It was a little scary to feel so tiny andvulnerable in the arms of a male she knew could break her in half with onehand. And yet…she didn’t feel threatened by Thrace. Not at all. She somehowknew he would use his strength to protect her, not to hurt her.

Of course, all that was much too complicated to sayin answer to his question.

“This is nice,” she said at last. “Warm…or warmer,I suppose. My face is still cold though. Those damn passion berries areawful—the tip of my nose is like ice.”

“That’s easy to fix.” Before she could protest, heflipped her over so they were face to face—or face to chest, in this case sincehe was so big—and pulled her close again.

Trin started to protest but the heat radiating fromhis big body was immediately addictive. It felt like she’d been standing in thedoorway with her face in a cold wind and someone had suddenly turned hertowards a roaring fire. Now her frozen skin was beginning to thaw and she foundshe lacked the will power to tell him to stop and let her go at once.

Justa minute or two, she told herself. I’ll just laylike this a minute or two and then once I’m completely warm I’ll send him backto his place on the floor.

Feeling better about the situation now that she hadimposed a time limit, Trin snuggled closer. She took a deep breath and theHavoc’s warmth surrounded her—he seemed to radiate heat like a furnace. Andalong with the heat, came his warm, spicy scent.

Trin breathed it in—it was rich and dark with hintsof leather and some kind of musk she didn’t recognize. There was somethingabout it…something other. A primal, masculine fragrance she’d neverencountered until she met Thrace.Maybe it was hormonal in some way or maybe it was just a Havoc thing but forwhatever reason, it smelled damn good. Trin found herself inhaling it eagerly,even pressing her face to his chest to get closer to the source.

At the same time, the rest of her was gettingcloser too. Her breasts, bare beneath the thin silky night dress, were pressedshamelessly to his hard abs and somehow her arms had slipped around his trimwaist, the remote clasped loosely in one hand. Her pelvis was pressed to hisand their legs had become entwined so that one of his long thighs was betweenhers.

Though she had never been this close to a malebefore, this somehow seemed perfectly all right to Trin. After a moment,though, she realized that something long and hard was branding her hip throughher night dress and the thin fabric of Thrace’s sleep trousers.

What’sthat? At first her mind could make nosense of it. She was too busy enjoying the sensation of warmth and closeness.She couldn’t remember the last time she’d allowed herself to cuddle withanother person this way. There had been a few times when she was in thepiloting academy when she had paired off with a classmate but they were allfemale and the female form, though beautiful, did not attract her. She hadfound early on that it did nothing for her sexually to have the soft, smallframe of another female pressed against her own.

On the other hand, having Thrace’s big,hard body surrounding her own made her tingle everywhere in a most disturbingway.

The big Havoc shifted restlessly and the hard ridgeof flesh poked her hip again. Trin frowned. Something long and hard betweenhis thighs, pressing against me…what…? This time her brain made theconnection.

“Oh!” She jumped back from him at once, putting afoot of space between them.

“What’s wrong?” His voice seemed slightly hoarse,although it was hard to tell since it was already so deep.

“You…your…” Trin didn’t know what to call it. “Yourmale equipment is poking me.”

“Yeah, well…” His shoulder lifted in a kind of halfshrug which she could barely make out in the dim light from the floor glows.“It’s to be expected.”

“Expected? What are you talking about?” Trindemanded. She felt upset… betrayed. “You told me you could control yourself!”

“I am controlling myself,” he growled. “I’mholding a beautiful, half naked female in my arms and I’m not doing a damnthing but lying here. Believe me, that takes a hell of a lot of control.”

“But…your equipment…”

“My shaft gets hard when I’m aroused—it’sautomatic. I can’t stop it.” He shrugged again. “Sorry—there are limits to whatI can control, even for you, Mistress.”

“So…you’re admitting you’re aroused?” Trindidn’t know how to feel about that.

“I can’t help it,” Thrace rumbled. “You’re fuckinggorgeous and you smell incredible. What can I say? Holding you makes me hard.”

“If you knew that holding me would make you…feelthat way, then why did you offer to do it in the first place?” Trin demanded.“Was it just to…to get off?”

“Have I grabbed you in any way?” he demanded,sounding offended. “Have I cupped your breasts or put my hand between yourthighs to feel your soft little pussy?”

“Well…” Trin could feel her cheeks getting hot.“No,” she admitted at last.

“If you’re thinking I wanted to cop a cheap feel,you’re wrong,” Thracesaid flatly. “I could’ve just gone to sleep and let you freeze all night longbut I didn’t want to do that because I feel—” He shook his head. “Never mind.”

“No, go on,” Trin said softly. “What do you feel?”

“I feel protective of you.” He sighed. “Irealize you might not want to hear that since your people don’t feel like theyneed a male to protect them in any way but I can’t help it. Ever since theDemon’s Eye, I just feel the need to look out for you. To keep you safe, nomatter what.”

“Well…” Trin didn’t know whether to be offended ortouched. It was irritating that he felt like he had to look after her.One moment of weakness in the Demon’s Eye didn’t mean she wasn’t perfectlycapable of looking after herself. On the other hand, it was kind of nice too.

“Well…?” he echoed and she knew he was waiting forher verdict.

“I guess that means you’ll make an excellentbody-slave,” Trin said at last. “I have heard a few of the mistresses ofYonnie Six say that the best body-slaves are bound to their mistresses by truebonds of affection, not just the imminent threat of the pain collar.”

“Is that what they say?” he rumbled. “Bonds ofaffection, hmm?”

“Y-yes…” Trin’s teeth chattered as she tried tospeak. They’d been apart for too long—the cold was creeping back into her bonesand she was beginning to shiver again. Thrace seemed to recognize herproblem at once.

“Come here.” He reached for her in the darkness butTrin resisted.

“W-wait. What about—?”

“I’ll keep my hips angled back so I don’t touchyou,” he promised. “Just let me warm you up again so you don’t freeze. It takesa long time for the passion berry’s effects to completely leave your system.”

Reluctantly, Trin allowed him to draw her into hisarms once more. It was like being held by warm, flexible steel bands. Almostimmediately, her shivering stopped as his body heat seemed to penetrate herskin. Thrace kept his hips well back so that only the top parts of their bodiestouched this time and after a little while, Trin found herself relaxing again.

“Mmm, this is nice,” she admitted, pressing hercold cheek to his chest. “You’re so warm.”

“Glad to be of service, Mistress,” he said,his deep voice slightly sarcastic in the gloom. “Just doing my best to be theperfect body-slave.”

“You are acting like a good body-slavewould,” Trin said earnestly. “And I don’t want you to think I’m ungrateful. Iknow you could’ve let me freeze and ignored my pain and you didn’t. It’sjust…I’m not that used to male anatomy and you…startled me.”

“You didn’t seem to have a problem with it when youhad me chained down,” he pointed out.

“Yes, but back then I thought of you as a pet—likemy stallion, Swift,” she admitted. “I was just helping you. And you never…er,got hard until that last time.”