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He nodded slowly. “No sex. Not now. I want to take your dress off. I want to touch your breasts. Taste them, too. Nothing more. Nothing more until you’re ready.”
She could hardly breathe. His promises, so husky and sensual and perfect, had her body wound so tight she was certain she would break. “You really do have a way with words.”
“Funny you should say that. My speechwriters usually handle my words. I pride myself on being a man of action. What are words if you can’t back them up?” He slid his hands down to the first button on her dress and slowly slid the little fabric-covered bead through the hole, letting the neck of the dress gap.
She wished she could capture the bravado she’d felt last night. But then, last night had been her game. She’d been in control, in her element. She’d been giving pleasure and feeding off of the residual. Here and now, Stavros had command of her. A reverse on last night, and she found she actually liked it.
He moved to the next button, then the next, pressing a kiss to her neck for each button. When he reached the button just beneath her breasts, he slid his tongue along the line of her collarbone, then down a fraction. He paused at her belt, sliding it through the buckle slowly, then letting it drop. He continued down, until her dress hung open, until his tongue was curving around the line of her bra, teasing her sensitive flesh.
She shivered as he pushed the dress from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor, leaving her in her white pumps and matching bra and panties.
“You are amazing,” he said, dropping to his knees to press a kiss to her stomach. Tears filled her eyes and she couldn’t stop them. She didn’t want him to take her panties off, not this time. He would see her scars and she wasn’t ready. Not yet.
She tugged on his shoulders, urging him up, and he complied, his hand on her back, toying with the catch on her bra, teasing them both. He took a step, his arms wrapped around her still. She stepped backward. They made a slow, smooth dance to the bed and he undid her bra as he laid her down, pulling it off and casting it aside.
He was half over her, his breathing harsh, his eyes on her bare breasts. Thankfully, she knew they were one of her best features, so this was the easy part. It was made even easier when she caught the feral light in his dark eyes. “You are so much more beautiful than I imagined. Much more beautiful than I could have imagined. I have never seen a woman as exquisite as you.” He cupped her, slid his fingers gently over her tightened nipples.
She arched into him, pleasure making her breath catch.
“Tell me if I do something you don’t like,” he said. “Tell me, and I’ll stop.”
She didn’t want him to stop. Not ever. She reveled in his touch, in the feel of his rough, masculine hands on her tender skin. And when he replaced his fingers with his mouth, with the slick friction of his tongue, she felt a sharp tightening in her core, waves of pleasure, of pending release, rippling through her.
She gripped his hair, arched her body. She was close. She’d never been so close, so fast. She couldn’t remember ever wanting anyone this badly, either.
“Oh, yes.” She sighed, letting her head fall back.
He raised his head. “More?”
She nodded, biting her bottom lip. “Yes.”
He moved his hand down her stomach and she was certain he would feel the line of scar tissue that ran just below the waistband of her underwear, but she was past caring. Past caring about anything. About the future. About possible pain. Even about the loss of control.
How could something that felt so amazing end in pain? Any kind of pain was worth it, surely.
He slipped his fingers beneath her panties, grazed the scar and continued down to where she was wet and ready for him. He teased the entrance to her body with his fingers, before sliding them over her clitoris. The sensation was like fire, burning heat from there throughout her body.
She gritted her teeth, her breath getting sharper, uneven. She curled her fingers into the sheets as he continued to touch her there. Soft, even strokes that brought her closer and closer to the edge.
He leaned in and kissed her mouth as he increased the pressure of his touch, and everything in her seemed to release at once, a flood of pleasure roaring through her, drowning out thought and sound. She cried out, not caring if she was loud, not caring that it was daylight, not caring that their relationship would only last a month.
Because there was nothing else. Not in that moment. There was Stavros. And there was what he made her feel.
Only when reality started piecing itself back together, did fear assault her. But there hadn’t been any pain yet. Still, she waited. Waited for the low, dragging sensation that rivaled stories she’d heard about childbirth to begin.
And there was nothing. Nothing but a feeling of being replete. Nothing but a feeling of total bliss and satisfaction. She didn’t feel as though she’d given her body away, didn’t feel as though she was lost. She felt as though she’d gained a part of herself back.
