“No.”
“Fine. Good night.” She walked away from him with a jangling sense of displeasure. Her body was frustrated and her mind was knotted.
What the hell had just happened?
CHAPTER FOUR
Whatever the building was, it was beautiful. Olivia sat beneath the enormous tree, the grass green and luscious beneath her, her eyes trained far in the distance, where the heat made the desert haze like an optical illusion beyond the thick grey fence.
Zamir had been inside for almost an hour.
Zamir.
Her heart stammered as she thought of him, and her traitorous body tingled in memory of his touch.
Why had she stopped it?
Why hadn’t she kissed him back and pushed her hands beneath his shirt, as she’d longed to? Why hadn’t she
wrapped her arms around his back and held him to her body, and let her fingers run over every inch of him?
Because she would have lost her virginity to a man who was a very, very inappropriate choice as her first lover. She would have slept with a man who needed a body – any body – and nothing else.
She pulled a blade of grass between her fingers, and it squealed a little at her touch. She plucked another, and this one she brought to her lips. The smell reminded her, strangely enough, of an Australian summer. The days she’d spent lying on her back staring up at the clouds, enjoying the heat on her limbs and the almost soporific sound of birds in the air.
“Miss Henderson.” It was Marook. She stood immediately, her smile broad despite the waves of confusion that had besieged her since the night before.
“Yes?”
“His Highness has just left the building.”
She stifled a giggle and the urge to modify his sentence into the famous Elvis reference. She was pretty sure Marook wouldn’t appreciate her sense of humour.
“Fine,” she nodded and fell into step behind him, as he cut back to the vehicle. They arrived only a few moments before Zamir.
His attention was clearly diverted. His eyes were looking just as Olivia had been, towards the sand that was visible far beyond the compound walls.
“Miss Henderson?”
Her heart flopped. “Yes, sir?”
His eyes narrowed at the use of his formal title. “I will require you upon our return.”
“Certainly, your highness.” Her breath was ragged; torn from her lungs. Did he want to attempt to seduce her again? To try to change her mind? Her heart leaped at the very idea. Would she be strong enough to refuse him a second time?
Her nerves were pulling tight; they continued to stretch as the car ate up the distance back to the centre of Vegas and the five star Infinity hotel.
She kept her attention on her lap. She didn’t dare try to catch his eyes in the side mirror.
By the time the car pulled up in the basement, she could barely contain her anxious excitement.
And she knew, of course, that it was excitement. The prospect of being alone with him, no matter what he wanted, filled her with a fiery sense of pleasure.
“Come.” He spoke quietly, with that firmness that was utterly inherent to who he was.
Olivia thought of making a snappy comment about manners, but she didn’t. Instead, she walked beside him, her eyes trained ahead, every fibre of her being concentrated on not seeming at all affected by what had happened between them the night before.
When they reached the lift, two of his agents joined them. Their presence made it impossible for Olivia and Zamir to speak until the doors opened into his private suite of rooms.