Page 4 of Tamed By Her Touch

“But…I have not welcomed you at all!” Kaelus exclaimed.

“Sure you did! Moving all your equipment to make room for me and making sure everything was clean and shiny—I can’t think of a better welcome than that, sugar-booger.”

Though she normally tried to suppress it to sound more professional, Clair really let her Southern accent out as she smiled sweetly up at him.

“Sugar-what?” he demanded, but she was already unpacking the large satchel she’d brought with her, laying out her files of research, a fresh coffee cup, and several small succulents in terra-cotta pots in haphazard fashion all over the clean white lab table.

Kaelus stared at her scattered possessions in horror.

“Is this how you work? With everything everywhere?” he demanded.

“I have my system. Don’t you worry your sweet little head about it, honey,” she told him. “Now let me see—where’s the best place for my coffee station? What about there?”

She pointed to a clear section of the counter right beside the sink at the back of the room. Only half of the area she was intending to claim was on her side of the room, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her.

“That area is designated for hygiene!” Kaelus sounded affronted.

“A coffee maker isn’t unhygienic,” Clair told him. “So that should work just fine. And let me see—where can I put my mini-fridge?”

“Why do you need a cold-unit?” he asked warily.

“Why, to store plant samples in, of course,” she told him. “Oh and coffee creamer. I just can’t stand people who only take their coffee black. I mean, what’s the point of making yourself miserable? I like that saying—‘you want a little coffee with your cream?’ Because that’s how I take my coffee—plenty of cream and plenty of sugar.”

She kept up a running commentary as she moved her equipment into the lab and Kaelus watched her with a look of growing confusion and alarm as she took over her half of the room—and some of his half too.

“You cannot put that there—it’s on my half of the room!” he protested, when she placed a centrifuge on an area of unused countertop.

“Well then, you can use it too, if you want, honey-bun.” Clair gave him her sweetest smile. “I don’t mind sharing.”

He didn’t seem to know what to say to that and said little else until she was all moved in and had brewed her first cup of coffee.

As the brown liquid ran into her cup, his nostrils wrinkled, and he frowned.

“What is that strange aroma?”

“Haven’t you ever smelled coffee before?” Clair raised her eyebrows at him.

“No.” He frowned. “It is a human drink and I generally try to have nothing to do with humans.”

“Bless your heart—that would be an offensive statement if I was easily offended,” Clair told him. “Good thing for you, I’ve got thick skin.”

His golden eyes raked over her and his frown deepened.

“Your skin does not appear any thicker than any other human I’ve ever seen,” he pointed out.

“Oh, it’s just a saying. Like ‘I’m rubber and you’re glue. Whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you.’ Or, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me,’” Clair told him.

He shook his head, looking even more confused.

“I do not understand.”

“Don’t worry, darlin’—I don’t expect you to,” Clair told him. “Now how about I make you your very own cup of coffee and we can get down to work?”

He shook his head.

“I do not wish to drink your human drink.”

“I’ll make you a cup anyway because that’s the friendly thing to do and I’m nothing if not friendly.”