He didn’t want her moving out.

He wanted her where he could keep an eye on her.

But before he could argue the point further, the pressures of the day finally caught up with him and he felt the room shift.

She noticed immediately. ‘Go upstairs. Lie down on the bed and I’ll bring you some supper.’

He didn’t argue.

Instead, he dragged himself upstairs and sprawled on the bed, eyes closed, and moments later he heard her soft tread as she walked into the room.

He was still wondering whether he could be bothered to get undressed when he felt the bed dip as she sat down beside him.

‘Take your shirt off and roll over.’

He opened one eye and gave her a wry look. ‘Is that your best pick-up line?’

‘It’s my massage line.’ She reached out and undid the buttons on his shirt herself. For a moment he thought he saw her fingers tremble slightly but when he looked at her face she was perfectly calm and he decided that he must have imagined it. ‘You take it off while I light the candles.’

‘Candles?’ He shrugged out of his shirt, noticing for the first time that she’d placed several candles next to the bed, along with some tiny bottles. ‘Why do we need candles?’

‘I’m trying to create the right atmosphere to help you relax.’

She lit the candles, flicked off the main lights and the bedroom was immediately plunged into semi-darkness, lit only by an intimate glow.

Relax?

Alex shot her an incredulous look and then realised that she truly had no idea what she was doing. He swore softly under his breath. She was unbelievably naïve about sex. Here she was with a half-naked man on the bed and she was lighting candles.

She obviously believed that she was creating an atmosphere of relaxation whereas, in fact, what she’d created was an atmosphere of seduction.

The dimly lit room, the scented oils and a half-naked man on the bed…

And he didn’t feel relaxed at all.

In fact, his whole body was throbbing with suppressed sexual tension.

He propped himself up on his elbows and watched as she walked back into his bathroom and picked up some towels.

She spread one out on the bed next to him and then gave him a shy smile.

‘You might want to take your trousers off. If you fall asleep you’re going to be uncomfortable in them.’

Fall asleep? There was absolutely no way he’d fall asleep the way he felt at the moment, and as for the trousers—well, at least they were covering up his reaction to her.

Nevertheless he found himself undoing his trousers and sliding them down his thighs.

She was warming some oil between her hands. ‘Now, lie on your front and I’ll cover your lower half so you don’t get cold.’

He gritted his teeth and did as he was told, although lying on his stomach wasn’t easy given his current physical condition. At least it would make it easier to disguise how she made him feel.