Page 16 of Tomlin

“Please sit down,” she said. “I have something I wish to discuss with you.”

“For some reason, I find that statement rather alarming.”

Despite his words, he spoke as calmly as ever. What would it take to push him into that rather intriguing growling sound instead?

She carried the mugs over to the table and sat down next to him, trying to decide the best way to present her proposition. As she attempted to place her arguments in logical order, she realized that her confidence had disappeared and she felt unexpectedly nervous.

This is purely for scientific purposes, she assured herself. She took a deep breath and looked up to find him watching her.

He raised an eyebrow.

“Do you intend to leave me in suspense?”

“I was thinking about what you said. About how you had never seen a naked woman before.”

His hand clenched around his mug, but his voice remained calm as he responded.

“I have not.”

“And you implied that there were other things you had not done.”

“That is also correct.”

“It occurred to me that perhaps we could remedy that situation. Purely for scientific reasons,” she added hastily. “My own experience has been extremely limited. I did not find the encounter pleasant, but obviously most people enjoy the sexual act. I thought perhaps we could experiment and discover what pleases us both.”

His hand clenched so tightly around his mug that it shattered, sending the remains of his tea streaming across the table along with shards of ceramic.

“Why did you do that?” she exclaimed, jumping up to fetch a clean cloth. “Let me see your hand. Did you cut yourself? Are you alright?”

She grabbed his hand, planning to turn it over and examine his palm for injuries.

Instead he clasped it around hers and that same electric spark zinged through her body. He wasn’t hurting her, but the unmistakable strength in his grip made it clear that she couldn’t escape his grasp unless he chose to let her go.

That knowledge should have frightened her. Instead it caused another pulse of heat low in her stomach.

“Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

Her voice came out low and breathless, and she watched in fascination as he closed his eyes, his nostrils flaring as if he were scenting the air. Scenting her.

“Do you have enhanced senses?”

The question popped out before she could help herself. He gave a shuddering sigh, and released her hand. His eyes opened and flicked down to where her robe had parted to reveal her non-existent cleavage.

And then he was standing, moving so rapidly that she didn’t even see him move.

“Sit down,” he ordered, “while I clean up.”

She started to protest, then thought better of it. He was clearly more comfortable taking action. She returned to her chair while he swiftly and efficiently mopped up the spilled tea and disposed of the remains of the mug. Instead of returning to his chair he began pulling ingredients out of the cupboard.

“I’ll make you something to eat.”

She really wasn’t hungry but once again she decided not to argue.

“If you had chickens, you could have fresh eggs,” he said, giving the package of powdered eggs a disdainful look.

“If I had chickens. I would have to remember to care for them. When I get caught up in one of my experiments I sometimes forget about things like that.” Fortunately she had an automated food and water system for her horse and he had free rein of the pasture. She shook her head and smiled at him. “I couldn’t even keep a fish alive.”

“You need someone to take care of you.”

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