“I didn’t say that.” Not precisely, anyway. She moved against him, trying to pull away—and nearly groaned as his erection pressed into her again. What would it be like to just turn around in his arms and...?
No! She couldn’t think like that. She could not, for one moment, allow that kind of breach in her personal code to happen. She tugged again...
And this time he let her go. She slipped across the sheets until she was back on her side of the pillows. Her heart thrummed as she sat up and tried to fake nonchalance.
“You do realize that’s an effect of morning, yes?”
She turned to look down at him. He lay against the white sheets, his body dark and perfect. The covers were pushed down to his waist and his chest was gloriously bare. All those rock-hard muscles. And that damn arrow of hair dipping beneath his belly button.
She knew what lay down there and she experienced a pang of longing as she thought of him sliding the covers down the rest of the way, of her pressing her mouth to his abdomen and tugging off his briefs...
“What?” she asked after a long second in which she couldn’t remember what he’d said.
“The erection. An effect of morning. And your shapely bottom wedged against me, I imagine.”
Emily closed her eyes for a second and tried to get her racing heart under control. “You say the most outrageous things.”
“Do I?” He wasn’t smiling but she got the impression he was grinning at her anyway. “And here I thought I was being honest.”
Emily pushed her braid back over her shoulder. “All right, you were being honest. And I’m sorry I crossed the pillows. I can only imagine I got cold. And I’m not used to sleeping with anyone else, so...”
She realized what she was saying—babbling, really—and ran out of words. Kadir’s gaze gleamed.
“This is a shame, Emily. A woman as lovely as you shouldn’t spend her nights alone.”
“You are such a player.”
He looked at her quizzically. “A player?”
His English was so good that she sometimes forgot he wasn’t always conversant with all the idioms. “It means you’re good at getting women to slip into bed with you. And that it happens often. Flattery is no doubt one of the tools in your arsenal.”
“Ah. But you are already in bed with me. Why would I need to flatter you?”
“Don’t be obtuse, Kadir. You know what I mean.” Emily folded her arms over her chest, suddenly aware of her nipples pressing against the thin cotton of the tank top she’d worn to bed.
Kadir whipped the sheets back then and stood. Emily’s mouth went utterly dry. He was tall, golden and perfectly formed. He was wearing the barest of black briefs—and they were stretched out in the front by an impressive erection. Oh, it was so unfair that he was so beautiful. And that she wanted him.
Emily licked her lips automatically and Kadir’s gaze sharpened. She dropped her eyes and pretended to be unaffected. But her pulse was hammering so hard in her throat she was certain he must know.
Dammit. She’d been so careful—so careful—to keep Kadir compartmentalized in her head in the category of boss: off-limits that to suddenly realize he was no longer there was a shock. He’d moved into another compartment and she couldn’t seem to move him back. This one was labeled sexy male: need immediately.