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Theo appeared at the doorway. “It’s safe. Still no power so I’ve lit some candles. Just a couple of broken plates.” He laughed. “Typical Greek, eh? Breaking plates in the best and worst of times. C’mon. In you come.”
He crooked his finger, beckoning to her like the wicked wolf luring little Red Riding Hood into his lair.
Goosebumps skimmed across her skin as she stepped inside. Like the outside, the interior had the gentle glow of whitewashed stone walls. Theo had lit several candles set in traditional wall stands complete with mirrors, so a soft, warm light flickered around the room.
The ceilings were higher than she’d expected. The odd exposed support beam added character. Wooden, of course. A small kitchen was tucked at the back of the large open-plan area, so that there was room for a circular dining table opposite a pair of French windows. In the living room area, where they stood, a pair of over-sized sofas, perfect for napping or reading on, were dotted with blue throw pillows. The sofas faced another set of French windows, leading to a covered veranda, beyond which she could just see the white effervescent foam of the sea—still a bit choppy, though there had been no aftershocks since the one a few hours ago.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you’ve become, Cailey.”
Theo was right behind her, his voice low and weighted with intention.
She wheeled round and stumbled back a few steps. Being so close, inhaling his scent—amazingly pure and clean after such a long day—was suddenly too much.
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
Theo actually looked shocked at her question. “Why shouldn’t I be?”
Cailey was about to launch into a rather detailed explanation of exactly why this was all rather peculiar when he closed the space between them and put a finger to her lips.
“Cailey mou. I’ve always felt we had a connection, you and I. Don’t you know that?”
She shook her head against his finger, fighting the urge to open her lips and draw it into her mouth. Any connection they’d had had been more master and servant than anything. She’d grown up working in his house. Scrubbing, cooking and cleaning alongside her mother, who had spent her entire adult life serving as the Nikolaides housekeeper.
Sure, she’d played with Erianthe when they were kids, and sometimes with Theo when he and his gang were in the mood to torture or tolerate his kid sister, but a connection...? She’d thought that kiss they’d shared all those years ago had been a dare. A cruel one at that. For it had been only a day later when she’d overheard him telling his friends he’d never marry a housemaid.
She was surprised to see him looking hurt. Genuinely hurt. Furrowed brow. Eyes narrowing. A sharp intake of breath. The whole caboodle.
“Not in the strictest sense,” she whispered against his finger.
“We’re peas in a pod. You must know that. And today, working together, wasn’t that proof?”
“No. It only proves we work well together. Our lives...we’re so different.”
She wanted to hear him say it. Say he’d held himself apart from her because of her background. That he’d soared where she had failed even to get into medical school, let alone become a doctor.
“You are different from me,” he said, lowering his head until his lips whispered against hers. “You’re better.”
Before she could craft a single lucid thought they were kissing. Softly at first. Not tentatively, as a pair of teenagers might have approached their first kiss, more as if each touch, each moment they were sharing, spoke to the fact that they had belonged together all along.
Simply kissing him was an erotic pleasure on its own. The short walk to Theo’s house had given his lips a slight tang of the sea. Emboldened by his sure touch, Cailey swept her tongue along Theo’s lower lip, a trill of excitement following in the wake of his moan of approbation.
The kisses grew in strength and depth. Theo pulled her closer to him, his lips parting to taste and explore her mouth. The hunger and fatigue they’d felt on leaving the clinic were swept into the dark shadows as light and energy grew within each of them like a living force of its own.
Undiluted sexual attraction flared hot and bright within her, the flames licking at her belly, her breasts, her inner thighs, as if it had been waiting for exactly this moment to present itself. Molten, age-old, pent-up, magically realized and released desire.
CHAPTER EIGHT (#u7fe11c50-78a5-5354-93e4-ef7a9b2634b7)
“COME, KOUKLA MOU.”
Theo pulled one of the candles off its stand and took Cailey by the hand. He led her to a doorway on the far side of the living room, barely knowing where his energy was coming from. A stress release after such an intense day? A primal need to remind himself of his mortal ability to weather such an extreme act of nature?
Or was it something much more simple? Like fate?
He turned to her and released the riot of curls from the wooden hairclip barely managing to hold her inky black hair in place. She flushed and looked to the floor as silky waves cascaded around her shoulders.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” His voice sounded hoarse. A sure sign that his emotions had taken over.
She turned her head and gave looked at him askance. It was a look that said, Are you?
“Thee mou... I’ve thought about you—about this—all day. I just want you to be sure. If this is your first time—”
She cut him off with a shake of her head. “This isn’t my first time. But...”
He swept his fingers along her face. “But what? You can talk to me, Cailey.”
