Rakkim tried not to look at her but he couldn't tear himself away. He felt himself stiffen, grateful for the bubbles hiding his arousal.
"Please, Rikki?"
"I'm not very good company."
"No, you don't understand," said Baby. "Thunderstorms scare me. Have since I was a kid." Thunder rattled the windows and she flinched.
Rakkim put his hand on her shoulder, soapsuds on his knuckles. "Let me get dressed and we'll watch TV."
"My mama had a boyfriend when I was seven or eight, a real mean son of a bitch. He used to tease me…" Baby wrapped her arms around herself, trembling. "He said…he said God liked to strike pretty little girls with lightning bolts, liked to burn them to a crisp to teach them a lesson for their nastiness." She rested her head on the cool side of the tub, her hand drifting through the water. "I know it's not true, but I still…I still can't abide thunderstorms."
"Go back to your room and I'll join you as soon as I get out of here," said Rakkim. "I'll stay with you until you fall asleep."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Baby handed him a bath towel, discreetly turned her back on him until he stood up and stepped out of the tub.
Lightning crashed closer, almost in the room with them, and Baby screamed, clutched at him, nails digging into him. The towel was somewhere…on the floor, as she pressed herself against him, whimpering into his chest.
"It's okay," said Rakkim, holding her close as the rain pounded on the roof. "I'm right here."
Baby kissed him, tentatively at first, then eagerly, and he kissed her back. Baby tore off her shirt, buttons popping, rolling across the tile, kicked off her panties, as naked as he was now, her hands on him, her lips on him…
Rakkim pulled away, shaking his head. "This…" He couldn't catch his breath. "This is a mistake."
Thunder shook the windows again and Baby didn't flinch this time. She barely reacted, her eyes on him, one arm hooked around the small of his back.
"Sorry…I'm sorry." Rakkim disengaged himself. Grabbed the towel off the floor. "We can't do this."
"Speak for yourself," said Baby.
Rakkim walked into the room, and Baby followed him. He pulled on his pants.
Baby lay on the bed, nude, watching him. "You don't know what you want, do you?"
"It was my fault," said Rakkim. "I shouldn't have kissed you back."
"But you did." Baby stroked her belly. "Doesn't that tell you something?"
"It tells me I'm human."
"Oh, you're a lot more than that, Rikki." Baby patted the bed. "Come on over and talk to me. I promise not to bite." She held out her hand. "Come on. We can still talk, can't we?"
Rakkim sat on the edge of the bed. Her damp hair curled around her long nipples. She caught him looking and laughed. He smiled too. "Maybe we should get back in the car. It's safer."
"I'm tired of safe and sane," said Baby. "Tell me you don't want to make love with me."
"If I did it would be a lie," said Rakkim.
"So…" Baby ran a fingernail down his bare back. "What's the problem then?"
"I told you. I'm married."
"So am I…technically."
"Why don't you go get dressed and we'll get back on the road?" said Rakkim. "It's late, and what with the storm, maybe the traffic will have thinned out."
Baby pulled a pillow under her head, stayed where she was. "Either Aztlan stopped jamming our communications, or the Belt found some way to override their signal, because I got through to Miami loud and clear before I came in here. There's been a change of plans."
"What's going on?"
"You still want me to go back to my room?"
"No more games," said Rakkim.
"Fine." Baby glared at him. "Lester's not going to Miami with the cross. He's on his way to Seattle…to join the Old One. So that's where we should be headed."
"What's the Old One doing in Seattle?" said Rakkim. "If war comes with Aztlan, that's the last place he should want to be. Miami is neutral. Why would he leave?"
"Makes no sense, but Daddy's no fool," said Baby. "So if he's there, he must have important business."
"Daddy?"
"Shoot, I call all older men daddy." Baby scratched her ankle.
"I never heard you use it like that before."
"I called the Colonel daddy. You're not careful, I'll call you daddy too."
"You didn't say it the same way to the Colonel," Rakkim said quietly. "Different inflection."
"You're making a big deal out of nothing, silly."
"I once made a big deal when a man said dinner instead of supper," said Rakkim, "because it told me he wasn't from where he said he was. That nothing saved my life."
Baby stretched out a leg, wiggled her toes. "You keep this up, I'm going to be afraid to say anything to you."
"Daddy? It's a strange thing to call the Old One, that's all," Rakkim said, cool and calm inside as a mountain lake. "I met him once, and he had all these young men surrounding him, but no women. Yet, you stayed with him in Miami for a year. That's strange too."
"You think too much, Rikki."
Rakkim shook his head. "No…that's not my problem."
"Quit looking at me like that." Baby pulled the sheet around herself.
"It's just…Daddy, the way you said it…with that certain tone, that very distinctive inflection," said Rakkim. "When his sons spoke to him, it was Father, very respectful, very formal…but Daddy? That's as intimate as it comes. That's the kind of thing a daughter-"
Baby blinked back tears. "You're ruining everything, Rikki."
"What am I ruining, Baby?"
"We could have been happy, you and me," said Baby.
"No…I don't think so."
"Something's not right with Daddy, just like you thought, and Ibrahim doesn't have the balls to hold it all together."
Rakkim slipped off the bed, started putting on the rest of his clothes.
"Don't do this, Rikki." Baby got out of bed, trembling, put her hands on him. "I took care of you. I could have left you, could have taken the cross, but I didn't. I stayed."
Rakkim nodded.
"Doesn't that mean anything?"
"Yeah," said Rakkim, "but I'm still not sure what."
"Daddy's right about most things, but I didn't need him to tell me you were something special. So am I, Rikki, I'm special too." Baby put her arms around his neck. "Between the two of us…there's nothing we couldn't do."
Rakkim slowly untangled himself from her. Stepped into his boots.
"Don't do this," said Baby. "Please? You're making a big mistake."
Rakkim stepped outside into the rain, closed the motel room door behind him. He could hear her crying inside. In a night of surprises, it was the most surprising thing of all.
CHAPTER 46
"You're one busy lady these days," said Anthony Colarusso, taking a lick off the remains of a triple-decker ice cream cone. "Can't turn on the TV without seeing you being interviewed by somebody."
"The president's doing a brave thing by supporting the Belt," said Sarah, sitting beside him on the park bench. "I wanted to do everything I could to help him."
It was ostensibly business as usual in Seattle, but there was an air of hurried uncertainty in the city, everyone waiting for hostilities to break out. People talked too loudly, bought things they didn't need, and argued over the smallest things. Everyone watched the sky, waiting for the air raid warnings to sound.
"Marie thinks you're also promoting your own agenda, putting yourself out there like that," said Colarusso. "I told her our Sarah would never try to influence events like that."
"Smart lady you're married to, Anthony."
"Yeah, sometimes makes me wonder why she settled for me, but then, being Catholic, it wasn't like she had a lot of better options."