Tarin pressed a few buttons on a screen and music flowed through the room. “Better?” he asked.
Rachel closed her eyes as the soft, lilting music soothed her exhausted soul. “Yes!” she sighed.
“Come. Let’s dance,” he reached for her hand.
Rachel hesitated. “Dance?”
He hauled her out of the chair she’d slumped into. “Of course. You know the basics of the fox trot. What better way to unwind at the end of a long day?”
With a smoothness that seemed at odds with his height and brawn, he pulled her into his arms, one hand on her waist and the other held her fingers lightly.
“I don’t think we should…”
His voice was husky as he murmured, “Don’t think, Rachel. Just feel.” And he spun her before pulling her close again and Rachel’s heart pulsed with happiness and awareness.
Gliding around the suite, Rachel’s nervousness melted away as she moved through the steps. His lead was strong enough that she knew what he would do almost before he indicated the next move.
“Just relax,” he soothed when she stumbled slightly on a turn. “Let your instincts take over. Stop thinking.”
She laughed slightly, trying to pretend that her stumble was caused by her ineptitude and not because she’d felt his chest brush against her breasts.
The music changed and she looked up into his hazel eyes, wondering…a lot of things. Like what it would be like to kiss him. Was his chest as hard as it looked? Yes, from this morning’s lessons, she knew with absolute certainty that it was, but she wanted to touch it again. Although, this time with her hands. What would he do if she asked to touch him…No, she couldn’t do that. Never!
“What are you thinking about?”
Rachel stumbled over his feet, but his hands tightened, holding her steady.
“Must be something interesting,” he teased.
She blinked, her heart racing. “I was just…”
“Just?”
She shook her head. “It wasn’t anything important,” she whispered back, but her gaze dropped to his lips, her breath catching in her throat.
He paused for a moment, not in the dancing, but the pause was there in his eyes and Rachel was transfixed. Mesmerized.
“I suspect that your thoughts are very important, Rachel,” he replied softly.
His words, combined with the heated look in his eyes, warmed a small piece of her soul. Too many times, her thoughts or opinions had been mocked. It hadn’t been until she’d moved to Izara that she’d started to feel valuable. Now, in Tarin’s arms, small, fluttery wings opened a bit. Those wings fluttered, tentatively feeling the warmth of his pleasure.
“Thank you.”
His eyes widened slightly as they moved around the room, seeming to float as their bodies moved in perfect synchronization. “For what?”
She shrugged. “Just…thank you.” Rachel didn’t want to tell him that she was grateful for his belief in her. Or for valuing her. Those were words that he wouldn’t understand, coming from his background. So instead, she stopped thinking and simply allowed herself to lose herself in the music.
Chapter 8
Rachel stepped into the suite in San Francisco, looking around warily. She’d left Tarin talking with the architects, saying she had some personal errands she needed to get done. He’d eyed her curiously, but had nodded, so she’d taken a taxi back to the hotel.
Listening to the blissful silence, she moved slowly towards her bedroom, wanting to just…not move! After almost two weeks in Tarin’s presence, with early morning self-defense classes and evening dancing lessons, she was sore in ways she’d never known possible!
Not to mention, the whole trip had been a long series of sexual frustration. Tarin’s touch was too much for her these days. She couldn’t take more of it before she exploded and begged him to…what? Make love to her?
For a long moment, she considered. Would he? There had been long, powerful moments when he’d looked at her as if he felt the pulse-pounding desire as well. But was she imagining it?
“Probably not,” she muttered as she slipped off her heels and hobbled across the lush carpet.
That was another thing! She hated hotel rooms! They’d traveled to Paris, London, New York City, Dallas, and were now in San Francisco. Rachel had traveled with Princess Talia plenty of times. But their trips had been one or two cities at a time, not a marathon tour of five or six! The tedious series of lovely hotel suites that were all beginning to blur together. All of the airports definitely looked too similar for her to remember where they were, and she now understood why airport terminals had the name of the city in huge letters somewhere easy to see. It was for travelers like them, who’d been in too many cities and needed the reminder.
She wanted to go home, she thought wistfully.
“What’s wrong?”
Rachel spun around, startled when she heard Tarin’s deep voice. “I thought you were going out to dinner with the architects,” she said, not even trying to hide her irritation. She had been looking forward to a hot bath to soothe her sore muscles. If he were here, she couldn’t have that bath! He’d want do something active, something that would require use of her muscles!
He moved deeper into the room. “I watched the way you walked out of the building and canceled the dinner. Something is wrong!”
He peered down at her, obviously concerned. “Tell me what’s wrong. Are you sick?” he asked, pressing his palm to her forehead.
“I’m not sick,” she said, pulling back but he only pressed his other hand to the back of her neck, still taking her temperature with his hand. “I don’t have a fever, I’m just...”
Rachel pressed her lips together, utterly frustrated. She wanted to be strong and capable and to keep up with him. But right now, all she wanted was an hour to herself, neck deep in the tub.
His eyes narrowed at her hesitation. “Just what? What’s going on?”
“I’m sore!” she snapped, losing her grip on her temper. “You’re all…” she waved her hand in the air, “physical and moving around all the time, and I’m more of a home body. Normally, I come home from work and I curl up in a chair to read or sew or just relax. There’s no relaxing with you!” she finished, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation.
He blinked at her for a long, stunned moment, then threw back his head, laughing. He pulled her into his arms and Rachel leaned into him, inhaling the clean, masculine scent of him. Goodness, he smelled good and felt good and sounded sexy as hell! For a precious moment, she closed her eyes, leaning into his hard chest, reveling in the moment.
“You need a massage,” he told her softly.
Jerking away, she shook her head. “Nope! No massage,” she told him firmly.
He lifted a dark eyebrow as he looked down at her. “You don’t like massages?”
She shivered at the intensity in those eyes of his, but wrapped her arms over her stomach defensively. “Um…I’ve never had one before,” Rachel admitted. At his astonished look, she continued, “The idea of being naked while a stranger touches me is…” Rachel stopped abruptly, realizing where that statement was going. She grimaced when she looked up at his raised eyebrows. “Okay, that sounded weird.”