A sob shook her body and she felt a tear slide down her cheek. The tears she couldn’t find earlier. Tears she hadn’t been able to find for a long time. Something in her shifted, changed. Like a dam had been broken inside of her, one she’d walled up to protect herself. One she felt she didn’t need. Not now.
Stavros cupped her face, his expression fierce. “Did I hurt you?”
She bit her lip and shook her head. “No. You didn’t. I can’t … I can’t remember the last time … Thank you.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him so that her head was rested on his chest. “Don’t thank me.
I can’t accept thanks for that. I took far too much pleasure from it for that.”
“Realistically,” she said, trying to escape from some of the moment’s intimacy, impossible when she was mostly naked and cradled in his arms, but worth a try, “you have to see Victoria a couple more times before you propose.”
He nodded. “All right.”
“I know that will run during our … relationship. But I suppose as long as you don’t …”
“I will be faithful to you, you don’t have to worry about that. And I will be faithful when I am married,” he said.
She swallowed. It was the right thing for him to say, the right thing for him to do. He should keep his vows. She believed in marriage, respected it. For all that she and Gil had screwed up their marriage, neither of them had cheated.
Still, a part of her died when he said it. “I’m glad. For all of that.”
“This might not be the best idea. But I don’t regret it.”
“I can’t, either,” she said. It was the absolute truth. How could she regret what had passed between them? How could she regret the loss of a fear? There were others, of course. But she was free of one, too. And that wasn’t a small thing.
“So, tell me,” she said, attempting a subject change, in a bid keep things from getting too heavy, “what does a woman expect when she signs on to be your temporary companion?”
“I’m not sure. I’ve never had a relationship quite like this. Of course, I’ve never met a woman quite like you.”
“What do you normally do?”
“There’s that sort of coyness to it that one employs in a sexual relationships. Gifts, shallow conversation, references only to the here and now, nothing said of the future one way or the other. And with you, there’s no coyness, that’s for sure.”
She smiled. “I don’t do coy.”
“I noticed.” He tightened his hold on her. “All of my life has been devoted to fulfilling the needs of others. Right now, just now, I want to meet my own.”
So this was for him, as much as for her. She liked knowing that. Felt empowered by it. Because there was something he needed to, and maybe she could provide it. Maybe she could be the one to give him moments of bliss. Moments that were purely his own, so that he would have the memories years later when his life was no longer his at all.
“What do you want?” she asked.
He sifted his fingers through her hair. “I want to sleep with you tonight. Just sleep, if that’s all you want.”
“That’s too easy. What else?”
“To go to the beach. Which should be easy, since we’re on an island. I am a man with the world at my fingertips in terms of the material. The thing I often find myself lacking in is a companion who makes life interesting. Who makes it fun. You be you, and I will simply enjoy it.”
“Really, you’re too nice. I feel outmatched.”
“I like your prickles,” he said. “Even more now that I understand them.”
She sat up and wrapped her arms around herself. “I should get dressed.”
“I’m in no hurry.”
“I have some work to check on, just real quick, and then … and then we can do whatever we want. Because that’s what we’ve decided to do, isn’t it? Whatever we want for the next month.”
He smiled at her and her heart felt like it tightened in on itself. She could do a month. A month was short enough. Short enough that he wouldn’t start wishing she could be a million things she could never be.
CHAPTER NINE (#ulink_9dd79c92-23fe-5cc3-aff3-b49f8ac5afe5)
ANYTHING he wanted turned out to be much more low-key and much less in bed than she’d imagined it might be.
Stavros took her on a tour of the ruins just outside the city, and then down to the open-air markets to shop. The market ran just outside the boundaries of the packed harbor, small stalls crammed between buildings, the ocean just beyond them.
Stavros could have taken her anywhere in Piraeus. To the more modern quadrants of the city, to exclusive boutiques with cutting-edge fashion.
But he’d taken her here. Because he knew what she liked. He understood what she enjoyed. She did her best to ignore her constricted lungs and turn her focus to the items for sale.
There was an eclectic mix of trash and truly exquisite treasure on offer. Things she would have found at an average yard sale in her home town, fresh seafood and antiques all mingled together. She bought a necklace fashioned from fishing line and glass beads, and earrings made from old coins.
