Page 118 of A Light in the Dark
“They can give me papers declaring my ownership of your person as compensation.”
Joel laughed at me. “Did you just ask me to marry you?”
“Not precisely, but now that you mention it, I think I may have just implied I was going to have the city-state sell you into slavery. That’s in the same ballpark, but one might have consent issues.” I considered, and then I stared at him with wide eyes. “Would you actually marry someone like me?”
“Like you, no. You? That’s a different matter. I would not be difficult to convince. I’ve been around long enough to know how hard it is to find someone I just mesh with, and we’ve gotten along from the start. You tolerate my hobbies, and that’s pretty rare.”
What was even going on in the world that he had problems finding someone who couldtoleratehis hobbies? “But there’s nothing wrong with your hobbies.”
“Are you going to think that when I take two weeks off work to try to get a photograph of a rare animal?”
“That depends entirely on if you’re taking me with you.”
“I would like to take you with me, yes.”
I already wanted to keep the man around, and he wanted to take me places to look at rare animals while he shot them with his camera? Some decisions in life were easier than others. “And I can extort you at my leisure?”
“Only if I get to extort my new wife for her silk. I have felt your silk, Madam Mayor. It is excellent quality, and I will be having several bolts of silk made for my sewing pleasures.”
“How many pounds do we need to produce for a bolt?”
“For a sixty inch wide bolt of a hundred yards meant for most clothing, dresses, and so on, you need to produce roughly fifty pounds of silk. Your first shift silk should make at least ten bolts, but you might get more out of it if you want thinner fabrics. Your cross-stitch bolts are a heavierweight, so if you go for a cross-stitch bolt, you might only get nine bolts out of it.”
I did the math: I had a lifetime supply of silk just from my first shift. “And floss?”
“I don’t recommend using your first shift silk for thread. Use your next few transformations for the threads. Your first shift silk has an exceptional texture.”
“Okay, so, skip the cross-stitch bolt and do everything for clothing, especially if the silk is that good.”
He nodded. “I’ll show you my bolts of first shift silk tomorrow, that way you can get an idea of the texture differences.”
“Dangle that in front of me as a bribe to deal with this week—and please don’t let me forget to call my parents tomorrow. Honestly, the fact they might come to Stonecreek at all might be the real miracle here.”
“If yours won’t come, mine will,” Joel replied with a smile. “Let’s get you home, and I will take care of you, my precious hostage, for the next few days. We’ll take turns.”
“Now that’s a plan.”
THIRTY-SEVEN
Does it involve the phone alarm I shut off this morning?
I didn’t passout in Joel’s SUV, but I came close. He guided me through his house, which he’d decorated in a modern minimalism fashion. I suspected he’d neglected to actually do much with the place, placing furniture he liked into spaces that needed it. He showed me his crafting room, which was a wonder to behold. He had several massive crafting stations, and he’d been hard at work on numerous projects.
We’d be challenged fitting his crafting stations into my house, but I’d figure something out somehow.
After I’d poked around in his crafting room for a while, he guided me to his bedroom, which had the promised silk sheets. As I had zero desire to deal with returning to my home to fetch pajamas, a healthy interest in catching his attention, and a lifetime supply of condoms, I flung off my clothes in record time and threw myself onto the bed.
Joel had used his own silk for his sheets, and I burrowedbetween them, wiggling and rolling around to best enjoy the texture.
Shifter Five’s silk was the best silk, and if Joel couldn’t identify his own silk, he only had himself to blame.
“This was not what I was expecting, and if I had known how much you’d enjoy silk sheets, I would have issued this invitation earlier.” Joel laughed, and unlike me, he took his time getting undressed. I peeked, enjoying the view as he puttered around his bedroom and hung everything up neatly, sparing the precious silk from unnecessary wrinkling.
He took his time preparing for bed, which proved to be my undoing.
Silk, plus warmth, plus comfort equaled sleep.
I could only assume the past few weeks had gotten the better of me, as Joel beat me up, and he had gone to my home to fetch clean clothing for me. “Are you ready to get up yet? It’s almost noon.”
