7. Margo

7

MARGO

M argo flinched, surprised and dismayed by Eva's unexpected anger. "I know that you're in some kind of a mess and I wanted to protect you!" she protested. It was more clear than ever that Eva was in over her head.

"I d-don't need your protection!" Eva said, looking fearlessly up at Margo. "I can fight my own battles!"

"I've watched you lose a fight with a trash bag!" Margo hissed impatiently. "Will you keep your voice down and stop being so mulish ?"

"I'm not mulish ," Eva sputtered in outrage. "You're just sticking your nose where it doesn't belong! You should never have followed me!!"

Margo knew a lost cause when she saw one, and she knew that her own powers of persuasion were unequal to Eva's unexpected resolve. She might not be able to convince Eva to leave quietly, but she did have one option left.

"What are you doing?" Eva gasped, when Margo stooped to take her by the waist. "How dare you! "

She was even lighter than she looked, and she was so surprised by Margo's move that it was no harder than hefting a chicken to her shoulder.

A chicken that immediately began to fight her.

Eva was not that strong, compared to Margo, but she was slippery, and distractingly lithe, and it was like trying to hold onto a greased-up eel. A greased-up eel with little fists and feet that hammered at Margo's shoulders. A curvy, sexy little greased-up eel whose struggles were stirring Margo into a whirlwind of confused emotion and distracted longing. Margo had been right to avoid touching her for so long.

"I'm not letting you—ow!—get yourself caught trying to burgle Wilson Kinetics for some—ow!—hare-brained reason when there are other choices!"

"I don't have another choice!" Eva hissed, finally squirming from Margo's grasp as she wedged a foot against Margo's collarbone.

Margo twisted desperately to catch her before she could fall to the unforgiving floor, and suddenly had Eva in her arms, close against her.

"You could ask for help," Margo whispered.

Eva was still at last, staring back up at her with galaxy-deep eyes filled with longing.

"You're my friend," Margo said haltingly. "Probably my best friend. I'd…do anything you asked."

"My friend ?"

Margo tried to identify her tone. Was it only that she was grateful and surprised that Margo considered herself a friend? Or did she yearn for something more, as Margo herself did?

On any other day, she would have released Eva without presuming further liberty, sure that no one could want advances from a monster such as herself. But on any other day, she hadn't been kissed breathless by a complete stranger in a waterless decorative pond, and there was already a fire in her belly that hungered for fuel.

She bent down and put her lips to Eva's.