“I think so, too. It’s never happened to me before.” He took her hand and raised it to his lips. “But I think it’s been growing on me. It doesn’t feel new.” He turned her hand over and kissed her palm. Heat. Tingling. Shock. His tongue moved gently upward, and she felt the tingling move to her wrist. “But you’ve got to watch me, because it keeps changing. It did just now, and at the moment it’s purely selfish and sexy as hell. It might not be a bad idea if you went back up to your room. I’d prefer not to take advantage of an emotional moment and then feel guilty later.” He grimaced as he lifted his head. “Though heaven knows I want to.”

“You mean you want to have sex with me? You mentioned that before.” Her wrist was still tingling, and her heart was pounding. Such a small thing to make her feel like this. She wanted to reach out and touch him. She moistened her lips. “And I’m not going through an emotional moment. I’ve lived with those memories too long to be hurt by them. They’re just ugly, and I don’t dwell on them. Maria taught me that you have to let them go and block them out. The only time you bring them out is if you can use them.”

“Wise woman.”

“Always.” She reached out and tentatively touched his lips. The pad of her index finger was throbbing as it moved slowly back and forth over that smooth, sensuous warmth. Just touching him was igniting that electric heat again. Not only in her hand and lower arm but in her breasts, which were swelling, tightening. There was a tingling, a clenching, in her lower body. “I…liked the feel of you. I think I want you to do it again. If you do want…to have sex with me I think it would be all right. But you might not enjoy it. I’m a virgin and I don’t know how to please you. Though I know some men even like rape. Volkov’s men kept talking about it. But I don’t think you would.” She felt his muscles stiffen, but she was too absorbed with tracing the texture of his upper lip to pay attention to it. “Maria said she’d teach me whenever I needed to learn.” Her gaze flew up to meet his eyes. “Would you like me to ask her? She told me she’s very, very good at it.”