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Stefan relaxed slightly. This was better. ‘Good. You should be furious with me for taking advantage of you.’
‘Oh, I’m not furious with you. I’m furious with myself. You kept telling me not to drink. I drank. My fault. How could I be furious with you? You’ve been amazing.’
‘I was the one who stripped you naked.’
‘It would have been horribly uncomfortable sleeping in that dress, so I’m grateful to you.’
He’d spent his life shattering women’s illusions without trying and now, when he wanted to, he didn’t seem able to manage it. Stefan shifted tack. ‘It was a very exciting night. I am now familiar with every delicious inch of your body, and you,’ he murmured, ‘are familiar with every inch of mine.’
Still with her hands locked around his, Selene took a tiny sip of water. ‘Really?’
‘Really. You were so responsive. Unbelievably bold for someone with so little experience. When you suggested I tie you up, I admit I was surprised. I didn’t think someone as innocent as you would be prepared to give a man that much power.’ He’d expected shock. He hadn’t expected a smile.
‘I trust you. Whatever you want to do will always be fine with me.’ Her simple declaration raised his tension levels several notches. Heat exploded through his body.
‘Theé mou, I thought you were so trusting because you were drunk, but apparently not. What does it take to get you to show caution?’
‘I can be cautious when I have to be. I just don’t feel the need when I’m with you.’
‘You should be angry.’
‘I am angry. Angry with myself for ruining a really special night. You warned me to stop drinking and I didn’t listen. You could have left me in a heap on the beach for anyone to take advantage of.’
Stefan couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ‘I took advantage of you.’
‘No, you didn’t. And I’m the one who should be apologising to you for flirting and then collapsing unconscious. Hardly responsible behaviour. You were thoughtful and protective and you lay in bed all night wide awake, frustrated and determined not to touch me because that would have gone against your moral code.’
Why was it that her response was never what he expected? ‘Selene, I don’t have a moral code.’
‘If that’s true then why didn’t we have sex?’
‘What makes you so sure that we didn’t?’
‘I may be inexperienced but I’m not stupid. I’d know if I’d had sex. And you wouldn’t have done that. Not like that. Not with me. You protected me.’
Her voice husky, she turned her head to look at him and that look contained everything he’d avoided all his life. Depth. He’d always run from it because it led to something he absolutely didn’t want. Not ever. He’d seen what that did. Seen lives ripped apart because of it.
‘Stop turning me into a hero.’
‘You could have taken advantage of me, but you didn’t. You could have left me on the beach, but you didn’t. You put me safely to bed where no harm could come to me.’
‘My bed.’
‘Where you didn’t touch me.’
The rawness of the attraction was shocking. It pulled at the edges of his control, dragging him downwards. He no longer knew who he was protecting—himself or her.
‘I was doing you a favour.’
‘But you never do people favours, so that makes me feel even more special.’ There was a brief pause and then she gave him a soft look that almost finished him. ‘You’re right. I should take that shower. It will wake me up and make me feel more human.’ Her fingers uncurled from his and she slid from the bed, stood for a moment as if she were getting her balance and then walked towards the bathroom.
Naked.
Deciding that selflessness was definitely an overrated quality, Stefan was torn between a desire to flatten her back to the bed or throw a sheet over her. ‘You should cover up.’
‘What would be the point of that? You were the one who undressed me. You’ve already seen everything there is to see.’
She stood under the shower, feeling the cool water wash over her.
The drink and the tablets had cleared her head and reduced the pain to a dull ache. What couldn’t be so easily erased was the knowledge she’d messed up what should have been the best night of her life so far. She almost wished he’d lived up to his reputation because then she wouldn’t have been standing here bathed in regret.
Switching off the shower, she groped for the towel she’d put out for herself and instead encountered hard male muscle.
Swiping water from her eyes, she opened them. What she saw made her breath catch.
There was nothing tame there. Nothing gentle. Just raw male sexuality.
And he was naked, too.
‘Maybe you should have locked the door, Selene.’
His silky voice made her stomach flip. ‘Maybe I didn’t see the need.’
‘No?’ He slid his hand behind her neck, his eyes locked on hers as he drew her head towards him. ‘You need to develop a keener sense of self-preservation.’
‘I can protect myself when I have to.’ And she’d had to on so many occasions she didn’t want to think about it. That had been her old life, and this was her new one. And because she didn’t intend to screw her new life up a second time, she placed her hands on his chest.
His skin was warm. His muscles hard and smooth. The difference between her body and his fascinated her, and she explored him with her fingers and then pressed her mouth to his chest and heard his sharply indrawn breath.
‘Are you afraid?’ His voice was rough and she lifted her head.
‘Excited, maybe a little nervous, but never afraid. Not of you.’
‘And if I say that you should be?’
‘I wouldn’t listen. I make up my own mind. I trust myself.’
He smoothed her wet hair away from her face. ‘Your hair is spectacular. You remind me of a mermaid.’
‘You’ve met a lot of mermaids?’
‘You’re the first.’ He lowered his head slowly, his mouth hovering just above hers. ‘And I’ll be your first so if you don’t want this you’d better speak now.’
Her heart was pounding. ‘I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.’
‘I do not come with a happy ending attached.’ He spoke the words against her mouth, his fingers locked in her hair. ‘There’s a strong chance I’ll make you cry.’
‘I only cry when I’m happy. Don’t worry, you’re off the hook. I take full responsibility. This is my decision.’ She felt the warmth of his hand at the base of her bare back as he drew her against him. Felt the hardness of his body against hers and closed her eyes, because she’d imagined it for so long in so many different ways but even her dreams had never felt as perfect as this.
