Alien Tango

thing all the time or Martini’s money was extra-special, because he was greeted warmly and with no undue concern. No one mentioned how we looked; no one mentioned that I’d stolen a Porsche in front of them, nothing.
    “Did you just do a little mind meld or something?” I asked as the elevator arrived.
    “Never pays to upset the help.” We got inside, hit the button for the top floor, and he pulled me into his arms and ravaged my mouth. He had me up against the wall and our bodies grinding together well before we reached our floor.
    We got into the room, and he looked wild again. “Jeff? You okay?”
    “Yeah.” His voice was low and his breathing heavy. He grabbed my dress and ripped it off me, lifted me up, and slammed my pelvis against his. His mouth covered mine as I moaned, wrapped my legs around him, and got the remains of his shirt off.
    We fell onto the bed. It felt so much better lying on it with him on top of me. He pulled away from me for a moment though his lower body still pinned mine. “The reaction’s still going on. Time and exertion work it out.” His eyes were wild, but they weren’t frightening.
    I ran my foot along his leg. “We have the time.”
    He gave me a slow smile. “Sure you don’t want to take one of your other offers?”
    I slid my hand up his chest, around his neck, and into his hair. “Show me what you have that they don’t.” I pulled his head to mine and kissed him. He wrapped his arms around me and everything felt right again.
    We made wild love in every part of the room and in the shower twice. I found myself wondering if it was wrong to want to have a little of this drug and adrenaline cocktail around, just for special occasions.
    Dawn came, and we were still occupied. But I could tell the effects were wearing off. Not that his performance suffered, but his heartbeats and pulse were slowing back to normal, his breathing was calmer, his eyes looked right again.
    Somewhere in the morning we fell asleep, my face buried in his chest, wrapped around each other just like the first time he’d ever held me in the night. And just like then, I wasn’t frightened because he was holding me.
    The room phone rang and woke us both up. I managed to look at the clock. Two in the afternoon. Okay, not an unreasonable time to be calling. Martini growled, searched around for the phone, and got it on the sixth ring. “WHAT? Oh, hi. Yeah, fine. Huh? Uh, sure. Give us an hour. Yeah, just woke up. Okay. Can’t wait.” He hung up. “I think I liked him better when he was after you.”
    “Who?”
    “Brian. He and Serene are here and want to hang at the pool with us.”
    “It’s more fun to be at these things with someone you know, believe me.”
    “That why you were so happy to see Reynolds last night?” He rolled out of bed. At first I thought we were headed for a fight, but he picked me up and carried me into the bathroom.
    “I was kind of heartbroken, you know.”
    “I know.” He kissed me tenderly. “I felt it, every emotion you had. My powers were so enhanced it was as though I could see you.” He held me tightly. “I felt each time you thought about me, and how much it hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.” His voice broke.
    I wrapped myself around him. “Jeff, it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.”
    “Yeah, it was. I had that explained to me.”
    “By whom?”
    “ACE. He was very upset because, as he also explained, he realizes he can’t take an active role most of the time. But you were in danger, and I think ACE cares more about your safety than Paul’s.” He turned on the shower.
    “Is that why you and Paul got into a fight?”
    “Yeah. ACE was letting me have it, and I didn’t like it. So they knocked me out, Christopher put me into isolation, and then ACE chatted with me inside my mind. That is the freakiest thing in the world, let me just mention.” He was still holding me as he stepped into the shower.
    “Yeah, he’s done it with me, too.”
    “Well, I doubt he told you that your rampant jealousy and unwillingness to forget a minor transgression were not only causing massive heartbreak but were potentially going to result in the destruction of every person you cared about, starting with the one you loved the most.”
    “Um, no. Not so much.”
    “Yeah. ACE gave me the tip about the adrenaline, too.”
    What a relief. “Oh, good. So you knew it would react against the drugs and clear them out of your system?”
    “No. He told me the only