The next week passed in a happy haze for Clem. Lei-san was almost insatiably curious about the world into which she’d stumbled, and Clem was only too happy to answer her questions. They walked all over, exploring Trotondown and the Library; Clem even took her to the stables and introduced her to Laredo, which led to her getting a horse of her own—a clone of her original mount, a dun mare named Chanticlear.
Clem couldn’t remember being so content. Even if he wasn’t willing to let Lei-san get closer than arm’s length, he was still happy to have someone around to talk to, someone who was so willing to share things with him without taking anything more than what he gave.
One evening he sat on the porch, staring quietly at his guitar. Lei-san lay curled up on the porch swing across from him; she was wearing a pair of cutoffs and a tank top in the warm air, her long, tanned legs propped up on the railing. “Are you ever going to play that thing?”
Clem looked at her. “I dunno . . . maybe. Maybe never.”
“Listen. Your hand’s fine. Besides, you’ll never know until you try, right?”
He nodded slightly, trembling. Lei-san stood, her bare feet thumping quietly on the wooden porch as she joined him. “Just give it a try. I promise I won’t laugh, no matter what happens.”
Clem shook his head. “It’s not . . . that.”
Her hand gently touched his arm. “What is it, then?”
“It’s hard . . . to explain,” he said. He’d told Lei-san a little about Morgan, but not much.
“I guess it is, because I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He looked down. “My playin’s . . . what brought her.”
“Oh. Well,” she said, looking at the belt holding her daggers, which hung in easy reach on the porch rail. “If she returns this time I’ll take care of her, all right?”
Clem sighed, slowly pulling the guitar up and settling it on his thighs. Lei-san moved to stand behind him, her hands gently rubbing his shoulders. Clem awkwardly strummed it, his teeth firmly pressed to his bottom lip. Lei-san’s thumbs moved up to stroke the back of his neck as he gingerly began playing “Only Bound,” his eyes shut tight. Lei-san hummed softly, one of her hands moving up to stroke his hair. Clem had barely reached the first verse when he faltered and stopped.
“What is it?” Clem shook his head. “You were wonderful; next time don’t stop.”
Clem set the guitar aside and stood up shakily. Lei-san took a step back, dropping her gaze and allowing her long hair to fall into her face. “M’sorry,” he said, heading into the house.
When he was gone Lei-san sank down into his chair, wrapping her arms around herself. “I am too,” she whispered. After a few minutes she got up, walking back into the cabin; she headed straight for her knapsack and began bundling her possessions up.
Inside the bathroom, Clem leaned on the door, hugging his aching hand to his chest. “Why?” he whispered, clutching the hand tighter. Why couldn’t he play any more? Morgan was gone—what was he afraid of? He swallowed his fear, along with a couple of pills Hoss had given him, and went back out. He stopped when he saw Lei-san bent over her pack. “Lei-san?”
She stopped, her back still to him. Her tank top rode up, revealing three deep, recently healed scars on her lower back. His eyes widened. “Lei-san, what . . . happened?”
She straightened, her back still to him. “Happened to what?”
“Your back . . . ”
“Oh, that.” She turned, smiling grimly. “A long fall down a steep cliff face into a shallow creek bed filled with sharp rocks.” It was why she she’d been unable to explain why or how she’d arrived in Clem’s dimension; the wounds had become infected, leaving her delirious for several days and blindly stumbling around, until the fever had finally broken and she’d found herself in the forest several miles from Clem’s cabin.
“Really? Like . . . Mike,” he murmured.
“Mike?”
He nodded. “The guy—at least a semi-fictional account of the guy—that us Mike clones are based on. That happened to him in a book.”
“Really?” she said, her eyebrows arching in surprise. “My. We would have a lot to talk about, then.”
Clem blushed slightly. “In fact, you look a lot like the woman in the story.”
“I do?” she let the straps slip from her fingers. “What was . . . she like?”
“She was a very tall, very beautiful woman with long sandy blonde hair and green eyes—though she was an Indian.”
“In-dee-an,” Lei-san said, rolling the unfamiliar word around in her mouth. “Not a familiar term, I’m afraid, but the beautiful part I do understand,” she blushed.
“You are,” he said, and really meant it.