“It’s certainly vintage,” Stavros said, eyeing her purchases later at an outdoor restaurant.
“Yes, most definitely.”
“You need a pallas to go with it.”
She pulled her necklace out of the bag and held it up so that the afternoon sun filtered through the glass beads. “All right, what’s that?”
“The traditional draped dress. It would look beautiful on you.”
“Not my typical style though, draped clothes.”
“No. Not at all.” Today she was in a full white skirt that went down past her knees and a red button-up top. All very crisp and tailored.
“It makes for an intriguing thought.”
“Yes, but you don’t like my clothes.”
“No, I like your clothes very much, it’s just that I find them a distraction. And now that I have permission to be distracted … well, I like them even more.”
Her cheeks heated. He made her feel … he made her feel so new. Like this was fresh. Flirting, and eating together. The anticipation of sex. And she was anticipating it. Big-time. She smiled and looked down at her plate.
She ignored the little hint of fear that pooled in her stomach. If she felt so close to him now, what would happen after? She really hadn’t ever been a fling girl. She’d been one and done. She’d met her husband right out of high school, and he was the man she’d married.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
He reached over and took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, tilting her face up. “What?”
It was hard meeting his eyes. Intimate, suddenly. “I’m happy. I haven’t … enjoyed anything like this in a long time.”
“I haven’t, either.”
“Stavros, why is this marriage so important to you?” She wasn’t sure where the question came from, only that it seemed essential, suddenly. “I mean, I know why you need to do it eventually. But it’s more than that, I can tell. I just … want to know why.”
He frowned. “I’m the only one, Jessica.”
“I know.”
“When Xander left, everything was chaos. My father was a wreck, my mother was gone. Eva was just a child. There was only me. My willingness to step in. I was a teenager, but just that show of strength and solidarity, and the years I spent after building up the economy, that made the difference. I need everything to be as it should be. I need it to have balance and order. I want it to.”
“And Victoria will help with that.”
“Victoria is only a piece of the puzzle. I’ve been setting all of this in place for years.”
“I know,” she said, looking away from him again. “Plans … I wish sometimes that some of mine had worked out. And sometimes … I’m glad they didn’t.”
Really, today was the first time she was honestly glad to be in a different place. With a different man. She hadn’t loved her ex for years. But very often she’d longed to go back to a time when she did love him.
A time when her life had been full of possibilities. Instead of a time when so many of her dreams had died.
“Mine have to work out,” he said. “For my people.”
“Has Xander officially abdicated?”
“No. And he won’t until after my father dies, which doesn’t look like it will be soon. I am thankful for that.”
“But you’re playing chess,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“I actually suck at chess, but I have a brother who plays very well, and he used to talk me into playing when we were younger. I could never win, because I was always responding to his moves. He knew all of his moves from the beginning. And he had back-up maneuvers just in case I failed to be predictable, but mostly, he just followed the strategy he’d had since the opening move. You already know your checkmate.”
He laughed and placed his hand over hers, his thumb blazing a trail of heat over her skin as he moved it back and forth. “But this is a move I did not see making.”
“Do you regret it? Because we haven’t done anything we can’t take back.”
He shook his head. “I don’t. I should, I’m certain of that. This is unfair to you.”
It was her turn to laugh. “How? I’m not some young, inexperienced girl. I’ve been married, I’ve been divorced. I’ve done love and loss. I’m a bit too cynical to get hurt by a temporary affair.” She hoped that was true. She’d certainly believed it of herself before she’d met Stavros. Before she’d started caring for him.
How had that happened? He was so far removed from her. A prince, for heaven’s sake. And a client. They shouldn’t connect on any level. Yet, she felt like he was the one person who had a hope of understanding her. She felt she understood him. How had he started to matter so much?
He nodded. “I know. But your husband hurt you. I don’t want any part of that. Of hurting you.”
She forced out a laugh and lifted her wineglass to her lips. “By that logic, you should worry about yourself. Yes, he hurt me. But I hurt him, too. Marriage is a two-way street, and very rarely is everything the fault of one person. I’m capable of breaking a man’s heart, Stavros, so perhaps it’s me who should be giving you an out.”
“I don’t have a heart to break, Jess.”
