying me from the bed to the bath, his hold is careful
and sure and I feel like a million dollars as he lowers me into the swiftly
flooding bathtub.  Seconds after being submerged in hot water, something
that’s only going to cause us both heat exertion when combined with the ambient
temperature of the suite, he climbs in too.  Both feet in, he flicks off
the faucet and then lies down beside me.  Before he settles, he
repositions me astride him so that my back is against his chest.
    It’s a large bathroom for a
hotel suite.  A huge tub at one side of the room, a shower with way too
many nozzles at the other and the vanity and toilet behind a glass-block
enclosed wall.  The spotlights dazzle overhead, but there are different
areas of illumination.  Nate has put the lights in the toilet area on, so
we’re kind of in the dark, but we can see each other.
    For a moment, we just lay
there.  We don’t need to let the heat seep into our bones, because it’s
hot enough, but still, it’s nice to just be.  He reaches for my hand and I
curl my fingers into his.  I do the same with the prosthetic and I can
tell he’s touched, when he nuzzles his damp chin against my sweaty cheek.
    “You’ve never had a problem
with it, have you?” he asks, his words merely confirming my thoughts.
    “No.”  It’s the
truth.  I haven’t. 
    “Why is that, you think?”
    I shrug and jostle the water
so it ripples over us.  “Growing up at the IQ Commune, you don’t
really question the way people look.  It’s more about the brain.  You
get used to thinking that way.  It was only in New York, when I realized
the rest of the world wasn't like that.”
    He hums under his
breath.  “Is that when you started to get all body conscious?”
    I stiffen a little in his
hold, but I make the admission with no real shame.  It’s the truth. 
In fact, it’s weird we haven’t had this conversation before, because he knows I
dislike being nude, even if I’ve gradually grown accustomed to it when I’m with
him.
    “Yeah.  I guess so.”
    Another hum and a kiss to my
cheek.  A silent prompt to tell him more. 
    “When I was a kid, we had this
math scholar at the commune and he had a prosthetic.  Nobody really gave a
damn.  He was John, he was bloody smart.  And I mean Stephen Hawking
smart.  That was all that counted.  I had some friends in Sheridan
and I invited them over one day.  They were so freaked out by him.  I
don’t know why.  But they were.”  I shrug again.  “Like I said, stuff
like that was never important at Blue Ridge.”
    “Why did he leave?”
    “He died.  You know how
some of them are.  They either handle it or they don’t.”  By it, we
both know I’m referring to the super-duper intelligence people have at Blue
Ridge.  “He was in the midst of trying to solve some applied math problem
and then, he just…”  I shrug.  “Gave up.  We all knew he had
depression problems.  But I don’t think we believed he’d kill himself.”
    He separates his hand from
mine and starts to massage my palm.  “It hurts, when they do that.”
    Since Nate has taken control,
we’ve had two suicides.  It’s part and parcel of the commune,
unfortunately.  But the delicacy of the people residing at the ranch is
also the reason as to why it exists in the first place.  Blue Ridge is
there to protect the people whose intelligence sets them above the Average
Joe. 
    That sounds elitist, but in
truth, the guys at the genius farm need the security the commune
provides.  It’s very rare for a year