When Tarin looked over at her, still standing there against the wall, she jerked upright. “Thank you, but I don’t need a massage.” With a curt nod, Rachel hurried down the hallway to her room.
“I’m just going to take a hot bath and that will fix all of my problems.”
Turning on the water, she sat on the side of the tub as she stripped off her clothes, dumping them on the floor because she was just too sore to put them away. When the tub was half full, she used some of the bubble bath on a whim. Normally, she didn’t allow herself the luxury of bubbles. But tonight, she poured them in with a heavy hand, feeling extra decadent.
She’d just slipped into the hot water, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the tub when a knock sounded. “I’m fine, thank you!” she yelled, assuming it was the housekeeper.
The door opened and Tarin stepped into the bathroom. A moment ago, the bathroom had been decadently large, but with his huge frame standing by the tub, the room shrunk!
“What are you doing in here?” she gasped, trying to gather the bubbles closer, hiding her nudity.
He set a glass of white wine on the edge of the tub. “Just bringing this in for you,” he said, then glanced at the floor and froze.
Rachel knew exactly what he was looking at. In slow motion, she watched as he bent down and picked it up. When he straightened, there was a pretty pink bra with small sparkly gems dangling from the spot between the barely-there cups. “Is this what you were wearing today?” he asked softly.
Her eyes widened, but she couldn’t form the words to respond. When he looked down at her, his eyes moved over the bubbles, obviously trying to see through them, and compare what he saw there to the small bra. “Nice,” was all he said, then turned around, walking out of the bathroom. “The massage table is ready when you are. Just come on out in your robe.”
Then he closed the door. Biting her lip, she struggled to come to terms with one thing; he’d kept her bra! The man had stuffed her pink bra, one of her favorites, into his pocket!
Rachel took a fortifying sip of her wine, leaning back against the tub again. But after his visit, the warm bath was too warm. It wasn’t relaxing. She turned her head and wondered about the massage. Should she do it? What harm could there be? She’d never had a massage before, so maybe she could indulge. Just this once?
Stepping out of the bathroom, she eyed the long, cushioned table with the soft sheet draped over it. There was a note that instructed her to cover herself with the sheet and lay face down. Sitting right next to the table was a cart with oils that looked to be in some sort of warming system and the whole thing looked…surprisingly inviting.
“Fine!” she grumbled. Dropping her robe, she moved to the table and took the sheet, shaking it out and draping it over her body as she lay down. The soft music and dim lights relaxed her more than the bath had.
She heard the door open and felt hands on her foot, trailing along her leg.
“This is my first time,” she told the person.
“You’ll be fine,” Tarin’s deep voice assured her.
Instantly, Rachel stiffened and tried to sit up. But his firm hand on her shoulders gently pressed her back down. “Don’t worry, Rachel. This will feel good.” He chose one of the bottles of heated oil and spread some in his hands.
“Tarin, this isn’t…!”
He leaned down, very close to her ear. “Relax, Rachel. I’m very good at this.” He put his hands on her shoulders and slowly pressed into the stiff muscles there. Immediately, she felt the pressure ease and moaned. “Wow!” she sighed, relaxing into his hands.
“I told you I know what I’m doing,” he replied with a laugh.
“Good grief, that feels incredible!” she sighed blissfully, as his strong fingers pressed into her sore muscles.
He continued to knead the knots in her shoulders and, when those were soft and pliant, he moved to her arms, starting with the right before moving to the left. He even pressed the tips of his fingers along her hands, stretching each finger carefully. As he returned to her back, she sighed with relief as he pressed into the small of her back. He soothed the muscles and every bit of tension in Rachel’s body released, easing with the pressure of his hands.
There was sexual awareness too, but with the way his hands were moving over her body, in an assured, non-sexual way, she could push the awareness to the back of her mind.
He moved higher, pressing his thumbs into the muscles along her spine and her shoulders, then lower and lower on her back but, when he started to get too low, she shifted, tensing slightly.
His soft chuckle washed over her. “Too low?” he asked, tugging the sheet higher, covering her whole back. That’s when he moved to her feet, pressing against the arch and her heel, her toes, in places she hadn’t even realized she was tense until he pressed a thumb or the heel of his hand into that spot. When he finished with her feet, he moved up one calf, then the other. He didn’t venture higher than her knee and she appreciated that. Any higher than her knee was dangerous territory.
“Still okay?”
“Yes,” she sighed sleepily.
“Good,” he replied. “I’m going to pick you up and put you into bed now, okay?”
“Oh!” she gasped, starting to sit up, surprised at how sleepy she was. “I can…”
“Be quiet,” he ordered softly. He carefully lifted her up, wrapping the sheet around her as he went, and tucked her into the bed. “Go to sleep, Rachel. I’ll see you in the morning,” and with that, he turned off the lights, bent low to kiss her sweetly and disappeared, closing the door behind him.
Rachel smiled as she rolled over, hugging a pillow to her chest. She really should get up and pull on her pajamas. But just now, she was disinclined to move. So she sighed and snuggled deeper into the warmth of the bedding and promised herself she’d just close her eyes for a moment, then get up and put on some clothes.
