Bedded by Her Bodyguard(19)

“Morning,” he whispered. His sleep-roughened voice drifted over her like velvet.

“Okay.” She swallowed. “This is awkward.”

A sound of amusement rumbled in his chest. “Don’t move your hand up, or it could get even more awkward.”

Blushing hard enough to burst a capillary, she yanked her hand from between his thighs and sprang to her side of the mattress. “I—I just—I didn’t mean to—I’m sorry.”

“I’d say I was sorry, too, but…” He stopped himself from speaking.

Leaping out of bed, she dashed into the bathroom. She didn’t want to hear what he’d been about to say. No doubt women threw themselves at him all the time. But she wasn’t like that. Normally. Yet he probably had the Isaac Effect on any female with eyes and a pulse. With his God-given sex appeal he could wake a woman from a coma.

The throb between her thighs let her know she was far from comatose or unaffected. For crying out loud, she couldn’t help it. If she could shut off the valve to the molten heat that oozed through her when she looked at him, she would. In spite of last night’s turbulent events, her deprived sex drive begged for relief, a hot tumble with him between the sheets, the warmth of his body moving with hers erasing her doubts and fears.

Chest aching, body flushed, she adjusted the shower faucets until they offered the right lukewarm temperature. European-style showers, as she’d discovered yesterday morning, didn’t offer the steamy heat Americans were used to, at least not for any reasonable length of time. Glad she’d waxed before her trip, instead of having to take time to shave, she hurried through her bathing routine. Why the rush, she didn’t know. Maybe her skin needed the rough stimulation of her loofah sponge to scrub away Isaac’s unspoken rejection and the invisible stain of last night’s attack.

Fortunately, she’d packed all her toiletries and makeup in her carryon bag. Only her clothes had gone missing. Oh, and the ever important SOS thumb drive.

What an epic failure on her part. Why hadn’t she placed the device in her purse, instead of her suitcase? Shame burned in her throat.

As she huddled under the spray of the quickly cooling shower, she considered the ramifications if she had managed to do the correct thing and kept the thumb drive on her. The burglars would’ve stolen the tech intel out from under them.

At least there was some hope their luggage would arrive before the trip ended. If the drive had been stolen, she and Isaac would’ve had nothing to give the Markovs. Making their entire company-expensed excursion to Russia a wash.

Maybe everything did happen for a reason, as her horoscope yesterday had suggested. She half dreaded what today’s forecast held or how her personal astrologer would try and shine the sun through such a thick layer of storm clouds. Ugh.

As stepped out of the shower, she realized belatedly she hadn’t brought clothes in with her. She’d been too intent on putting space between her and the object of her desire.

After blow-drying her hair, she wrapped a towel around her body. She tried to tug the short fluffy shield lower than the curve of her backside, without much success. Giving up her attempt at modesty, she opened the door to the scent of breakfast.

Her stomach growled. She couldn’t believe after last night’s twenty course feast she was hungry, but the smell of rich food pulled her into the room where Isaac had set up a tray on the desk. Wearing his worn t-shirt again, he half sat on the desk and pointed to the chair he’d removed from the door and set at the desk. “Come eat. I wasn’t sure what you wanted, so I ordered a little of everything.”

“This looks amazing.” She sat down and inhaled two slices of bacon.

“Yes, it does.” He paused with his coffee mug halfway to his lips and a few drops dribbled down the front of his shirt.

Then she realized the source of his distraction—her. Wearing nothing but a towel. “I should go change.”

“No, you really shouldn’t.”

Her gaze flew to his. And there it was…that mysterious sparkle in his deep dark eyes. A mixture of amusement and interest and…attraction? She was probably seeing things.

Too enticed by breakfast to decipher mysteries this early in the morning, she polished off a potato pancake topped with applesauce and washed it down with a hot cup of tea.

As she bit into another piece of bacon, she experienced a sudden flashback from last night. The sharp stench of the man’s breath who pinned her against him. The metallic taste of his ring when she tried to scream. The hateful words as they snarled at her. Vicious strength crushing her, bruising her. No escape.