As she turned back to face him, she watched as his gaze shifted from her to the bed, then back.
The bed was turned down invitingly, ready for them if either had the guts to push it.
The shower awaited. They could share it, she thought, though it would be a tight fit. The thought of heated water sluicing over his hard, naked body had her knees weakening in arousal and the need for touch.
Just for touch.
As he had touched her in England just before he left to return to the States after rescuing her. The way he had stroked the backs of his fingers along her cheek.
Or just after Brandenmore had finally been captured by Jonas Wyatt. He’d found her in New York that night before she had flown to Turkey for another job.
He hadn’t taken her. He had just touched her, his calloused fingers playing over her body as though the sensation of her flesh beneath his touch was an ecstasy all its own.
She had never been undressed and neither had he. He hadn’t touched her below the waist and he hadn’t given her the release her body was crying out for. But he had made her ache.
Hell, she shouldn’t want to want him like this. She shouldn’t allow herself to want him like this.
She could be in the bed sleeping off the jet lag and frustration if he would just leave. She could hurry and masturbate, make use of the vibrator hidden in her bags and then rest for a few hours before she had to meet with his boss.
“Fine, I’m safe and sound,” she finally said, breaking the tense silence growing between them. “You can stop protecting me now and let me get some sleep before I face the big bad prick in the morning.”
Not that Jonas was really that bad, but it wouldn’t do to let him know she actually liked him. She had a feeling he would take such deliberate advantage of that fact, it wouldn’t even be funny.
Just as Lawe would take full advantage of the sheer fascination she had for him, if he knew of it.
Letting him know would be the biggest mistake she could possibly make.
Lawe kept watching her. His gaze was like a dominant, powerful caress she couldn’t evade.
The sensation of that invisible touch never failed to leave her off balance and nervous. She could feel her blood beginning to rush through her veins, her heart rate becoming spiked and elevated. Her clit swelled with aching hunger and sexual desperation. Damn, she needed him to leave, then she could at least have him in her fantasies.
“Why are you still here, Lawe?” she asked. He was destroying her nerves with the violet blue intensity of his gaze and her certainty that there were indeed emotions roiling beneath the layer of icy calm.
“You should know why I’m here.”
She shook her head in a tight, jerky motion. Oh God, now wasn’t the time for this. Not while she was so tired, and so weak. “I have no idea, and I really don’t give a damn.”
God help her, he was killing her.
If she had to be fascinated by a man at this time in her life, why did it have to be a Breed? And why did it have to be this particular Breed? There was a level of the independence inside her that he frankly terrified and she knew why.
He was protective.
He would smother her with layers of protection if she allowed him to do it. That was what he would do with any woman he called his own. Hell, even his lovers had been known to complain of his insistence for bodyguards and heightened security. They complained of their inability to shop, to lunch with friends, to enjoy their lives.
For a minute, for the shortest amount of time, she might enjoy it, but Diane knew herself and knew it would destroy her. Her and Lawe. He could never accept danger to his woman, and he sure as hell could not accept danger to the woman he thought was his mate.
And he thought she was his mate.
She almost shivered at the thought.
“You need to leave, I’m tired and I need a shower, and I can’t deal with you tonight,” she retorted, forcing herself to confront the only man she had ever fantasized about wanting in her entire life.
She was thirty years old, for God’s sake.
She’d gotten used to the accusations of being frigid, lesbian, unfeeling, robotic. They had ceased to offend or wound her long ago. In most cases, they sincerely amused her.
For the men she knew, bedding a woman was no different from hunting a particular buck with a trophy rack. They used the same instincts and often the same finesse.
But this man, he made her feel something. This Breed. He made her heart race and her body feel flushed. He made her clit swell, her nipples harden, and oh yes, she knew damned good and well he sensed it.
He was a Breed, after all. All those nifty powerful senses. The sense of smell, hearing and eyesight that was like four or five hundred times that of a normal human.
He could probably smell her pussy dampening.
His nostrils flared as she allowed her brows to arch mockingly.
Oh yes, he could smell it.
“You were late arriving from the airport,” he stated as she realized his voice was much deeper than she was used to hearing. It had been since the moment he had spoken earlier. As though the animal genetics he carried were suddenly coming alive in ways they never had before.
She shivered at the thought.
“I’m really tired, Lawe.” She didn’t have the time or the heart to engage in the battle she knew he wanted. “Can we postpone this until tomorrow?”
Exactly what “this” was she truly hadn’t figured out yet. All she knew was that if she allowed herself to take what she wanted, if she reached out and grabbed at him with both hands, she would be making a supreme mistake. One that could end up destroying her.
She didn’t want a keeper or a jailer, and that was what Lawe would become. She couldn’t bear the thought of it.
“Funny, each time we’re together and the scent of your arousal begins to fill the air, it’s suddenly cut off just as quickly,” he mused, shocking her with the comment. “How do you manage it, Diane? Give me your secret, love. Maybe then I could control my own hunger as easily.”
“I remember quickly what pricks male Breeds can be,” she informed him sharply. “Do you think for a minute I’d put up with it without shooting you? Then Jonas would have to shoot me. Rachel would probably cry—” She shrugged as though she had gone far enough.
His lips tilted in amusement. “You have it all figured out I see.”
“I like to be prepared.” Hooking her thumbs in the belt loops of her pants she continued to watch him carefully. “What’s the saying? Better safe than sorry? I must prefer nice, safe non-Breed males. They don’t hassle me near as much and let me come and go as I please.”
Oh boy, big mistake. She watched his gaze narrow dangerously.
“And how many of those non-Breed males have you preferred, Diane?” His voice dropped as he began to move closer, becoming silky and dark, seductive. He could talk a woman out of her panties with his voice alone, she thought with an edge of searing hunger. And once he turned the heat up, how the hell was she supposed to resist him?
She stood perfectly still as he moved to her. He eased between her and the wall until he stood directly behind her.
She should have run, but that would have been the same as admitting defeat. Besides, he was a Breed male—the worst thing a woman could do was run. She became the prey then. An erotic delight that Lawe would ignore.
“Does it matter?” She had to force herself to remain still as she felt his cheek brush against her hair.
“Oh, it matters.” That was definitely a growl in his voice. “More than you know.”
She definitely heard the low, dangerous snap of his teeth behind her as he finished speaking.
“What the hell are you doing?”
She gave in. She moved to jerk away, overwhelmed and unprepared for the effect he had on her.