One of the most expensive restaurants in the city, with amazing views...

It was hard to resist staring out the window, the stretched city below dyed orange like the embers of a comforting fire in the rays of the setting sun. I knew it wasn’t a big city in the grand scheme of things, nothing like New York, or Paris, or any one of the nascent mega-cities that spread throughout the east coast of China.

But looking at it now, with it’s mix of more classic architecture that had sprung up organically from the cities founding, and the sleek modern high-rises, I couldn’t help but be taken in by its beauty. It’s size too; after all, even with the disclaimer that it didn’t count for much globally, for a boy who’d grown up in a distant, sleepy small town, any city seemed exciting and teeming with life.

The restaurant we sat in now was in one of those high-rises. It had the best views of the city of any restaurant, and had capitalized on the prestige by doubling down on quality. Bachatios served a wide range of cuisine from around the world, often welcoming guest chefs to prepare their countries cuisine to the highest standards, while the menus conspicuously left the prices off the paper; after all, if you had to ask how much anything cost, you probably shouldn’t be eating here.

This was one time exacting prices seemed to have absolutely paid off however, as the bite of filet of Wagyu beef melted in my mouth, in an explosion of pleasure that almost seemed to move through my whole body.

“Mhmmm~ ”

I couldn’t help but moan a little with satisfaction, closing my eyes just to focus on the taste more, causing Trent to laugh a little.

“Enjoying yourself?”

“Oh, shut up you. Okay, I admit it. This is kinda the perfect restaurant you could have taken me to.”

I watched him with one eye as I carefully delivered more delicious steak to my lips, seeing him puff up with pride.

“I told you I had some special dates planned.”

It was kinda funny, actually. Even though I knew Trent was really just a skin for Candida, who was experienced in everything, it seemed like she really, genuinely had fun when she was with me. Like it was all fresh for her.

Love does work in mysterious ways after all… sometimes people can’t help getting powerful crushes that come out of no-where. Maybe that’s why Candida was attracted to me in the first place…?

Heat rose to my cheeks, as I thought about her really liking me, and found myself embarrassed by how much I wanted her to.

Ugh… I’m feeling just like a girl with a crush now too. I shouldn’t like it this much, but…

“Hey… so, something kinda unusual happened.”

“Oh?”

He raised an eyebrow as he listened, as I successfully avoided thinking about my feelings for another few moments, while satisfying my curiosity. I told him what had happened as I took off Lisa, and the way she’d clung to me, the strange, erotic greed with which she seemed to lap at my skin, almost like she was trying to keep me inside. I could see his eyes sparkling with recognition as the story progressed, and hurried to finish, anxious to hear why any of this may have happened.

“How interesting! You never fail to surprise me, you know?”

“You make this sound so special…”

“Oh, but it is. Skinsuits, as you know, are always alive. Even the ones in my collection, some turned into skin over a century ago. Really, there’s all sorts of possibilities there…”

He chuckled a little, as though he were laughing at an inside joke.

“… Well, of course, nearly all the time once turned into a skinsuit, they feel quite similar from one another. Warm, maybe a dark pink inside, slimy within. A skinsuit that turns you more into the person the more you wear. Sometimes though, very rarely, it’s possibly to bond with a skin.”

Now I was the one raising my eyebrow, as I found myself leaning forward.

“Oh…?”

“It’s rare, of course. You could spend your entire life wearing one person and never bond with their skin, or you could try someone on and within a day find yourself bonding with their skin.”

“Might… might the skin fuse with mine…? So I can’t take her off… it felt like it really didn’t want me to leave…”

Trent laughed a little, amused by the question, yet he understood how valid it was too.

“No, no! Don’t worry, a skinsuit will always be subservient to a skinwalker. You can absolutely get out of Lisa whenever you want. Although… while they are subservient, being alive means they have some likes, at least in a limited way.”

“So, it’s like Lisa’s consciousness is still alive in her skin…?”

“No, not exactly like that. You have Lisa’s consciousness within you right now, after all, along with her soul. Rather a body knows what it likes, and who it likes inside it. I think in a way this is another sign I was right when I said you were perfect as Lisa; her own skin seems to agree, and seems to love having you be the one inside it.”

Feeling Lisa’s breasts on my chest, cleavage exposed in the velvet dress, and her smooth bare thighs in her skirt and touching the chair, I became very aware of the gorgeous body I was nestled in.

A body like this… wants me inside it? This sexy, female form is craving me, despite me being just an unassuming guy…?

My heart felt so warm, while my pussy did too at the erotic realization. It felt so fulfilling, in a strange way, almost like her skin was giving me a blessing to wear it forever.

“Are there… any drawbacks to this?”

“Well, not really for you. If anything, you just get to experience an enjoyable sensation as you try to leave her skin, feeling it hungrily try to keep you inside it. I suppose it’s a type of legitimacy most skinwalkers will never know. Just another sign of how special you are, I suppose.”

Another blush took my cheeks, heightened by that last statement.

“But… well. There may be some drawbacks for Lisa though.”

“Huh…?”

I had to know, as an unsettling feeling came onto me again, thoughts of any harm at all coming to Lisa still not sitting right with me.

“It all depends how well you can change her memories of course, how well you can hide this all, but… it’s likely her skin will always feel a little empty when you aren’t in it. That isn’t to say it would feel physically empty; it you restored Lisa she would look exactly the same as ever. Rather on occasion she might be prone to a low mood, a sadness. A void in her life that might always be there. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. She, of course, would still be able to lead a full, happy life, but… her skin will always, always crave you as it’s wearer now.”

I rolled that idea around in my head, as I thought about everything, before Trent interrupted me.

“Well, now that that’s all done with…”

I looked at his plate, and my own, and found both were empty. Dinner had been wonderful, in between this gorgeous food and beautiful views, while our conversation for most of the evening had been filled with the easy going chemistry of a new young couple in love.

“We’ve gone on the days dates, spending time together, just as I hoped. Even one day with you has been amazing, but…. I made an agreement with you, and I’ll hold up my end of the bargain.”

My heart seemed to jump up in my chest as he started talking, a strange nervousness to make a decision one way or the other filling me. A part of me had hoped today would just stretch on and on, letting me live the life of my crush, and play the role of the pretty girlfriend, being spoilt by the man who loves her.

“I’ll leave Lisa alone, let her get on with her life. You can take her off, and I’ll take off Trent too, if that’s what you really want…”

My heartbeat was only getting faster, as I felt a powerful sensation all around, like everything had been leading up to this moment… the time to make a decision.

“I…”

“Wait, Alex. Before you choose, just let me say one thing.”

Trent started with an almost nervous, earnest expression; like he had one more thing to say, guided by a feeling impossible to rehearse.

“I’ve had so much fun today… more than I’ve had in decades really. I know to you, I seem so experienced, like I’ve done it all, but… it’s made me so jaded, so empty, almost unable to really enjoy life. But when I’m with you, it’s all different! You make me feel young again… you make me feel real. Please, please, be my girlfriend. Or my boyfriend, I don’t care which, just as long as we can be together… I just want to be with you.”

I sat, almost stunned, as Candida seemed to play her last hand. Threats and manipulation can buy compliance, but they can never buy love… the only way she could get what she truly wanted, was to risk it all in a gamble of romance.

And what she truly wants is me…!