Page 34 of The Lost Art of Seducing a Mage Warrior

“I was very well-behaved, actually,” Perian assured him. “I spent the morning in the library. I can’t believe the size of the collection. Oh, that reminds me, am I able to take books with me, or are they meant to stay there?”

He jumped into an explanation of the handful of books he had shortlisted out of the many, many,manyvolumes he wanted to read, which made Brannal laugh and reassure him.

“I should have shown you the lending catalog yesterday. Since there are so many volumes, we do ask that people sign them out so we can keep track and follow up if a book is desired by someone else. You needn’t stay there, though there is certainly the space for it.”

“But not as many opportunities for cuddling,” Perian pointed out.

Now Brannal just looked confused. “Are you planning to cuddle the books?”

Perian shrugged, suddenly realizing he had got a little ahead of himself.

“I just thought it might be nice for us both to be reading in, uh, proximity to one another. At some point. It’s not something we have to do, obviously.”

Given the presence of books in Brannal’s rooms and his position, surely he did some reading, but Perian hadn’t actuallyseenhim do it, and it wasn’t as though they had actually defined what the two of them were doing with one another.

Cuddling was a far cry from having lots of sex, wasn’t it? Maybe that wasn’t at all what—

Perian’s little negative spiral was abruptly cut off by Brannal’s quiet words.

“That sounds very pleasant.”

A glance at the man showed he looked genuine, but Perian felt a little foolish and uncertain. He wasn’t even sure why he’d suggested it. He had never read with previous lovers. He had read with his father, of course, but they’d nevercuddled.

Brannal blew out a breath. “No one’s ever offered to cuddle with me before.”

He sounded a little… wistful.

In that case, theyhadto do it.

Perian sprang up and gestured at one of the bookcases.

“Can we read some of these?”

“What, right now?”

“Why not?” Perian asked.

Brannal blinked at him, but then his expression softened, and he rose to his feet. They spent several minutes making their choices and then had to figure out how to actually read together since neither chair comfortably sat both of them when they were both trying to read at the same time.

“I could just climb on top of you,” Perian suggested.

“I somehow doubt we’d get any reading done,” Brannal said dryly.

“That’s all right,” Perian said, perfectly willing to shift focus.

But Brannal was insistent, and they eventually wound up on the rug in front of the fire, leaning back against one of the armchairs, tucked up against one another. The lamp on the side table was turned up to full brightness.

And then they read.

Perian took a couple slow, deep breaths, not sure why this was affecting him so much. Brannal seemed quite content to page through his big old book on Fire Magic. Perian had wound up with a book on watch stations because he hadn’t wanted to waste a lot of time going through Brannal’s entire collection while the man was standing there waiting for the cuddles Perian had inadvertently demanded.

The book wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t the most riveting material, and Perian blamed that for the fact that eventually, he wound up leaning his head against Brannal’s shoulder and nodding off.

He roused at a nudge from Brannal. Neither of them appeared to be holding books anymore, and looking through bleary eyes, Perian was pretty sure he’d drooled. Becausethatwas attractive.

“Come on,” Brannal said gently.

Still half asleep, Perian let Brannal tug him upright and tow him to the bedroom, where he promptly crawled into the nice comfortable bed. As soon as Brannal climbed in the other side, Perian homed in on the body heat and curled up next to him. Brannal wrapped an arm around him, and Perian luxuriated in the feeling of being held close.

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