She looked him straight in the eye and said, “You’re the first man I ever wanted.”
Her words roiled through him like molten lava.
“Come here, you.”
He tugged her to him, blood pounding through his veins, powering the need to taste, touch, taunt...and fulfil her every desire.
Cailey tutted playfully. “I’ve waited twenty-seven years for this...let’s take it slow.”
She pushed his hands down, then began with trembling fingers to unbutton his shirt.
He lifted her hands to his lips and kissed each of her fingertips. “Don’t be scared. It’s only me.”
Her cheeks pinkened. “That’s precisely why I’m shaking, you fool.”
“I don’t frighten you, do I?” He almost laughed at the absurdity of it.
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s how I feel about you that frightens me.”
She looked so vulnerable the only thing he could do was pull her to him and whisper into her ear that she could trust him. He meant it, too. And couldn’t imagine making the promise to anyone else.
“How do I know?”
He held her away, so he could look her straight in the eye as he said, “Because I feel exactly the same way as you do.”
“What? Excited, terrified and itching to get naked all at once?”
He laughed softly. “That about captures it.”
She tipped her head to the side, as if ascertaining whether he meant it. “You’re not quite who I thought you were, Theo Nikolaides.”
“Oh? And who exactly did you think I was?”
She shook her head, “I’m not really sure anymore, but...” She lowered her lashes then opened her eyes with a teasing flash of a smile. “Do you think we should just go for it?”
“I think that’s a most excellent idea.” He laughed again, before weaving his fingers through hers. “Come on.” He led her to the big sprawling bed he’d indulged himself with when he’d bought the place. “Let’s spend as long as we need to get to know one another all over again.”
She held her ground. “Sorry. Just one more little thing. Can we have a no-strings-attached rule? Like, what goes on at the earthquake...stays at the earthquake?”
“If you wish.” He shot her a sidelong look. “Unless it’s to keep this a secret from a boyfriend back in London?”
“No.” She sucked in a quick breath. “No boyfriend. Just big brothers...and a mother who seems to find out everything anyhow and...well...your father.”
“My father?” He barely recognized his own voice it had hollowed out so quickly. “What’s he got to do with anything?”
“I don’t really think he likes me.”
“Well, I don’t like him very much.” The bastard. If he’d so much as said a single word to her...
Cailey’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Really.”
He flicked a switch in his head. He didn’t want to be talking about his father right now. Or anyone else, for that matter.
“C’mere, you.” He pulled her over to the bed and straddled her before pressing his lips gently to hers. “What goes on at the earthquake...stays at the earthquake.”
He took Cailey’s hands and put them back on his chest as he dipped his lips to hers for another deep, erotically charged kiss. Feeling her breasts press up into his chest, her nipples taut with anticipation, sent a surge of blazing heat straight to his groin.
He gave the hem of her scrubs top a gentle tug. “May I?”
She nodded, her eyes sparkling in the candlelight.
He slowly lifted her top up and off her, his fingers lightly grazing the bands of lace cupping her breasts as he did so. By God she was beautiful. Olive skin. Full breasts. Dark nipples, taut and tempting.
He put the top on a chair by the bed and knelt in front of her. Unable to resist, he softly cupped her breasts, relishing the sensation of lace and warm skin as Cailey wove her fingers through his hair and tugged his head back for an urgent kiss.
Enough with the niceties, her kiss told him. It’s time to get down to business.
All he could absorb in his overwrought brain was that he wanted more. To touch. Caress. Give her every ounce of pleasure he could.
He curved an arm around her waist and pulled her to him, his fingers cupping one of her breasts as he licked the other one through the gossamer lace barely containing it. He shifted the fabric to one side and gave her nipple a hot, wet lick. Her fingers dug into his hair again, giving him all the permission he needed to continue. Swirling, tasting, touching, caressing...
He forced himself to adopt a more luxurious pace, relishing the soft shudders of approbation as Cailey’s body reeled and recovered from the erotic journey of his tongue and lips across her breasts, down to her belly. Shifting across her hips. Making the most of the luscious dips and curves along the way before lowering his lips to her waistline.
His fingers worked slowly, tauntingly, at the butterfly bow she’d tied in her scrub bottoms. Before releasing it, he encouraged her to lie back as he teased two of his fingers over the gently rounded surface of her belly, stopping only to draw in a deep breath of her skin. Vanilla? Or was it honey? The sweet and pure scent of olive oil? Enchantingly indescribable aromas all designed to drive a man wild. Drive him wild.
Centimeter by centimeter he lowered her scrubs...then her panties...adoring the shivers of excitement buzzing across her skin as he dropped kisses, little nips and licks, along the swoop from hip to hip and lower until she wove her fingers into his hair and cried out to be with him.
