Page 97 of Tempting Fate

I forced down my own worry and laid a hand on his knee. “Are you tired?”

“Existentially.” He offered me the faintest smile.

We walked to his hut with linked arms, and as soon as we got in, he settled me in the comfy chair, fussing over me.

“I’m fine, honestly.”

From Kri’s shrine, Orbit fluttered her wings as if in disagreement.

“You are far from fine, my moonlight.” He crossed to the kitchen and put the kettle on. “Let me look after you.”

I rubbed my chest, enjoying the warmth there. This was too cosily domestic, but after the day we’d had, I deserved something. “Okay. I’ll be right back, I need to get some things from my room.” I rose, steadying myself on the arm of the chair, and slipped out of the door.

When I returned, two mugs sat on the bedside table, and Airida was perched on the edge of the bed, chin in his hands.

“What are you thinking?”

“There is an active threat here, yet I’m being told to let others handle it. Again. I feel useless.” His headspines flattened.

I sank down and slid an arm around his waist. “Worry about it tomorrow.” It was a worry, but we were both exhausted. The best thing we could do now was drink tea or sleep.

“You are probably right, my moonlight.”

When our drinks were finished and he tugged me into bed with him, I fell gladly. “Is this okay?” I said, cuddling on him like we had yesterday on the beach.

“More than. You make my bones feel good. I like having you close.”

I liked being close to him too. Something nagged at the edge of my consciousness, a reason this should bother me, but I was too tired to chase it. This felt good, and how could that be wrong?

“I was so scared,” he said into the quiet. “I was scared to lose you.”

Those butterflies again, causing fluttering havoc on my insides.

I kinda liked them.

I nuzzled my cheek against his chest. “You won’t lose me. You saved me, Airi.”

“Thank the gods. I didn’t know I could move like that. Fight like that.”

“It’s instinct. We’re all capable of many things we don’t realise until we have the opportunity to learn it.”

He snorted. “Perhaps I need to learn more things. Yet the more I do, the more I feel wrong, like all my life I’ve left important things to other people. Through no fault of my own, but still. It’s starting to rankle.”

“So do something about it, baby. But not today. Today, we rest.”

We lay in quiet, my hand tracing patterns on his stomach.

“Even if nothing else changes between us… Imani, I’m glad we’re friends.”

“Friends with benefits,” I murmured without thinking.

“What is that?”

“It’s a human phrase, for friends who are also intimate with each other.” But who aren’t in a relationship. Who aren’t developing feelings for each other.

He shifted, rolling to face me. “Does this mean you wish to mate with me?”

My memory returned even as my cunt pulsed, trying to squeeze the common sense from me. “I told you, that complicates things.”