Dark Empathy Archibald Bradford (best books to read in your 20s TXT) 📖

Her voice was low and rich, like fine chocolate, and even berating her employees it made Rebecca’s heart flutter in a way she had never experienced.

One of the men glared at the Lapine for a moment longer before sullenly replying.

“Yes Miss Reindel.”

Carol Reindel had moved to the city of Algrade shortly before Cordelia, and like the young brunette she also received a constant stream of packages, which suited Becks just fine.

The poised woman had made an immediate impact on the young monster girl standing at her door, who was already nursing one hell of a crush.

“I’m sorry about them Rebecca, come up to my office?”

Anyone else would have been corrected and told to call her Becks, but hearing her full name on the other woman’s lips was an almost sensual thrill.

“Thur shing.”

Carol raised one striking eyebrow.

“Sure thing.” The bunny corrected herself.

She felt like a complete buffoon but Carol merely smiled indulgently and ushered her upstairs.

Once the door to the office closed and the sounds of the machine shop were muffled, Carol turned to the little solar heater and cranked the temperature knob to maximum.

“Those idiots leave the door open when the crucible is firing, and my office always ends up freezing as a result. I had forgotten how cold the winters could be in this city.”

A moment later and she had cleared several sheaves of paper off her desk and danced her fingers across the empty space.

“Now let’s see what you have for me.”

Her voice was a seductive purr and Rebecca had to swallow at the invitation in her tone.

Bunny girls were as prolific about sex as Katje, but the flustered Lapine couldn’t help but feel bashful whenever the beautiful older woman spoke to her.

It was as if she was a newcomer in the city all over again.

She fumbled with her bag for a moment and pulled out her last parcel, a neatly packaged box roughly the same size and weight as the one that held Cordelia’s flour.

Placing it on the desk, she absently lined up the neat little package with the edge while desperately wracking her brains for something witty to say, something interesting, anything to stay in the seductive woman’s presence a little longer.

“Nice box.”

Except that.

Literally anything but that.

To say that she was mortified would be an understatement, but Carol simply chuckled at the Lapine’s unintentional phrasing.

“I’ll confess I’m a bit of a stickler, and my shippers know that about me.”

Ignoring the little parcel, she reached one hand up to the side of Rebecca’s head, nearly giving the bunny a heart attack.

“You have something in your hair.”

Her voice was low and quiet, intimate.

“O-oh?”

The nearness of the attractive woman made Rebecca blush, she felt the slightest of tugs on her scalp and Carol’s hand came away holding a little piece of straw, likely from one of the packages in the courier warehouse.

With a twist of her fingers the straw drifted away in the suddenly charged air of the increasingly stuffy room.

Carol smiled with one side of her mouth, her face now inches from the enthralled bunny’s.

“All gone.” She murmured.

Rebecca drew in a shuddering breath.

“Th-thanks.”

Carol’s smirk never left her face as she turned away, her attention now on the little package, examining the shipping label.

Rebecca took the moment to steady her breathing and force herself to get a grip.

“Would you like to-” Carol began.

“I should probably-” Rebecca said at the same time.

They both stopped and waited, until Carol finished her thought.

“-like to have dinner some time? As you know I am sort of new in town and don’t really have much of a social life at the moment.”

For once, Rebecca had control of her mouth, so instead of saying something stupid she was able to give an earnest reply.

“I would love to!”

Inside she was jumping up and down for joy.

She had the hots for Carol since she first saw her: the knowing twinkle in her eyes, the swell of her large breasts, and the way her voice seemed to wash over her like warm honey, all served to make her the star of all of the Lapine’s recent fantasies.

“Great. Come by after you finish your deliveries?”

“Sounds good.” Rebecca nodded enthusiastically, her ears perked up in excitement at the sought after date.

It took every ounce of her self-control not to leap and skip for joy as she left the machine shop.

Watching her departure from her office window, Carol Reindel smiled wide.

Chapter 5: Shock and Awe

After visiting with Ophelia’s friend Madeleine, Nameless and the others returned to the Aegis dormitories, the girls excusing themselves to take a turn in the showers while he ended up sitting at the little desk crammed into the corner and flipping open the copy of the Aegis charter that Miranda Holt had given him.

With all of the effort the gruff Aegis operative had put into tutoring him on their journey to find Volka he was intimately familiar with the document, but the people he was training with were so much better than him in so many ways that he feared making a mistake and wanted to triple check some things.

Barely three minutes later though he was interrupted by a rapid knock on his door.

With a frown of puzzlement he got up and opened it to find a frizzy haired redhead with freckles beaming down at him.

At his height, everyone looked down on him.

“Hey! It’s uh, Armstrong right?”

“Nameless.” He ran his hand through his hair as she gave him a funny look; “Long story. And you are?”

The last three weeks had been a chaotic blur of physical training with the other cadets and their bond-mates, so while he recognized her face, her name escaped him