No sarcasm in his voice, only genuine curiosity. “Just how innocent do you think I am? I’m twenty-five, Daniel, not a child.”
“Ah, damn. I never said you were.” A nervous hand rubbed over his mouth. “It’s just, well, it’s not good for you, or anyone, for that matter. Binge drinking. My Da…” He stopped suddenly, like he hadn’t meant to bring up his father a second time.
He needed distracting. Amelia downed the rest of her drink. Then she gulped half the glass of water. “Okay, I know what we can do.”
“Oh?” Daniel quirked a brow. “What’s that then?”
“I ask you a question,” Amelia said, “and you answer. Then you can ask me something and I’ll answer.”
“Sounds…dangerous.”
“Come on,” she said, pushing her elbow into his ribs and laughing. “It’ll be fun.”
“Fun. It’ll be fun, she says.” Annoyance flickered between them, originating with him. “I dunno, Amelia. What if you ask me something I can’t answer?”
“You mean won’t answer.”
“So? Maybe I won’t. I told you before, lass. You don’t know me.”
She’d never met anyone so infuriating! Closed off one second, almost completely open the next, and then back to shutting down. “So let me get to know you. It won’t hurt, you know.”
“Says you,” he muttered.
“I’ll prove it to you.” Amelia thought for a minute. Something innocuous. “Ah, okay. What’s your all-time favourite food? Something you would eat forever?”
“That’s easy,” he told her, grinning. “Chips and curry sauce.”
Amelia revelled in his smile. “See? It’s not like pulling teeth at all!”
He rolled his eyes. “Aye, not yet. So I suppose it’s my go then.” Daniel stroked his chin while he thought. “Do eh, do you have a boyfriend back home?”
“Nope.” She watched both his eyebrows shoot high over his eyes. “Like I said, I’m not one for crowds. I work with computers.”
“Computers…” Daniel looked at her, hiding his thoughts again.
If she possessed a shred of bravery, she’d tell him she knew all about his past, and that she didn’t believe it. But chances were he’d take offence to her snooping. Best to leave it for now, she thought.
“Well, it’s my turn now,” Amelia said, cutting whatever he might have said off. “If you could go on vacation tomorrow, anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?”
“Hmm…” He sipped his whiskey, drinking it like he kissed her earlier – softly, sensually. “I’m not really sure, to be honest. I’ve never left the isle. And I don’t much mind the rain.” For a minute, it looked like he’d continue, but Daniel shook his head, as if signifying the end of his answer. “Are you ticklish?” he asked, one dark brow raised.
Amelia gave her best devilish grin. “I’m not telling you that. You might use it against me or something.”
“There are ways to find out, you know.”
It was her turn to quirk a brow. “Is that a threat, Daniel?”
He grinned.
Her pulse tripled.
“I dunno,” he spoke low, sensual. “Might be. Try me again, lass. Are you ticklish?”
She pushed her lips in a firm line and waited.
In a flash, Daniel lunged, pinning her hands above her head in one fist. He slid his other hand down to her stomach and tickled her. Amelia’s giggles turned into frantic laughter. She begged him to stop, her entire body shaking under his forced tickling. Her knee came up, close to his groin, and Daniel dropped his body down on hers, pushing her into the mattress.
The mood changed from playful to sizzling hot in less than a second.
“I guess that answers that then,” Daniel murmured, his gaze sliding from her eyes down to her mouth.
Heat from his breath fanned her lips. Heat from his body burned her desires into overdrive. She felt him against her inner thigh, thick and long and rock-solid.
“I…I think it’s your go now,” Daniel said. His voice shook.
Amelia nodded but she couldn’t think of anything to ask him. Her mind raced. A thousand and one innuendos. Every granite muscle in his abdomen clenched above her.
“Kiss me,” she begged.
His lips parted. A gust of hot air bathed her chin. His tongue traced along the fullest part of his bottom lip, then his teeth. “Is that a question, lass?”
He wanted her to ask it as a question? When did she become a contestant on Jeopardy?
She continued waiting, looking up into his eyes. They searched her face for an eternity. Millions of seconds passed. Or was it just one? She couldn’t tell. It felt like forever and an instant, wrapped into one. His strong arms framed her body; one still held her hands above her head. She was powerless to him.