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Reese kept listening for someone to call them to the Keith. She didn’t care that time stood still while they were in this place. She wanted to get moving and find Phoedra.

Dressed in a clean pair of jeans, a soft pink shirt that she left loose and a pair of ballet-style, slip-on shoes, Reese brushed her hair, which had turned into a hot mess of wild waves.

Quinn seemed to like it. He couldn’t keep his hands off her hair.

She smiled.

He stepped into view behind her and kissed said hair.

See?

“You have a fetish about crazy hair?” she asked.

“Possibly.”

“How much longer do we have to wait?”

Quinn said, The Keith indicated he would send for us between three and one hundred hours.”

“Lunatic wizard.” She put the brush down, still shaking her head at all the things her host had arranged for them.

The kind of host who tried to kill you first.

If you survived, he then decided whether you were worth wasting oxygen on. She and Quinn had showered, changed, made love again, and finally eaten the fruit and cheese left for them with a carafe of red wine.

Decadent and unnerving at the same time.

Putting the sink and mirror to her back, she looked up. “This wizard had better come through.”

Quinn twisted a lock of her hair around his finger. “The Inchkeiths are a family who live by their word. We made it through the Keith’s gauntlet and proved worthy of his aid. He’ll at least listen to us. If he believes in our quest, he’ll do his part.”

She considered what had happened earlier when they’d made love. They’d used a condom, but they’d also kissed every inch of each other. She wasn’t concerned about either of them being clean as she couldn’t hold a disease in her body and Quinn had the ability to heal anything in his.

Plus, she hadn’t been with anyone in so long, she’d been mostly just worried about remembering how it all worked. No problem there. Quinn proved to be a master at making love.

He had even remembered to use protection.

He’d never know how much she appreciated his attention to that detail.

From what Quinn had told her, the Keith’s realm controlled all consequences of actions that happened within it. She took that to mean that if the Keith allowed them to live, they would be absolved of any crime against his people or creatures during the live-action games.

Seemed like that rule of the Keith’s personal universe would also cover consequences from making love, but in addition to using condoms she was between her cycles.

No problem, right?

Quinn asked, “What’s worrying you?”

No big deal. I’m just terrified of getting pregnant again and putting another baby at risk. Instead, she said, “I can’t find my medallion. I haven’t seen it since I woke up in the room without it.”

“The Keith probably has your medallion. Nothing goes missing unless he deems it to be.”

“Exactly. What if he decides he likes it and wants to keep it?”

“I’ll address that when I speak to him.”

“You mean when we speak to him, right?”

“Yes, of course.”

Why didn’t she believe Quinn? She hated playing mind games. “Yes, of course, but ... what, Quinn? What are you not saying?”

“It’s impossible to get anything by you.”

“Glad you realize it, now give.” She curled her fingers in a give-me motion.

“I don’t want you here.”

“Wow, not feeling the love after all I just went through and what we just did.”

He muttered, “At one time, I knew how to say the right things to a woman, but I’ve clearly lost my touch.”  He ran a hand through his hair, which was nicely messed up.

She liked when he lost that perfect look, the one that fit with the chartered jets and limos.

A life she didn’t fit into.

Explaining further, he said, “I love having you here right now, but I hate having you neck-deep in danger. I’ll be honest that if the Keith gives me any opportunity to let you out of this place, I’m taking it.”

How could Quinn be so incredibly different from the first man she’d met, who had stomped on her fragile love? When faced with both of them taking an equal route to this room, Quinn had opted for the more difficult, and definitely more dangerous, path. He’d left her an easier course.

She had a hard time imagining just what he’d faced after what she’d gone through.

Now he was willing, yet again, to throw himself on the blade for her safety. She said, “We are a team. I want you to repeat that.”

“Reese, please.”

“No, you can’t make my decisions. I entered this realm of my own free will. I’ve been banging around on my own for a long time. I’m perfectly capable of taking responsibility for anything I decide. So, say it.”

He gave her a fierce stare.

She laughed. “It’s not possible to make me shake in my boots. I lost them.”

His face broke out of the dark glare and he said, “You’re impossible. We are a team.”

She enjoyed her win, because with control-freak Quinn,  that statement was definitely a victory.

“If we are a team,” he began, each word pronounced with precision, “then when this is over, promise me you won’t vanish into the ether.”

Oh, crap.

She pushed past him and scrubbed her hands over her face. “This is temporary, Quinn.”  Turning back to face him, she said, “You’re special. I won’t deny what I feel, but you don’t know me. I’m not someone you want in your life.”

“Why?”

“There are things I can’t tell you.” Actually, she’d like to share some of it, but Quinn was a protector and fixer. He’d immediately dive into fixing her life.

Then he’d find out it wasn’t possible and he wouldn’t walk away.

She would not drag him into the hell of living with a demon magnet.

“I only asked that you wouldn’t vanish like last time, Reese.” 

What could she tell him? I have a one-way teleportation ticket and have to return with Phoedra? The minute she showed up empty-handed, Yáahl would lose his shit.

Coming into this realm and being with Quinn had shifted her thinking. She’d been trying to convince herself that she was taking Phoedra back no matter what, but she wasn’t sure she could do it.  

Her heart made a sound of longing every time she looked at this man.  

What if they didn’t make it out of the Keith’s realm alive?

She had to give Quinn something in return.

Let him know that if she had it within her power to change her life she would stay. “I don’t always have control of my world or my decisions, but I’ll promise to try my best not to disappear. Okay?”

“I can accept that.”  Crossing the room to her, he said,  “I assume the medallion is part of those things you can’t share with me, but wearing it around your neck is not a good plan. You should have a ring you can curl your hand around and access your powers.”

“I said the same thing but got overruled.” She needed to distract him, which was ridiculously easy. She went up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

He was trying to hold back, but he cursed and kissed her all the way down until she stood flatfooted. Her breasts ached, wanting their share of attention from those amazing hands of his.

Just as his fingers moved up to touch her, two hard knocks on the door startled her.

Reese jumped back, then felt like an idiot. She could kiss anyone she wanted.

Quinn kissed her again quickly and said, “It’s time.”