“Partners.” He tested the word. “Mates?”
The heat in her cheeks intensified to what felt like a full-on conflagration. “That’s… Yes, that’s one kind of partner. But there’s also business partners, work partners, dance partners—” She was rambling now, words tumbling out in her desperation to redirect the conversation. “The point is, people don’t usually sleep with strangers. I don’t usually sleep with strangers. I don’t usually sleep with anyone, actually.”
The admission slipped out before she could stop it, and he went very still. “No one?”
“No,” she said defensively. “I prefer sleeping alone. I sleep better alone. I’m not—”Good at being close to people. Comfortablewith intimacy. Capable of letting my guard down.“I’m just not used to it.”
He was quiet for a long moment, obviously processing her words. “But with me. You sleep.”
It wasn’t a question.
She started to deny it, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to do it. “I was exhausted. I hadn’t slept in days. You pulled me down and I was too tired to fight about it.”
His lips curved, just slightly. “You would fight. If you want.”
He wasn’t wrong, but she didn’t want to admit that either.
“It seemed like a practical solution at the time.”
“Practical.” He seemed to consider this. “Practical to sleep with enemy?”
“You’re not—” She stopped herself.Isn’t he?some part of her brain demanded.I still don’t know what he is or what he wants or why he was buried under the ice.
But the part that had curled against his warmth and slept more deeply than she had in years was already providing counterarguments. How gentle his hands were when he’d pulled her close. The way he’d insisted on sharing food with her even when he was starving. The careful way he moved around her, like he was constantly aware of his own size and strength and determined not to frighten her.
“I don’t know what you are,” she admitted. “I don’t know where you came from or why you were under the ice or what any of this means. But…” She met his eyes. “I don’t think you’re my enemy.”
His expression softened, and the blue of his eyes seemed to intensify, almost glowing in the dim light.
“Not enemy,” he agreed. “Jaz is…” He paused, searching for a word. “Friend?”
She’d taught him that word twenty minutes ago, in the context of explaining why she had so few personal items in her habitat.I don’t have many friends,she’d said, and immediately wished she could take it back.I prefer it that way. Less complicated.
He’d listened with the intent focus he gave everything, and now he was using the word back at her like a gift.
“Yeah,” she heard herself say. “I guess you are. You’re my friend.”
The smile that crossed his face was small but genuine, and it transformed him. The sharp angles of his features softened, and the predatory set of his jaw relaxed. For a moment, he didn’t look like an ancient being of unknown origin. He looked like someone who’d been alone for a very long time and had just been offered something rare and precious.
Dammit.
Because the more human he looked, the harder it was to ignore certain other facts. Like the breadth of his shoulders. The defined musculature of his arms and chest. The way his scales caught the light when he moved, creating patterns that were almost hypnotic. The deep, resonant quality of his voice, which did things to her nervous system that she absolutely refused to examine.
He’s not human,she reminded herself firmly.He’s an alien. Or a genetic experiment. Or something else entirely. And I’m stuck ina tiny dome with him during a polar storm. This is not the time to develop an inconvenient attraction.
But her body wasn’t listening to reason. Her body remembered the heat of him against her back, the strength of the arm that had held her, and the way his tail had curled around her leg like it belonged there. Not to mention that intriguing hardness against her back.
Retractable,her traitorous brain supplied again.Which means it’s there when he wants it to be. Which means when I felt?—
“Jaz.”
She jumped and looked up to find he was watching her again with that too-perceptive gaze.
“Your face,” he said. “Changes color. When you think.”
Oh, perfect.Now he was commenting on her blushes. “It’s what happens. To humans. When we’re embarrassed or hot or?—”
“Embarrassed?”
