Page 10 of Hot Zone

Nope, nowhere in her mission briefing was there any mention of falling into the sack with the hunky Persian guy. Damn.

He moved even closer, managing to make walking on his knees on a lumpy mattress graceful. He invaded her personal space until she backed away from him and felt cool stone at her back.

“That’s far enough, Tonto,” she warned.

“Who is Tonto? Is he a lover I must kill to have you?”

She stared. This guy sounded serious! Lord, he was big. Overwhelmingly so. Sleek. And very, very male. The way these ancient guys embraced being macho was surprisingly attractive.

“Not to worry. Tonto is merely a character from a well-known story in my land.”

He planted a hand on the wall beside her head, his voice dropping to a half whisper that made her belly go liquid. “Tell me this story.”

“Tomorrow. I’ll tell you tomorrow. But in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s the middle of the night.”

“’Tis early still. The feasting will go on for hours yet.”

Feasting. Right.Was that what he called that mad orgy? He planted his free hand on the other side of her head, effectively trapping her. No way could she take this guy out by brute force. He’d completely ignored a thumb lock that would have put most men on the ground in agony.

He leaned in close enough so his warm breath caressed her temple. “We have all night, you and I.”

All night? Abruptly, images of the two of them naked in a tangle of sheets, making love until she was too sated to move, roared through her brain. Her breath hitched in a way no man had ever made it hitch before.

“Ahh,” he whispered. “You do see it, after all.”

Befuddled by the haze of lust in her brain, she looked up into his eyes. “See what?” she mumbled, as more images of crawling all over that big, muscular body of his danced before her mind’s eye.

He lurched, pulling back far enough to stare down at her. “You sent to me? How did you do that?” he demanded.

“Do what?”

“You sent that image to my mind!”

“I…what?” Color her confused, here.

He closed in on her so fast she barely saw him coming, let alone had time to mount any sort of defense. His hands grasped her upper arms, pulling her like a rag doll against his chest, which was as solid as the stone wall behind her—only burning with heat and pounding with lust.

“I saw that,” he said through gritted teeth. “Don’t toy with me, daughter of French—I’ll chew you up and spit you out. Tell me how you sent that to my mind.”

She didn’t know why she did it. Maybe the driving desire pressing in on her from all sides just became too much for her. Maybe it was frustration at finding this Neanderthal so damned attractive. Or maybe she was just stupid enough to rise to the guy’s bait. But she tipped her chin up fast, too fast to stop and think it over. And kissed him.

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