Page 84 of Sunder

“I should like to see it.” It was a passing thought and one she had not meant to speak aloud. She almost startled when she realised she’d shared it, but she couldn’t be sorry when Athan was looking at her like that. Even more when he brought her hand to his lips and placed a kiss upon her knuckles.

“After,” Athan agreed, nodding toward the floor above. “You have a book to find.”

She wanted to kiss him again. Like she had before. On his cheek.

Have him catch her. Bring her back to him so he could bring those kisses to his mouth instead.

The bond was thrumming and her blood along with it, but she took a deep breath to calm herself. This was his workplace. He would surely not appreciate her greedy attentions here anymore than her father would appreciate being accosted by her mother in the Hall.

She glanced at Athan as they continued to move upward.

Maybe she was wrong.

Maybe a man would like to feel wanted, regardless of their location. There were proprieties, of course, and she would certainly never consider it if a patient was even within the building, but...

She rubbed at the bond in her chest, considering.

Stopped when Athan reached for that hand too and squeezed it. “What are you anxious about?”

Orma frowned. “I’m not.” Or... maybe she was. “I’m just... thinking.”

They came to the landing. It was a trim hallway; the doors shut. There were shiny metal plaques attached to each of them, but she was not near enough to read them.

“About?”

She was supposed to admit even that? He led her onward to the farthest room. She expected an examination room, a low table, cuffs at the head and foot, and Orma braced herself to enter one. It wasn’t for her. They were here to look at books, that was all. Then, if it failed, it was off to the bookseller.

Nothing was going to happen.

She wasn’t thinking of affection any longer, but she answered him with a breathless voice as he opened the door. “I was thinking of kissing you again. Of you kissing me. And if it was appropriate, considering the setting.”

She turned her head, looking at the room rather than at him.

She relaxed almost immediately.

No table, just a desk. A long line of shelves fully encompassed two of the walls. It was like her father’s study, only in miniature—although she would not say that to Athan.

She stepped through the doorway, but Athan still held onto her hands.

Drew her back to him.

She wanted to duck her head because her fears had spoiled her excitement, but he caught her eye and she was helpless to avoid him. Not when he looked at her so tenderly. “Nothing could possibly be inappropriate about our kisses,” Athan declared. Which was absurd, and certainly untrue. It was uncouth to indulge one’s passions in front of unmated couples. Or parents. Or siblings. That, perhaps, was merely because one did not wish to see such things, but... still.

He tugged her closer still.

The door shut behind them.

“How did you imagine it?” Athan asked, his voice low and his query so wildly inappropriate that she flushed all over.

“You are keeping me from my book,” Orma countered. Not that it would even be there. But he was muddling her mind, andthe bond was his keen assistant, distracting her from what was important.

More important than this?

Of showing affection to her mate? Of showing herself there was more to be felt in an infirmary than pain and shame?

She swallowed thickly.

She would not answer him, surely.

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