He shook his head.“No.I quite liked kissing you.I thought about it many times since.How I might do it differently.”
“Differently?”she repeated, her confusion evident.
“Longer,” he clarified.He lifted a shoulder.“And I like holding you,” he said, reaching out with a hand to place it at her waist.When she didn’t push it away, he tightened his grip on her.
“I like it when you hold me,” she replied, stepping close enough so they nearly touched, her skirts pressed against his pantaloons.“As you were doing earlier.”
He hesitated before wrapping his other arm around her shoulder, his gloved hand pressing against her shoulder blade.“I wanted to ask you if...”
When he didn’t continue, Helen sighed and suddenly lifted onto her tiptoes, her lips touching his as one of her hands went to his shoulder for support.
For a moment, she felt only his breath on her cheek, heard only the sound of birds, and felt only the heat of his lips on hers.When his tongue invaded her mouth, she tasted him and moaned softly.
He pulled his lips away to inhale a breath, but he pulled her closer.When he resumed the kiss, it was as if he had been a starving man, as if he couldn’t get enough of her.
Consumed as she was in the kiss, it was all Helen could do to hold on, both of her hands gripping his shoulders until his arms tightened their hold on her and she was fully pressed against the front of his body.
Heat suffused the front of her bodice even as she realized she could feel his heartbeats against her breasts.Or maybe it was her own heart, the pulse sounding loud in her ears as he deepened the kiss.
When she finally had to end the kiss to take a gulping breath, she stared up at him.
His eyes were glazed over, and for a moment, he didn’t appear to know where he was.When they cleared, he visibly swallowed, released his hold on her, and stepped back.“Apologies,” he whispered.
She blinked.“For what?”she asked.
But he had already disappeared, leaving her by herself behind the statues of a god and his lover.
When she emerged back into the sunlight, she turned and regarded the Amun and Mut with a frown.“A lot of help you were,” she murmured on a sigh of frustration.
When the group returned to the hotel, she did so on the arm of David.
