At His Service: Her Boss the Hero: One Night With Her Boss / Her Very Special Boss / The Surgeon's Marriage Proposal

‘This is just a bit … weird.’

It was automatic to turn her head towards the person she was talking to. Not that she could see Tama. This was a darkness like nothing she had ever experienced. She wouldn’t be able to see her hand if she held it close enough to touch her nose.

Funny how it heightened other senses. She could feel Tama’s breath on her face. Smell him. A musky, masculine scent she could almost taste.

‘Scared, huh?’

Mikki hesitated. ‘Yes.’ The admission was reluctant because she wouldn’t be surprised if Tama thought less of her for it, but it was the truth. There was a real element of fear still lurking. If Tama hadn’t been here beside her, she would be terrified.

‘You should be,’ Tama said quietly. ‘Any intelligent person would be in a situation like this.’ He was shifting his weight now. Putting his arm around Mikki and pulling her closer. ‘You’re OK,’ he said. ‘I’m here.’

Mikki absorbed the reassurance. Allowed herself to sink into the circle of his arm and let the side of her body mould itself to his. Maybe she didn’t need to be so afraid of their environment but she still didn’t feel safe being this close to Tama.

‘It still feels weird,’ she said into the new silence.

‘Why?’ Tama chuckled and the puff of breath was warm. ‘You don’t make a habit of sleeping with men in holes in the snow?’

The teasing diffused the tension. ‘I don’t make a habit of sleeping with men at all.’

‘Whoa!’ She could hear Tama suck in his breath. ‘You a virgin, princess?’

‘No.’ For some obscure reason it felt like an insult. As though she might not be attractive enough to have had the opportunity. Or too uptight to consider sex before marriage acceptable. ‘And don’t call me that.’

‘Why not?’

‘I don’t like it.’

‘Hmm.’ Tama sounded interested now. ‘What else don’t you like? Apart from sleeping with men, that is.’

Mikki wanted to hit him. ‘I didn’t say I didn’t like sleeping with men. I said I didn’t make a habit of it.’

‘Good. Delighted to hear it.’

He sounded delighted. Why? What business was it of his, anyway?

‘What about you?’ Mikki countered.

‘I never sleep with men.’

Mikki snorted. ‘Very funny.’

‘And you’re the first woman I’ve slept with in … oh, ages.’

‘Yeah, weeks, I bet. And you’re not sleeping with me.’

‘Not yet,’ Tama conceded graciously. ‘But I will.’

Mikki held her breath unconsciously. There was such promise in those few words but did he mean slumber or sex?

‘You’re not breathing,’ Tama said softly.

‘Yes, I am.’ Mikki let her breath out with a whoosh. ‘See?’

‘Just as well. I was just starting to think I might need to resuscitate you.’

Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation? Mikki swallowed. She hadn’t imagined that tone of disappointment beneath the light banter. Was he looking for an excuse to kiss her? Desire kicked in and her heart missed a beat and sped up. It felt so obvious she was afraid Tama would be able to feel it as well. She tried to slow her heart rate by slowing her breathing. But that made it very quiet.

‘Uh-oh,’ Tama murmured. ‘You’re doing it again.’

He was so close Mikki could feel the words as much as hear them, and the distance closed as he spoke so that by the time he spoke the last word it simply morphed into a kiss. The talking finished but his lips kept moving on top of hers. Gently. And then more firmly.

It was a conversation all of its own with all the nuances that speech could contain with the tiny variations of pressure and position. Despite the deafening level of sound desire was trying to make, Mikki could ‘hear’ the underlying communication.

I like you. I’m interested.

Me, too.

I like this. Do you?

Yes. Oh … yes!

The kiss went on. And on. Desire was tightly reined in, which made it possible for this conversation to seem relaxed. A pleasure in itself that was not necessarily leading to anything else.

As naturally as the verbal communication had become non-verbal, the process was reversed.

‘Nice,’ Tama murmured as he drew back slowly. ‘Very nice.’

‘Mmm.’ Mikki ran her tongue over her lower lip. It still tingled. It still tasted of Tama. ‘Nice’ was far too pale a word.

‘You’re still safe,’ Tama told her. ‘I don’t do relationships.’

‘Oh?’ The statement should have been reassuring. Where did that frisson of disappointment come from? ‘No.’ The affirmation was definite. ‘How old are you?’

‘Thirty-six.’

‘And you’ve never had a relationship?’

‘Define “relationship”.’

‘Urn …’ Mikki had to think. ‘If you see someone more than a couple of times it becomes a relationship because you have the expectation of seeing them again. You want to see them again.’

‘Does it involve sex?’

‘At some point, if it’s an adult relationship, then sex is involved. That’s what makes it a relationship rather than just a friendship.’

‘OK. In that case, I take it back. I’ve had heaps of relationships.’

‘If you go into it knowing that it’s short term, it’s not a real relationship,’ Mikki continued as she thought aloud. ‘It becomes real when you start caring about that person. When you have the expectation that it’s going to continue and lead to something else.’