He shook his head. He couldn’t imagine any other woman on the planet accepting him and his other half the way she did. Not once had she made him feel like a freak. It was a gift he hadn’t expected to receive, and one he could never give up willingly.
“Who’s a pretty boy?” she crooned to the rattler, and the damn reptile preened.
“You’re spoiling that poor excuse for a handbag.”
She shot him a querulous look. “Don’t call him that.” Her brows puckered, and a tiny line appeared above her nose. “Does he have a name?”
“Why the hell would I name him?” Sometimes women were a mystery.
“Because you can’t keep calling him ‘the handbag.’ He needs a name. Don’t you, boy?”
Yes, the suck-up hissed in his mind. I like her better than you.
He snorted a laugh. Of course it did. He didn’t baby the damn thing.
“How about Sid?”
“As in Sid Vicious?”
“I don’t know who that is. I just like Sid.”
“No.”
“Okay, what about Sheldon?”
“What? No!”
“Slinky?”
He couldn’t help his laugh. “Are you gonna work your way through all the names you know that start with S?”
“Maybe.” She blushed again and stole his breath. She was so beautiful. He could look at her forever.
A sharp pain made his heart clench. They didn’t have forever. He forced the thought from his head.
“Sparkles?” Her eyes were alight with amusement. She was playing with him. The woman who’d grown up without play was teasing him. His chest tightened at the thought.
I like Sparkles, the reptile said as it rubbed its head against her cheek.
“I’m not calling my other half Sparkles. Damn it, woman. I might as well change my name to Fairy, so we match. He’s a deadly predator. He needs a strong, manly name.”
She petted the diamondback while she thought about it and Striker felt her touch down the length of his back, where the reptile normally sat.
“Satan? He took the form of a snake in the Garden of Eden.”
No relation, his diamondback pointed out.
“I’m not calling the snake Satan.”
“It’s strong. Manly. Strikes fear into people.”
“No.”
“You know,” she considered him. “I didn’t know you were this contrary. It’s a character flaw.”
“I’m okay with that.”
“Okay, Mr. Difficult, what about Sam? He looks like a Sam.”