"Brent, you know I want nothing more than to jump into bed with you," Alice said as Brent opened the door to let her in. She wore a white blouse, with a short black skirt and a black lacy bra beneath the blouse, reminding him of when he'd first seen her thirty some years ago. Creases around her eyes spoke of years of love, loss, and laughter. "But we need to talk first."
"I went to the club, like you suggested," Brent said, guessing at the topic. "A few times, actually."
Alice smiled, although there was something in there that looked like it might be less than happy. She'd suggested it, hadn't she? But she'd only be human to have some regrets, or insecurities about it. "Did you fuck some pretty young women?" she asked.
"Well, yes."
"Good for you. Was it fun?" She sat down on the sofa, making herself at home. As far as he was concerned, this was her home, even though she lived with a human husband. She visited a lot, and her husband knew about it, although he didn't know he was a dragon in human form.
"Sure."
"Some of them have that chip now, don't they? The one that makes them have amazing orgasms whenever a dragon does, and makes that the only way they can get off?"
"Yeah."
"What was
that
like?"
He chuckled. "Interesting," he said. "An excuse to be totally selfish, I suppose."
She smiled, a little more sincerely this time perhaps. "That's probably good for you."
He shrugged.
"You can sit down, too," she said. "If you like."
The submissiveness came naturally to Alice. Humans like her - not all humans, but many - were drawn to dragons like moths to a flame. Even if they didn't know someone was an actual dragon - and most of the girls at the club thought that "Dragons" was just the name of some kind of club, like a biker gang - something called to them. But he and Alice had known each other for a long time, and the submission had become something more subtle. Still, she wasn't going to tell him to sit.
He sat next to her. She'd been looking over at the chair across the way, but he didn't want the distance. Dragons weren't supposed to fall in love with humans, but that ship had sailed, and no number of passionate fucks with other women had changed it.
She turned, met his gaze, and held it. "Gardner made me a proposition. I'm trying to decide whether I should take him up on it."
Gardner. His father. Just a week ago Gardner had asked him if Alice was good for him, and now he was chasing her? "That fucking asshole."
"Brent, calm down. You look like you're about to breathe fire."
"I'd have to change form for that."
"I wasn't being
that
literal. And not a sexual proposition, so settle down. Besides, when did you care so much about that?"
"There's recent context," Brent said.
Alice nodded. "I imagined something had changed. I'm not going to tell you that Gardner is a good person. He's not bad or good, really, more like a force of nature, I think. But I am going to tell you that he wants very badly to be good for you, even if doesn't give much of a damn for anyone else."
He'd cared about my mother, too, thought Brent. He took a breath, and nodded. "Okay. Out with it."
"You know about the medical singularity?"
He nodded. "Sure. Certain medical treatments have gotten to the point where people project that medicine is learning, each year, how to extend life by more than a year. Of course, the costs of all those treatments is gigantic, but it might get cheaper - might even be available to most people in a hundred years, they say."
"But to some people, now."
"Very rich people, yeah."
"Gardner is very rich," Alice said. "He's been investing for hundreds of years, and he started with a whole lot of gold - tribute from tribal chiefs and even kings, I think, in exchange for not burning their villages and farms. Ransom for knights who had delusions they were Saint George. Anyway, lots of compound interest since."
"He offered to keep you alive forever."
"Yes. For you."
"And you said?"
"I said I'd think about it."
"What's there to think about?"
She smiled a little. "Well, a few things, really. I saw you at your mother's funeral. That would be me. Watching Bob going into the ground. I love him - not like I love you, and I've known all along that if it ever came down to a choice, I'd give him up - but I'd feel the loss nonetheless. And then, eventually, maybe it would be my daughters, while I got care they couldn't afford to keep me alive - even, eventually, make my body younger."
Brent nodded. "I won't tell you that's a picnic. But..."
"But?"
"But I wouldn't kill myself to avoid it."
"I'm not sure you even could."
"Maybe you're right."
"Anyway, that's not the biggest concern I have, which is why I wanted to talk. Do you want me to do it?"
"Of course I do."
"Knowing I'd be doing it for you? To keep you from feeling - well, loss?"
"Only for that?"
Alice paused, and considered. "No. Not anymore than when I'm sucking on your amazing cock, it's only for you. Or when I'm riding you, it's only for you. But you know you always come first, with me. So, yes, it'd be for me, too, but only because I'd be with you. Which is the question, of course."
"Whether you'd be with me? Why wouldn't you?"
"You might be kind of tired of me. I wouldn't be young, like those girls at the club. Maybe you're ready for a change."
"For fuck's sake, Alice."
"I'm not asking you to give up fucking other women. That would be insane - a monogamous dragon! But I need to know if you'll still want
me
."
"I still want you." And he assumed he always would, but he couldn't guarantee the future. "Alice, I've heard all you have to say, and I don't often give you orders."
"But?" Her eyes had a smile that hadn't reached her mouth.
"Accept Gardner's proposition. I don't want to lose you."
"Yes, mighty dragon," she said, and the corners of her mouth quirked up.
Perhaps, he thought, she'd missed him being more obviously dominant. She slid off the couch to the floor, and knelt at his feet. He tousled her hair, noticing a few gray strands she hadn't managed to get. It didn't make her any less beautiful, although he supposed he was glad it was just a few.
She looked up after a while of being petted. "Do you want me to get that chip, Sir?"