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‘I’m notsuggestinganything,’ he breathed, his mouth so tantalisingly close that she felt his breath on hers. ‘What you did to me was a fact.’
‘And you hated every minute of it?’ she taunted breathlessly.
One corner of his mouth quirked. ‘Fishing for compliments?’ Before she could deny it, he rumbled, ‘I didn’t, but you still proved to be a temptation I should’ve resisted. I should’ve shown you then, like now, that it would take more than sex to bring a man like me to my knees.’
‘What do you mean...l-like now?’
Before she could cringe at the quivering in her voice, he was slanting his mouth over hers, dominating her senses with a kiss so deep, so hot, it melted her from the inside out.
Dear God. It was everything she’d missed; everything she’d fantasised about in her lonely bed year after year.Everything.
His tongue teased and plundered, stroked and suckled, dragging helpless moans from her as her hands latched onto his shoulders. He was warm, vibrant, a pillar of sexy, dogged masculinity she wanted to explore for hours.Days.
The hand on her waist moved to her bottom, moulding and squeezing, yanking her closer until the rod of his erection was imprinted against her stomach. Until she was straining even closer, hunger flaying her as she whimpered and succumbed to the decadence of his kiss. Long minutes passed when the only sound in the tent was their feverish exploration.
And then, just as suddenly as he’d taken hold of her, he was setting her away, his movements far too contained as he decisively stepped away from her.
Lauren swayed, still caught in the heady narcotic of his kiss, even as she grasped his wicked intent. ‘So, this was supposed to be some sort of lesson?’
When he merely raised an eyebrow, she tilted her chin, determined not to be cowed. ‘Are you trying to convince yourself or me?’
His teeth bared in a devastating smile, one that was all the more lethal for not reaching his eyes. ‘I’ve confirmed everything I need to know.’
‘Which is?’
Eyes that weren’t as cool as his words lingered on her face. ‘That while you’re alluring enough, I won’t be caught in the same trap again.’
The recrimination, partly directed at himself but mostly aimed at her, finally resurrected a spark of anger. ‘If you’re suggesting that I did anything to make you...to disrupt your life in any way before that night, you’re misremembering, I think. You’ve always been your own man. We got involved with each other because we both wanted to. I didn’t cast any sort of...spellon you.’
Again he gave an almost insulting shrug that said her argument carried no weight with him. ‘Maybe not. But did you foresee a moment such as this, perhaps? And facilitate easy access to me in case you needed it?’
Her mouth gaped before she could stop herself. ‘You cannot be serious!’
‘Look at me, Miss Winchester. Do I look in any way amused?’
Staring full on at him was like staring into a raging volcano. Mesmerising and terrifying at the same time. And no, he looked far from amused. ‘The idea that I’d cultivated a relationship with you simply for this purpose isn’t only preposterous, I’d have to be a cold-hearted bitch to pull that off!’
‘And yet here you are. And the idea isn’t that far-fetched, is it? Isn’t that what you upper-class set are known for? Public-school cronyism so they can all help each other get away with unconscionable deeds?’
She swallowed at the highly clever way he’d drawn circles around her. Again. Tahir had always had a brilliant mind. But he’d never used it against her in earnest or in battle. Until now.
Lauren felt the ground shifting beneath her and struggled to regain her footing. ‘I’ve apologised for my poor judgment. Are you going to forgive me or not?’ she demanded, her brazenness secretly stunning her.
His lips twisted. ‘Much like most things in this world, forgiveness needs to be earned. Does an eye for an eye sound fair? One three-hundred-and-sixty-five-day sentence in return for another?’
She swallowed. ‘You don’t mean that.’
He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he clasped his hands behind his back, strode from one end of the vast tent to the other. What she saw of his profile mildly terrified her. Tahir deep in thought was a truly formidable thing. And if those thoughts were devising punitive measures against her?
Her breath caught when he faced her.
Dull embers were rousing to life in the eyes slowly journeying from the top of her head to the soles of her feet and back up again.
Lauren went hot, then cold. Hot because for a moment her senses had leapt, not recoiled, at the possibility that her punishment would be a repeat of what had just happened. Then cold because she was instantly deeply ashamed of the thought.
The twin sensations lingered, unwilling to be suppressed as he slowly returned to stop before her.
‘No. As much as it would please me to hand down such a verdict, we no longer live in barbaric times. And I don’t have the time to throw away on such trivial matters. But your task to earn my forgivenesswillbe done another way.’
