Skin Read Online Free PDF Page B

tree. It was lit from behind and shone down on the scene
like a glowing message from heaven. The scene below was heaven
enough for me.
    The floors were
smooth, dark stone, a mezzanine platform of polished wood skirting
the main area. Exercise equipment gleamed in the warm light; free
weights, all of the machines I knew and contraptions I’d never
seen. Mats and balls and elastic supports suspended from beams.
There were a few people, men and women working out. Lifting
weights, pulling themselves into bizarre yogic stretches. One
person suspended from bands on the ceiling, twisting her body
around on itself like a ribbon on the breeze. Another man was
pressing a weight that would have had to have been over three
hundred clean above his head. Everyone wore black. The walls were
blank, there were no ads, no powders for sale, not a motivational
slogan or false image of an impossibly cut person anywhere. It was
all so clean. The room was silent except for breath, the occasional
soft grunt of exertion and the gentle clang of metal. I was in
love.
    “ Welcome
to our Sanctuary,” Sveta’s dulcet voice came from behind me. “I’m
so pleased you’ve come.” She kissed me on the cheek as if it was
the most natural thing in the world for her to do.
    “ This is
really something,” I said unable to hide my enthusiasm. “You own
this place?”
    “ Let me
show you around, introduce you to our friends. Today is just for
you to play, to do your routines and get to know us. I’ll put you
to work tomorrow.” Sveta took my hand and I felt like a school boy
on a first date.
    “ This is
my temple,” she said, leading me along the wooden platform that
skirted the workout floor below. “We worship our bodies here, we
worship the bodies of others. You will not see a Mech here, that’s
really our only strict rule. This is the floor, you’re welcome to
use anything at any time. Through there,” she pointed to another
frosted glass door “You will find showers and dressing facilities.
I’ve taken the liberty of labelling a cubicle with your name and
laying you out a set of clothes.” Sveta ran her finger along my
shoulder and down my chest, stopping and deliberately lingering
just above my shorts. With any other woman, I might have reacted
right there, moved in, wrapped my arms around her with my hands
starting in the small of her back. I might have kissed her. Before
Sveta however, I was frozen but no less eager to touch her. She
smiled playfully, dropped her hand and winked her incredible eye.
My heart wasn’t the only part of me about to explode .
    “ Imogen,”
Sveta called, turning from me. A sleek woman stopped a yoga routine
and moved obediently to Sveta’s side. “Imogen, this is Rev. He is
our new attendant.”
    If Sveta was
the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, Imogen was a close
second. Her hair, lose to her shoulders shone like polished
obsidian and swayed as she moved. Her skin was dark olive, with
dark blue eyes to match. She was lean, muscled and moved like a
cat, svelte and purposeful.
    “ Hello,”
she said. Her voice was deep, a man’s voice and I felt the smile
fall off my face in a momentary confusion.
    “ Don’t
worry, sweetie, I’m well used to it,” she said. I hated that I’d
reacted like I did— still the greenhorn from the Sprawl, not
knowing what I was doing in the big city. I tried to hide it with
an exaggerated smile that I knew just made me look more stupid.
Neither Sveta nor Imogen seemed to notice or care.
    “ Imogen
has been with me since the beginning,” Sveta explained as the woman
slipped her arm around Sveta’s waist. I felt another surprising
response, one of strange, nervous arousal mixed with
jealousy.
    Imogen held out
her hand to shake mine. I returned the gesture and immediately drew
back in a second shock. What I had assumed were lifting gloves was
actually a fine layer of fur on the back of her hands, extending to
her elbow, patterned like a tiger’s stripes. On her