If he wasn’t careful, he risked losing the last of his grip on some semblance of self-control. With a supreme effort, Nikhil peeled his body from Isla’s, took her hand and began to walk them down the street.
‘Come,’ he gritted out. ‘I suggest we get back to your hotel now, before we indulge in the middle of the street and embarrass both of us.’
Although, for the very first time in his incredibly discreet professional life, Nikhil found he wouldn’t have cared if the whole city knew that Little Doc was his.
Even if only for this one night.
* * *
Isla felt crazy. Wild. Out of control. Totally unlike herself.
And it was so freeing.
She’d spent her life trying to be different from her mother—as much as she loved her—trying to concentrate on her career rather than simply making a series of strategic marriages.
She’d become known as Isla, the sensible one. And she’d prided herself on such a moniker.
But now she didn’t feel sensible at all. She felt excited, and charged, and feverish. Her heart slammed madly in her chest. Her legs trembled like a newborn foal. And, far from terrifying her, as she suspected they ought to, they instead felt like truly joyous sensations. Every last one of them.
She hurried along beside him, trying not to be so aware of the way his large hand enveloped her small one. Or how the click-clack of her heels seemed to echo with such titillating rudeness as she raced to keep up with his long strides. As though he could barely wait any longer than she could.
Did he feel as though he was about to burst from the inside out, the way that she did?
They moved swiftly through the narrow streets, with Nikhil weaving a path that kept them away from the melee of tourists, sparing them from being seen. Given that she suspected her desire was stamped blatantly on her face, Isla was eternally grateful. And then they were walking through the hotel doors.
And upstairs was her bedroom.
‘Key card?’ he demanded, his voice low.
‘In my purse.’ She licked her suddenly parched lips.
With a nod, he changed course slightly and made straight for the elevators on the far side where one was, mercifully, already there.
An elderly couple were already stepping inside and Nikhil slowed his pace.
‘Which floor?’
To her embarrassment, her mind went blank. Nikhil’s voice was hoarser than before, and she found herself too busy savouring the way it revealed more than she suspected he would have liked.
‘What floor, Isla?’ he repeated, with more urgency.
Snapping back to the present, she shook her head before fumbling with the clasp of her clutch and fishing out her key card. She handed it to him discreetly, not trusting herself, and let him lead her forward for what felt the longest elevator-ride of her life.
How did he manage, so easily, to respond as the elderly couple made pleasant conversation, when her own tongue felt as though it was glued to the roof of her mouth? Her body might as well have been on fire, and her brain could barely process their questions let alone formulate suitable responses. Yet Nikhil seemed more than comfortable engaging in small talk and suggesting some of the more tucked-away places to visit when they asked for his advice.
It was only as they stood outside her tiny suite, the doors pinging behind them as it finally separated them from the elderly couple, that Nikhil handed her key card back to her. Without unlocking her door.
She stared at the tiny rectangle of plastic without taking it, and frowned up at him. ‘You’ve changed your mind?’
Coal-black eyes bored into her, making everything tingle all over again. ‘I have not.’ His voice was a low rumble. Full of promise. And barely contained restraint. ‘But I’m giving you one more chance to change yours.’
Something like panic shot through her. ‘Why?’
He lifted his shoulders. Not quite a shrug, but close enough. ‘You went so quiet in the lift. I thought you were having second thoughts.’
A wave of relief crashed over her, and the panic was swept away in an instant. She struggled to contain the
grin as it tugged at the corners of her mouth. And with it came a welcome boost of confidence.