By whom?” She toed off her shoes. Damn, her feet were cold. She rubbed them together as he prowled.
Raking his fingers through his short hair, he glared at her.
Amused, she grinned. Her smile slipped a bit as she said casually, “I might ask the same question. Were you with a woman?” She didn’t like the idea that her Thorne had been out carousing with another woman, but she was hardly going to tell him that. Nor, quite frankly, did she want to claim ownership, even to herself. He wasn’t hers. Would never be hers. She cocked her head, considering how she might just borrow him for a while.
He arched a brow. “If I was, it would have absolutely nothing to do with you. We’re here on business, remember? We go to the museum tomorrow; maybe we’ll find something, maybe we won’t. If we do, I’ll give you the location. I’ll go back to Seattle and you can go and find this tomb that no one has any interest in.”
No longer amused, she felt her entire body bristle at his condescending, supercilious tone. “That suits me just fine. The museum opens at ten. We’ll leave the hotel at nine forty-five.”
He closed the gap between them in two long strides to close his fingers around her upper arms and lift her out of the chair.
“All I could think about for the last five hours was the taste of you.”
“You don’t sound particularly happy about it,” Isis muttered as he pulled her onto her toes.
He slid one arm around her waist, his hand gliding up her back, easing her forward in small degrees, until she was molded to him, thigh to thigh. His body couldn’t lie. He was very happy to be with her. “I don’t do flowers and romance.” His fingers slid inexorably up the furrow of her spine until he tangled his fingers in the hair at her nape.
She gave him an exaggerated look of shock. “Color me not in the least bit surprised.” A little dazed at the powerful sensations coursing through her, she felt her lips curve. “I’ll add that to the list. Number two: don’t do romance. Check. I already have that you ‘don’t do tombs.’ Got it. Anything else you don’t do?”
His eyes looked very green and extremely annoyed as he yanked her incrementally closer until not even a breath came between their bodies. “Why the hell did you kiss me?”
“I wanted to.” The more annoyed he got, the more amused she became. “You looked like you needed a kiss. You liked it. I liked it.” A lot! “We’re both adults. Why not?” She noticed the nerve jumping in his jaw and the pulse racing at the base of his throat. She placed both hands on his chest and felt the thud-thud-thud of his heart beneath the hard muscles of his chest, through the crisp cotton of his starched shirt.
“You can’t just kiss a man senseless, then walk away.”
His skin was scorching hot through the fabric. She kept her hands still, though she wanted to glide them all over him in exploration. But for now, simply touching him was enough. She enjoyed the sizzle and pulse of the electricity arcing between them. She didn’t have to act on it to enjoy the moment. She liked the feel of him. The smell of him. The complexity of him.
The knowledge that there couldn’t be, wouldn’t be, anything beyond attraction and momentary satisfaction was at once tempting and a strong deterrent. She wanted an emotional connection with a lover. As far as she could tell, Thorne wasn’t the kind of man who’d connect with a woman with anything more than his libido.
That wasn’t enough for her, no matter how badly she craved his touch, No matter how much she wanted to fall into bed with him. Emotionless sex wasn’t what she wanted or needed. No matter how loudly her body screamed otherwise. “We were in a cab,” she pointed out reasonably as he stroked her back, which was in no way soothing, nor did it help her resolve. Her breasts felt heavy, and the ache in her very center pulsed with every heavy heartbeat. “You chose to drive off into the sunset without a backward glance.” That wasn’t really fair to say, but it was fun lobbing the ball back into his court just to see his eyes narrow and glitter.
“Clearly a tactical error.” His gaze was hard, his intent crystal clear. Either he was going to kill her or