Amazonia - The Athenaeum

"Could you fill in for me at one? Something came up and I won't be back…I think."
"You think? If something's come up, shouldn't you know?"
The light indicated she could walk across the first street she needed to get over, but Annie still
wouldn't beat Bebo into the building. "If you cut me some slack here, I promise to tell you all
about it when I see you."
"Take your time, and I'll hold you to that, don't worry."
The traffic was horrible and Annie had a time trying to get across the second street separating her
from her quarry without the security of the pedestrian light. Tempting death by traffic wasn't
something she often did, but she didn't want to lose Bebo in the maze of corridors if she got too
far ahead of her. As she ran across the second street, she slid on the slippery sidewalk and began
to fall. Annie thought she'd miss the princess because she'd have to take a cab home to change
horribly wet clothing once she hit the ground. At the last second, a solid arm shot out and held
her still against an equally solid feeling body making her forget the umbrella flying down the
sidewalk.
"Careful, Miss Paddio, I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."
There had been few times in Annie's life she could remember thinking that just the sound of
someone's voice could make her shiver. The few times she'd been in Bebo's company though,
she'd done nothing but. Her voice was low and mellifluous, the kind of sound that wrapped
around your brain and addicted you to wanting to hear more. With the combination of that and
the smell of leather that surrounded her, Annie felt faint.
"I'm sorry," the blonde stammered, not really knowing what to say.
"Whatever for? I should give you a hard time for taking the chance of running across the street in
the middle of all that traffic, but I'm sure you had your reasons. Are you all right now?"
A blush ran up her face so fast Annie could feel herself getting red at the teasing tone whispering
in her ear. After her behavior the night before when Bebo kissed her hand, she was acting like a
damsel in distress staying in the warm embrace. As slowly as she could, she righted herself and
turned around to face her savior. Perhaps, after looking into the blue eyes, all the storybooks with
that theme weren't all fantasy, and being rescued every so often was something she could grow to
like.
"I just saw you and didn't want you to get away from me." The blush got so hot with the choice
of words that Annie thought she could have dried her clothes without too much trouble.
"There was no reason to run and no chance of that happening, I was standing here waiting for
you." Bebo arched a brow and her lips turned up in a smile ever so slowly. "Not that I was
expecting you, but the gods do bless us with pleasant surprises when we least expect them. And I
noticed you too when you stepped out."