It seemed strange to Varus how Brielle’s hand seemed to engulf his when she grabbed it. The jeering and laughter from his men didn’t bother him. They made fun for him for much less than the teasing and touching the two of them had just done in that room, with the hands that were now wrapped around each other. As he led her to his study, all sorts of thoughts went through his head, most of them wondering how he’d left the room before the Tango had chased down that merchant ship.

As soon as they got to the cabin, he saw her look around. The front room wasn’t much to look at, really. All the fun stuff was behind the other door. His lovely doctor seemed to have come to the same conclusion, since she was taking off her clothes. It didn’t quite excite him as much as he thought it might’ve, though. His vision swam as his eyes traveled all over her body. Immediately, he found his armchair and collapsed into it, breathing a bit heavily.

“Sorry. Give me a moment. I… uh… ouch.”

His hand had gone searching for the metal cup on the table next to him, which he held up to his face and sighed with relief. He was lucky it was still cold. Varus turned his gaze back onto Brielle with a slightly pained expression.

“I can’t. Just… um… sit down, lie down, whatever you want. Talk to me.”