Page 12 of His Human Believer

I can’t hide the pout on my lips. I was getting so comfortable, loving this impromptu night out with this guy because I love a good stake out and figuring out a case. And add an interesting, handsome scientist to the mix, and that’s a perfect evening in Margaret world.

But I’ve misunderstood this whole situation. Dammit. I should never have come out here in the first place. He’d told me up front, in the living room that he didn’t want to work with me. I’d convinced myself that this wasn’t work, just me coming out here to talk with the mysterious Hyrrokin I can’t seem to stay away from. Weirdly, Skylo decided to join me, but that was fine.

And now heat floods my face because of course he doesn’t want me out here. He’s working. This male has expensive scientific equipment set up in a jungle and a case to solve and I’m overweight and in the way. He was being polite this entire time and I mistook his friendliness and what I thought was heat in his gaze…for something else, which is a thing I have done exactly twice in my adult life and swore I would never do again.

“Okay, you’ve got work to do, I understand.” I’m up. I’m doing the smile. “I didn’t mean to hover while you’re trying to work. Skylo, come on…”

“That is not the reason you need to leave.”

I stop. “No, I understand. You don’t have to explain.”

“I do.” And then Dr. Vidar Coalstone pushes up those reading glasses on his crooked nose. “I want you.”

My brain simply stops working.

The words hang in the air. I heard them, definitely said out loud in that luscious deep voice that could be on the audiocast stations. The male stands four feet in front of me, and I understand each individual word, but in that order they do not compute.

I actually look around.

There is nobody else out here. I’m near an enormous stone wall, on the edge of the dark jungle, equipment is set up nearby, and a three-headed wulver has fallen asleep on my feet.

Wait, did this male just say that he “wants me”? As in, wants sex with me? I look down at myself and tug at the hem of my shorts. This cannot be possible. It’s a mistake. “No, you don’t.”

A hint of smoke wafts from his nostrils. “I beg your pardon?”

“Well, you might think you want me. You’ve been out in the field a long time. Alone, by your own admission, because you prefer it. And humans are a novelty here. Apparently, your species finds us interesting. That’s a documented thing. That’s not the same as⁠—”

A growl rumbles in his chest. “It is not that.”

“—and you’re being polite, which I appreciate, but I’m thirty-four years old, and I admit that I’m overweight and I’ve been this way for my entire adult life.” I lift my chin. “I’m not going to change. My hair looks like I lost a fight with a pillow, and I came out here in somebody else’s shirt and asked you if your field burner was for ambiance. If you do feel an attraction for me, I’m certain it’s just because I’m a kink you would like to scratch and that’s not something I’m interested in, so I’m going to return to the house. Thank you for the talk and don’t worry, this doesn’t have to be weird between us. I’ll stay out of your way as you already requested.”

“May I respond?” he questions.

“I mean, you don’t have to…I’m going to leave now and this can be over.”

“I would like to respond.”

I exhale and nod my head, bracing myself for more talk that will probably hurt my feelings.

“You are the most beautiful female I have ever encountered. I think you are perfect the way you are and I find you sexy beyond all reason.”

My mouth drops open.

“I mis-set a thermal sensor twice this evening,” he says. “I set it incorrectly because I was thinking about your lips. I have watched your ass constantly since you came through that gate. I want to know what the follicles on your head feel like between my claws as I take you from behind.”

I shift on my feet, trying to relieve the insistent heat between my thighs.

“I have answered every question you have put to me tonight, when I should have sent you inside long ago.” His voice drops another register and my traitorous body reacts to it, immediately. “I have not been able to make myself stop speaking to you. I am a male who is known for silence, Ms. Reyes. Ask anyone at the Academy.”

“Margaret,” I say faintly.

“Margaret. You are not a novelty. I have met humans before. I have never once in forty years felt any attraction towards another human female. Only you.”

This fire-breathing male in reading glasses, with the most perfect red chest, is standing in a jungle, telling me he thinks I’m sexy and he wants me in his bed? I’m trying to make this compute. “I noticed things,” I hear myself say. “In the living room. When you…” I make a vague gesture. “Your body language seemed… This is why I couldn’t stop thinking of you and came out here. I was interested in the case, that’s true, but more interested in seeing you again because I guess I thought there was some spark there and I had to see if it was true.”

“All true.”

“Wow.” I blink. “Well, if that’s how you feel, then why do I need to leave? Why can’t I stay here longer with you, getting to know you better on this stakeout? Shouldn’t you want me to stay?”