AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The curiosity in his tone was wrapped around a question. One she couldn’t answer in truth. Buying herself time by dipping her head back and smoothing her hands over her wet hair, she shrugged. ‘I love to swim. I try to get to a pool as often as I can.’
His eyes narrowed a fraction, and her insides tightened. ‘Interesting. I don’t recall that about you.’
‘It must be something to have perfect recall about everyone you meet. You must tell me how that feels some time.’ She’d meant it to be offhand, but it emerged a touch frantic and breathless.
Desperate to salvage what could turn out to be a costly mistake, she turned away, trying not to cringe at the silence that trailed her. She felt his gaze on her as she left the pool, snagged a towel and headed for the sauna, her skin jumping with hyperawareness.
She’d barely taken a calming breath when he entered.
Against the backdrop of soft golden maple that lined the sauna, his bronzed skin rippled with vitality. And in the close confines of the heating space, there was nothing she could do but stare.
‘Careful,bedda mia. I’m discovering that your occasional...prickliness intrigues me.’
‘And I should be careful because...?’ God, what was wrong with her? She should be keeping things between them strictly professional. Instead, she was openly baiting a restless lion.
‘Intrigue is the one thing I can’t resist.’
With monumental effort, she glanced away from him, reaching for the wooden ladle to scoop out water and toss it on the sizzling coal. Its sibilant hiss filled the enclosed space with wonderful steam and made her break out in fresh sweat.
She felt it drip down her throat and into her cleavage. Felt the almost inevitable tightening of her nipples as Alessio’s gaze followed several drops of perspiration, her skin tingling as his stare slowed on the very visible signs of her arousal. ‘Or it could be extreme boredom,’ she said.
‘You have my word that boredom is the last thing I feel right now.’
The sound that escaped made her cringe and shiver at the same time. Made her thighs squeeze together as need pounded through her, settling low in her belly and dampening her already soaked suit further.
Her fingers dug into the wood beneath her thighs, her gaze fighting not to catch his. The wisest thing was still to leave. So why couldn’t she just get up and go?
‘Look at me,duci,’ he commanded in a low, deep voice.
Of course her body moved of its own accord, angling towards where he sat within arm’s reach. Not nearly as far away as she needed him to be. She couldn’t stop her tongue from flicking out to bathe her lower lip, then her teeth from sucking that same tingling piece of flesh into her mouth and worrying it the way she craved to worry his.
The towel he’d tied around his waist did nothing to prevent her from seeing how...affectedhe was too.
When her gaze rose again to meet his there was a hint of affront. As if her daring to call him bored greatly offended. ‘You know the power of your allure. Don’t insult either of us by belittling it,’ he condemned in a soft, deadly tone.
Giada’s jaw dropped. ‘I...you...’ Her brain froze as words failed her.
She was fully aware of how mentally dextrous this man was, and yet, once again, he’d pulled the rug from beneath her with a handful of words.
Words that veered heavily on the carnal but weirdly touched some soft and vulnerable place inside her. A place that needed an odd little accolade just like that.
She was a good researcher, knew that her place on any expedition team was valued, that her colleagues respected her work.
But in her private life, bolstering overtures were sorely lacking.
Knowing she affected such a powerful man, even on a purely physical level, felt like...nothing she’d experienced before. It provided balm and confidence, a thrill and yearning.
And it kept her in place when he lowered his feet to the floor, his eyes immobilising her as he crossed the small space in a single stride. As he placed both hands on the bench beside her and leaned in close until their noses almost touched and his breath washed over her parted lips.
‘You have me at your mercy. Granted, it will be fleeting. So...’ That infernal brow arched once more, golden eyes turned even darker with his turbulent mood, daring her.
To what?
To shatter every last crumb of self-preservation? Or grasp a once-in-a-snowstorm opportunity to know what it was like to taste a live wire of a man who made the world shake with his very presence?
Alessio’s gaze dropped to her mouth, his tongue mimicking her own action a moment ago. Another whimper escaped and Giada chose to...
Shatter.
