“She’s softening, Colm. It may take a little time, but she’s relaxing around us.” Linc tossed his pants on the floor. They hit with a wet plop even as he strode into the closet for more.
“How do you know she’s softening? Is it just because she didn’t get upset over an unexpected dunk in the water? And she still doesn’t smell right. What’s it going to take to get that stuff off her?” Colm asked and frowned severely.
“I’d bet a good scrubbing and maybe taking her bag away from her. I don’t think it’s simply one thing, but hopefully we won’t have to do that. And no, it’s not because she didn’t get upset about ending up in the lake instead of looking at it, although that does reassure me. I like that she has a sense of humor.” Linc came out of the closet wearing brown pants and carrying a white shirt.
“Well, why are you smiling so much?” Colm folded his arms across his chest.
Linc could tell he was nearing the end of his patience. Linc leaned back against the door jamb and savored the memory of her arms around him. “After we fell into the water, she hugged me and didn’t pull away when I kissed her. She only seemed to realize that she wanted to keep her distance after we swam back to shore.”
“She just hugged you for no reason? You didn’t pull her up when she was floundering?” Colm frowned.
“No, I didn’t save her. I came up and she started laughing. A moment later, she’d put her arms around me. I couldn’t resist the temptation to kiss her.” Linc walked over to him and put an arm around him.
“Do you think she’d do it again?” Colm asked as he hooked an arm around Linc, bringing him flush against his body.
“I think she could, in the right situation. From what I’ve seen, she can be impulsive. I’d say if she’s relaxed around us, it will happen more and more often.” Linc leaned in and nipped Colm’s neck.
“We’ll have to work on it then. I want to see some of this impulsiveness.” Colm gripped Linc’s hair and pulled his head up. His mouth captured Linc’s in an aggressive kiss.
Chapter Ten
Cami woke with a smile on her face. Today, they were going on a run. She wasn’t going to dwell on what had happened yesterday. She’d only get tense and it would probably ruin her entire day. She wasn’t going to let that happen. It had been too long since she’d run for the enjoyment of it. She wanted to feel the wind ruffling her fur, the earth beneath her paws and the thrill of the chase.
She’d expected a knock at the door from Linc or Colm to jerk her out of sleep, but apparently she’d woken before them. She dressed in a light blue shirt and darker blue skirt. After brushing her hair, she went out into the hallway.
Their door was still closed and she wasn’t going to go knock on it. It was still early. She left hers open so that they’d know she was awake. With a light step, she walked down the hallway. She thought about doing some serious exploring, but decided to wait until later.
She’d have at least a few days to poke around in most of the rooms in this fortress. Laed and Kynar weren’t here yet, and when they did get here, it could take days to catch the tamaurgi. She was curious to see everything in this Thent. Not that she expected it to be too different from Scali Thent simply because this was part of Linc and Colm.
Deciding to go down to the kitchen for an early morning cup of hot dorin, she rounded the corner and headed for the stairs. The more she thought about it, the better that fragrant brewed drink sounded. It was also past time she introduced herself to some of the women. She might not be staying here, but she wasn’t going to act as though she was better than them or that they didn’t matter. It would be good to have someone to talk to other than those two men.
Descending the stairs, delicious aromas drifted around her. They were already cooking. She knew there would be more than theArdin, the chatar and healer in the building. If this building was comparable to the one at Scali Thent, there would also be barracks for some of the men who were on guard duty.