They were beautiful and sacred.
Unfortunately, as he stared at the sexy play of tendon and muscle across her back when she lifted her arms above her head in a stretch, he doubted Tamar viewed them the same way.
Today, like the last two days, the motions seemed effortless. If it wasn’t for the thin sheen of sweat that glistened on her arms and throat and created a dark vee down the front of her top, he would have believed the workout didn’t cost her. But a fine tremble shook her torso and legs. How much of her exhaustion was due to the rigorous routine and what portion could be blamed on the nighttime restlessness that kept her up until well after midnight, pacing the lower level of the cabin?
One glance at the pallor under her golden complexion and the slightly gray circles beneath her amber eyes answered his question.
Nicolai had observed her the past two nights, his gyges concealing him from sight as she wore a path in the floor, stopping to massage her legs and round her back as if attempting to ease an ache. Only the knowledge that she would not have appreciated his interference kept him hidden, watching. Still he refused to leave her alone—he gave her company even if she didn’t know it.
“Did you need something, Buckbeak?”
Arousal and annoyance kicked him in the gut and he gritted his teeth. A loud snicker echoed in his head and Nicolai assumed Adon, from his hidden perch, had overheard the nickname Tamar insisted on assigning him.
“Well,” she asked, propping her fists on her curvy hips. “Did you need me?”
Arousal won. His cock jerked behind the zipper of his jeans, snarling a hell yeah in reply. His heart lurched also.
Yeah, I need you to look me in the eye, not over my shoulder. I need you to share your thoughts and fears with me. I need you to hunger for me like I crave you.
“No,” he said. And before he did something incredibly stupid like utter his thoughts aloud, he turned and headed back across the porch and inside the cabin.
Damn, he hoped he found Evander tonight. He needed a good fight.
* * * * *
Tamar heaved a sigh of relief as Nicolai disappeared inside the house.
With him gone, she could breathe again. She’d sensed his presence the second he’d exited the safe house and stood on the porch, his brooding stare a physical stroke over her skin.
It had unnerved her.
It had annoyed her.
It had set every synapse firing, transmitting desire from cell to cell until she was one big pulsing mass of lust.
The last two days had been a lesson in restraint. She could write a book on the topic—How to Act Like You Don’t Care When All You Want to do is Lick Him Like a Lollipop.
As much as her nickname irritated him, it was her only defense against the desire that was a reflex to his nearness. She rose from a lunge and bent over at the waist, her palms resting on her knees. Nicolai had whisked her to this cabin for safety, but right now he was the biggest threat to her sanity. He was an addiction. A compulsion. And he had heartbreak written all over him. Her heartbreak.
“Damn,” she muttered, staring at the lush grass. Days cooped up in this place and she craved him with every single breath she took. She swore his scent permeated each room in the two-level cabin. Imagined she could sense him even when alone. Especially the past few nights when she’d been up striving to ease the ache in her legs and back. The spasms had increased in intensity and disturbed her already restless sleep. She tried not to dwell on what it could mean. The possibilities terrified her.
These days she needed to prioritize her fears since there were so many contenders. In first place was the homicidal hippogryph intent on her death. Second on the list were the new symptoms that could or could not mean the deterioration of her body.
If Nicolai failed to catch Evander, first place would cancel out second, hence its slot in the hierarchy.
She would be dead.
Third place was awarded to the dreams. When Tamar finally managed to drop off to sleep after her midnight walk-a-thons, Nicolai awaited in her dreams—their dreams. Heat flared up her chest and throat, converging in her face. Last night…God. This morning she’d spied the memory of their shared fantasy in the hard, bright glitter of his eyes and the tension in his body.
It had taken every ounce of her weathered and tattered self-control not to leap across the room, take him down to the floor and demand he fuck her senseless.
But she’d held back. In the darkest hours of night she submitted to him, but that’s where the mind-blowing sex and I-can’t-feel-my-legs orgasms ended. This fierce need had to stay in the realm of dreams. Because if she allowed the fantasies to become reality, she wouldn’t walk away from this with her heart intact. The moment Nicolai had pleaded with her to let him protect her, he’d won half of that traitorous, ignorant organ. If she surrendered the other part, she might do something stupid like beg him not to leave her. Or to take her with him.