Wrapped In Pleasure - Brenda Jackson [32]
He frowned. She was deliberately driving him mad.
“Like what you see, Your Highness?”
And she was deliberately provoking him.
Awareness joined the arousal already flaring in his eyes. He crossed his arms and looked at her assessingly, eager for her to strip. “Yes, I like what I see, but I want to see more.” She was inflaming him one minute and frustrating him the next. He knew this was a game to her, a game she intended to play out until the end…and win. She may be amused now but when this was over he would be the one cackling in sensuous delight.
“Anxious, aren’t you, Jamal?”
There was no reason for him to lie. “Yes.”
She grinned, tossing the towel aside. “I think we should go inside.”
He lifted a dark brow. As far as he was concerned here was just as good a place as anywhere. “Why?”
Delaney silently considered his question, sending him a sidelong glance. Did he actually think she would strip naked out in the open? “Because I prefer being inside when I take off my clothes.”
Jamal favored her with a long, frustrated sigh. “It doesn’t matter where you are as long as you take them off, Delaney. I’m holding you to your word.”
“And I’m holding you to yours.” She turned to go inside.
Following behind, close on her heels, he crossed the deck and quickly reached out and opened the back door for her.
She looked back over her shoulder and smiled. “Thanks, Jamal. You are such a gentleman,” she said in a low, throaty voice.
Jamal smiled. He hoped she thought that same thing a few hours from now. A true gentleman couldn’t possibly be thinking of doing some of the things that he planned to do to her. He would try to be a gentle man but beyond that he couldn’t and wouldn’t make any promises. As soon as they were inside with the door closed he said, “Okay, do it.”
Delaney shook her head thinking Jamal must have a fetish for a woman’s naked body. But she knew the reason he was challenging her and was so anxious to see her naked was because he really didn’t believe she would go through with it. He thought she was stringing him along. After all, she had told him she played to win. She glanced around. “Be real, Jamal. I can’t strip naked in a kitchen.”
He frowned at her. “Why not?”
She shrugged. “It’s not decent.”
Jamal couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re worried about decency dressed in an outfit like that?”
“Yes.”
Jamal rolled his eyes heavenward. “It’s not like you have a whole lot to take off, Delaney. You’re stalling.”
“I’m not stalling.”
“Then prove it.”
“All right. I’d feel better taking off my clothes in the bedroom.”
Jamal nodded, wondering what excuse she would come up with once he got her into the bedroom. Although he was frustrated as sin, he had to admit he was getting some excitement out of her toying with him, however he much preferred that she toyed with him in quite a different way. This game of hers had gone on long enough.
“Okay, Delaney, let’s go to the bedroom.”
“I’ll need a few minutes to get things ready,” she said quickly.
Jamal could only stare at her. Surely she had to be joking. What was there to get ready? She was half-naked already. Before he could open his mouth to voice that very opinion, she said, “Just five minutes, Jamal. That’s all I’m asking.” She turned and rushed off, not waiting for his response.
“Five minutes, Delaney, is all you will get,” he called after her. “Then I’m going to join you, whether you’re ready or not.”
Delaney glanced around the room. She was ready.
Because her bedroom was on the side facing the mountains, at this time of the day it was the one with the least amount of sunlight, which was perfect for the darkened effect she needed. The curtains in the room were drawn and lit candles were placed in various spots in the room. Already their honeysuckle scent had filled the midday air.
She had removed the top layer of bedcovering and the two pillows from the bed; arranging them on the floor and adorning each side with the two tall artificial ficus trees in the