Page 16 of The Interdimensional Lord's Earthly Delight

Chapter 4

The sweet bite of ethanol twinged in Tynan’s nose as he crossed the threshold. Ah, every time and place enjoyed its indulgences.

He’d followed the sounds of merriment, but it was the sight of one statuesque beauty who lured him within.

Lishelle. There was a music to her name that had intrigued him from the moment she’d shared it with him. It sounded like a wistful sigh, like a gentlewind through lamanya blossoms, like fingertips through bubbling waters…

To be clear, the name didn’t quite suit her. She was tall and bold and greedy for pleasure. She had screamed when she came and clenched around his hand as if she would not let go.

He rather liked it.

She was one of the players at a table of countip. The tile game was a test of speed, dexterity, and mathematics, with a heftydose of luck. Making his way through the small but close crowd, he took a space just beyond her elbow to watch.

With four other players, she was building a ziggurat of tiles with multicolored sides and edges etched with different numbers of hatch marks. By aligning colors and completing numerical puzzles with the hatch marks as the tower grew higher, the players reduced the stack of tiles infront of each of them. Whoever used up their tiles first would win and the other players would be stuck with the final count of their unused tiles. An ill-placed tile could collapse a section of the ziggurat—which meant having to add the tiles to one’s pile—and there was no awaiting one’s turn: find an opening, fill it.

Rather like the game of love.

The current game had just started, but obviouslythe evening had been in progress long enough for the players to have completed a round of drinks because their hands were less steady than their cheerful insults to each other. One of the other players knocked down a corner of the ziggurat and groaned as he pulled the extra tiles in front of him. Lishelle laughed and quickly added three of her tiles to the opened section, the colors and numberson the edges of her tiles aligned with the others.

She was good, and her big laugh connected with something in him as if he were one of the tiles she played.

The game quickened as the ziggurat grew higher and open slots were fewer. Lishelle and another player had only a few tiles left. When the clumsy man beside her bumped his corner again, there was a fury of throwing down tiles. Lishellesped through her remaining pieces until one was left in her hand. She hesitated, scanning the ziggurat for an opening.

“Blue twelve-seven-nine,” he murmured.

She didn’t glance at him—he wasn’t even sure she heard—but she slid the tile home…into a different slot and threw up her hands. The other players booed good-naturedly and someone called for another round, but she shook her head and stood.

He took a step back, but when she turned, her dark gaze speared unerringly to his.

“Thanks,” she said as she closed the small distance between them. “But I don’t cheat.”

“I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. “I was caught up in the moment.”

Her mouth, so wide and mobile when laughing, was set in a straight line. “That’s what cheaters say.”

She angled past him to the bar. He followed, a little moreslowly. The dispenser must have registered their proximity, because it poured two drinks. After a diffident beat, Lishelle took both glasses and handed one to him before swiping her wrist device past the scanner.

With an arch of one eyebrow in his direction, she stalked across the room to a quieter corner while the countip game continued with a new player in her seat.

They settled into the cushionedbench beside a viewscreen showing an underwater simulation. The wavery blue-green glow shone on the black curls of her hair and added highlights to the richness of her skin.

He leaned back without sampling the drink, all his focus on her. “I’m sorry someone cheated on you.”

She took a sip from her glass, her gaze on something—nothing—else past him. “Who said someone did?”

“Wasn’t that whatyou meant by your comment?”

Finally she looked at him. “How does the God of Beloveds feel about cheating?”

He tilted his head. “At countip?” When a reluctant smile curved her lips, not even an eighth of the full laugh the game had wrung from her, he continued, “Bodies and souls entwined leave no room for straying.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Can’t be having sex every moment of every day.”

Heinclined his head. “But the heart stays bound.”

The faint line that remained between her brows told him she wasn’t convinced. “If you say so. I guess you need to believe it if you’re doing the vows for Rayna and Raz’s wedding.”

She doubted him? “I believe it because it’s true.”