Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

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EURI

"Ow!" Frank was in REM sleep, and the nails of her back paw scratched my face as her limb twitched.

Quiet, please, I don't want to miss this, Ronnie scolded with humor.

We were watching Desert At Night, a B-grade movie about a group of assassins who unrealistically lived in the Shurwinn desert and went into oases at night to kill for money. Badly. They were bad at killing for money, so there wasn't much actual killing going on.

Yep, it was movie night, and Ronnie was sitting on the daybed, legs outstretched with Frank asleep in his lap in a caramel popcorn coma. Portia was on his left side lying with her head on her brother's thigh, and I was on Ronnie's right mirroring her.

We'd started movie night six weeks ago when Ronnie'd wanted to go see a comedy-action-heist film in the village. He'd invited my dads, and we went to dinner at the pizza place in town. Frank went with us and ate peppers for dinner— her favorite food— while Shah ate a vegetarian sausage pizza. Yes, the twins ate pizza with actual toppings on it!

Ronnie joined me and my dads in eating one with onions, bell peppers, and olives. Mets couldn't eat a lot of cooked foods or his augment would start getting achy, but he could get away with one meal a week like pizza as long as he ate a giant raw salad with it.

When Ronnie mentally elbowed me and asked about Met's huge salad, I told Dad that he wanted to know about living foods and why he had to eat the way he did. So Mets told him all about it, and something lovely unfolded.

My parents had an hour-long conversation with Ronnie about uncooked diets, cybernetics research and science, their chef Amran, and the business that started it all: Living Foods From Shurwinn. And the whole time, I never had to say a word about what Ronnie was thinking. He just encouraged them to keep talking by his facial expressions, or they saw his confusion, and they clarified something for him.

They had a whole conversation just by listening to Ronnie's body language. It looked scripted, choreographed, and rehearsed, but it was just two men who knew how to listen engaging Ronnie like it was an everyday thing to talk that way. It was beautiful to behold, and that night when I told my dads how lucky I was to be their son they went all mushy inside.

After pizza, we went to the movie theatre, and Frank started chirping in Ronnie's face, patting him with her paws. Ronnie sent me the equivalent feeling of "Help! My two-year-old is having a tantrum in public and embarrassing me! She wants to try the caramel popcorn she smells."

So, I asked the concessions attendant if our mirka friend could try the popcorn, but she had a tummy full of pizza peppers, so could I have maybe a piece or two for her? The girls working there were so besotted with our furry family member that they gave us a free dish of caramel corn.

As we headed into the movie, I told them, "Her name is Frank," which made them howl with laughter, and Frank gave them the evil eye as she stuffed popcorn in her greedy little face. Every week we went back to get more popcorn for Frank for movie night 'cuz she was beloved by the Centre Oasis Theatre.

The heist movie had been a lot of fun, and Ronnie suggested weekly movie night at home. I thought that was a great idea and said we should take turns picking out a movie because that would help me get to know the Sloans better. After all, you could learn a lot about a person by what kind of movies they liked.

Somehow, we started watching B-grade movies and Shah had picked a really, really bad horror film that we turned off after fifteen minutes, so we developed the fifteen minute rule so we could shut down a movie if it was terrible. The next week, I'd picked another bad B-grade movie, and Ronnie didn't want to have movie night anymore because he wanted to watch good movies, not shit.

So then we added the rule that it had to be a good movie. Which meant that the person picking the movie pretty much had to watch it prior to movie night. Since I'd seen Desert At Night before, I knew Ronnie would like it because it was everything he liked in a movie without the A-list polish: comedy, action, and romance all in one.

Shah was enjoying it too because it was really funny. It was one of my favorites, so they were probably learning a lot about me.

The truth of it was, I was tired lying there with my head on Ronnie's lap. Tired of the mental round and round going on in Shah's mind, and tired of trying to figure out what to do to help her.

