FIFTY-SIX

 

Several hours later, after taking a steamy shower and cleaning up the sticky mess of sprinkles all over the dining room table, Catena noticed a new email from Bishop in her inbox. It consisted of five words: SEE ME IN MY OFFICE.

She sighed. He was going to shout at her again, she knew it.

Now she needed a protector at her side, the position was vacant.

"Ha, I know that look! It's the peculiar expression you get when someone is about to start shouting, as though you want to run and hide." Tor grinned at her. "I swear I have no reason to shout at you, and though I am not officially your protector any more, I do feel a peculiar responsibility to uphold your honour, even if my own actions thus far have been less than honourable..." He coughed, then cleared his throat. "Allow me to make amends, Miss Kelly. After robbing you of your virtue, I feel it only fitting that I should ask for your hand in marriage, so that you do not suffer any ill consequences from the spell that defied both your and my good judgement last night. So, Miss Kelly, as I believe you are above the age of consent, will you..."

"No." She almost laughed at his shocked expression. "Times have changed, Tor, as I keep telling you. I haven't been a virgin for quite a number of years now, so I'm pretty sure there was no virtue for you to steal. If by ill consequences you mean an unplanned pregnancy, that's not going to happen, either, because this is the age of contraception, which means I have a little injection once every few months, and don't need to worry about that. Even if I did, being a single mother is perfectly acceptable in this day and age, and under no circumstances do I need a husband to take care of me." She softened. "But, in a few years, if you stick around and get to know me better, and maybe you decide you want to ask me again, I would not be averse to the idea of marriage."

His frown didn't lighten. "But we have shared a bed, Miss Kelly, in the most vigorous fashion. I hope I am not too forward in suggesting that the desire to do so again might grow too strong to resist. But if we are married..."

There was still so much she'd have to explain about her time, and how different it was to the world Tor had known. "Tor, I love you. The sex is amazing, and I want to have a lot more of it with you. Tonight, if possible, and tomorrow, too. I think you're a wonderful man and I want you to stay with me, if that's what you want. I really can make up one of the guest rooms, if that would make you feel more comfortable. But I am not going to marry a man I've only known for two weeks. Two years, maybe."

"So, am I to understand that in this time, pouring chocolate and sprinkles into and licking them out of unmentionable places is acceptable, but a short courtship is not?"

His abs were not an unmentionable place. Still, she said, "Yes."

He nodded gravely, his mind evidently turning it all over before he spoke. Finally, he said, "Very well. And what of other things? Will you permit me to protect you during the two years we must spend courting, before I am allowed to ask for your hand?"

No way was she going to be able to keep refusing him for two years. Best that she didn't tell him that, though.

"I don't really need much protecting, but if you were to come with me to a meeting with my research supervisor at the university and maybe loom protectively, I would be grateful," she admitted.

His eyes narrowed. "Chocolate and sprinkles grateful?"

She laughed. "I'll have to go to the supermarket for more sauce and sprinkles, but, yes, I'll definitely give you another blow job."

"Only if you allow me to reciprocate."

"Of course."

If they kept this up, the clothes were going to come off again, she was going to dig out that last bottle of butterscotch sauce, and they'd have to clean the kitchen again.

"Look, let's go meet with him now and get this over with. Then we can go out for dinner, I can introduce you to tacos and the sheer decadence that is queso, at the Mexican Kitchen up on the Terrace, and we can swing by the supermarket before we come home."

Tor inclined his head, then held out his arm, like something out of an Austen movie. "Miss Kelly?"

She laughed, grabbed her bag, and headed out onto High Street with him.