Page 31 of Tamed By Her Touch

“Well, maybe if somebody would refill this thing, I'd be doing better,” she muttered.

“You have already consumed too much stimulant today.” Kaelus’s deep voice was disapproving.

“Traitor,” Clair told him. “You like coffee too now—admit it!”

Kaelus only made a disgusted sound and returned to his work.

Determined to ignore him, Clair kept going. She was going to finish comparing one more set of results before she quit for the night, she told herself. Just one.

She rested her elbows on the counter and stared at the glowing molecular structures displayed on her screen. Her eyelids got heavy, and the golden lines began to blur.

Clair blinked and rested her chin briefly on her folded arms. Just for a second, she told herself. She would close her eyes for one second and then get back to work.

The next thing she knew, something warm was wrapped around her shoulders.

“Wha…?” Clair opened her eyes slowly—for a moment, she had no idea where she was. Then she realized she was still in the lab, but it looked different.

The room was dim—most of the overhead lights had been switched off, leaving only the soft glow from the equipment and the blue-green illumination of her botanical grow chambers.

She lifted her head and blinked her eyes, trying to understand what had happened. Her neck hurt from sleeping in such an awkward position but at least she wasn’t cold, despite the fact that they kept the lab at a chilly temperature to avoid specimen spoilage and slow bacteria growth.

Then she realized the reason she wasn’t cold was because she was covered by something. Clair looked down and saw it was a lab coat, but not one of hers. This one was far too large.

She lifted the collar toward her nose and sniffed—warm spice, with a hint of something indefinably masculine met her nose. She recognized that scent—it was Kaelus. He must have draped his lab coat around her when she fell asleep.

Clair's heart did that strange little skip as she looked across the lab.

The big Hybrid was still there. He was seated at the MRA with one elbow resting on the counter, studying a series of molecular structures. His dark hair was slightly disordered, as though he'd been running his hands through it while he worked. And he wasn’t wearing his lab coat—which meant he’d taken off the one he’d been wearing earlier to keep her warm. No wonder it smelled of his scent so strongly.

“You're awake,” he rumbled without turning around.

Clair sat up.

“What time is it?”

“Nearly midnight.”

“Midnight?” she exclaimed, rubbing her eyes. Then she looked at the coat wrapped around her. “Did you put this on me?” she asked, already knowing the answer but wanting to see if he would admit it.

Kaelus shrugged.

“You were cold.”

“How did you know I was cold?” she asked, frowning.

“You were shivering. It seemed a logical deduction.”

Clair stared at him sleepily.

“You could have just woken me up,” you know,” she pointed out.

“I attempted to,” Kaelus said dryly.

“You did?” Clair raised her eyebrows at him.

“I did. You told me to go away. Then you muttered something about a ‘pink bunny rabbit with giant teeth who ate all your chocolate.’”

Clair frowned.