I didn't know what to do about any of it anymore, and I hardly even wanted to go upstairs to my bed. The movie was almost over, and I just wanted to stay there next to Ronnie and not have to face reality. Ronnie could tell, even though I was trying to keep it all in my mental shield. He prodded me a little to let it go and be myself. Like I'd told him he should get to be himself and keep doing his art, even if it meant he drew the future and Portia was uncomfortable with it.

So, when the movie ended, I let my mental shields go as I went upstairs to bed. Yep, tears rolled down my cheeks all the way up the steps and across the kitchen and into my bedroom.

"Do you want me to sleep downstairs, Euri?"

"No, Shah, that's the last thing I want," I said, pulling her into a hug.

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"But I'm hurting you. I'm a terrible girlfriend."

"No, you're not terrible. We promised each other we'd try, and we're trying. But I'm tired, Portia, and I don't know what to do. I'm out of ideas tonight."

"Ideas?"

"Keeping you curious. Or keeping you laughing. You're comfortable with me as long as we're talking about stories, or experimenting, or laughing."

She nodded against my chest and pulled me tighter. "Okay, Euri. Okay. Then don't have an idea tonight. Instead, ask me a question. I promise to answer whatever you ask."

"Why did you decide to hide your telepathy from your parents, and how old were you when you decided it?"

She laughed, and it was a bitter sound, but she answered in a whisper. "We were four. Mom and Dad told us bedtime stories every night about special people who had magical gifts. A girl who could tell when people were lying. A boy who could make dirt float in the air. Ronnie was really sleepy one night, starting to drift off, and when Dad was talking about the boy who could make dirt form into shapes like unicorns and birds, Ronnie said to me that Daddy was the boy with the gift."

"I saw it in Dad's mind then. Once Ronnie had said it, I could see it. And I knew that mom was the girl who sensed lies and truths. And that was the first time I realized that they didn't know Ronnie and I talked in each other's minds.Then I realized too that Mom and Dad always told us stories and that it was important to them that we knew that some people were special, but that they were actually afraid."

"They weren't afraid of the girl who sensed lies and the boy who shaped dirt. They were afraid because Ronnie and I were different and people didn't understand us. So, the next day Ronnie and I decided that we'd pretend like we were as normal as possible so Mom and Dad wouldn't know how different we really were."

"Ronnie never talked, so that was already strange. I started talking a lot more just to try to be as normal as possible to make up for Ronnie's quietness, and Ronnie drew his first really, really good drawing that day. So, he became known for his drawing which made him seem quirky and gifted, and that was acceptable. I still don't want to tell them, Euri. We've been hiding it so long, and I'm just not ready—"

"I'm not going to push you to do something you don't want to do, Shah." I felt her relax. "Thanks for telling me, though. Is it hard? Was it hard to talk about it?" Her face was buried in my chest, and we were standing in the middle of the bedroom, hugging.

She shook her head. "No. Once I started talking, it felt good to get it out. I'll keep talking, Euri. If you keep asking."

"How can you lie to your mom about telepathy if she's a human lie detector?"

"Her Talent isn't literal like that. She senses who is trustworthy. And she naturally trusts me and Ronnie. We don't lie to her, I just evade the truth creatively. I'm not untrustworthy, I just keep a lot to myself."

"That sounds complicated, Portia."

She shrugged. "I'm sure you don't tell your parents everything. Everybody has secrets."

"Maybe. Maybe. I don't have big secrets, though. I never needed to with Mets and Muse. I always knew I was safe with them and Ryst and Nayth. I never needed to hide as a kid."

She wrapped her arms tighter around my waist. "I just—" she sighed. "I don't want them to know, okay? I don't want to have to explain everything. It's so complicated. Ronnie's so complicated. Things are fine as they are. We're successful. We look normal, at least, as normal as possible. We have careers and our own business. It's working."