Chapter 9
Rachel woke with a start, looking around at the sunshine streaming in through the huge windows in her bedroom. For a long moment, she couldn’t remember where she was. The sheets were white, the curtains white, the furniture white…everything in the room was white.
Then everything came back to her and she remembered. San Francisco. The massage! Tarin tucking her into bed last night with a sweet kiss goodnight. Just thinking about that kiss made her heart glow with tenderness.
“Not love!” she gasped, then sat up, not sure where that thought had come from. Looking around, she tried to orient herself, but the sheets wrapped around her legs made extricating herself from the bed difficult. Pushing everything off, she padded into the bathroom and stared at her image in the mirror. It wasn’t too bad, she decided. The mascara looked a little panda-ish, but her hair wasn’t going off in crazy directions.
She picked up her clothes from the previous night while she waited for the water to warm up in the shower. That’s when she noticed that her favorite pink bra wasn’t amidst the other clothes. And then she remembered the pink bra dangling prettily from Tarin’s finger last night. And that he’d stuffed it into his pocket!
Good grief, how was she to get her bra back? And why had he taken it?!
The questions continued to mount and she needed coffee in order to process. Stepping into the shower, she sighed as the warm water washed over her skin. “Saturday,” she whispered as she squeezed some shower gel into her hands and started scrubbing. “It’s Saturday and…” she closed her eyes, trying to remember Tarin’s schedule. “No meetings.” With a sigh of relief, she smiled. “It’s Saturday and we don’t have anything scheduled today.” She shampooed and conditioned her hair, considering possible activities. She didn’t need to do laundry because everything she wore was magically cleaned and returned to her closet the following morning. She didn’t need to pack because there were other magical people who would do that when they left. But Tarin still had meetings in San Francisco on Monday, so they’d most likely stay here over the weekend. Would he want t
o review the notes she’d taken? Probably, she thought with increasing dread.
Normally, Rachel loved her job. But after the marathon meetings and traveling over the past ten days, plus being with Tarin all day long, including for every meal, plus his self-defense lessons every morning and his dancing lessons in the evening…both of which she loved and, Rachel even acknowledged to herself that she was getting better at both…but she was wiped out! She needed a break.
Oh for the opportunity to just sit on a sofa with a good book and read all day long!
“Not gonna happen,” she muttered as she stepped out of the shower and dried herself off. Glancing at the time, she wondered if Tarin was even here now. It was well past nine o’clock in the morning. That was pretty late, considering that he normally rose before five o’clock to head to the hotel gym to work out every morning. She suspected that he’d already gone through his brutal workout and was showered and off to…whatever it was that royal princes do on the weekends in foreign cities.
Pulling on a pair of leggings and, because the temperature was only getting up into the mid-fifties today, a sweatshirt, she grabbed a pair of thick socks and quickly brushed her hair, then dabbed on a touch of makeup. Just in case he was still here, she told herself.
“Just to look professional,” she whispered to the mirror. “The makeup has nothing to do with my emotional stupidity.”
Stepping out of her bedroom, she walked down the hallway, not exactly sure how she was going to face Tarin this morning. If he was even here, she thought with increasing hope.
Unfortunately, her hope was dashed as soon as she stepped into the main living area of the suite. Tarin was there, reading a newspaper and drinking coffee.
He was hidden behind the newspaper and, for a moment, she considered slipping away and hiding in her bedroom to wait him out. Last night’s massage and…well, everything else seemed to be a good topic to avoid. But she also knew Tarin and he wasn’t the kind who avoided problems. He confronted them head-on.
“Not gonna work, Rachel,” he called out, not even lowering the newspaper.
Darn it! How had he known she was standing here? And how had he read her mind so easily?
Scary man.
“I wasn’t…”
His paper flipped down and he folded it up, tossing it onto the low coffee table in front of him. “You were trying to avoid seeing me after last night, weren’t you?”
Yes! “No. Absolutely not.”
“Good. Then come get your coffee and let’s talk.”
Rachel was torn. The coffee was on the other side of the living room, over towards the dining room table. But safety was behind her. She’d have to walk all the way across the room with him watching her. Cowardly? You betcha! And unashamed.
“I think I’d rather…”
“We need to talk,” he told her, cutting off whatever she was going to say. “Get some coffee, Rachel,” he repeated, then stood up, resting his hands on his hips. “We need to clear up a few things.”
Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward, her stomach sinking with dread. Was he going to fire her? Did he realize the depth of her feelings for him? Surely he couldn’t know that she lo…liked him in that way. But he was a bit more intuitive than she was. Perhaps he’d noticed something she hadn’t even realized was happening.
Nothing to do about it other than tough it out. So instead of standing there like the coward she was, Rachel lifted her chin and walked slowly, steadily across the room. Pouring herself a cup of coffee, she picked it up, then took the porcelain cup out of the saucer since it was shaking so badly, it was rattling.
“Nervous?” he asked when she sat down across from him.
She debated lying to him, but took a deep breath and nodded. “Terrified,” she confirmed.
“About what?”
