Page 9 of Hooked on the Otter Doctor
“I eat a lot of fruit.”
I chuckled at that inane bit of post-coital conversation and finally stood up straight, my back cracking as I did. That he immediately stood to cuddle against me, the top of his head resting against my collarbone, made all the discomfort worth itand then some. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed his tousled hair.
After a while, Tobias sighed. “I should get back.”
“Oh, dear. I completely forgot about—” I pulled away, shame washing through me. “I’m so sorry.”
“No, don’t apologize! I’m not at all sorry. I might even go in there and tell them all exactly what happened here.” He grinned wickedly up at me, and I believed him.
And remembered Ghosha was still across the hall. “Oh, goddess. I may not be able to go back in there.”
“Because they’ll know?”
“I— No, I…I want them to know.” I stared down into his eyes, curious and anxious to know what he thought about that. I knew humans didn’t have nearly the instant and instinctual reaction to finding a mate that we did. Did Tobias even wish to be so claimed?
“Yeah,” he said with a bashful peek up at me, “I want them to know, too.”
I kissed him for that. He might not understand why or have any concept of what was happening between us, but that he was interested eased my worries a great deal.
“There’s a Khess in there who will tease me mercilessly, though. He is a friend,” I amended so Tobias wouldn’t think it was a problem.
“Mmm, yeah, I have friends like that.” He pressed his face against my fur and took a deep breath. “You know what? I think I’m going to cancel the class. Let me just go tell them.”
Tobias skirted around me, tucking himself away and zipping up by the time he reached the door.
I stood there grinning, my mind abuzz with the all the things I wanted to do to him, while my heart thumped a happy tune for being accepted by my mate.
CHAPTER 5
TOBIAS
Iwas impressed I could walk in a straight line with so much rattling around in my mind as I crossed the hall back to the classroom. I’d been concerned that something was wrong with Halaby when he’d rushed out of the room after introductions, but that first kiss had cleared a lot of things up really fast. And started me asking a lot of questions. Well, one question: why did I want him so desperately?
Because I’d been hot for a guy plenty of times, but never to the point of hiding in a supply closet to get off as quickly as possible. One and done, sure, but that wasn’t what was happening with Halaby either. Neither of us wanted to go our separate ways afterward. I was even willing to get in trouble with the college for canceling a class during the class to take Halaby home.
Ack, no, not to my home. Way too many people would be there, and I was not going to explain anything to them yet. I needed to see where this was going before I even attempted to explain that I was involved with a Norlon.
Standing in front of the classroom door, I checked my clothes one more time, wiped my hands on my jeans, and then opened the door.
The room was empty.
Halaby came in and stopped to stare, too. He’d buttoned up his pale turquoise tunic, and I found myself wishing I could see his furry chest. Lust had my cock throbbing all over again. I cleared my throat and refocused.
“I guess they didn’t want to wait?” I said with an unsure shrug.
Halaby pointed to the front-most table, and I turned to see there was a piece of paper on the corner. I went over and got it only to find that it wasn’t written in any language I could read. Holding it out to Halaby, I said, “I think it might be for you.”
He came over and accepted it, his eyes tracking back and forth as he read. Wow, he smelled good. I had to resist burying my nose in his chest again. Like honestly had to resist! I’d never been so tempted by someone before in my life. I was twitching to get my hands on him again.
Halaby cleared his throat. “My friend told everyone, uh, what happened and they decided to leave, assuming we wouldn’t be back. They’ll return for the next class, though.”
“Did he listen at the door or something?” That was a little cringe. I hadn’t even considered that someone might hear us when I’d dragged Halaby into the supply closet.
“Well, um, you see…” He cleared his throat again and tucked the note into a pocket of his tunic. “He recognized some behaviors I’ve been exhibiting since yesterday and, uh, correctly assumed that my reaction today was… Um…”
I gasped in sudden realization as the reason for our instalust occurred to me. “Is this a mate reaction?”
His eyebrows hopped up. “You know about that?”
