“No, Carm, it’s totally okI liked it,” Shane admitted shyly.

Carmen nodded. “I know” her hand brushed Shane’s inner thigh, the place she had been tickled before, “I just don’t want anything todistract you.”

Shane blinked, and understood. Carmen knew it had been awhile, and she was going to make it good. Carmen removed her sparkling earrings, more prominently displayed now, with her hair up. Shane could see now that they were made up of many small, slivers of silver. As they danced at the planet, all she had seen were tiny glints of light.

“Wouldn’t want these to get in the way either, some of the edges are kinda sharp.”

She leaned over Shane and set them on the night stand before reclaiming her place between Shane’s legs.

Shane tried to shake the memory out of her head, despite what a good one it was. It wasn’t the frame of mind she needed to be in to get through the workday. She turned towards the bathroom with her armload of clothes, but paused, remembering one more thing left behind, which would be beside the bed.

Shane’s eyelids slid closed involuntarily, and she felt Carmen’s lips caress her cheek.

“Shane, I want you to look at me.”

Something inside her melted whenever she heard those words, and she couldn’t resist the pull of Carmen’s dark eyes as they reached for her own. Carmen rested her forehead against Shane’s.

“I know it’s hard for youbut I want you to try, ok? I’ll stop if you need me to.” Carmen’s voice was sweet and light, and barely above a whisper.

Shane turned her head away, face expressionless. Carmen gently leaned her forehead into Shane’s temple. Because of this, she felt it when Shane nodded. Shane could feel her smile against her cheek.

“Good,” she said seductively, hooking a finger into the edge of Shane’s black briefs. “Now, take these off.”

Shane picked them up from where she had dropped them, trying not to think about what it had all meant. She scanned the room for any other things in disarray. Her space was once again pristine, no signs of the night before. Well, not counting naked woman who lay still and curled amongst her sheets, so achingly beautiful in her sleep. Shane stood away from her, wanting so badly to rejoin her lover, to go back into their little world, where she was powerful and wild, where last night she had felt so safe and comfortable enough to finally

*****, stop it. Stop thinking about it. Go take a shower, you need a shower. A cold shower.

Shane sorted out the clothes, setting aside her own and folding Carmen’s tank top and skirt, stacking them on the chair near the bed along with her underwear, shoes, and earrings. She walked over carefully to where Carmen slept, stealthily tugging her leather bracelet free from Carmen’s hair. Carmen had been too exhausted to remove it, after how they had finished the night. Shane shut her mind’s door to yet another good bit of memory.

Moments later, in the shower, Shane tried to remember the last time she had so many good memories popping into her head. She tried, sincerely tried to think of a time in her life that she had felt so energized, *****-crazed, and powerful, or a time when she felt so pleased and cared for. She worked to convince herself that this wasn’t special, that the way she felt now was the way she had always felt, that her world absolutely hadn’t been completely turned upside down. She tried to convince herself that this wasn’t at all like what she had felt for Cherie, only infinitely more solid and satisfying. She tried to tell herself she wasn’t terrified.

This was one of many shower arguments Shane tended to have with herself, at least recently. This one, however, she lost, which meant only one thing.