Uh, that shouldn’t be a problem since she wanted to lick his entire body.
Instead of boosting Tristan’s ego, she muttered, “Give me a minute prepare myself.” She closed her eyes and pictured Tristan naked covering silk sheets. Mmm. He had hot, moist skin bathed by hazy candlelight. Soft, lyrical music played in the background. In her mind, she inched her body over his, her tongue and teeth raking his skin.
* * *
TRISTAN WATCHED Julia’s eyes darken with dreams, the edge of her mouth softening with desire. A hard lump formed in the back of his throat, and he gulped. “That is enough preparation.” His voice emerged hoarse, cracked. When she didn’t alter her expression, he commanded, “Blink, curse you. Blink.”
At last Julia blinked and the cloud of desire surrounding her cleared, and he breathed a sigh of relief. And maybe a bit of disappointment.
“Let’s move on to something a little easier for you,” he muttered after clearing his throat. Had the air grown hotter in the past five seconds? “I have decided sensual expression is not for a beginner.”
“I failed?” she asked, her shoulders rolling in. “Give me another chance, Tristan. Please. I can get it right. I know I can.”
“Nay.” If she dared glance at him like that a second time, he would strip her and take her here and now, her customers be damned. “You will work on expression by yourself. Here, we will work on erotic speech. Yes.” Speech. Innocent enough, if he kept his requests on the tame side. “Close your mind to everything but what you wish to say to the man you desire. The man you wish to bed.” This is tame?
“I’ve, uh, never been on a real date, so I’m not exactly sure what’s appropriate.”
“Worry not.” He stroked her cheek with his fingertips gently, tenderly. “We will do this step by step.”
* * *
“STEP BY STEP,” Julia agreed. Heat tingled a fiery patch where he’d touched. He had such large hands—hands capable of destroying everything in their path, and yet he handled her gently. He treated her with such care, keeping the brute force of his strength under tight restraint.
“Let’s pretend you are trying to seduce me,” he rasped.
Acid filled her stomach, and for a moment, her tongue thickened, making any speech, especially erotic, impossible. “I’m not sure—”
He cut her off, saying, “We do this my way, Julia.” The teasing light faded from his eyes. “If you continue to fear flirting, it will continue to have power over you.”
He was right. Of course he was right. “We’ll do this your way,” she confirmed. She didn’t dare explain that his words evoked a primitive desire for the forbidden, to do exactly what he’d said and actually seduce him. Or that the air around her seemed sultry and lightly scented with…mmm, what was that? It was Tristan’s scent but not. Richer. Stronger. Sexier. His scent on steroids and love potion number nine. She really didn’t dare mention that desire pooled between her thighs as she pictured taking him inside—riding him—his eyes a mesmerizing shade of violet and passion as he peered up at her.
Tristan sucked in a rough breath, as if he’d just gotten a peek inside her head. “You will cease that at once.”
His fierceness surprised her, and she jerked back to reality. “Cease what? What did I do?”
“You had donned another erotic expression. I recall expressly forbidding you to do that in my presence.”
“Sorry, sorry,” she managed. At the moment, she was acutely aware of her too-tight nipples, of the needy ache throbbing in her veins, and the way her skin felt too tight for her bones.
Irritated with him—and herself—she stuck her tongue out at him.
“Careful, draga, or I might take you up on your offer and suck your tongue into my mouth.” Eyes blazing with heat, he tapped a fingertip against his chin. “Now then. I believe you wish to seduce me, do you not?”
Perilous lessons! She swallowed, a bolt of pure, raw desire slamming into her, sensitizing her skin, heating her blood another thousand degrees. “Yeah, I wish to seduce you.” I do. I really do. “For the lesson.”
He nodded, smiled as the mirth returned to his gaze. “Admitting your desire is the first step.”
“And the second?”
“Thinking of the words that incite sexual hunger.”
“Words such as…”
“Cock. Dick. Erection.”
Storms of rapture followed his words. He’d just listed everything she craved. Well, the three biggest things she craved, anyway. “And what do I do with these words?”
“Use one in a sexy sentence. That is the third step. You may begin.”
“Wait! Toss out a sentence with a reference to your…your penis? Just like that?”
“Very well. We will try something tamer.” Smug, seeming all too sure of her failure, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Can you say something, anything to garner my interest?”
“I think so,” she lied.
“Prove it.”
“I—well—I…”
“Wrong. Fail.”
“I want you?”
“Better.” He gave her a bone-melting smile of approval. “What else?”
Good question. “You make me hot?”
“And?”
Because he thought her words were pretend, a sense of freedom surfaced, deflating her reservations and eradicating her need for constraint. She stared into his eyes, searching his soul. “You drive me wild whenever you enter a room. You make my pulse leap and my body tremble. I would say you’re tender and caring and gentle, and I feel safe when I’m with you. I would say… I would say that I want you more than I want to take my next breath.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Always Remember That You Are Nothing
More Than Your Mistress’s Property
SILENCE LADEN WITH an undercurrent of forbidden desires stretched between them. Julia’s cheeks reddened, the blush quickly spreading to her throat. Why wasn’t he speaking? Did he suspect she’d told the truth and just didn’t know what to say?
Finally he cleared his throat. “That was…interesting.”
Relief coasted through her. He didn’t know, didn’t suspect. But…after the relief came annoyance. Interesting? Interesting! She’d rocked this challenge, thank you very much. “That was