She raised her gaze from the floor, her eyes frightened and longing at the same time. “You are too,” she whispered.
“Me?” He smiled broadly. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had said that—if anyone ever had. “Thank you.” His smile faded as he noticed her bag.
“I . . . I was going to leave,” she said, following his gaze. “I upset you.”
“No, you didn’t!” he said, crossing the room to his side. “It’s not you at all! Don’t think that.”
Lei-san rubbed her eyes. “I didn’t want this to happen. I didn’t intend it, but, I like you, Clem. Being here has contented me for the first time in . . . I don’t know how long.”
He reached out and took her hand with his right one, stroking her knuckles with her thumb. “I . . . I like you bein’ here too.” She brought his hand up and kissed it gently, rubbing her soft cheek against his knuckles. “I like . . . you,” he whispered.
She bit her lip, tears rolling down her cheeks. “I hope you don’t regret it. I hope . . . that maybe this time will be different.”
Clem nodded. “Maybe it will.”
She took his other hand, kissing it gently. “I have no idea why it still hurts,” he murmured, looking away.
“If I could take away the pain I would. There must be some way to heal it once and for all. We’ll just have to find it.”
“Yeah.” He kissed her hand. “Are you hungry?”
“In a manner of speaking,” she said, her face flushing bright red. Clem looked at her for only a moment before blushing as well.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean it like that. Well, I did, but . . . ” she stammered.
“I understand,” he said, smiling.
“Thank goodness someone does. I’m not usually this . . . inarticulate.”
Deciding that inarticulation didn’t matter, Clem leaned in and kissed her. Her warm lips opened for him, her hand coming up to stroke his bearded cheek. He parted from her as slowly as he had approached, his lips already hungering for another.
Lei-san’s eyes remained closed for a few more moments. “Do all . . . Mike clones kiss as divinely as you do?”
Clem grinned. “I don’t know. I haven’t kissed any.”
She laughed, leaning in to kiss him again. “And I don’t plan on kissing any others.” Her mouth moved against his, her tongue moving agilely within his mouth. This time she withdrew, putting her head on his chest as they parted.
“Wow,” he said, smiling.
“Wow?”
“You’re a wonderful kisser yourself.”
She smiled radiantly, her cheeks flushing an even deeper red. She cleared her throat nervously. “So what now?”
“Dinner? Any maybe after my medicine kicks in I might be able to play a little more.”
Lei-san flushed right down to the top of her shirt. Clem thought for a moment, puzzled, then chuckled. “I mean my guitar.” He smiled warmly at her as his mind roamed to other forms of play. He could see a patch of exposed golden skin right above her belt, and his breathing quickened a little at the thought of seeing even more . . .
Lei-san covered her mouth with her hands. “Ohhh . . . you must think I’m a total idiot.”
“Naw . . . no bigger n’me.”
“Oh stop that,” she said, poking him playfully. “Idiot is hardly a word I’d use to describe you.” She wandered into the kitchen.
“You either,” he said, following her.
“Thanks. I think I’m getting used to hearing compliments now,” she winked.
Clem laughed. “So, let’s see what there is to eat.”
“Clem, I’m sorry, but . . . you have got to stop talking like that.” She laughed lightly as she opened the fridge.
“Sorry,” Clem chuckled.
She straightened slightly, her eyes appearing over the top of the door. “Unless . . . you’re doing it on purpose.”
“I’m not consciously doin’ it,” he said, smiling innocently.
“Of course you’re not.”
He moved closer, peering over her shoulder into the fridge. She turned suddenly, a can of whipped cream in her hand; with a giggle she reached up and sprayed some along his chin.
“Hey!” he laughed.
She giggled, using a finger to place a dollop on the end of his nose. “Much better!” She giggled again as he stuck his tongue out, trying to lick it off. She put some on her finger and lifted it to his lips. “Here . . . try this.”
He looked at her for several more moments, then took her finger into his mouth, slowly licking the sweet cream from it. She shivered, her pupils growing wide.
“Mmmm . . . ” Clem said, smiling.
With a slow, sensual smile she shook the can again, spraying a thin line across his throat. Clem barely had time to register its cold before Lei-san’s warm mouth trailed along his throat, licking the whipped cream off. He shuddered in pleasure, his heavy eyelids drooping shut. Her hands undid the buttons of his shirt, and her mouth reversed direction, trailing down his chest. He moaned softly, his breathing quickening.