“Not yet. Not yet, koukla mou.” He spoke the words and his lips whispered against the delicate skin just above the thin strip of hair leading to the soft folds between her legs. “If you have waited this long, I want to make it worth it.”
He thought he heard her say, “It already is!” and “Now!” but then her words melted into moans as he slipped his fingers between her legs and stroked the honeyed response to his caresses.
He was as fully erect as he had ever been, and sustaining this level of control was going to be a challenge, but she was worth it. Especially if it was true that she had wanted him all along...
* * *
Cailey felt drugged with pleasure as Theo slid his warm, assured hands between her legs and parted them.
She’d had sex before, but she was certain she had never been made love to. And they hadn’t done anything much beyond kissing yet!
All the blood in her body surged and collected at the pulsing triangle between her legs as Theo cupped her buttocks in his hands and began to lick her. The level of pleasure he elicited was electrifying. She felt so sensual, so alluring—it was as if he was drawing an inner goddess out of her she’d never known existed. Each of his touches inflamed a deep-seeded pulse from her very essence that grew and hummed until she dug her nails into Theo’s shoulders, pressed closer to his lapping tongue and cried out to him to let her release. She tried and failed to stem a wail of sheer ecstasy as her body tightened and arced as wave after wave of pleasure luxuriously swept throughout her body.
Theo held her tight to him after climbing up onto the bed alongside her. “Feeling better?”
“I was never feeling bad,” she managed to murmur as she pressed herself to him, seized by the spirit of a tigress.
She’d forgotten he was still wearing clothes. Nerves completely eradicated, she swiftly undid his shirt buttons, then just as quickly unhooked and, in one extraordinary move, whipped off his belt. To their mutual astonishment she gave the length of leather a sharp crack before flinging it to the far side of the simply furnished room.
“My goodness, little one...” Theo said approvingly. “You’re full of energy tonight.”
Cailey moved her hands to his thick erection. “I’m hardly little, and it’s not exactly as if you’re running on empty. Shall we see what we can do for you now?” She gave the length of his shaft a playful lick.
Where did that come from?
She didn’t do sexy talk. Or crack leather belts like a dominatrix. Or demand sex, for that matter.
Being with Theo was dangerous. On far too many levels. But at this exact moment she had no inhibitions—and no ability to stop herself from wanting more. She pushed him back on the bed and crawled on top of him, straddling him with a provocative twitch of her lips.
“Tell me, Doctor. Would you like to have your own turn?”
For a nanosecond he looked confused. When her hand began to stroke the velvet-soft length of his shaft the dawn of realization came quickly. He grinned, clearly amused at the she-woman he’d unleashed, and raised his hands in a move that said, Do what you will. I’m yours for the taking.
Cailey pressed herself up onto her hands and knees and swept her breasts along the smooth surface of Theo’s well-defined chest. Not weight-lifter bulky...just strong and perfect. She gave each of his dark aureoles a lick and a quick suck before slowly working her way south.
When she first touched his erection with the tip of her tongue he inhaled sharply. When she took him in her mouth he cried out her name, fingers reaching out to touch her hair before falling helplessly to his sides as she had her wanton, wicked way with him. As his pleasure increased, so too did Cailey’s. The two-way exchange of pleasure wasn’t something she’d considered in all these years of wondering... Yes, she’d had sex before, but this felt different. Powerful. Captivating. Like an awakening.
A heated thrill thrummed to life in the very kernel of her femininity. Giving Theo pleasure was as erotic as receiving it. The more he responded to her touch, the more energized she became. The more she gave, the more he craved.
Abruptly Theo pressed himself up and pulled her alongside him. “I want you, Cailey. Now.”
His voice was urgent, full of longing. It was the most uninhibited she had ever seen him. Being the reason for it sent fresh ribbons of pleasure through her. In the clinic Theo was the picture of a man in control. Here, beneath her fingertips, he was vulnerable to her lightest touch. Power and protectiveness wove together as one as she kissed his neck, his throat, his lips.
“I want you,” he said again as their mouths parted after another all-encompassing kiss.
There wasn’t a single cell in her body capable of saying no. She’d imagined this moment for years...and the reality was light years better than any fantasy she had conjured.
“I’m all yours,” she said, meaning each of the words with a totality that came from realizing she’d loved him all along. If this was her one chance to love and be loved she was going to take it. Even if it meant returning to London on her own, she’d have this moment locked in her heart as proof that for one night she had been everything he wanted.
Theo slipped an arm across her belly, then gently shifted her onto her back. “You’re sure?” His green eyes were almost black in the flickering half-light the candle afforded them.
