Page 102 of Thief of Hearts

He reached into my dress and parted it on both sides over my legs. I’d had no idea that these slits existed. But the skirt became three parts—one on the outside of each leg and then a large strip that hung down the middle.

But every inch of my legs was visible to him.

He began by stroking his fingers from the top of my thighs, down over my knees, and then all the way down to my feet. I shuddered.

“What is happening inside that mind of yours, my illora?”

I didn’t even know what that word meant but I wanted to snap at him and say that he’d lost the privilege of using it.

Although that would reveal too much about how he affected me.

I leaned forward and stroked the side of his face, looking at him with what I hoped depicted desire. I ignored the way he leaned into my touch. “I was thinking about how easily and quickly I could kill you.”

He swallowed his laughter, shaking his head. “Epirians take contracts seriously. They would question why you killed your manservant even though a contract is in place between us.”

“We don’t have a contract.”

“The Epirians don’t know that. They have contracts with all their servants.” He leaned down and kissed the inside of my right knee, then my left, and I sucked in a sharp breath. “I understand that you’re very angry with me, and you have every right to be. But we have to work together if we want to get out of this mess.”

Then he began kissing his way up my right leg. I told myself to be strong but it didn’t work. My thighs clenched and I balled my hands into fists so that I wouldn’t be tempted to reach for him.

I had to lean back, using my hands to prop me up because I had been that close to moving his head where I wanted it. He made it all the way to the top of my right inner thigh and I held my breath, waiting. The next place I felt his mouth was at the top of my left inner thigh and he began to kiss his way down again.

Given that the spy couldn’t see what he was doing, Zain didn’t need to actually be kissing and touching me but I couldn’t bring myself to say that. Instead I just soaked all the pleasure up.

I hated that this fire still burned between us. Or, it burned on my end and not his. How could I still want him this much after what he’d done?

“Still there?” he asked from somewhere around my ankle.

At first I thought he was asking if I was still there, which was a valid question because I felt like my soul might actually leave my body, this felt so good.

But he’d meant the spy. I flicked my gaze to the right and saw the eyes.

“Yes,” I said.

What if the spy was some kind of voyeur who enjoyed this? What if we had to keep going?

Because none of what Zain was doing was boring. If he thought this was boring, what would exciting look like to him?

“Are you enjoying this?” he asked me, his fingers stroking my calf while he licked around my anklebone.

“I don’t want to talk to you,” I said as my legs trembled and my breathing quickened. Which was true.

We should not be talking at all when there were other things we could be doing.

He straightened up, still on his knees. “Then don’t talk. Keep pretending.”

“What is it you want me to pretend?”

He pulled me by my legs so that I was flush against him. He put my legs around his waist and I couldn’t help but squeeze him. A flurry of sparks lit up everywhere his fingers touched my legs.

With me in place, he reached out to run his thumb over my lower lip. “Pretend that nothing bad happened between us. Pretend that you want me.”

Zain lowered his head to capture my lips in a soft kiss that set me on fire.

“Pretend that you are dying for me to touch you,” he said and then kissed me again. “Pretend that you have thought of nothing else but lying beneath me.”

He pushed me back and turned me so that I lay lengthwise on the bed. He stood and started removing his tunic.