“Hell no, little girl.” Bravik shook his head. “And I wouldn’t think less of you even if we didn’t have the Mother Stone as an excuse, either,” he added.
“You wouldn’t?” This surprised Danni. “But—”
“But nothing, Danielle. You’re lonely and so am I. Also, we’re both consenting adults,” he pointed out. “But we’re also coworkers and that’s a relationship we need to respect. So we won’t do anything in private, when we’re alone together again. Although we might have to put on a show for those fucking horny H’rakens,” he added grimly.
“Yes, we probably will,” Danni agreed. “But I think we can handle it as long as we keep it out of our, uh, alone time.”
“We can and we will,” Bravik said firmly. “Now, why don’t we get some sleep? It’s been a long fucking day and I’m so tired I feel like someone beat me.”
“Same,” Danni said and yawned. She cuddled a little closer to the big Kindred. “You don’t mind sleeping this way, then? It’s, uh, still pretty cold in the room.”
“Don’t mind a bit, little girl.” He gave her a one-armed hug. “Let’s just try to take it easy” He yawned hugely, and settled lower in the bed, taking Danni with him. There were no pillows, but it didn’t seem to bother him. As for herself, Danni used his broad chest as a pillow.
And before she knew it, lulled by the big Kindred’s deep, steady breathing and the slow thud of his heart, she had drifted off to sleep.
Twenty-Two
Danni woke still cuddled up to Bravik’s side and at first she didn’t know where she was.
What’s going on? Where am I?
Blinking sleep out of her eyes, she looked up in confusion at the white, gossamer curtain of threads that had somehow been spun over her head during the night. It was like someone had wrapped her in a large, airy cocoon as she slept.
Then she realized that the cocoon wasn’t the strangest thing—she was also lying on a bed that seemed to be made of huge cotton balls. Also, she was draped all over her annoying coworker who was such a pain in her ass.
No, wait…she blinked sleepily, trying to remember the events of the day before. Something had changed her opinion of Bravik. They had become…friends?
Try more than friends, a little voice whispered in her head and suddenly the breast massage at the feast and then the way she’d asked him to suck her nipples later came flooding back.
Of course, she also remembered that she wasn’t strictly to blame for her behavior.
It was the power of the Mother Stone, she argued with herself. That’s why I acted the way I did.
But she still felt ashamed of her unprofessional actions and uneasy as to how they were going to affect her working relationship with Bravik. The night before, the big Kindred had assured her he didn’t think less of her but Danni had spent her entire career in male-dominated fields where one misstep—especially a sexual one—could ruin your professional reputation.
Despite her misgivings, she found herself extremely reluctant to move away from Bravik’s side. It wasn’t just that the room was chilly and he was warm, it was that he smelled so good. How was it that the Kindred didn’t seem to have any kind of bad body odor at all? Instead, they—or at least Bravik—seemed to exude a kind of olfactory siren song that drew her closer even when she knew she ought to back away and put some distance between them.
Speaking of Bravik, he was stirring now. His golden-bronze eyes opened slowly to sleepy slits.
“Morning, little girl,” he rumbled, seeming completely unsurprised to have Danni draped all over his side. He frowned up at the breezy white cocoon that surrounded them. “What in the Seven Hells is that?” he gestured upward with a jerk of his chin.
“I think it’s the blanket the puff balls were supposed to spin over us to cover us,” Danni eyed the cocoon top—which was at least a foot above their heads—speculatively. “If so, it certainly doesn’t do much to keep you warm, does it?”
“You don’t feel too cold to me, little girl,” Bravik remarked.
“Thanks to you,” Danni said gratefully. “I probably would have frozen to death if you hadn’t been, uh, willing to share your heat.”
“Any time, little girl.”
Bravik gave her a friendly squeeze, which pushed her breasts against the side of his chest, much to Danni’s mingled embarrassment and arousal. She had always been a morning sex kind of person—when she was in a relationship, that was—since her hormones were typically surging in the early hours.
Or, she had been when she was younger. Lately, as she’d been getting closer to menopause, she hadn’t had that problem as much. Of course, it could just be that she hadn’t been in a relationship in a while, but Danni thought she felt different this morning. Less achy and stiff—more limber.