Page 9 of Tamed By Her Touch

“All right, so I broke rule two as well,” she admitted. “But I can’t believe you’re so selfish you won’t even share your equipment! I would share mine with you if you asked.”

“You have nothing that I need,” Kaelus said coldly. “But I am not finished—you were also speaking while your scientific work was being conducted which I have repeatedly asked you not to do.”

“You weren't even here!” Clair protested. “That one shouldn't count!”

He glared at her.

“It counts.”

She crossed her arms over her chest.

“Well, that's just stupid.”

“It is not stupid! You have broken all my rules—every one of them!” he growled.

“Well maybe you need to think about revising them,” Clair snapped back. Then she gave him what her grandma always called a “hard look,” holding eye contact and refusing to let him intimidate her, despite his massive size.

For the past month, she had made a point of refusing to let him get under her skin. Every growl, every irritated look, every complaint about her coffee maker or her plants or the way she arranged her workspace had been met with a smile and a sugary nickname. She had done it partly because she genuinely preferred getting along with people and partly because it drove Kaelus absolutely crazy when she refused to get angry.

But suddenly she was angry—really angry.

Maybe it was the fact that she'd been working twelve-hour days for the past week. Maybe it was the stress of trying to catch the star-vine during its ridiculously short flowering period. Or maybe she'd simply had enough of being treated as though she were some foolish child who had wandered into a real scientist's laboratory by mistake.

“Do you know what, Doctor Kaelus?” she demanded, putting both hands on her hips. “I have been bending over backwards for the past month trying to get along with you.”

His brows rose.

“Bending over backwards? In what way? I have never seen you performing any kind of gymnastics in the lab.”

Clair shook her head.

“It's an expression.”

He let out a dismissive grunt.

“Huh. Another human expression which makes no logical sense.”

“Oh, shut up about the expressions already!” Clair exclaimed.

His golden eyes widened, and he stared at her in surprise.

Clair felt a momentary rush of satisfaction. Good—let him be surprised. But she wasn’t done yet.

“You have made it perfectly clear from the moment I walked through that door that you don't want me here,” she continued. “You divided the damn room in half like we’re a pair of children sharing a bedroom. You wrote rules on a board telling me where I can stand and when I'm allowed to talk. You complain about my coffee—even though you drink it—you complain about my plants, you complain about my equipment, and you act like every time I breathe on your side of that ridiculous black line, I'm contaminating your precious laboratory!”

“Well…you are extremely disruptive!” Kaelus growled, looking taken-aback by her sudden accusations.

“And, you're extremely rude!” Clair snapped.

His brows drew low over his golden eyes.

“I am not rude!”

“Yes, you are!” Clair shot back. “You're rude and bossy and controlling and so damned convinced you're the only competent scientist in this room that you haven't even bothered to learn anything about me!”

He folded his arms over his massive chest.

“That is not true.”