He almost felt sorry when Brielle looked away. The staring hadn’t bothered him at all. In fact, being around pirates so much had him missing women staring at him. Not that there weren’t pirate women around… but they were a bit too busy killing each other for Varus to be interested in them, or vice versa. So, having a girl stare at him like that was something he was enjoying very much. Besides, she was cute and she’d just saved his life. Respect and attraction made up for the staring. When she mentioned nursing him back to health, his smirk grew a little wider.

“You’re adorable.”

When Varus watched Brielle tie her hair up and go for water, he knew what the response would be. He had to fight to keep his hands from coming up to cover his face when he heard the crowing. For some reason, the staring didn’t bother him, but this made him flush a darker gray. He managed to put himself back to normal before his self-appointed nurse came back in the room, muttering something. Probably an unsavory remark about the loud man. He didn’t blame her. As she sat down, he watched her face, ignoring the cold water running down the stitched-up wound. The intent stare she was giving his abdomen made it clear that she’d obviously been lying before. Not that he minded that, or the fact that he could almost feel her hand through the sponge.

“So… maybe when you’re done, we can find something else to do while you pretend not to stare?”