the rosy tip with his tongue—
‘If you are sure you are all right …’ He nodded abruptly, knowing he had to leave now or put into practice all the things he was imagining doing with Brynne.
‘Yes, of course I—’ Brynne broke off, having started to cross the room to encourage his exit before coming to an abrupt halt, wincing slightly as she did so. ‘I’m fine,’ she told him brightly. ‘Just fine.’
Alejandro’s brow furrowed. ‘Somehow I do not think so …’ he murmured slowly, stepping farther into the bedroom.
‘Please, Alejandro,’ she said in protest, knowing that she shouldn’t have moved, because it had caused the material of her top to rub painfully over her red and throbbing back. ‘What could possibly be wrong?’ she dismissed.
‘I do not—’ He broke off, standing only inches away from her now as he looked down into her face. ‘You look—strained …’ he finally murmured.
‘Well, that’s hardly flattering, Alejandro,’ she told him dryly, wishing he would just leave.
She needed him to go now, and not just because she desperately needed to put some more cream on her back!
Alejandro shook his head, not in the least convinced by her attempt at humour. ‘I refuse to leave until you tell me what is wrong, Brynne,’ he said firmly.
She gave a disbelieving laugh. ‘I could just scream,’ she warned.
Her humour was still forced, in Alejandro’s opinion. ‘Is it Michael? Your parents, perhaps? Tell me what is wrong, Brynne,’ he repeated sharply.
Her mouth set stubbornly. ‘Nothing is—oh, very well,’ she snapped impatiently as Alejandro continued to look at her. ‘I just stayed out in the sun too long this afternoon, that’s all. Are you satisfied? Will you leave my bedroom now?’ She glared at him, colour flooding her cheeks.
It was what he should do, Alejandro knew. To do anything else could be dangerous in the extreme.
But he also knew that the Majorcan sun could be fierce in the afternoons, and if Brynne really had stayed out in it too long …
‘Show me,’ he said impatiently.
Brynne stared up at him with wide eyes. Show him? Take her top off and—
No way! There was absolutely no way she was going to undress for this man, even though the idea was making her body tingle all over.
‘I don’t think so,’ she told him primly. ‘I’m quite capable of dealing with it myself, thank you,’ she added defiantly as he still stood looking at her in that arrogant way that said he could be just as stubborn as she could.
‘Obviously not if you are still in pain,’ Alejandro rasped tersely.
‘I’ve put some after-sun on,’ she assured him irritably as she moved across the room to pick the bottle up from the bedside table. ‘Here. See.’ She held it up.
‘On where?’ His voice was silkily smooth.
She could feel the heat in her cheeks once again. ‘On my back. Now would you please—’
‘You cannot possibly reach the whole of your back,’ Alejandro told her with maddening accuracy.
Brynne was becoming more and more agitated by the minute.
Wasn’t it humiliating enough that he had kissed her earlier, that she had found herself becoming aroused just by his presence in this room, without having to bare her back to him?
‘I can reach far enough,’ she told him stubbornly.
‘I disagree—’
‘Do you know something, Alejandro?’ she interrupted. ‘It’s of absolutely no interest to me whether or not you agree or disagree with me! Now please leave my bedroom before I start to scream with rage!’
Alejandro continued to look at her, noting the fire in her eyes, and the flush to her cheeks. But was that with temper? Or something else …?
He shrugged. ‘Perhaps that is the answer, after all,’ he murmured as he took the bottle of after-sun from her unresisting fingers and began to unscrew the top. ‘If Maria comes in answer to your scream then she can put on the after-sun for you instead of me!’ he said in a mocking tone as Brynne frowned.
He was nowhere near as calm and controlled as he wished to appear though. The thought of running his hands across Brynne’s back, and feeling her soft skin beneath his fingertips, was playing havoc with his self-control. His hands shook slightly as he tipped some of the after-sun lotion into the palm of his hand.
‘Do as I say, Brynne,’ he told her, his voice coming out harshly as he acknowledged his deepening arousal. And he hadn’t even touched her yet!
Brynne glared at him for several more seconds before letting her breath out in an angry hiss. ‘Oh, all right!’ she snapped before marching over to the bed and lying down on her stomach, pulling the back of her top up as she did so. At least she could try to protect some of her modesty—
‘That will not do, Brynne,’ Alejandro said quietly from just behind her. ‘I cannot reach your shoulders or the top of your back like that,’ he explained patiently as she turned to frown at him.
No, he couldn’t, could he? she conceded with an irritated sigh, sitting up to turn away from him as she undid the buttons to her top—mainly so that he shouldn’t see the way her hands were shaking!
‘Will you please look the other way for a moment?’ she told him uncomfortably, waiting until he had done so before dropping her top to the floor and then quickly moving to lie face down on the bed once again, her face burning now rather than her back—with pure embarrassment!
Alejandro sat down on the side of the bed to rub some of the cream onto his hands, then began to caress the lotion into her burning shoulders, relieving some of the soreness but at the same time instantly creating a burning sensation somewhere else in her body.
Brynne’s skin felt just as luxuriously silky as Alejandro had imagined it would, and his hands were necessarily gentle as he sensed her discomfort.
As he leant forward he could see the gentle swell of her breasts as they pressed into the cool sheets beneath her, a tantalizing glimpse that made him long to see them fully. He imagined running his hands over her there too, to bring her another sort of relief—
‘To lie out in the sun and let yourself get burnt like this was an extremely stupid thing to do,’ he declared harshly in an effort to hide his rapidly rising desire.
Brynne lifted her head to glare at him. ‘Oh, yes, I just sat out there and got burnt on purpose!’ she replied scathingly. ‘I fell asleep, okay?’ she added as she once again buried her face into the pillow.
Alejandro smiled slightly at her obvious annoyance with herself.
‘I hope that isn’t a smirk I see on your face, Alejandro Santiago!’ Brynne said indignantly, having opened one eye to look at him.
His smile deepened. ‘You