She looked up. “Good?”
“Wonderful . . . ”
Taking his hand, she pulled him over to the bed, gently pushing him onto his back. “Somehow I’m not hungry any more . . . not that way.”
Clem let his head relax against the pillow as she climbed on top of him, straddling him and removing his shirt with all the care of a mother undressing an infant. “No . . . me neither.” He gasped, his muscles tightening as she kissed down his chest to his stomach, her tongue dipping into his bellybutton. She moved position, gently nipping along his ribs with her teeth, and he shivered, rubbing her back with his right hand.
She straightened, reaching up and pulling off her shirt, then unzipped her shorts, pulling them down and away. Clem stared at her long torso and small, round breasts as her muscular arms gently kneaded his shoulders. “You’re beautiful,” he breathed.
“So are you.” She stretched her long body over his, leaning in until their noses touched. He nuzzled her briefly before kissing her, releasing another soft moan as she sucked his tongue. He reached up, curling his hands over her hips and smiling as they bucked in his grasp. “I’m so glad y’picked my place t’stay at.”
“I am, too. Maybe . . . it’s a good sign,” she said, reaching up to trace his eyebrows with her thumbs, “that this is where I’m supposed to be.”
Clem blinked. The combination of the pain pill, the soft bed, and Lei-san’s inviting warmth was making him very sleepy. “I . . . I’ve been lonely.”
“I have, too. But you won’t be lonely any more. I promise.”
“Thank you.”
Her smile turned to a smirk. “Don’t thank me just yet. There’s as much in it for me as there is for you.” She slid her hand down to the front of his jeans, grasping him. “Oooh, a lot more, it seems.”
He blushed a little. “Heheh.”
With a quick movement she rolled off of him, sprawling next to him. “Your turn.”
He rolled over to face her, his fingers gently tracing along her stomach. “My turn?”
“It’s no fun if I have to be the aggressive one all the time,” she winked.
He grinned. “Ah . . . ” He kissed her stomach, his hand moving up to cup her breast. She released a few soft breaths, tangling her fingers in his hair as he moved up to her chest, his thumb and forefinger gently toying with the hardening nipple. She tangled her legs in his, writhing as he pulled her nipple into his mouth and sucked gently. “So pretty . . . ” he murmured in between gentle nips.
Her hands grasped for and seized his belt. “Nmi sorani . . . ”
“Hmmm?” he murmured sleepily, wondering if maybe he’d misheard her.
“‘Darling one.’ Loosely translated, mind you,” she replied.
“Ahhhhh . . . s’pretty.”
She unbuckled his belt and pushed the jeans from his hips. “I’ll teach you the language someday. We have all the time in world now.” He kissed her deeply and she returned it, moving down to nibble the skin of his hip as her hand closed gently around him.
“Lei-san . . . mmmm . . . ” he purred, his body shifting. He wanted her, wanted to make love to her, but something more powerful was pressing him down into the mattress, forcing his eyelids shut. She stopped her ministrations and pulled away; Clem forced his weighted eyes open and grinned at her. “Wow.”
“You liked that, I take it?”
“Very,” he replied.
She moved, catlike, her stomach pressing against him. “Would you . . . be averse to going a little further?”
“No . . . not a bit,” he said, blinking and trying to clear his head. “But . . . I’m startin’ t’fade a little. It’s not you, I promise.”
She curled up next to him, placing a hand on his chest. “Fade?”
“M’startin’ . . . t’get a little groggy.” He felt bad about disappointing her, but his body was getting heavier and heavier with each passing moment.
Instead of sighing and pushing him away, Lei-san pulled the blankets up around them. “Then sleep. I want you awake when we . . . you know. It’s more fun that way.”
“M’sorry.”
She stroked his cheek with the side of her hand. “That’s all right . . . just sleep. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
“Stay . . . with me?”
She snuggled close to him, putting her head on his chest. “Always.”
Clem smiled, gently running his fingers through her silky hair as his eyes drooped closed and he let sleep follow Lei-san’s embrace. Lei-san listened to the soft sound of his breathing, stroking the dark hairs of his forearm before drifting off herself.
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