Page 11 of Awaken the Dragon
Him.
The guard? Why? He was hired to assist her, to guard her in the way the Odò Guard would have done if she were a descendent of an oba, or from a ruling family in the small secluded village of Mobo.
Her breasts felt heavy just thinking about him. The throbbing between her legs had been a persistent hum in the hours since she’d first climbed on his bike. Lust was the name of the physical symptoms she was experiencing. Sex was the remedy for the affliction. All of which were a distraction she could not afford to indulge.
A soft knock sounded at the door and her heartbeat immediately quickened. He was just a few steps away. She pulled the sheet back over her body, tucking it around the sides like she really thought he would come into the room and try to rip it off. A foolish, yet alluring, thought to go along with all the others she conjured about him.
“Yes?” she answered after clearing her throat.
“Do you want to order breakfast?”
His voice was a low rumble that breezed over her skin. Shola closed her eyes as his simple question replayed in her mind. Her body was reacting to the sound of his voice and she didn’t like it, or at least she didn’t think that was something she should like.
“I am not hungry.”
“I’ll order coffee and juice. My other agent is on his way.”
She sat up in the bed. The other agent would take over and Theo would leave. That’s what he told her last night. That would be a good thing, a smart thing.
“I will be out shortly.”
He didn’t respond. She wanted him to because then she would hear his voice again. Shaking her head, she thrust her fingers through her hair and chastised herself for going off task again. What did it matter who the guard was? No one would be able to stop what she had come here to do.
Fifteen minutes later she was showered and dressed in beige pants and a brown T-shirt. She found leather flats in one of her suitcases and went to the mirror to comb her sometimes unruly hair. After fussing over it for longer than was normal she ended with a leather band tied around her head to hold back the curly mass. She walked to the door and paused with her hand on the knob when it occurred to her what she’d been doing. Shola had prepped for many things in her life, but never to see a man.
Chapter Five
He was the sky. The stretch that went on into oblivion. The infinite air sifting through his lungs and rippling along his skin. The freedom. The power. The legend.
“Hello.”
He’d been looking up to the pale blue sky void of clouds or any things flying among them when his head dropped and Theo turned to see her standing between the glass doors.
After being so keenly aware of scent and sound last night, how did she continue to sneak up on him? How could he be who he was and she still affect him this way?
And why did she look the way she did so early in the morning—fresh, pretty, sexy in those baggy pants and fitted shirt?
She lifted a hand and waved when he stared at her. And then she smiled, a short little smile that gave a quick glimpse at dimples in her cheeks. Had he ever seen dimples on a woman before? If so, he was certain there’d been no immediate jolt to his system at the sight, like there was this time.
“Hello,” he replied because it was lame to continue gawking at her.
“Do you know if there will be more bags coming? I am waiting for a delivery.”
She brought her arms together to clasp her hands in front of her. Small hands with unpolished blunt-tipped nails.
“We can check with the front desk. And there’s coffee and juice. I didn’t know which you preferred.”
“Juice is fine.”
He pointed to a small round table with two chairs, not sure why he’d asked the attendant to bring the tray of beverages out here this time. Probably because he’d been standing out here for the past few hours wondering about that scent from last night, but not wanting to leave Shola in this room alone to go find out what it was.
She walked from the doorway and he watched her move. Willowy steps on flat brown sandals that covered her feet, long arms swaying at her sides and a slow descent into the chair. He was certain he’d never taken the time to watch a woman walk before. His interludes with them were much more focused than that—in bed, done, maybe in bed a second time.
“Do you take your job so literally that you plan to watch everything I do?”
She didn’t look up at him as she spoke, but poured herself a glass of orange juice and then set the pitcher of juice on the table before lifting the glass to her lips to take a sip.
Hell no he definitely could not afford to watch everything she did. That would be the definition of insanity and the way he figured, he had a couple hundred years more before he reached that goal.
