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CHAPTER SIX
‘YOUCANOPEN your eyes now. We’re in the air.’
She did so, taking a breath and realising that at some point during the take off she had grabbed his hand and dug her nails in hard.
With a self-conscious ‘Sorry... ’ she released it, her brows twitching into a front of dismay as she saw the half-moon crescents standing out white in his olive skin. Pretending to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ears, she rubbed the skin of her cheek, which was tingling from the warm brush of his breath. It was scary that her body was so sensitive to him.
‘I’ve never been in a helicopter before.’
She just hoped the transfer would be as short as he had promised. Kat leaned forward in her seat to loosen the hair that had got caught down the neck of her sweater. As she leaned back, her glance connected with Zach’s.
The lurch in her stomach had nothing to do with their mode of transport as the moment that vibrated with unseen electricity stretched. He was sitting close enough for her to see the network of fine lines that fanned out from the corners of his eyes and the dusting of dark stubble shading his jaw, the shadow adding extra emphasis to the hollows of his cheeks.
She breathed a little deeper, unconsciously leaning forward as her nostrils flared, picking up on the clean male scent that rose from his warm skin. Sensations she had no name for shifted inside her and she paused, like someone standing on the edge of quicksand, fighting the urge to jump in with both feet.
Just before she reached tipping point, she jerked back again abruptly. The sudden adrenaline rush continued to make her head spin.She flexed her fingers before closing both hands tight, trying not to think of that unacknowledged moment when she had been within a heartbeat of reaching out and touching his cheek. It had been an instinctive thing. Kat would have been happier not knowing she possessed such instincts.
And much happier not having the image in her head of them lying naked together. Shame mingled with real fear as she dragged her eyes away from the firm sensual line of his mouth. Maybe there was a faulty gene responsible for being attracted to bad men...and she had inherited it? It had always been her secret fear.
Zach’s eyes were hooded as he watched her, reminding himself that the task assigned him by Alekis was keeping men out of her bed, not occupying it himself. It did not assuage the ache in his groin as he watched her pupils tellingly dilate until only a thin ring of amber remained.
The muscles in Zach’s brown throat rippled as he swallowed, his heavy lids lowered over his eyes as he turned his head to direct his hooded stare out of the window. He had not experienced this sort of elemental response to a woman in a long time and knowing she felt the same attraction, when they were sitting this close and she was looking at him with those hungry eyes, was not making his life any easier.
He closed his eyes to shut out the temptation, but the ache in his body did not diminish as he breathed his way through the hot elemental surge of raw desire that he had to endure because he sure as hell had no control over it.
Kat sat there, heart pounding, throat dry, wondering if he was going to acknowledge the crackle of sexual tension that shimmered in the air between them or even do something about it. Trying to decide if she wanted him to or not.
She was actually on the point of saying something, exactly what she didn’t know, when he closed his eyes, and within seconds gave the impression of man deeply asleep.
She had worked herself up into a state of breathless anticipation and he was asleep!
Her cheeks stung pink with mortified heat when she realised how close she had come to utterly humiliating herself. It had felt so real, so tangible. Had it really been in her imagination? she wondered, studying the strong lines on his face. Sleep had ironed out some of the austerity and hardness from his face and made him seem younger somehow.
It really was odd to find yourself attracted to someone you did not even like; in fact, actively disliked, she mused, suddenly sleepy herself as the tensions of the last few hours began to catch up with her. Perhaps the odd thing was that she had never felt this way before.
Or maybe she was just the oddity, a virgin because she’d never allowed anyone to get close enough to change the situation. There had been moments of uncomfortable self-awareness when she’d recognised that this was in part at least due to her deep-seated fear of abandonment, but it was an insight she pushed away.
The same way she’d been pushing away the glaringly obvious fact that she was attracted to Zach Gavros. Of course, denial had been a lot easier when she had been able to think of him as an arrogant two-dimensional figure, but getting a glimpse of his vulnerabilities was making that a lot harder.
Would these newly aroused feelings go back into hibernation once Zach vanished from her life?
Did she want them to?
* * *
Kat hadn’t worked out the answer by the time her eyelids flickered closed and did not lift.
She knew it was a dream—she’d had it before many times, but not for a long time now. The heart-thudding, stomach-clenching sense of icy dread. Except it wasn’t her—it was someone else she was watching, crouched small in her hiding place, waiting for the monster’s hand to reach in and drag her out. Kat wanted to shout a warning to the little girl, but her voice wouldn’t work. Her entire body felt paralysed. She was watching, waiting, helpless to stop what was about to happen.
I’m asleep...asleep...it’s not real.She kept repeating the words in her head, fighting her way through the grey layers of sleep to the surface. The process was all consuming, exhausting, then she heard a sound and focused on it, dragging herself clear of the shadows.
As she opened her eyes an indistinct face seemed to be floating there. She watched the outline grow more defined and more solid. Zach was leaning forward in his seat, talking to her.
‘We have arrived.’
She blinked, had a moment utter blank, before the memories all came rushing back. She pulled herself upright in her seat with a jerk. ‘Oh, God! I must have fallen asleep.’ She dragged her hands over her slippery, silky hair, anchoring stray tips behind her ears as she smoothed it.
‘You were dreaming.’
