Diamond in the Desert

‘Your concern overwhelms me,’ Emir said dryly as he poured another ladle of water onto the hot stones.

‘Where are you going now?’ she said as he turned for the door.

‘To choose which birch switch I would like to use,’ he said as if she should have known. ‘Would you care to join me?’

Talk about a conversation stopper.

CHAPTER SIX

SHE WAS TWISTED into a ferment of lust. Her heart was beating like a drum as she watched Emir selecting a birch twig switch. She loved that his process of elimination was so exacting. She loved that he examined each bunch before trying them out on his muscular calves. Each arc through the air...each short, sharp slap against his skin...made her breath catch. Her head was reeling with all sorts of erotic impressions, though she couldn’t help wondering if he ever felt the cold. She had grabbed a robe and fur boots before exiting the hut and was well wrapped up.

He started thrashing his shoulders. This was like an advanced lesson in how to watch, feel and suffer—from the most intense frustration she had ever known.

‘What do you think?’ His dark eyes were full of humour.

‘I think I’ll leave you to it,’ she said, shaking her head as if to indulge the tourist in him.

‘Why so prudish, suddenly?’ Emir challenged as she turned to go.

Yes. Why was she so strait-laced with Emir when thrashing the body with birch twigs was a normal part of the traditional sauna routine in Skavanga?

‘Don’t you want to try it?’ Emir called after her with amusement in his voice.

She stopped, realising that however high she raised the bar he jumped over it and raised it yet more for her.

Where would this end?

‘I can do it any time,’ she said casually. He didn’t need to know she was shivering with arousal rather than cold as she headed for the door. She swung it open and the enticing warmth with the mellow scent of hot wood washed over her.

‘It’s not like you to run away from a challenge, Britt.’

She hadn’t closed the door yet. ‘You don’t know anything about me.’

‘Are we going to debate this while our body temperatures drop like a stone?’

His maybe. ‘You could always join me in the sauna...’ she suggested.

‘Or you could join me with the birch twigs.’ As Emir laughed she made her decision.

‘In your dreams. And you might want to put some clothes on,’ she added, heading for the sauna hut.

Slamming the door behind her, she leaned back against it, exhaling shakily. Damn the man! Did nothing faze him? She had dreamed of meeting her match, but now she’d met him she wasn’t so sure it was such a good idea. They were too similar—too stubborn—too set on duty—too competitive—too everything.

It was too exhausting!

Flopping down on the bench, she closed her eyes, but that didn’t help to blank out the fact that a connection of some sort, that wasn’t sex, was growing between them. Crashing into the hut in a blast of energy and frigid air, Emir exclaimed, ‘Make room for me,’ before she could progress this thought.

‘Close the door!’

‘Wuss,’ he murmured in a way that made her picture his sexy mouth curved in that half-smile.

‘I don’t like the cold,’ she muttered, hugging her knees and burying her face so she didn’t have to look at him.

‘You could have fooled me! But I guess you’d love the desert,’ he said.

She went very still and then forced herself to reach for the ladle so she didn’t seem too impressed by this last comment.

‘You can’t still be cold?’ Emir commented as she ladled water onto the hot stones. ‘That’s enough!’

The small hut was full of steam. She had been ladling the water on autopilot, trying not to think about the possibility of travelling to the desert with Emir, and in doing so was threatening to steam them alive. ‘Sorry.’ She lifted her shoulders in a careless shrug. ‘I got carried away.’

‘You certainly did,’ Emir agreed as he towelled down.

‘It’s a long time since I’ve done the whole sauna ritual thing. I’d forgotten—’

‘What fun it was?’ Emir interrupted.

‘How cold you get,’ she argued, picking up the ladle again.

He laughed and took it from her. ‘That’s enough,’ he said as their hands brushed. ‘Sit down.’ He towered over her, blocking out the light. ‘If you want to raise the temperature, just ask me.’