Rosanna swallowed hard. Maybe, despite what Salim had said, she’d just been convenient.
She straightened, tossing her hair over her shoulder, trying to ignore the fact they were both naked and that her traitorous body was stimulated by having him so close. She tugged at his hold but he didn’t let go.
‘Of course I can walk away if I choose. I’m not your possession. I’m not here for your convenience. If I want to leave that’s my choice.’
Her stare dared him to disagree.
Salim released her and held up his hands, palms towards her as if emphasising that she was free.
The trouble was she didn’t feel free. She felt bound to this man in ways she couldn’t even begin to name.
‘If you go, where will that leave us? With nothing resolved, that’s where.’ He paused as if to ensure she took in every word. ‘You still want me, Rosanna. I know you do. And this cuts both ways. I want you too. What we shared has only increased the wanting.’
Her pulse hammered faster, her breathing turning fast and shallow. Salim felt the same. Stupid to feel pleased but she did.
‘If you walk away now we’ll still have the same problem. We can’t keep our hands off each other even though this is the last thing either of us wants.’
Well, that was her told.Rosanna’s pleasure dimmed.
Maybe her hurt showed for his expression softened. ‘Come, sit with me. We need to talk.’
He bent to reach for his discarded clothes and Rosanna’s tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as she watched the mesmerising movement of his honed body.
He held out his shirt to her. She took it in stiff fingers, watching as he yanked on his trousers, not bothering to do up the top button, then sat on the side of the bed and patted the mattress beside him.
Rosanna breathed deep, drawing in the scent of exotic spices, of lemon soap, warm male flesh and sex. It was a heady mix, so heady she knew he was right. He was impossible to resist. This attraction was too strong and she had no idea how to fight it.
Even if she wanted to.
Her dress dropped to the floor as she put his shirt on, doing it up with trembling fingers then rolling up the sleeves. It covered her yet she was supremely aware of her nakedness beneath the fine cotton. Strange that after what they’d just done together, she felt overwhelmed by the intimacy of wearing his clothes.
Carefully she sat beside him, striving to keep her gaze off his bare torso.
Salim nodded encouragingly. ‘This has crept up on us both. The connection, the desire, and it’s so strong it feels unstoppable.’
Rosanna was taken aback by his frankness. She was simultaneously gladdened and scared because if they were both weak in the face of this attraction, where did that leave them?
She wasn’t naïve enough to believe this could end with flowers and promises of happy ever after. She and Salim came from different worlds with different expectations. Their paths would only cross for a brief time.
She could never be the sort of woman he needed and even in her wildest dreams she couldn’t imagine living in a grand palace. Yet the thought of walking away from Salim tore at something vital inside her.
Rosanna had a job to do but this, between them, was a devastating roadblock.
‘I tried to resist,’ he continued. ‘But keeping my distance and throwing up barriers didn’t make a difference. Nor did the fact that you’ve been the epitome of efficiency and productivity. It made me wonder if you were trying to distract yourself from us too.’
The way he said that one syllable,us, with a deep scrape of his baritone, sent a shiver of longing through her.
He twisted towards her and suddenly he was touching her, the lightest of caresses, a single finger stroking the underside of her forearm, yet Rosanna felt it like an earthquake, shattering the foundations of her world. She trembled, her nipples puckering towards him and a ribbon of heat swirling through her core. Her lips parted and she had to stop herself from leaning closer.
‘I don’t think either of those tactics will work again, do you?’ His voice was soft, sneaking beneath her tattered defences and winding around her heart. ‘Even if you’re superefficient and focused and I try to avoid you or treat you like a stranger, the truth between us is too big. We’ve let the genie out of the bottle and there’s no way to push it back inside and pretend it doesn’t exist.’
That light touch skimmed down to her hand, circled her wrist then slipped across her palm and a great shudder of longing racked her. Just that tiny caress and she needed him. She swayed towards him then caught herself and sat straighter, yet she didn’t have the strength to pull away.
‘So,’ she finally managed in a voice turned uneven with emotion, ‘if we can’t go back to being strangers, how do we go forward?’
Salim’s hand closed around hers and he nodded, a half-smile forming on his face. ‘I like that you don’t waste time in pointless argument,’ he said. ‘That you’re always looking ahead to what needs to be done.’
It was the sort of accolade Rosanna was used to hearing on a professional front. It was something that had stood her in good stead in the commercial world. Now though, Salim’s compliment felt personal.