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But the furnishings earned no more than a glance, not when it was the man before her that held her interest. He slipped off his shoes and she held her breath, wishing she could do something to slow the beating of her frantic heart.
She had never had a man strip for her before. But he wasn’t doing this to excite her. It was challenge she saw in his eyes, rather than desire, as he peeled off his knitted sweater and his trousers and the black band of underwear until he stood naked before her.
No, he wasn’t doing this to excite her—but how could it not? Even while she feared what could be so horrible that he must show her, it was impossible to stand impassive while he bared his body to her.
And as each item was removed her excitement grew, and with it her confusion.
Because without his clothes, he was beautiful. His bare shoulders and chest and the hair that swirled a pattern that drew the eye southwards to the nest of dark hair from which his member hung, thick and heavy. A sizzle zipped down her spine.
A sizzle that ended on a question, because it was only then that she realised the welt of skin. The redness. The scar over one hip.
Her eyes lingered, her focus tightened, and, knowing he had her attention, he turned slowly. Breath hissed through her teeth.
His back, from his right hip up to his broad shoulders, was a mess of scarred skin, reddened and angry, pulled excruciatingly tight and wrapped over itself in places, left puckered and swirling in others, as if it had melted and been stirred and left to set.
Whatever had happened to this man had happened a long time ago and had been shockingly brutal and she could only imagine the pain he must have suffered not only then but in the months and years afterwards.
‘Do I repulse you?’
She looked levelly at dark eyes cast over his shoulder.
‘Do you want me to be repulsed?’
He spun around. ‘What?’
‘You’re burnt. Scarred. It’s impossible not to notice. So now that I have noticed, do you want me to ask how it happened, or to ignore it?’
‘Ignore it.’
‘Fine. Then that’s what we will do. And in that case,’ she said, with her hands at her jacket, ‘I think one of us in this room is overdressed.’
It was the most brazen thing she’d ever said. A second later her jacket was flung to the floor and that was the most brazen thing she’d ever done. Until she followed it with her top and boots and jeans and stood there less than a minute later, in her perfectly serviceable, totally unsexy underwear.
That was when she faltered, wrapping her arms around her midriff and looking up at the ceiling. Good grief, what was she thinking, making out as if she were some kind of striptease artist? She was way out of her depth. Way out of her league.
It was his hands that tugged her arms open. ‘Why did you stop?’
She shook her head and lowered her eyes to his. ‘I’m no good at this. I can’t pretend to be something I’m not.’
‘No good?’ he said, and took one hand, and guided it to his erection, hard and wanting. This time air rushed into her lungs. She looked down as he bucked under her hand. God, he was so beautiful. So big and rock hard. ‘Do you still think you are no good at seduction?’ She blinked up at him as his hands reached behind her and eased free the tie holding her hair, letting her hair tumble over her shoulders. ‘You are a beautiful woman, Amber. Beautiful and desirable. Believe it.’
With this man’s hands in her hair, with her hand cupping the weight of his thick erection, she almost could. And then he kissed her again, and his hands skimmed over her shoulders and back and he was easing her bra straps down her arms and air stroked her breasts and tightening nipples as her bra fell away.
She gasped into his mouth as his hands encircled them, unable to stop herself from trembling, while his thumbs stroked her nipples, coaxing them still harder, and her senses buzzed and sparked, and the aching space between her thighs pulsed with an unrelenting need.
God, had she felt this breathless before? This utterly boneless?
He scooped her into his arms, as if sensing her weakness and her nervousness, but confusing her when he bypassed the bed. ‘Where are you going?’
‘We have the entire night. There is no rush. A shower will relax you.’
Her body sizzled at the thought. She’d be surprised if she didn’t damn well steam when the water hit her skin.
The bathroom was like nothing she’d ever seen before. There was a huge shower stall with a marble shelf on three sides and a big basin carved from alabaster under a tap that he started to fill. A decorative metal dish held a block of soap and a rainforest showerhead sat above.