“About this conversation. Are you going to fire me?” she asked. That was probably for the best, she thought. Being fired would at least get her away from him. She didn’t need to have feelings for a man so completely out of her league.
“No! I’m not going to fire you. There’s no reason to fire you and you’re the best project manager I’ve ever worked with.”
“Oh,” she whispered, startled by his praise. She’d vaguely hoped that she’d been doing a good job over the past few weeks. But he hadn’t said anything. “Um…thank you.”
“You know that you’re outstanding. You’re excellent with details and regularly see things that I missed. So, don’t ever doubt your worth, Rachel. You’re good and you should know that by now.”
Wow! That was incredibly high praise!
Cradling her coffee, she stared across the coffee table at him. “So…what’s this conversation about?”
“It can’t have missed your attention that I want you.” He stated that so clearly, as if the statement wasn’t like a bomb that had just been dropped into the room. “Sexually.”
Woah! “Um…!” Rachel lowered her eyes, feeling her cheeks blossom with burning color. “That’s…!” Amazing! Exciting! Shocking! Oh and terrifying too! Yep, totally terrifying!
“Give me your honesty, Rachel. I need to hear how you feel about me.”
She looked up, directly into his hazel eyes. “Your…”
“Rachel, I had my hands all over your body last night and I put you to bed.” He paused, letting that image settle between the two of them. His voice deepened as he said, “I’m hoping to do the same tonight, but I’m also hoping that I’ll be in that bed with you this time. So, it’s way too late for you to use my title now. It’s past time for you to use my first name.”
Rachel looked at him, contemplating her answer. “How about this. I’ll use your first name when we’re in private, but when we’re out in public, I use your title.”
He leaned back against the sofa, stretching his arms out across the cushions as he contemplated her for a long moment. “So, you want to hide our relationship?”
She shifted slightly, shaking her head. “At the moment, we only have a professional relationship.”
Those too-knowing eyes narrowed on her. “You and I both know that’s going to change. Today.”
“I don’t know that at all,” she countered, her green eyes challenging now. “Last night, you…touched me. But that’s nothing new. We’ve been working closely together for the past…”
“Don’t,” he interrupted. “You and I both know that last night was different. And if you are going to sit over there looking lovely and tempting, then I’m going to have to head over there and prove to you that things have changed. That we’re both aware of the sexual intensity that literally throbs every time we’re in the same room.”
She nibbled her lip. Should she be honest with him? But if she did, would there be anything left? And…would he laugh at her? He’d said that he wanted her, but for how long? She wasn’t the kind of woman who held a man’s interest, especially not someone as intense and powerful as Prince Tarin!
And yet, as she watched him, debating how to respond, Rachel knew that she had to be honest with him. “Yes. I feel it. But I don’t think we should pursue a personal relationship.”
Instead of becoming offended or angry, as another man might, Tarin simply tilted his head to the side. “Why not?”
Rachel set her cup down on the coffee table. “Because I’m not made that way. I don’t do casual relationships. You might be able to do that. But with me, relationships are very personal. They have to be, otherwise, I’m not interested.”
His eyes brightened as if she’d just confirmed his suspicions.
“So, you’re saying that you already have feelings for me.” It was a statement, not a question.
Rachel swallowed, looking down at her hands folded in front of her. “I…don’t know.” That was about as honest as she could be at the moment. “You scare me…Tarin.” There! She’d said it! She’d used his name!
Wow, it felt…liberating and terrifying, both at the same time!
“Feels good, doe
sn’t it?” he teased.
“No!” she countered. “You are a scary man, Tarin. I don’t think I could ever fit into your world. And that doesn’t make me feel good about contemplating a relationship with you.”
He moved over to sit beside her. “Okay, so you’re scared. So am I,” he told her, taking her hand.
She snorted, shaking her head. “That’s a lie. You’ve never been scared of anything in your life. Admit it.”
He shrugged. “I’ve always been bigger than most of my peers. But my older brother used to scare me.”
She rolled her eyes. “I doubt it. What could your brother possibly do that would scare you?”
“He draws.”
Rachel heard him, but the terrifying Sheik Amit el Raminar…drawing? “No way!”
“Yep. When he’s stressed about something, he just picks up his notebook and draws anything and everything. He used to draw monsters and scary stuff, and would leave the pictures on our beds.” Tarin shook his head. “Scared the sh…I was scared,” he finished with a chuckle. “My brother has an incredible imagination. Plus, he’d convinced us that he could only draw things that he could see. And he’d tell us that he’d seen the monsters in our closets or under our beds.”
She laughed, delighted with this glimpse into Tarin’s childhood. “That sounds horrible. What did you do?”
He shrugged. “I stayed up some nights, waiting for the monsters to show themselves. Then my parents would get angry with me for falling asleep at the breakfast table. I’d tell them what Amit had done and then he’d get into trouble. He’d then make a scarier drawing and the whole process would start over.”
She giggled, slapping a hand over her mouth. “That sounds awful. You were mean siblings.”
“You have a sister. What was it like growing up with her?” he asked, taking her hand and turning it over so that he could trace pictures on her palm.
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