"Yeah, you and Ronnie are really amazing, Shah. Really. But if you want my opinion, you're worth knowing. I mean really knowing. Not just for your funny stories, but for who you really are. I'm not about to tell you to spread your telepathy far and wide."

"Very few people know I'm telepathic, and there aren't many minds that I want to merge with, right? I mean, I curtain myself off from almost everybody outside of my family, so I know what it's like. But, well, I think it's helped me that I grew up with more than just my brother being telepathic with me. That my dads tried, you know, plus Ryst and Nayth. I'm not gonna tell you what to do. But, I think that you're worth knowing, Portia Sloan. So, think about that. Will you?"

"I'll try, Euri. I'll try. Promise. I'm doing better, right?"

"Yeah, Shah, you're doing great. Thanks for telling me about your mom and dad. Now, can we go to sleep? I'm really tired."

"I'll hold you while you fall asleep, Euri." I smiled. Perfect ending to movie night.

My lips closed over her clit as Portia moaned and dug her fingers into my— I jerked awake, something moving against me. Portia. I was spooning her and breathing heavily against her neck, cock hard against her back.

Her hand wrapped around the back of my neck. Euri!

Lust poured off of her in waves, and I wanted to drown in it. Shah was already lost and hot and wild. She'd seen my dream. She turned over in my arms and kissed me, pushing her body against me. Euri! she commanded again. I want that. Please, Euri. Please.

Okay. I hadn't gone down on Shah yet. She'd never been at a point where she wanted to lie on her back and be that open to me, but while we were lying on our sides, and she was so turned on she was already at the edge . . .

I kept her on her side and slid her shorts down. She moaned as I kissed down her belly and slid her right leg over my shoulder. Her fingers went into my hair, and I focused on showing her how hard it made me to kiss her curls.

Please, Euri, oh, fucking hells, please. And she was Portia. She wasn't Rilla. She wasn't Psy Ling. She wasn't writing. She was herself, and she wanted my mouth on her. I thought about all the times I'd come thinking about her tongue licking my cock, and she whimpered.

Euri, Euri, please!

My tongue barely touched her clit, moving upwards, and she screamed. I did it again. She screamed again. I let her feel how bad I wanted her, and I closed my lips over her, sucking, coaxing her with my tongue.

It didn't take long for her body to scream that she needed me inside so I slid one finger in and pushed up on her g-spot. She moaned deep and pushed my head against her. Her body went slicker and slicker, and I showed her how good she tasted.

She let go and came so hard it tore everything in her open. I kept my fingers on her and held her against my chest as she shuddered, but she was silent in my mind.

Her brain was teal light. Portia left the Known Cosmos for a while, and I saw what filled her mind. Teal light and peace. Her body stilled, and her mind stayed filled with light until she fell asleep. I held her to me, face to face, still on our sides, as I joined her in sleep.

There was a seashore and the sound of gulls. It smelled salty, and the air was damp. There was sand on my feet, and everything was peaceful and calm.

Euri?

I blinked, but I didn't have eyes.

Euri?

Shay?

I felt something warm and loving. Thank you.

Warmth and memory filled me. I love you, Shay.

I know. I love you too. I want more of this. I want to be me being loved by you.

Me too. Do you know where we are?

Head shake. I like it, though.

Me too. Maybe this is where we can go with both our hearts open, eh? Was it okay for your heart to rip open?

Yeah, it was so good, Euri. But I don't know, well, if I can keep doing it like that always? It just felt really good in the middle of the night, in the dark, when we were asleep? And I saw your dream, and I wanted that? Can we do that again? I don't know how to do that again.

I chuckled. I think it worked because you didn't know, Shay. Because you didn't think. You felt.

Mental poking in the ribs. So, I'm supposed to figure out how to feel?

I shook my mental head. Feel. Not figure.

She laughed, and we opened our eyes to the dim light of morning. "I love you, Portia."

"I love you too, Euri, and that's a feeling," she said with a smile.