“What do we do now?” I asked and then gave him a lecherous grin. The training, as always, stoked passion and while I thought I’d get used to it, I was still getting as horny as a teenager on prom night.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself here. If you think you have grit all over you now, rolling around on the ground would make you realize that you’re relatively clean.”
“What? I wasn’t suggesting anything,” I said, putting on an innocent air.
His face got his smug look on it, and I had to grin. Rafe could be damned cute when he wasn’t trying. His hair was on the short side, just touching his ears and above his collar in the back. It was dark, nearly black with red highlights that showed up more when he was in direct sunlight. He was a couple of inches taller than I was, I guess about six foot, and he was slender. The muscles of his arms and chest were hard but didn’t bulge as if he lifted weights. All in all, he was very attractive, and I could see other women easily falling for him. It wasn’t like that with me. Sure, I was physically attracted to him, and I recognized serious cuteness when I saw it, but he was going to be my mentor for decades. We needed a serious relationship, not some lovey-dovey thing. That said; I was still planning on jumping his bones at the next opportunity.
He glanced up toward the sky, and I followed his gaze to see Beast circling a couple hundred feet up.
“Drop the circle,” Rafe said. “My ward is still active, of course, and Beast is watching so we should be safe from any surprises.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding and canceled the spell that maintained our training circle.
“You can set your stuff on the ground; I’ll get to it once we’re free of grit.”
I set my clothes down next to his and then stepped closer to him. I found myself studying some of the old scars that crossed his torso and limbs. I’d asked him why he had them since the healing he’d done on me hadn’t left any. He had explained that his original healing spell wasn’t as powerful as the one he had been using on me. While his old one would mend whatever was damaged, scars still formed. I was glad he’d found a better one. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the way he looked, if anything it just made him more rugged looking. But as I thought about the burn on the side of my head and my lost limbs, not to mention the deep wound that had left a six inch gash from my right nipple to my armpit–an inch to the side and the shrapnel would have taken off my nipple–I realized that I liked my skin smooth.
Rafe raised his hands, and I took them in mine.
He triggered a tat that glowed blue beneath the skin of his right thigh, and I felt myself grow weightless. I grinned at the sensation and looked down to see the ground gradually receding from us.
“That’s cool,” I said.
He grinned back at me.
We leveled off about fifty feet off the ground, and the wind tattoo on his right forearm began to glow. At first, it barely ruffled our hair, but it gradually strengthened until I had to close my eyes tight. The wind swirled around us, tickling my skin with its caress. It was kind of sensual, and I felt myself thrilling at the sensation.
All too soon, the gale dropped to a breeze, and I opened my eyes. Rafe was grinning still, but his hair looked like some kind of ‘50s duck’s ass style, except that the ass was at the crown of his head instead of the back. I had to bite my tongue to keep from giggling.
“Don’t laugh, your hair looks the same as mine,” he said.
I felt him easing the power on his levitation spell and in a minute, we were standing back on the ground. Somehow, Rafe had been able to keep the wind from reaching the ground, and our clothes were undisturbed.
He let go of my hands, but I held tight and pulled myself against him. He lowered his face to mine, and our lips met in a warm, wet kiss that had my pulse tripping.
Always the gentleman, Rafe waited for me to break the kiss.
He looked down at me, his wide brown eyes were kind, but I knew there was a hint of lust behind them.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“Just thanking you for your skill,” I said coyly.
“Skill?” he asked.
“That and I wanted to give you a taste of later.” We were close enough that both our torsos and our naughty bits were touching. I could tell that the kiss had aroused him, even without the meshing that was letting us fully share emotions.
He frowned and for a second I couldn’t decide how he felt. That was odd. Every other time we meshed, I had been able to do everything but read his thoughts.
“Like you said, later,” Rafe said. “Now let me get our clothes cleaned off so we can get back to training.”
I let go of his hands and stepped back, only casting the briefest of glances downward to confirm what I had felt. Rafe ignored my look and stepped beside our clothing. His levitation tat glowed again, and our clothes floated into the air. When they were a couple of dozen feet above us, he activated his wind tat. In a moment, our clothes were being buffeted by gale force winds just as we had been.
I couldn’t figure out how he was holding all of our clothes in one spot while the wind was flapping them back and forth, but he was definitely doing it. I’d have to
