Page 54

“Hell yes, the water is lava,” Will says when he climbs in after me. He lets out a pleased sigh. “I swear, you only get more perfect with each passing moment.”

I snort and shake my head. Oh, if only he knew. And he never will. Until I change my mind, and then it will be too late for him, anyway.

“C’mere, baby.” Will opens up his arms and I slosh through the water over to him. “It’s cute how you get impressed so easily.”

“I’m not impressed,” I grumble. Maybe a smidge. Not admitting it.

“Then impress me. Tell me something.”

“About what?”

“Anything. Any kind of weird little trivia that comes to mind. Maybe some quirky shit from when you were a kid. Like right upuntil I was a preteen, I used to find a way to peel everything I ate.”

I shrug.

“Aw, c’mon.”

“I… don’t know.”

“How do you not know?”

I’d repeat myself, but rather than risking an infinite loop of questions, I give him the best answer I can. “It’s sort of… not there.”

“Like, you can’t remember your childhood?”

I shrug again. “That implies I forgot. It feels more like it never happened. It’s just… blank.”

“Shit,” he mumbles. After a minute or so of holding onto me and stroking my arm, he changes the subject. “Tell me something about bees.”

“You don’t want to hear that,” I chuckle to myself.

“Yes, I do.”

“No, you—”

“I do,” he says with the forceful voice that never fails to send a shiver through me. “I like how excited you get about the stuff that interests you.”

Well, that’s embarrassing enough for me to keep my mouth shut.

“Anything.” He softens right back to a whisper before kissing my neck once and resuming his affectionate stroking up to my shoulders.

“Okay.” Probably going to regret this. No one cares to hear about this shit. Ever. I suppose Will is the type who needs to learn the hard way. “Nothing keeps farmed bees in manmade hives. They choose to stay.”

“Why is that?”

“No one really knows. They could leave and make their own hive, but they don’t. Maybe they realize that if they are willing tomake a sacrifice, they can stay somewhere safer. Someone will take care of them. You’re like… their god.”

“I can see why that might appeal to someone.”

I huff.

“What? I can barely motivate myself enough to pay my bills on time. I’d make a shitty higher entity to the legion who depended on me. You’re clearly more responsible.”

“You make it sound as if I’m the only thing standing between life and death for mostly self-sufficient animals. I think you could handle it.”

“Nope. I’ve only got enough in me to take care of one other person, but do a really, really good job at it.” And if there were any doubt at all in my mind what he meant, he kisses the top of my head.

Okay. Well. That was kind of sweet, but I can’t be fawning all over him and maintaining this level of interest. I need to pull back some. If I continue being nothing but honest with him, I’ll risk telling him everything.