Page 78 of Tamed By Her Touch

“Clair, we cannot do this again,” he rumbled. “Allowing ourselves to be intimate in this way is ill advised—especially given your wish to never again be with a male and the fact that I am unable to form a Bond with a woman. Such a relationship serves no purpose other than to cause confusion which I fear may lead to pain if we become too close.”

Clair stiffened—was he already pushing her away? It certainly felt like it. Also, she noticed he was back to his more formal speech patterns now that he had eased his sexual tension.

She reached for one of the gold blankets and pulled it up over her shoulders.

“Fine. That’s fine,” she muttered and turned her back to him. “Let’s just try and get some sleep.”

The bed dipped as Kaelus climbed in beside her and then she heard him say,

“Please don’t be offended. I just don’t think we should start something that neither of us is willing or able to finish.”

“I understand.” Clair drew the metallic gold coverlet closer around her own shoulders. For some reason, she felt like crying but she told herself that was foolish. After all, it wasn’t like they’d had sex and then he’d rejected her. They hadn’t even touched each other—she needed to get over it.

And yet, she couldn’t help feeling hurt. It had been a long time since she’d trusted a man enough to let herself go with him sexually. Kaelus’s words felt like a rejection even if they technically weren’t.

“Are you well?” His big voice came from behind her as he settled in the bed. “Have I said something to upset you?”

“No, of course not,” Clair said stiffly. “You’re right—it’s time to get some sleep. So we’ll sleep—no big deal.”

“No big deal,” Kaelus agreed.

They lay back-to-back and Clair closed her eyes and tried to relax.

It helped that the bed was incredibly comfortable. The mattress seemed to mold itself around her body, supporting every curve perfectly, and the faint floral light from the wall niches dimmed automatically until the room was almost dark.

She could hear Kaelus breathing beside her…slowly and deliberately as though he was concentrating on every breath.

Clair tried not to think about him—that lasted approximately thirty seconds.

She thought about his chest…his arms…the dark trail of hair disappearing into his trousers…the way his eyes had raked over her when she came out of the bathroom and the way he had commanded her to touch herself while he watched.

Stop it, she commanded herself. It’s never going to happen again so you might as well stop thinking about it.

But it was a long…long time before she could finally turn her brain off and go to sleep.

12

KAELUS

Kaelus couldn’t sleep.

He kept feeling like he had hurt Clair in some way by telling her they couldn’t do…what they had done again. It had been ill-advised and foolish and dangerously close to an intimacy that neither of them could afford.

Then why do you want to do it again…and do even more? whispered a voice in the back of his mind.

Shut up! he told it. Clair doesn’t want another male in her life—not after the way her ex-mate cheated on her and hurt her. And I cannot Bond a woman to me—anything we started would be doomed right from the beginning.

But he couldn’t stop thinking of how beautiful her full curves were—how her heavy breasts swayed when she touched herself and how delicious her pussy honey had been. He could still taste her salty sweetness on his lips and he wished desperately that he could take her in his arms and kiss her to share her own flavor with her.

That was impossible though and he knew it. They needed to be careful and keep their distance or they were going to ruin their current relationship—their friendship—for good.

Telling himself he wouldn’t touch her again, no matter how badly he wanted to, Kaelus finally drifted off into troubled dreams where he was running from something he desperately wanted to turn and embrace.

13

CLAIR

The next morning, Clair was up with the sun. Well, the first sun, anyway. The second sun, which was much smaller and farther away, rose later in the day. But she was up at first light, intent on taking a shower in the massive bathing suite.