Page 18 of Tamed By Her Touch

“Wow, you really are strong,” she blurted out, before she could stop herself.

Kaelus gave her a steady look.

“I told you I could handle your curves.”

Somehow Clair found herself staring into his golden eyes, which were half-lidded again, and for some reason she couldn’t look away. Her cheeks felt hot so she supposed she must be blushing, but she was tongue-tied and didn’t know what to say.

“I…you…” She cleared her throat, trying to get something out. “Thank you,” she managed again, at last. “I…I mean for getting the growth formula and for, uh, catching me.” Then she remembered she’d already thanked him for that and felt her face getting even hotter.

“You are welcome,” Kaelus rumbled and, at last, he set her down though Clair had the idea he could have held her like that in one arm for hours without feeling it.

She took the bottle of plant growth formula and rushed back to her workstation to feed the tremble vine, which got its name because it shook and shivered any time someone touched it.

Clair felt a little shaky herself as she carefully injected just the right amount of formula into the vine’s soil. What was wrong with her? Why did being close to the big Hybrid make her heart pound and her breath come short? And why had he been looking at her like that?

You’re being ridiculous, she told herself sternly. He wasn’t looking at you any special way—you’re just flustered because you fell, that’s all. Also, you don’t even like him! He’s arrogant and annoying and overbearing!

But she couldn’t help replaying that long, intense stare the two of them had shared and the way those golden eyes had seemed to bore right into her soul…

Luckily, what might have been the start of some kind of feelings for the big Hybrid were knocked right out of her when she came to the lab the next day and saw that a new rule had been printed in Kaelus’s heavy, dark script on the whiteboard.

Rule 4—No trying to reach things on high shelves. If you need something on a high shelf—ASK ME FOR HELP.

Clair read the new rule and was angry and irritated all over again.

As if I’m a child and I have to beg him for help every time I need something! she thought to herself. She vowed to herself that the very next time she went to one of the markets at the center of the Mother Ship, she would get herself a stepstool—though to be honest, she wasn’t sure where she would put it. The lab was already pretty crowded with equipment and samples and supplies that both of them used.

Still, she was determined to get one so she would never have to ask for his help again. And in the meantime, she was going to keep her distance from the big Hybrid.

That plan lasted about two weeks, until the accident with the molecular solvent…

5

CLAIR

To be fair, Clair didn’t know it was a molecular solvent. It was just labeled “solvent” in Kaelus’s bold handwriting. Also, it wouldn’t have been a problem if she’d had the proper PPE on, but of course, she hadn’t put it on because she hadn’t known how strong and dangerous the chemical she was using was. She’d just wanted to clean out some of her Petri dishes where she’d been growing Fethurian slime molds.

The molds were incredibly hard to kill and clean up after, so Clair opened the large glass bottle filled with clear liquid and began pouring it into the dirty Petri dishes, the same way she would if she was using her regular solvent—which she had inconveniently run out of. It smelled sharply of lemons, which was nice—she’d always liked the smell of fresh citrus.

But the minute she started pouring the clear liquid out, she heard Kaelus inhale deeply. She had her back to him, however, and thought he was just clearing his throat.

“Doctor Donovan,” he rumbled “What chemical are you using over there?”

“Just some solvent I found on the shelf,” Clair told him. “I just needed to clean out some Petri dishes. These Fethurian slime molds are so stubborn—I think I’m going to have to scrub them by hand if I can’t⁠—”

“No! Don’t touch it with your bare hands!” he exclaimed and the real fear in his deep voice surprised Clair.

“Don’t worry,” she said, looking over her shoulder at him. “I’m being careful with it.”

Just as she spoke, she started to pour some more of the solvent, but her hand slipped on the glass bottle and some of the clear liquid sloshed out and landed on her lab coat.

“Well, crap!” Clair muttered as the clear liquid ran down from her chest all the way to the hem of the white coat. It seemed to move in a strange way—not like water or any other liquid she’d ever seen at all. It balled up on the fabric before soaking in.

She put the bottle on the table but just as she was about to reach down instinctively and brush the solvent away, her wrists were clamped from behind in two huge hands.

“What?” Clair gasped, looking up. To her shock, Kaelus was standing right behind her, looming over her and holding her hands high, away from her body.

“Off,” he growled in her ear. “Get it off—now!”