Page 103 of Thief of Hearts

“Why are you standing?” I asked. What an inane question. I had only asked it because I’d wanted him to remain where he was, kneeling between my legs.

“If I stay down there, I’m going to do things I shouldn’t. Also, it’s much easier to undress this way.”

My brain wasn’t functioning properly, so it took me a moment to understand what he was saying.

And he already had his tunic off before it registered.

Oh, goddess help me.

I might have been able to handle this, barely, if he’d stayed clothed. But he’d removed his tunic.

And this room had so many torches it was lit up like it was daytime. His undergarment was still on, but I could see everything else and I just stared. How could anyone be this handsome? This attractive?

This perfect?

Like one of the gods descending and deigning to join us mere mortals.

Then he went and made everything worse. He crawled onto the bed like he intended to devour me, never taking his eyes off mine.

He began to undo my belt. Watching me. Silently asking for permission.

Which he knew he had because I would have stopped him otherwise.

The belt slid off and the dress went loose, the careful folds and tucks the maidservants had done melting away. He lifted my head by the back of my neck so that he could get the dress off me.

I had gone swimming with friends in my breast band and undergarment many times and it had never seemed very significant.

But with Zain watching me? I felt naked.

He drew in a sharp breath. “Eramis help me, but the chance to look at you and not have to look away . . . to be able to just drink you in . . .”

I hated that I knew exactly what he meant. He used the fingers of his right hand and started at the base of my throat, running them straight down my torso without touching anything interesting. Heat coiled in my stomach not only from his touch, but from the lazy, predatory, and all-consuming way that he looked at me.

It was then that I realized he was also shielding me from the spy’s view. He’d made a show of taking off my dress so the spy would know it had happened, but they couldn’t see me.

I needed to remember who we were and what had happened and not let things go too far. “You’re a very good actor.”

“I’m not acting, my illora. I have no need to pretend.” His flattened hand glided along my stomach, moving from side to side.

I put my hand over his, stilling it. “What?”

This time he didn’t look me in my face. “Nothing has changed for me. I didn’t lie about liking you. I didn’t lie about wanting you.”

Goddess, how I wished nothing had changed for me, either. Or that I could trust anything he was saying now. He had lied to get close to me. And to my eternal shame, it had worked.

“Just be honest now. You don’t need to lie to me anymore.”

“I’m not lying, my illora.”

I swallowed something hard and painful. “How am I ever supposed to believe you?”

His gaze came back to mine. “Pretend.”

He moved his body so that he was over mine, settling himself on top of me, and desire-laced shivers coursed through me at the contact of his skin on mine. I was too hot, my body felt too tight.

His hips rocked against mine and I made a sound I was desperate not to make.

“Pretend we’re just worshipping your goddess.”