And yet her skin tingled and her insides felt strange, her nerve endings wound too tightly.
The desert wasn’t safe. Not with Mikael in it.
“And what are you thinking of now?” he asked, his deep voice pitched low, making her think of dark sensual things that she shouldn’t be thinking, not when alone with him.
“What is your seduction plan?” she asked. “What’s supposed to happen tonight?”
He didn’t smile, but she could have sworn he was laughing at her.
“What do you think is going to happen?”
She hated it when he answered her question with another question. “No idea. That’s why I asked.”
“I have an idea of how I think the evening will go,” he said, watching her with that lazy interest, which she knew now wasn’t lazy at all.
He was paying close attention to her, listening attentively to everything she said, observing everything she did.
He, too, was aware of the energy between them. Something was happening. She felt the heat and tension, the prickling awareness. It was sexual. And tangible. Her gown which had been so comfortable earlier now felt hot and tight, constricting.
“You are impossible,” she whispered, breathless. He made her breathless.
Did he know the effect he had on her? Did he know that he made her curious? Weak?
She felt weak now, and hot, so hot, as tiny tongues of desire made her nipples tighten inside the delicate fabric of her dress.
“Yesterday was touch,” he said. “I gave you a massage.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “It was an incredible massage, too.”
“Today...what have we done so far?”
“Kissed,” she whispered.
“Exactly. Today I can only kiss you.”
“Oh.” She tried to stifle the stab of disappointment.
“Fortunately, there are many different ways I can kiss you.”
He stood up and walked around the perimeter of the tent, dropping the heavy panels, making the soft sheer silk curtains flutter in as the outside covers fell. “Different places I can kiss you.”
Jemma held her breath as he continued to walk around the tent, closing them off from the night, and his staff, tying the cords on the inner panels, sealing them into a private world.
Soon the tent was a cocoon, and darker, with the loss of moonlight.
Mikael reached for a lantern and moved it, hanging it a little behind her. “Different places you might want me to kiss you.” He moved another lamp, bringing it closer to the table next to her. “The lamps are so I can see you,” he said. “I want to see you.”
Her insides wobbled. She bit down on the inside of her lip to hide her flurry of nerves.
“I want to see you as I make you come,” he added.
Her lips parted, shocked. She sat up taller, her hands going to her knees.