“Are you watching, goddess? This is only the start.”

“You’re not . . .” She pressed the back of her head against the wall. She couldn’t get any farther from him unless she made a run for it, back into the snow. The amber flame in her eyes promised that wouldn’t happen. “You’re not going to go through with it,” she said with more conviction. “I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t believe me? Which part of my behavior has led you to think I don’t follow through with threats? Or that I don’t have it in me to be more nasty or underhanded than you can imagine?”

“I don’t have to imagine nasty or underhanded.” Her voice was tart and her expression fierce. “I’ve seen it and lived it. Give me softness and promises—that I wouldn’t imagine.”

“Alas.” He banked an impulse to take her by surprise yet again, by giving her exactly that. “This is the best I can come up with. And for inexplicable reasons, you want to think the best of me. Strange, I know. So watch and enjoy. A living god is going to do his best to keep your mind thoroughly occupied.”

“A living . . . Wait.” She stood and crossed her hands as if to stop anything and everything happening in that small, drafty room. “Why did you call yourself that? ‘A living god.’ Why that phrase?”

“Not a clue. You’re my false goddess. I might as well return the favor.”

“No. I don’t . . .” Frowning so fiercely that Tallis wanted to ease his thumb between her brows, she backed flush against the wall and tucked her hands out of sight. “Never mind.”

Tallis shrugged, although her behavior set him on edge. Fuck it. He wanted her on edge, and he wanted to get clean. “Suit yourself.”

He pulled off layers of shirts and basked in Kavya’s quiet inhale. The water was still hot enough to numb the ends of his fingers. He rinsed the cloth, then set about rubbing away grime and sweat. The aftermath wasn’t as pleasant, as drafts skittered chills across his skin. Whenever he closed his eyes to better absorb the sting of heat and the shudder of cold, he wondered what she was thinking. Was she equally affected by the moment? For all he knew, he could strip naked while sporting the hard-on to end all hard-ons, and she’d only stare at him with an expression of disdain and wariness.

Kavya was a hard woman to understand. Rather than feel vulnerable, as he often had during dreams of the Sun, he was excited by the unknowns she presented during every minute of their acquaintance. She was the virgin, and yet as he washed more of his body, he felt inexperienced. Adrift.

This was supposed to be about distracting her. Seducing her.

Tallis opened his eyes and was surprised to find Kavya had stepped away from the wall. She was within touching distance. Had he been so lost in his thoughts that her quiet steps went unnoticed?

“You want something?” he asked with a lift of his brows. “Have you come to help me out or to hit me?”

“Both?”

“I like that, although it might depend on the order.”

“Give me the rag.” She snatched it before he any chance to reply. “Turn around.”

Scalding cloth met the stretch of flesh between his shoulder blades. He hissed, then let the breath out slowly. She didn’t caress him; she definitely meant the rough up-and-down to be a hearty scrub. But Tallis smiled to himself. She was washing him. Life had turned unexpectedly sunny, despite weather and terror and confusion that demanded he think otherwise.

“I didn’t know I’d be getting help,” he said. “Shall I offer to return the favor?”

“You know I already washed.”

“In the equivalent of a glacial stream.” He bent at the waist and shucked his cargos without pretense. Kavya gave a little squeak. “Now keep washing, or give it to me before you pass out.”

She slapped the cloth into the water, splashing droplets of fire across his stomach. “I was only doing you a favor.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

Kavya retreated until she once again connected with the wall. She was looking at him—all of him, with particular attention to his ready cock. That she remained clothed was lamentable, but she remained luminous. He’d never met anyone who seemed made of light. He was only thankful he’d discovered that she was a genuine woman with a temper and a hefty dose of arrogance. She was real. And she was still made of light.

Tallis continued his wash. He rinsed and scrubbed, rinsed and smoothed. She never took her eyes off movements meant to be practical yet provocative. At least he’d reclaimed his self-control, especially when he wrapped his cock in the hot cloth. Had he been alone, or had she been any more experienced, he would have stroked more than the once, twice he permitted.

Back around to his balls.

Back up to his aching, swollen head.

Then two more strokes.

As such, he managed the one part of his hands-off seduction he’d known would be most difficult—washing the physical expression of his desire—without indulging too much.

He turned away on a heavy exhale and washed his hair with their sliver of soap, rinsed out the cloth, and dried himself with his last clean flannel shirt. He stood naked before her for an endless span of seconds.

She only pulled the blanket more closely around her shoulders.

“Now, unless you want to stroke my prick as well, I suggest you lie down and get some rest.”

Tallis grabbed the blanket from her slack hands and settled onto the single bed, his body crammed against the wall. There was plenty of room for her to join him, and they’d barely need to touch. Yet whether she joined him or not, he wouldn’t be sleeping that night. Either he’d stay awake listening to her little sounds and intakes of breath, or he’d lie stock-still with her body tucked against his. Not touching. Only imagining.

She didn’t seem ready to sleep either. She dimmed the room’s one lamp, walking and moving as if in a daze. Using his coat as padding, she lay down in a corner of the room and made herself into a tight ball.

So he spent the night listening—dreading, hoping, wondering when she’d relent and come to bed.

—

Kavya sat in the corner wrapped in Sherpa, leather, flannel, and silk. So many textures, and so many scents. The scent of one man in particular would’ve kept her awake all night, had she been inclined toward sleep.

She’d never seen anything so erotic, all the while knowing Tallis had performed his taunting striptease for reasons that had nothing to do with enjoyment. He’d been distracting her; that much was legitimate. He’d also been mocking her, with his curling smile and arrogant stance. Everything about the casual grace of his body said he knew what it was to touch in ways she’d never experienced. He had kissed her, and now she knew what had been hidden under the bulky coat she used as bedding.

Male perfection.

She couldn’t think past that word. Perfection. His limbs were long and strong, with muscles defined by lithe, sweeping curves. He reminded her of an acrobat or a dancer, where bulk wasn’t prized so much as agility. Lines bisected his abdominals and marked the boundary of each cluster of muscles. His pectorals and lean, strong thighs were dusted with dark hair. She could see his power in the flex of every movement, and in memories of how he’d carried her through the blizzard.

And his cock.

Kavya pressed fingertips against her eyelids and kept pressing. She’d never seen its like. The male anatomy was not a mystery, telepathically or physically. Even aroused men were familiar to her—too familiar, in some circumstances. To stand in such close proximity, so that she could see every ridge and vein, was entirely new. He pulsed with energy that built and built and gathered right there. Yes, that was new indeed. That was new like seeing fire for the first time.

The sight of fire wasn’t as impressive as its warmth. Feeling its warmth wasn’t as daring as getting closer, closer, wondering how it would feel to be consumed by something so beautifully elemental.