temptation? No matter how formidable his berserker, he didn’t think he was that strong.
“We have days to figure that out,” she said, still picking at creases in the wood. “The storm won’t break soon. The runway will need to be cleared. The villagers won’t make that a priority compared to making sure the roads are plowed first.”
He grinned and wrung out the washcloth. “So what you’re saying is, we could be stuck here for days?”
“Days—” She cut herself off, eyes darting from the basin of water to the white-pummeled window. “Perhaps.”
“By the third or fourth night, we’ll have to let the innkeeper watch. He won’t settle for your mind games.”
“Quit being crude.”
“Fine,” he said with a shrug. “I can always touch you as a distraction. I’m quite fine with that approach.”
Shaking her head, she backed tighter against the wall. The blanket dropped down from one shoulder. Only then did he realize that she’d slipped a flannel shirt from his pack over her sari. She was silk and flannel. Sleek and warm. Completely alluring. He liked it too much that she was wearing something of his. Or, he liked it just enough, considering what he was prepared to do.
If he could go through with it.
“Do what you want.” Her voice was resigned but her eyes still quick, darting, wary. Interested.
“I plan to.”
He unfurled the rag and scrubbed it across the back of his neck, around the front of his throat, and up his face. The tattered washcloth didn’t have the bite of a stronger rag, but the hot water made up for it. Tallis couldn’t help but exhale in a shuddering sigh of pleasure as the warmth soaked into his skin and assuaged tensions he hadn’t acknowledged. He’d been too tense for too long. As the tendons of his neck softened and relaxed, he only wanted more.
Meeting Kavya’s slack-jawed expression of amazement added to his hunger. He was a man of the earth and the sea, but he’d lived among the human world so long that luxuries had become part of his definition of a good life. Circumstance meant he didn’t have many opportunities to indulge. That made moments such as these more precious.
“Are you watching, goddess? This is only the start.”
“You’re not . . .” She pressed the back of her head against the wall. She couldn’t get any farther from him unless she made a run for it, back into the snow. The amber flame in her eyes promised that wouldn’t happen. “You’re not going to go through with it,” she said with more conviction. “I don’t believe you.”
“You don’t believe me? Which part of my behavior has led you to think I don’t follow through with threats? Or that I don’t have it in me to be more nasty or underhanded than you can imagine?”
“I don’t have to imagine nasty or underhanded.” Her voice was tart and her expression fierce. “I’ve seen it and lived it. Give me softness and promises—
“Alas.” He banked an impulse to take her by surprise yet again, by giving her exactly that. “This is the best I can come up with. And for inexplicable reasons, you want to think the best of me. Strange, I know. So watch and enjoy. A living god is going to do his best to keep your mind thoroughly occupied.”
“A living . . . Wait.” She stood and crossed her hands as if to stop anything and everything happening in that small, drafty room. “Why did you call yourself that? ‘A living god.’ Why that phrase?”
“Not a clue. You’re my false goddess. I might as well return the favor.”
“No. I don’t . . .” Frowning so fiercely that Tallis wanted to ease his thumb between her brows, she backed flush against the wall and tucked her hands out of sight. “Never mind.”
Tallis shrugged, although her behavior set him on edge. Fuck it. He
He pulled off layers of shirts and basked in Kavya’s quiet inhale. The water was still hot enough to numb the ends of his fingers. He rinsed the cloth, then set about rubbing away grime and sweat. The aftermath wasn’t as pleasant, as drafts skittered chills across his skin. Whenever he closed his eyes to better absorb the sting of heat and the shudder of cold, he wondered what she was thinking. Was she equally affected by the moment? For all he knew, he could strip naked while sporting the hard-on to end all hard-ons, and she’d only stare at him with an expression of disdain and wariness.
Kavya was a hard woman to understand. Rather than feel vulnerable, as he often had during dreams of the Sun, he was excited by the unknowns she presented during every minute of their acquaintance. She was the virgin, and yet as he washed more of his body,
This was supposed to be about distracting
Tallis opened his eyes and was surprised to find Kavya had stepped away from the wall. She was within touching distance. Had he been so lost in his thoughts that her quiet steps went unnoticed?
“You want something?” he asked with a lift of his brows. “Have you come to help me out or to hit me?”
“Both?”
“I like that, although it might depend on the order.”
“Give me the rag.” She snatched it before he any chance to reply. “Turn around.”
Scalding cloth met the stretch of flesh between his shoulder blades. He hissed, then let the breath out slowly. She didn’t caress him; she definitely meant the rough up-and-down to be a hearty scrub. But Tallis smiled to himself. She was washing him. Life had turned unexpectedly sunny, despite weather and terror and confusion that demanded he think otherwise.
“I didn’t know I’d be getting help,” he said. “Shall I offer to return the favor?”
“You know I already washed.”
“In the equivalent of a glacial stream.” He bent at the waist and shucked his cargos without pretense. Kavya gave a little squeak. “Now keep washing, or give it to me before you pass out.”
She slapped the cloth into the water, splashing droplets of fire across his stomach. “I was only doing you a favor.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
Kavya retreated until she once again connected with the wall. She was looking at him—all of him, with particular attention to his ready cock. That she remained clothed was lamentable, but she remained luminous. He’d never met anyone who seemed made of light. He was only thankful he’d discovered that she was a genuine woman with a temper and a hefty dose of arrogance. She was real. And she was still made of light.
Tallis continued his wash. He rinsed and scrubbed, rinsed and smoothed. She never took her eyes off movements meant to be practical yet provocative. At least he’d reclaimed his self-control, especially when he wrapped his cock in the hot cloth. Had he been alone, or had she been any more experienced, he would have stroked more than the once, twice he permitted.
Back around to his balls.
Back up to his aching, swollen head.
Then two more strokes.
As such, he managed the one part of his hands-off seduction he’d known would be most difficult—washing the physical expression of his desire—without indulging too much.
He turned away on a heavy exhale and washed his hair with their sliver of soap, rinsed out the cloth, and dried himself with his last clean flannel shirt. He stood naked before her for an endless span of seconds.
She only pulled the blanket more closely around her shoulders.
“Now, unless you want to stroke my prick as well, I suggest you lie down and get some rest.”
Tallis grabbed the blanket from her slack hands and settled onto the single bed, his body crammed against the wall. There was plenty of room for her to join him, and they’d barely need to touch. Yet whether she joined him or not, he wouldn’t be sleeping that night. Either he’d stay awake listening to her little sounds and intakes of breath, or he’d lie stock-still with her body tucked against his. Not touching. Only imagining.
She didn’t seem ready to sleep either. She dimmed the room’s one lamp, walking and moving as if in a daze. Using his coat as padding, she lay down in a corner of the room and made herself into a tight ball.
So he spent the night listening—dreading, hoping, wondering when she’d relent and come to bed.
—
