I started stripping as I walked across the room. "Where's Rhoan?"
"Gone back undercover. I don't expect him to surface for a couple of days."
I stopped and looked at him. "So you'll be here alone?"
"I can cope with being alone," he said dryly. "I did it for many, many years before I moved in here."
"But-"
"I'm fine, Riley. Really."
"So no more baby-sitting?"
"No. Although you can still pamper me any old time you please."
"Ha," I said. "If you're better, you become just a regular old member of the family. No pampering, and no one running after you."
"Excellent. Now go shower."
I did, taking longer than I should thanks to the fact that half a mountain of dirt seemed to be lodged under my toenails after last night's run.
"So, what sort of look are we going for this time?" I said when I finally sat down. One of the packets on the table was a voice modulator, and my cheek began to throb in pain at the mere thought of having it inserted.
"Brown with red and gold highlights," he said, lifting my hair and running it through his fingers. Which I knew from experience meant he was going to cut it, too. "So we'll be able to keep some of your natural color-both up top and down below."
Thank goodness for that. I mean, dyeing that hair was above and beyond the call of duty. "And it will wash out, won't it?"
I asked this question every single time he did this, and even though the answer was always the same, I still asked it. I liked my hair color, and I hated risking the dyes. Because one of these days, I just knew fate was going to stick me with something goddamn awful.
Liander gave a much-put-upon sort of sigh. "Of course it will, if only because you would be unbearable if it didn't, and I now have to share an apartment with you."
I grinned. "Too right, makeup man. So, are we staying with gray eyes?"
"Nope. They'll be green. And your voice will be modulated down to raspy."
"Raspy? Why that?"
"Because it sounds sexy in a semidark environment. Which the club is, apparently. Now shut up and let the master work."
I snorted softly, but let him get to it, watching him work through the mirror he'd propped in front of me.
The result was surprisingly sexy. The chocolaty brown played against my own natural color, setting it off rather than clashing, and it contrasted nicely against the warm gold of my skin. The green eyes looked startling, and although I'd feared my hair being cut, all he did was give it some shape.
It was me, and yet not.
"Okay, modulator time," he said, picking up the little plastic bag.
"Damn, I was hoping you'd forgotten about those."
"Jack would have my hide if I did. Open wide, darling."
I did, and winced as he inserted the extremely thin plastic chips in either side of my mouth. The surface of the modulators were supposedly covered with an analgesic that deadened the skin as they went in, but it always felt like he was ripping out teeth rather than shoving in plastic. Although at least once they were positioned inside my cheeks, I couldn't actually feel them. I suppose I should be thankful for small mercies.>"And therein lies our problem, I think." I gave his hands a squeeze, then pulled mine away and picked up my coffee. Despite the need to talk about this, my hands were shaking. Part of me feared his reaction to what I was about to say. We'd been in this sort of situation so often before-even if the reasons had been completely different-and it had always ended with one or the other of us storming off in anger. I'd like to say we'd both grown since then, but the truth was, I doubted it. Ingrained reactions never really changed-not when there were emotions involved.
And there were definitely emotions involved here-his and mine.
"I don't want to take other partners, Riley." He studied me for a minute, then added, "Do you?"
I raised an eyebrow, and pretended not to understand the intent behind that question. "Do I want you to take other partners? I wouldn't be suggesting it if I thought it was a bad thing."