The ones who weren’t completely anti-social might have been nice guys, but they didn’t really click for her. She grimaced, “Guess they’re not ...��bad boy’ enough… like that‘s been working for me.”When she was an undergraduate, dating hadn’t been very successful either, or even in the two years after graduation when she worked for the state environmental agency. Her love life had erratically veered between hooking up with exciting bad boys or plodding relationships with nice boys. The nice boys. I put my book on the table and said I'd watch the show with her. I kept stroking the inside of her calf. "That's nice, dear," she said again. I stroked her leg the whole time the show was on. She didn't say anything further or react in any other way, but she didn't come back down to watch a movie that night.----------------------------When her show was on again two nights later, I sat in the same place. She sat in her usual place too, but she kept her legs on the couch to her side, behind me. I. Shime suddenly let out a startled shriek, jumping off the couch, falling on her rump. She stared up at him with wide eyes, causing him to snicker. "I'm sorry. I was trying to keep the voltage low." He lowered his hand for her to help back up to the couch, but she cringed from it. "I won't do it again, little one. I was just showing you. It's a rather taxing ability. Jrahkels only use that for defense and mating. It would be difficult to produce a jolt like that again so soon."Slowly, Shime took. Master was sitting in a chair next to the bed, watching her. When she opened her eyes, he reached over to a table for a glass with a straw and brought it to her. "Here," he said, "drink some of this." She took the straw in her mouth and drank. It was water, and it brought to her attention that she was, in fact, thirsty. She drank some more. She looked at Master and asked, "Where are we?" "We're still at the mansion. You went on a little trip, Nora, so I took you upstairs to a room to rest..