Read Valeria for Free Online Page B

tea with a queen, or slog into a bar fight.
    They finished some sort of deal and left the room. Mache was resigned to napping and watching out the windows again, waiting for dusk. He tried to do some sort of exercise to pass the time but found himself obsessing over whether they could hear the creaks of push ups. He counted the airfoils flying close to them, spent a bit of time worrying whether his boss would be able to track him down, wondering if they’d held a funeral or just written it off with the life insurance.
    It occurred to him that starting life over in a dirigible with a beautiful inventor was certainly romantic but it wasn’t the best of plans. Especially given who owned the dirigible. It was done now and there wasn’t much he could do about it other than stew, now that he was wedged into the air vent waiting for Valeria to come and let down her hair.
    She came down several times. For two and a half days he watched her come to the great ball room and sit beneath the chandelier, eye patch flipped up and magnifying glasses on the bridge of her nose, working.
    It was soothing to see. He watched her in the night, taking a chair to work on a project, and longed to call out and make sure she was fine. Was the CEO treating her well where he could not see? Was she was still happy here? The CEO came down, speaking to Valeria. He was grateful he had not called out as he had wished.
    Late in the afternoon on the third day, Mache watched as Valeria came down, her hair still in a knot at the base of her skull. He watched silently, antsy and exhausted of being cooped up, pleading without sound, Valeria. Valeria. Let down your hair.
    She watched out of the window for a long time, raising a hand to the glass, and finally sighed. She rubbed her neck for a moment before reaching up her long fingers to tug the stick, letting her tresses untwine and tumble down her back.
    Mache breathed a sigh of relief and scrambled out, kicking the vent door open and sliding out as fast as he could. He cleared the six-foot drop with a grunt as his legs slammed into the grating. They immediately started to tingle in protest. The pain didn’t matter when Valeria swept into his arms, crying out.
    “Mache! I’m so relieved.”
    “Val–” He lost balance and fell back, taking the blond woman with him. His knees buckled in self protection and he pulled her forward. He landed with a faint groan, quickly silenced as Valeria shifted her weight up and kissed him.
    Mache blinked, covered in golden hair. It clouded his vision and tickled his nose. She slid more firmly into his lap, wrapping slim arms around him, pressing her chest to his and kissing him for all she was worth. Reward for waiting in the vent all this time? Retribution for surprising her before he went in? Relief?
    Hell, who cared? He returned the kiss, cupping her cheek and sliding fingers into her hair, his free hand pressing her closer, stroking over the stays of her corset. He’d learned the trick from a noble woman. “Taking off a woman’s corset is akin to laying with her in terms of pleasure and relief,” she’d said, “so give such an act proper respect and twice as much foreplay.”
    As kisses went, it started off pretty good, but lost momentum quickly. Valeria gasped and pulled back, her face bright red. “I…I only…” She gulped.
    Fully perplexed with this new development, as most every girl he’d managed to kiss had known exactly what kisses devolved to, Mache blinked and didn’t speak.
    “I’ve been waiting,” she blurted, and stood. “I mean, since you–” She cut off. Tried again. “I wanted…”
    He still wasn’t sure where she was going with this and stayed still, praying she didn’t press her hand anywhere he’d have to explain matters.
    “You kissed me and I wanted to return the favor,” she sputtered, “That’s all!” Shifting foot to foot, she gulped, looked at her hands. “So, um, don’t get any ideas.”
    Mache coughed. “Right, no