“I wonder how long we’ll be here.” Selene hadn’t expected to be away from home longer than a few days, so she hadn’t packed enough clothing. If this adventure lasted more than another week, she was going to have to do laundry. Luckily she wasn’t teaching this semester, but focusing on a research project. All she had to do was reschedule some meetings with grad students and she’d be okay on the work front.
“Who the fuck knows,” Oscar grumped. But then he put his arm around her, pulling her against his side and rubbing his hand over her upper arm. On the surface, he was off-putting because of the anger, but she’d gotten to peek under the surface, to see the core of the man, and he was caring and brilliant.
And very, very good in bed.
Selene sighed. “I might have to do laundry if it drags on too long.”
Oscar gestured to his small overnight bag. “Yeah. All I’ve got in there are a couple clean T-shirts, two pairs of socks, another pair of boxers, and some lounge pants. Didn’t realize this trip was going to go into overtime. Or that it was going to be cold as a witch’s tit.”
Selene grinned at the Southerner’s lightweight jacket. As an upstate New Yorker, she was no stranger to frigid weather. The same couldn’t be said of Oscar.
Selene lifted her laptop case. “At least I can do some work while we’re here. Though given my current research, I can’t really be away from my lab for more than a month. What do you think the chances are there’s good Wi-Fi out here in the middle of nowhere?”
Oscar shrugged. “I’m not holding my breath. At least you’ve got a computer.”
Sebastian had confiscated Oscar’s laptop, the hard drive and his tablet, something Oscar was not handling well at all. “Not that it matters. The good equipment is in my home office. Couldn’t have accomplished much from here anyway.”
Selene followed him down the hallway, the two of them exploring the downstairs. Besides the living space at the front of the old farmhouse, there was a small room set up as an office, a half bath, and a doorway that appeared to lead to a basement.
Selene’s eyes widened as they stepped into the last room on the first floor—the kitchen. “I didn’t expect this,” she said, as they entered the large, bright, modern kitchen. “This room has obviously been remodeled recently.” Black dome pendant lights hung over the breakfast island, which had four tall woven stools. The room was far more inviting than the rest of the house, feeling like the type of place guests would gather at a party, standing around the counter, eating, drinking, talking.
It instantly became Selene’s favorite room. As a single woman who lived alone, Selene didn’t cook very often, though she enjoyed it. Cooking for one always felt like more effort than it was worth, and in truth, she was typically too busy with work to make the attempt. As such, she lived on microwave meals, takeout and the occasional bowl of cereal for dinner.
“The whole house beats the hell out of my place,” Oscar mused.
“Really?”
He nodded. “Not a lot in my Batcave except the bare necessities. A bed, a couch, my workroom.”
Selene turned to study him, curious about what his home might look like. Their association had been very short—the two of them only meeting just over a week ago. And while they’d had sex several times a day since they met, there was very little she knew of the man beyond the physical realm.
Last night, they’d been given separate sleeping quarters within the Trinity Masters headquarters, something she suspected they were both somewhat grateful for, considering the strange turn of events that had occurred during the day. Selene had lain on the air mattress, playing over everything that had happened over the course of the past two weeks, and she suspected Oscar, who’d been unhappy about his initiation into the Trinity Masters, had needed the time alone to assimilate to his new future.
Selene’s work typically kept her too busy for socializing. Instead, she preferred to share a night or two with men she found physically attractive, rather than someone with whom she might form an emotional bond. After all, as a member of the Trinity Masters, she wasn’t searching for a Mr. or Ms. Right. She was simply biding the time until she was called to the altar, by indulging her sexual needs and expanding on her experience.
She was both curious and adventurous by nature, a combination that had given her parents gray hair, but which were assets in a scientist. The truth was that science was rapidly approaching, or perhaps had already passed, the point where the question was no longer “could” they do something, but “should” they. The bomb Luca had created was a prime example. A small, portable nuclear detonation device, as opposed to a street-corner reactor that could power a few square city blocks, was scientifically thrilling and morally horrifying.
When Oscar turned her, pulling her against his chest so they were flush from shoulder to knee, her thoughts turned to sex. The same curiosity and lust for adventure that drove her scientific inquiry guided her sex life.
The feeling was undoubtedly aided by the fact that lust was a far more enjoyable sensation than vague unease and fear, which were what she’d been feeling since the bodyguards had picked them up.
She wasn’t sure if saying she wanted to stay with Oscar so she could continue to have sex with him was better or worse than saying she was smitten.
While Selene didn’t regret sleeping with him, she was struggling to walk away, something she’d never had a problem with before.
Now that they’d gone into—as Oscar said—overtime, she was interested in getting to know him on a more personal level. What she’d learned of him so far had left her equal parts fascinated and curious.
“So, you’re from Charleston…” she started.
“Yep. Born and raised. I built a small cottage on a large piece of property my family owns just outside the city. My brothers also have houses there…well, places to live. Langston converted the barn into his apartment-slash-lab and built a Tesla coil in the stable area.”
“I’ve been to Charleston a couple of times. It’s a lovely city.”
“You’ll have to come visit me sometime. I’ll show you all the best locals’ haunts, the places that never make it into the travel guides.”
“I’d like that very much. Sounds like you and your brothers are close.” She had met Langston, but had yet to meet the third triplet, who was apparently a doctor and out of the country.
“We’re very tight, got that triplet link thing going. You have any siblings?”
She nodded. “A younger sister, Theia.”
“Yeah. I have one of those, too. Sylvia.”
“Oh yes. I remember the Grand Master mentioning that you had a sister the first time we met. What does she do for a living?”
“She’s a successful poet.”
Selene’s brows rose. “Sylvia Hayden is your sister?”
It was Oscar’s turn to be surprised, though she also detected some pride in his expression. “You’ve read her work?”
Selene nodded. “My best friend is a literature professor at Cornell. She claims I have the potential to become a supervillain and is on a mission to make sure I maintain my moral empathy by exposure to fine arts—music, literature, poetry. She gave me a copy of one of your sister’s books for Christmas last year. I enjoyed it so much, I went out and bought the rest of her work.”