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If there had been any doubt that he was affected by her nudity, his swearing and hoarseness of voice sealed it.

She gently squeezed the breast in her head. “Want to join me?”

This time there wasn’t any response. Nothing at all.

His control was incredible to witness. And terrifying.

What was even more terrifying was knowing her heart was beating so hard in some kind of sick anticipation.

Trying to hide the struggle she was having to breathe, Elvira carefully backed into the shower cubicle, keeping the door open. Sliding her hand away from her breast, she reached behind her for the lever to turn the water on, and braced herself for the shock that would surely come.

She was right to brace herself. The water that poured over her was cold. The only mercy was that she’d positioned herself just off the shower head so only her back was caught in the downpour. In seconds though, it warmed up, not to as high a temperature as she liked, but one that was at least tolerable, and when she took a tiny step back and twisted just enough for the water to pour over her breasts, she saw the strong column of Mattia’s throat move.

Mattia had never concentrated so hard in his life. The gun in his hand felt like a dead weight. The urge to just let it fall to the floor was so strong it took extra focus to keep his grip on it.

He’d stepped into hell, a war waging between his eyes and his willpower. His eyes wanted to lower and take in the naked body that was currently a blur in his concentration.

Although Elvira’s naked body was a blur to him, he could see her breasts were higher and fuller than he’d imagined, her curves beyond feminine and that a light smattering of dark pubic hair covered the forbidden place he’d refused to let his hands get too close to when he’d swept her body for a hidden weapon.

Even then, some sixth sense had forbidden him from getting too close to her.

If she’d been any other woman, he’d have found the components that made her gun. He wouldn’t have cared if he’d touched her breasts or if his fingers had swept the mound of her most private part. He’d have conducted the search thoroughly and professionally and with his usual detachment.

But any other woman wasn’t Elvira Ranieri, and when he’d made the search it had been with a determination to get it done as quickly as possible.

Letting one of his men do it had been out of the question. He’d not wanted to touch her, but the violence of his body’s reaction at the thought of his men sweeping their hands over her body had been stronger than his own reluctance.

For the first time he was forced to admit that if he’d let one of his men do it, none of this torture would be happening. They would have found…

His thoughts suddenly scrambled. She must have double-jointed arms for, standing just a little in front of the shower’s spray, she’d reached effortlessly behind her and taken the shower gel, and now she was pouring copious amounts of it over her damp breasts.

She put the shower gel back on the mounted unit, her stare still locked on his, and now he was seeing her clearly, seeing everything clearly, the ability to blur his vision gone, and what he was seeing was more than a man could endure.

He had to endure it. There was no other choice, not with those beautiful silver eyes gleaming so knowingly at him.

She knew the effect she was having on him, and she was taunting him with it, and damn it, he wasn’t going to give an inch, because to give her an inch would mean his certain death… But, as she sensuously rubbed the gel into her skin, massaging it everywhere, slowly turning her smooth, olive body white with lather, the burn in his loins became such a torment that, combined with the glimmer of invitation in her eyes, holding himself back, forcing himself to stay right there, was a whole new form of concentration he’d never experienced before.

Maybe she was a vampire, he dimly thought, remembering how one of his brothers had recently remarked that the Ranieris had vampiric eyes. Mattia had known what his brother meant, but now he felt what he’d meant. Elvira was casting him in some kind of spell, using her sexual powers to lure him to her, and though he knew it would mean certain death, there was a part of him that thought one taste of her would make his death worthwhile.

With more strength than he’d known he possessed, he wrenched his stare away. It was only for the briefest of moments, just enough to blink sanity back into his brain and give himself a sharp reminder that this was no mystical creature in the shower but Elvira Ranieri.

Barely a beat could have passed before he locked his stare back onto hers, but the ability to blur his eyes was still missing, and God in heaven, she was cupping herself, her fingers moving over her pubis, her eyes burning into him, tempting him, daring him.

Was he imagining that her arm holding the gun had lowered a little? But there was no time to wonder more because she was twisting that beautiful body and lathering the last of the gel soaked in her hand over a backside that was beyond delectable.

Then, as if things couldn’t get worse, she moved her body beneath the shower’s spray and rinsed it all off, twisting and turning without taking her eyes off him or lowering the gun any further, and now all he could see was the beauty of her breasts, higher and fuller than he’d imagined, tipped with large pale brown nipples that were just begging to be taken into his mouth.

She turned the water off and stared at him, and suddenly he could see she was struggling to breathe too, had the notion he could see the ripples of her heart beating through her chest.

A long moment passed before she stepped forward. “Towel?”

His throat too thick for speech, he shook his head.

Uncaring, she stepped out of the cubicle, dripping water into a puddle on the tiled floor and the discarded clothes strewn over it. Somehow she’d managed to avoid getting her face wet, but much of her hair was soaked, the weight of the water pulling it down, making it even longer, and now he was thinking she was a mermaid who’d just emerged from the sea and was taking her first steps on human legs.

She stepped to the sink and took the solitary toothbrush from the plastic glass. “Yours?”

He twitched a nod.