Page 55 of Master
"Three days," Clara determined, but I felt a small tremor racing through her body. "I can do three days standing on my head!"
Chapter 13
Clara
I could not do three days.
Three hours seemed impossible.
Three minutes was difficult; honestly, three seconds was about all I could handle.
Despite my constant worry for those stuck outside, there was another, larger reason why being trapped in this basement had me on edge.
Tarook.
Something changed between us last night. It felt tangible, as though the air between us thickened with each breath. I just didn’t know what to name it… or what my next move should be.
I wanted him.
I would not lie to myself about it any longer. I wanted him… a lot. I just didn’t know what to do about it. I thought about grabbing him like I did on the Hartouk Lenaii, but that was an uncommon situation, and things were different now. I couldn’t just pounce. Could I?
No. I couldn’t.
Even when I danced practically naked on a stage, I wasn’t what most consideredforward. It took poor Curtis six months to convince me to go out for coffee with him. I’d fucked Tarook without knowing his name, certainly going at our relationship backward.
Relationship?
Did Tarook and I have a relationship? We were friends, but deep in my heart, I knew it felt like something more. I liked him. How much I liked him both scared and intrigued me.
Maybe I should wait for Tarook to make the first move. I hadn't stretched my dating muscle in nearly forty years, but I don't think it had completely rusted. He wanted me sexually. That much was obvious. He wanted to protect me. The way he drew me close anytime I felt distressed told me he empathized with my emotions. Maybe it was just a matter of time. Shouldn’t being locked in a basement alone together, surviving an attack of chemical warfare be romantic… at least according to every forced proximity romance novel I’d ever read.
Unfortunately, our first night together centered more on survival than romance. We’d rummaged through the storage closet as the first order of business. Mei wasn’t kidding when she said she practically lived in her research area. We found bottled water, food—dried meat and crackers—bedding for the cot, and I’d found a pair of well-worn pale green scrubs. The red dress was gorgeous but completely inappropriate for survival situations. No wonder the women in tight dresses and high heels were the first to get polished off by serial killers.
We slept together on the cot last night, but I dozed off the minute my head hit the pillow. I awoke once in the night,wrapped safely in Tarook’s arms. When I opened my eyes this morning, Tarook milled about, leaving a breakfast of dried meat and oatmeal out for me while he took inventory of our supplies.
Seriously? Was I mad that Tarook didn’t linger in bed with me?
Yes.Yes I was.
To keep my mind off the imagining of horrors unfolding outside and lusting over the hot body inside, I busied myself by reading Mei’s research notes, even though the scientific community considered reading another scientist's research before publication taboo.
Normally, I considered myself well-versed when it came to botany. Mei was either a genius, or I was a whole lot dumber than I realized. While I got the gist of her experiments, many of her methods regarding scientific experimentation went over my head. Of course, if I stopped sneaking lusty peeks at Tarook, it might help my focus.
“What are you doing?” Tarook didn’t turn from where he gazed out the window. The bluster ceased overnight, and now powder lay like thick snow on the ground. He stood vigil, looking for any sign of movement… anything to suggest those who dropped the drug showed up to survey their handiwork.
“Reading Mei’s research notes.” I turned the page and added honestly. “It's fascinating.”
“She works with plants… correct?”
He wandered closer, inspecting the different paraphernalia littering the tabletop.
“Correct.”
His body emitted a pleasant, enticing warmth as Tarook stood just behind my shoulder, peering over my shoulder at the journal opened before me.
“Mei’s research seeks to make Earth vegetables adapt to harsher alien climates by using a plant’s innate self-defense systems. Some plants—sweet potatoes like Buck and Lula grow—have very good defense systems and do better than others.”
Tarook gave an incredulous snort. “Earth plants are prone to violence?”
