He gazed at the lines, the curves of her body. He couldn’t stop staring. She was beautiful. The most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Just looking at her was like water on parched earth. Healing. Reaching deep, untouched places inside him. Bringing them life.
She placed her hands on his arm, slowly letting her fingertips drift along his bare skin. “Tarek...you are so beautiful.” She touched a scar on his arm. “So fierce. So caring. That was... I have no words for it. Why have you never been with anyone? Why do you deny yourself?” She took a shuddering breath. “Tarek, what did he do to you?”
CHAPTER TEN
HE SHOOK HIS HEAD. “We don’t need to speak of it. Not now.”
She nodded slowly, keeping her hand on his arm. She didn’t speak for a moment, her eyes downcast. Then she looked back up at him. “You’ve really never been with a woman before?”
“No.”
“Have you... What...what have you done with...other people...?”
“No one. Nothing. I cannot remember the last time I was touched at all before you.” And suddenly the weight of her fingertips on his arm was like a brick. So heavy it was nearly unbearable.
“You were very good,” she said. “You should know that.”
Never in his memory had anyone said something to him out of interest of sparing his feelings. But he wondered now if that was the case. “There is no need for you to lie. In fact, it is best if you don’t. I need to learn how to please you.”
“You did. I’m not lying to you. Trust me, I wouldn’t. I was not a... You know I was with my husband. He was the only one. But...I say that to tell you I understand how important communication is. Especially in the bedroom.”
“I imagine he did not need instruction.”
“No,” she said, looking down. “He didn’t. Though, in some ways, he did. Anytime you’re with someone new you must learn them. All bodies are not the same. Being with you is different.”
“And does it please you?”
“Yes,” she said, meeting his eyes, leaving off any sarcastic asides.
“If I had known...if I had known what it would be like, I never could have resisted you the day that you touched me.”
A smile curved her lips. “Really?”
“Yes, really. I am a terrible liar. If I suffer from anything, it might be too much honesty.”
“I’ve noticed that. I find it quite refreshing.”
“Why is that?”
The smile inverted, a slight crease appearing between her brows. “I’m not sure. Maybe because I have spent very much of my life around careful people. I’ve spent much of my life being careful and suffering consequences when I wasn’t. I quite like that you aren’t.”
“I suppose carefulness might be a valuable skill to cultivate.”
“If I teach you, you have to promise never to use it on me.”
“An odd request.”
“Maybe I’m odd.” She tilted her head to the side, something about the motion making his heart feel slightly overlarge for his chest.
“I think of the two of us, I am the strange one.”
“Possibly.” She lay back on the bed, temptation personified. He could easily get lost in her. Make love to her until they both fell asleep.
And what will happen when sleep comes?
Ice replaced the blood flowing through his veins.
“It is time, I think, for you to go back to your room,” he said.
“What? I just thought...”
“For many reasons, not the least of which being that I have yet to solve the sleepwalking-with-weapons issue, I think it would be best if we kept to our separate quarters.”
She nodded slowly. “I anticipated that we would have separate rooms in general, but I thought perhaps tonight...”
“There is the issue of the sword.”
“Perhaps chuck it out into the hall?” she asked, one brow raised.
“I could, but then what else might I get hold of? I’m very resourceful.”
She raised her other brow. “Are you? I feel as if I’ve just benefited from some of that resourcefulness.”
That cool top layer of hers was back in place. It was because he’d hurt her in some way, and he could sense that. But he couldn’t fathom what he might do to fix it. Not when her fingers on his arm were crushing him now. Not when he needed space. Not just from her, but beyond these walls. Out in the desert.