Chapter Four
By the time Zahrias showed up at the hotel to collect her, Julia thought she’d more or less gotten her thoughts together. She wouldn’t let herself thrill at the sound of his voice, or do anything but briefly note that he wore yet another of his open embroidered robes, even though the weather had clouded up and the air had a distinct bite to it as they exited the hotel lobby.
He probably doesn’t even notice, she thought. He’s a fire elemental, after all. He could probably stand bare-chested in a blizzard and not bat an eyelash.
And she promptly pushed that mental image as far from her thoughts as she could. Bad enough that his clothing revealed as much as it did. But to think of him with that robe gone, showing the heavy muscles in his chest and arms and shoulders….
She’d b
