My breath caught somewhere between my lungs and my throat.
“Yes.”
His hand came up to cup my face, and he gently stroked my cheekbone. Then he leaned down and kissed me.
It wasn’t like the cave. That had been discovery, surprise, a tentative question.
Thiswas the answer.
His other hand found my waist and pulled me flush against him. I made a sound that would’ve embarrassed me if I’d had any working brain cells left, and his response was a low rumble I felt through his chest. My fingers found the front of his shirt, and I held on. He deepened the kiss until I forgot we were standing in the medical bay in broad daylight where anyone could walk in.
The door crashed open.
We jerked apart. Brovish’s hand remained at my waist, and I couldn’t make myself step away from the heat of him.
Drogar filled the doorway, a crate in his arms, his grin so wide it put his tusks on full display.
“We’ve arrived and the fizzlings are sparkier than usual,” he said. His eyes went from Brovish to me and back again, and his grin went feral. “Oh. Oh. Am I interrupting a claiming?”
“No,” Brovish said.
“Yes, you’re interrupting,” I said at the same time.
Drogar’s laugh boomed off the walls. “I’ll return after enough time has passed for proper claiming activities. The fizzlings can maintain their sparking without supervision.Thisrequires no audience and much privacy. I’ll guard the door.”
He backed into the hallway and closed the panel.
The silence rang louder than his laugh had.
“I should?—”
“Don’t.” Brovish’s hand tightened at my waist. “Please don’t say we shouldn’t have done that.”
“I wasn’t going to.” I looked up at him, my heart still racing. “I was going to say I should probably check on Cooper, but I’d much rather stay here.”
His expression softened. “Then stay.”
“Drogar’s coming back with creatures who need examining.”
“In twenty minutes.”
“That’s not—” I stopped, because he’d leaned down again, his forehead resting on mine, and we were breathing the same air.
“Ten minutes,” he said against my mouth. “We have at least ten minutes.”
I kissed him again, and we used every second.
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
We’d separated, both breathing hard, my back pressed against the exam table and his hands braced on either side of me.
The phone buzzed again.
“You should check that,” he said, his voice rough.
I didn’t want to move.
The phone buzzed a third time.
