Erika swallowed hard as his eyes darkened. His eyes clearly were fucking her as they studied her body. She was certain of it. Maybe he was saying yes, too?
Damn it! No! This can’t happen, Jean! Shut it down! Now!
“Okay. Follow me, then. My car is just outside. I’ll take you to meet King Rayan Michel first. And then I will take you to the hotel we’ve booked for you.”
“I’ve heard the king has done a lot of development on Marathi Island. It’s now commercialized with several hotels, restaurants, and housing developments. He’s taking great strides to get closer to his people. I admire that.”
“I do, too. I’m not all that social myself, but Carol is good for people like him and me. She’s quite the chatterbox—but in a good way, of course!”
“Of course.”
She immediately turned around and regretted it because she felt his steely blue gaze go straight to her ass. And was she actually sauntering to accentuate the wide and shapely load she called her backside? Was she really doing that? Fuck! She was! She bit her lip to stifle a sigh. Heat rushed through her back, clinging to every curve as if he were branding her with his gaze alone. Who was he? Team Jacob in the most apparent literal sense? Because his stare alone was like standing next to the sun! WTF?
“So the debriefing folder told me I’ll be working with you in some capacity. I’m supposed to be your assistant to King Rayan. At least, that’s what my undercover story is as a BS agent. Does that mean I get a cubical next to you or something similar?”
Erika kept walking straight while fumbling for her keys in her purse. She grew hell-bent on getting to the car to drive him where he needed to go, specifically the hotel, so Erika could run away from him as fast as her lynx legs would take her. She needed time to think. Time to sort out what was going on in her head. And most definitely time to stop thinking about wrapping her legs around his waist!
“Yes.”
And there was the breathy tone again. What was this guy doing to her? Was he some sort of shifter witch, hell-bent on putting her under his spell? And now, she had to work with the guy!
Forget about the next several days! How would she last an entire day around him when she couldn’t last two minutes in the same breathing space as he was right now?
Just the thought made the keys in her hands shake, and they quickly slipped out of her grip as she failed to stick the damned thing in the hole.
Bet he wouldn’t have any problems finding the hole on his first try. Damn it, Erika! Stop thinking about jumping the man’s bones!
Oh my god, she shouldn’t be thinking these things! The keys made a loud crashing noise, and both she and he crouched to the ground to grab them. When his hand palmed hers, she felt his scorching touch and mewled, literally, like a lynx in heat! The horror! Her gaze stayed on their hands clasped together as she counted the seconds his palm lingered on hers. She tried to will her hand free from his grasp, but she remained frozen in place.
He rubbed a smooth thumb over the back of her hand before he released his grip on her. She sucked in a breath, trying to compose herself, and willed herself to stand all at once, but then his hand palmed her cheek, and Erika’s heart caught in her throat. It was pounding so damned hard that she wouldn’t have been surprised if he heard it. Llamas had excellent hearing, sight, and smell. And if she was being honest with herself? She knew he could sense her musky scent drenching her panties and all from him touching her hand.
“Your skin is so soft, Erika.”
His lips were less than an inch from her ear, and the heat lit her skin with goosebumps.
“And I love how responsive your soft skin is to my touch, kitten. You don’t mind me calling you kitten, since you’re a lynx, do you? Because that sexy mewl of yours is too damned cute not to give you a nickname.”
Okay, so if she doubted it before, she knew it now. This man was clearly attracted to her, but this couldn’t happen between them. They had a job to do, and no amount of eye-fucking from the heavenly man before her would change her mind about this. If she didn’t cock-block him now, they’d be fucking like jackrabbits, and she was pretty sure Rayan would disapprove. No. She had to not only cock-block him, but she had to clam-jam herself, too. It was the only way she could keep her sanity intact. She rose from her squatted position and placed some distance between them.
“Mr. Taylor, let me make something clear. This”—she motioned a hand between them—“will not happen as long as we are working together.”
Crap! Did she just give him an out? Fuck! Who was she kidding! She’d given herself an out, too! Why did she do that? She dared a glance his way, and a cocky grin formed on his lips.
Yeah, he’s taking it as a challenge-accepted sort of thing because, of course, he is!
I’m so fucked right now.
She almost groaned at her poor word choice—almost.
“Okay, Miss Jean. We can play it your way… For now.”
6
Erika was even more gorgeous in person than in her photo. And while he’d spent the end of his flight worrying about his lack of people skills, he’d surprised himself by not having any trouble talking to her. Oh no, quite the opposite. Somehow, he’d managed to speak like some kind of Casanova, with words rolling off his tongue easily to lavish her with sweet talk. It was like seeing Erika in person had unlocked the llama’s innate social abilities that he’d previously not had access to.
Maybe it was because she smelled like roses and lilies, his favorite combination, which he’d decided right then and there when he took in his first breath of her.
But if he was being honest with himself, once he palmed her hand and caught her distinct feminine musky scent, he liked that too. His dick twitched the minute her skin broke out in goosebumps, and oh, how he wished he could slip his palm between her thighs to see just how wet she was from his touch. No woman he’d ever dated before was that responsive to him, and he loved it.
