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“You’re right,” she said, admiring his obvious dedication. She got up and walked to him. “So what are you looking for when you pour over these books?”
“Come here.” He moved aside, making space for her next to him. “I’m looking at the binding, and the ink and paper quality. See there?” He pointed at a colored border. “Fading. This needs a touch-up. Everything is noted, and then Martina draws up a report on each book, after which she makes the necessary arrangements to get the needed work done.”
Placing her palms on the desk, she lowered her head for a better look.
“See there?” Lann pointed at a section. “There’s a difference in the hue of the color.” As he spoke, he cupped his hand over hers, his broad, warm palm burying her smaller one.
She loved the subtle show of affection. Her heart gave a start. No. She shouldn’t start craving affection outside of the physical that was taking place in the bedroom. Yet her defenses didn’t stand a chance when he released her hand to drag his fingers up her arm and down her spine. She craved more, and she couldn’t help it.
With his other hand, he swept her hair over her shoulder and whispered in her ear, “I can’t stop thinking about you being naked under this dress.”
She looked up quickly, wondering if Martina had overheard him. The librarian was staring at them, but when Kat met her eyes, she looked away. Kat’s cheeks turned hot. She pulled away from Lann, not because Martina had been looking but because of the disconcerting realization that she liked the idea of Lann’s tender touches going beyond sexual, and took her place by her desk again.
His smile was amused, but his golden eyes heated when he rested his gaze in the general direction of her knees. Smirking at him, she shut his face from her line of vision with the angle of her laptop screen.
They worked until five and, when her brain was tired from thinking, she put on a T-shirt and yoga pants, and told Lann she was going for a run.
To her surprise, the driver from yesterday followed her in the Jaguar. The man riding shotgun was someone she recognized from Lann’s security detail.
Back at the monastery, she changed into her bikini and went for a dip in the pool. She lounged in the sun for half an hour, took a shower, and dressed for dinner in an off-shoulder blouse and a pair of jeans. Lann had been locked up in his office since she’d left, but he joined her for a dinner of lobster and baby potatoes tossed in parsley butter before he excused himself to go for a workout in the gym.
She went to her room, got undressed, and slipped into bed. The weight of the ring rested heavily on her finger where her hand lay on top of the covers. It was weird to live with a stranger, yet she already felt a sense of familiarity. It seemed to happen quickly for them, maybe because Lann had a cunning ability to set her at ease.
She was still awake when she heard Lann’s bedroom door open. The water in his shower came on. A few minutes later, he opened the door between their rooms. She knew he would come, and now that he stood there, naked and aroused, her heart did a crazy dance while every inch of her skin heated.
He carried something in his hand that he left on the dresser. “This is yours.”
The silver box caught the light from the lamp. The hairclip. “Are those real rubies?”
“Yes.” He said it like her question surprised him. “Like the color of your hair.”
“I can’t accept it.”
“Why not?”
He walked to her, pulled the covers off her naked body, and stretched out on top of her just like the night before. His skin was cool. He smelled of soap and his spicy cologne. He brushed his hand down the side of her body, over her breast, hip, and thigh.
“Because it’s too valuable,” she said. “I could never give you anything in kind.”
He slipped a hand underneath her body to cup her ass. “I didn’t give you a gift because I expect something in return.”
“It doesn’t seem right.” She gasped as he slid his other hand between their bodies and cupped her sex.
“You have a strange idea of what’s right and wrong.” He rubbed his thumb over her clit. “When a man gives you a gift, say thank you and kiss him.”
Too engrossed with the feelings he was stirring in her body as he slipped a finger inside, she didn’t argue.
“So wet for me.” He lifted his head to look down at her as another finger joined the first.
The stretch made her whimper. The intensity of the sensation made her close her eyes.
