Page 21 of Raul
He turned his head toward her, and she saw something hot flicker in his eyes. He shifted so their hips and thighs brushed. “Without a rope.”
It was the alcohol that set her skin on fire, not Raul’s body heat seeping through the thin layers of fabric between them.
He’s the Crown Prince of Caleva.Way, way above her pay grade. But the air around him seemed to vibrate with his magnetism. She wanted to bathe in it.
“It’s nice to be touched,” he said, his words slightly slurred. “People don’t do that much when you’re a prince.”
“I never thought about that. I guess people are afraid to.” No wonder he was so sad. Everyone needed a hug now and then.
“But you are brave.” Raul pulled her closer so she was leaning against his side. “That’s better. Warmer.”
No,hotter. Now they were touching from shoulder to knee. Every time Raul lifted his cup to his mouth, the movement created a delicious friction between their bodies.
Raul fell silent, and she was too tired to prod him into conversation. It was so nice to savor the feel of him against her, close enough that she could hear his breathing and smell the campfire smoke that had soaked into his jacket.
“Erica.” Someone was shaking her shoulder, but she was very comfortable where she was. She turned her face into the firm pillow and…
“Erica! We should go to bed.” A husky male voice sounded so close to her ear that she felt the words as air brushing over her skin.
She knew that voice. It was—she jerked upright. Holy shit, she had fallen asleep on Prince Raul’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—” She scrambled to her feet, the lingering effects of the rum evaporated by her panic. “My deepest apologies,Señor.”
Raul hauled himself up by leaning on the boulder. “For what? Falling asleep? I did too.” He set his cup down and stretched, the hem of his shirt riding up so she caught a glimpse of bare skin and carved abdominal muscles. She started to turn away, but he put a hand on her shoulder. “Erica, you have nothing to apologize for. I liked having you there.”
She looked up into his face, flickering in and out of darkness in the dying firelight, and caught her breath. His gaze was intense, and she felt ensnared in it for a long moment. Then heheaved a sigh and dropped his hand. “Buenas noches.Let’s hope we don’t have hangovers in the morning.”
She could still feel the weight of his hand burning like a brand into her skin as he waved her toward her tent. “Drink some wa—”
“I know!” He stopped her with a turned-out palm. “Hydrate!”
Chapter 6
Raul sipped his second cup of coffee, watching the sunrise paint the sky in orange and yellow. He wanted to share the beauty with Erica, but she had been avoiding him since they had all emerged from their tents. Now she stood beside Pascal, her mug cradled in her hands, throwing Raul the occasional wary glance.
Did she expect him to order her thrown off the mountain because she had fallen asleep on his shoulder? The reality was that he hoped she would do it again tonight.
He needed to relieve whatever anxiety she was experiencing. He swallowed the last of the coffee and rinsed his mug in the water bucket. “Will you give me a hand with my tent?’ he asked her.
“Sure.” Her voice was neutral, but her jaw was tense.
As they walked the few strides to his tent, Erica kept two yards between them, proving his theory that she was nervous. He stopped at one corner. “Will you take this pole, and I’ll get the other one?”
She nodded and closed the space between them, coming nearer than he had expected. He caught the hint of citrus from her hair and remembered how soft and warm her body had felt against his. And how she had felt naked underneath him in the sweaty, rum-induced dreams that had left him with an erection when he woke up. His imagination had spread her hair over her bare breasts and lit them with firelight as he bent to suck on first one and then the other.
His cock began to stir again, and he yanked his mind away from his erotic thoughts.
She leaned in even more to say in a low voice, “I want you to know that I will never reveal what you told me last night to anyone. I promise.”
Now she was close enough that he could see golden flecks in her beautiful hazel eyes.
What had she said?
Oh, yes. His idiocy in baring his soul about the kidnapping. He winced inwardly. She must think him a coward now. “I wouldn’t have told you if I didn’t trust you.” Although he might be confusing his trust in her not to let him fall off a cliff with a trust that she would keep his secrets.
“It may have had less to do with trust and more to do withpitorrorum. It got to me too,” she said, her tone wry. “That’s why I, er, fell asleep on your shoulder. I apologize.”
Her cheeks were flushed an embarrassed pink.
“It’s not a crime to be human around me,” he said.
