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“I love your honesty almost as much as I love your intelligence.” Stroking a fingertip over my brow, his thumb along my upper cheek, he whispered, “Your lashes make the magnificent green of your eyes stand out. Iacheto photograph you, Petra.”
I stiffened and he gave me a half smile.
“Not likethat, you kinky wench.”
He dropped a small kiss at the corner of my mouth and moved back slightly. I realized why when he started removing the pins from my hair.
Ihatedhairspray. Particularly the after-effects of stiffness and stickiness. When my hair was styled earlier, I insisted the woman find another way to secure my hair. Her only choice was to use dozens of pins to keep it in place.
“I’m so curious,” he said quietly.
“About what?”
“How much hair you’re holding up with all these pins.”
Jack was slow, methodical. He carefully removed them one by one. I listened as they dropped with a ping on the wood of his bedside table.
I stared across the expanse of his California king bed at the far wall. There were nine photos depicting each piece of a mountain scene. The jigsaw effect was captivating.
“Did you take those?”
“Yes.”
“They’re remarkable.”
“Thank you.”
I felt the mass of my hair give way at last as it fell down my back. His breath caught in his throat.
“Deargod, Petra.”
His fingers raked through it from my temple to my lower back several times, massaging my scalp and making sure it wasn’t tangled. It felt ridiculously good after having it up all day.
“Dark and silky as mink.”
Gathering it in his hands, he dropped it gently over my shoulder to the front of my body.
Warm palms trailed over my bare shoulders, arms, and down to my wrists. He lifted my arms and wrapped them around his neck. The position left the entire front of my body open.
“Keep them here, Petra,” he murmured against a cheek I knew was hot with embarrassment.
He gently ripped away one side of the last-minute halter strap before I felt him touch the zipper along the side of the dress.
Self-conscious and feeling strangely vulnerable, I started to lower my arms.
“Stop.” His brusque command froze me and he pressed his face to mine. “You’re a beautiful woman.”
“Jack…”
He hugged me hard from behind. “There’snothingabout you I don’t find attractive.Nothing. Don’t hide from me.”
It wasn’t the time to bring up former lovers and their habit of making me feel ashamed.
I knew not to tell him how hisbrotheralways insisted that the lights remain off during sex. Kevin hadn’t been the first offender but he’d been the worst.
“I’m sorry.”
I uttered the wordsknowingI had nothing to apologize for,knowingit gave power to the distant words mere mortalmentold me to make me question my attractiveness, my femininity.
