The Relic (Cradle of Darkness 2)

When he talked in such a way, I would blush. Felt it creeping up my cheek as I pretended to admire the upheld, beautiful dress instead of meeting his eye. “You mentioned a suggestion?”

“University.” The tip of his human finger tapped my nose. “Join a sorority, eat pizza, and drink beer, go to parties and make friends. Take classes and expand the mind I already recognize as brilliant. Any subject can be at your fingertips. Work if you wish, but consider that study will be time-consuming. And I must be fair in stating that you will need tutelage before you might be admitted. I have a collection of wise minds ready to teach you, which might eat up years until you can quote Plato as well as you quote Psalms.”

“You are teasing me.” He had to be. I was dumber than a rock. At least fifteen of my former employers had said so.

“Uh, they are so lucky they are already dead.” A peck landed on my lips between his complaints. “Wear this pink number tonight. We can stay in and watch a modern movie if you want to leap forward into what's trending now. If you're feeling daring, we can watch the movie that has an entire planet of women overjoyed and salivating.”

“But we're only at 1959.” Jumping ahead seemed forbidden! Yet at the same time… was there really any point in postponing the inevitable. What did women these days watch? I would see their mannerisms and clothes. Hairstyles, cosmetic trends. Perhaps this was the best first step. “I would like to see this movie.”

Gathering up the underthings to match the 1920s costume, Vladislov said, “It will be very modern. I think the word might be risqué.”

“Women in the 1920s were very modern. They could vote!” And indeed that had made me very worried in that age. For so much violence was brought down upon those females who wanted a voice. And I had not agreed, as women were God’s flawed creation. But then I’d seen a cultural renaissance… a phrase I overheard from a guest at the Supper Club and had looked up at the library.

So why not watch this movie? Why not wear the clothes?

But no trousers!

Even in my era, those looked improper.

“How brave you are, my soul!” Laughing, Vladislov wrapped an arm around me. “All of this will be removed and replaced. No need to look at me that way. It will be saved for parties or your whim. Yet I will contradict one fashion statement from the years you’re considering. Bras are overrated. I’ll cover you in lace, in satin, in silk, but please, I beg you, my darling, do not confine such perfect breasts in a bra.”

Nipples tightening at their mere mention, I pulled the house coat tighter around my chest. “What do women sleep in?”

His eyebrows bounced. “In the nude, of course.”

“You’re lying…”

“Fine…” He sighed as if I were extremely troublesome for failing to take the bait. “Nightgowns, teddies, lingerie, pajamas. And yes, some do prefer to sleep naked. If I have a vote, I vote naked. You’d glow wearing nothing but moonlight.”

“You’re too forward.” I would have never said that to a patron as I sold cigarettes. I would have let him slather me with innuendo and grab my breast or rump. But I said it now, because I was no longer a cigarette girl. I was to be a modern woman of a new century. “It makes me uncomfortable.”

Grinning, he leaned close enough to take a deep breath of me. “Uncomfortable is not the right word. It makes you nervous, because it excites you.”

Heart pounding, strange fluttery feelings in my belly, I closed my eyes and collected my thoughts. Warmed where his heat poured into me. Oddly breathless when he ran his nose over my hair.

Full-on shivering when he whispered at my ear, “I would be very gentle, immensely careful, if you would only let me kiss you.”

A kiss? Was there really any harm? My lips already felt plump, tingled with the thought of it.

It was all I could do not to touch them.

Yet he pulled away, eyes warm and smile soft. “But not yet. First, let's watch this film and see just what makes the modern woman tick.”

Hand going to the tie of my robe, he pulled the knot before I might react. Off went my robe, followed with a flourish of my cotton nightgown until I was naked, gaping, and reaching out for anything to cover myself.

Chin in his hand, he cocked his head and considered. “Perfect breasts. Perfect sex. Please don’t have your pubic hair ripped out the way women do these days. I love those beautifully scented, soft curls just as they are.”

Already stepping into my underthings, red up to my ears, I tripped once I grasped what he said. “Women remove… that hair? Why?”