‘I might hurt you.’
‘You could never hurt me.’
The hand on her back was now resting on the curve of her hip. ‘I’m terrible at relationships.’
‘I know. I don’t want a relationship.’ But she wanted him and the fact that he was still protecting her made her want him even more. ‘I have a whole new exciting life ahead of me and nothing is going to get in the way.’
‘You’re crazy to do this—you know that, don’t you? You should be slapping my face.’
‘Stefan, please.’ She gripped his biceps. ‘I want this. I want you. I always have.’ He’d been her dream for so long, her lifeline, the one thing that had kept her going when she’d lain awake at night thinking how much she hated her life.
Something in her voice must have convinced him because he scooped her off her feet and carried her back to the bedroom.
The early morning sun beamed approval as he lowered her onto the bed.
Selene didn’t care that it was daylight. Daylight meant that she could see him. All of him. Trembling with anticipation, she slid her arms around his neck, drawing him down to her. His hand locked in her hair.
‘We’re taking this slowly.’
‘I don’t want slowly.’
‘I’ll tie you up if I have to.’
‘Then tie me up. Do it.’
His eyes darkened. ‘You shouldn’t say things like that.’
‘Only to you.’
‘You’re far, far too trusting.’ Something flickered in his eyes, the suggestion of a frown mingling with the blaze of raw desire.
If he changed his mind she’d die.
‘Stefan—’ Her hands slid down his body and she heard the sharp intake of his breath as she closed her hand around that part of him that was new to her. She felt silk over steel, experimented with the lightest of touches and heard him groan deep in his throat. The sudden switch of power was as intoxicating as the feel of him. The heady, extravagant excitement triggered by the fact that this man, this gorgeous indecently sexy man, wanted her as much as she wanted him was enough to wipe everything from her head except the moment.
Later she’d think of the future but not now, because right now her dream was finally reality.
‘You have to slow down,’ Stefan said in a thickened tone, closing his hand over hers to stop her. ‘You’ve never done this before.’
‘But I’m learning fast.’
‘Too fast—’ He rolled her under him and brought his mouth down on hers. She felt the erotic slide of his tongue and there was a whoosh of heat through her body that settled itself in her pelvis. The feeling was so maddeningly good that she shifted her hips against him.
He cursed softly and flattened her to the bed. ‘You’re beautiful.’
Without giving her a chance to answer, he continued his intimate exploration of her body, the wickedly sensual stroke of his tongue driving her wild. Pleasure arced through her as he toyed lazily with the tip of each breast and she wriggled and arched, trying to ease the growing ache low in her pelvis.
No one had told her she was beautiful before but he did so now, again and again, in English, in Greek, and with his lips and hands until she was a writhing mass of sensation.
She hadn’t known it was possible to feel this good about herself.
‘Stop moving,’ Stefan groaned. ‘You have no idea how hard you’re making this for me.’
It was hard for him? For her it was torture, and when she felt him shift his weight and slide his hand over her quivering abdomen she thought she was going to explode.
‘Please, now,’ she begged.
He gave a ragged laugh and trailed his mouth lower. ‘No way. I’m just getting started, koukla mou.’
‘But I really want you to—’
‘I know you do,’ he growled, sheer overload of desire lending an edge to his voice, ‘but I want it to be good for you. Trust me.’
She wanted to tell him that it couldn’t possibly be anything but good, but the smooth slide of his hand to the top of her thighs robbed her of the power of speech. His clever fingers lingered for a moment, tormenting her and magnifying the ache until she was no longer aware of anything except her own physical need. He touched her there and she sobbed with pleasure because he knew everything she didn’t and wasn’t afraid to show her.
She rocked her pelvis against him and instantly he moved his hand.
‘Not yet. Stop moving.’
‘I can’t.’
‘You will. Just lie there. Just—don’t move.’ He locked his hand round her wrists and lifted her arms above her head. ‘Hold on and don’t let go until I give you permission.’
Her hands touched the cool metal of the pretty iron bedframe and she curved her fingers around it, holding on as he’d ordered, out of her mind with sheer overload of sensation. She wanted it all. The scent of his skin. The feel of his hands, his mouth, his body— ‘Please, Stefan—’
‘I don’t want to hurt you. I won’t hurt you.’
‘Please—’
‘Don’t speak.’ His voice thickened with raw need, Stefan parted her thighs.
She was surprised she didn’t feel embarrassed because it was full daylight, but she knew nothing she ever did with him would embarrass her—not even this.
This was his mouth on her, his tongue on her and in her, and she heard someone sobbing and realised that the sound was coming from her throat. He spread her wide, opening her to his gaze and his mouth, and his only concession to her innocence was his patience. With each skilled slide and lick of his clever tongue the warmth grew to heat, and it spread and consumed her until holding onto the bed felt like holding on for her life, because it was the only thing anchoring her. He demanded everything and she gave him what he demanded because she was no longer in control. He was.
It was almost a relief to feel the first fluttering of her body but he immediately stilled.
‘No. Not yet.’ His voice was rough. ‘Relax. Do you hear me? Relax.’
She was almost crazy with the need and she tried to move her hips against his hand, but he withdrew his fingers from her gently.
‘Not yet. I want to be inside you when you come. I want to feel it. Be part of it.’
Her eyes had closed but now they flickered open and she was treated to a close-up private view of sheer masculine power. Dressed, he was gorgeous, but undressed he was spectacular. Bronzed skin sheathed smooth curves of hard muscle and the dark hair that hazed the centre of his chest trailed down over his flat stomach and disappeared out of view. But she’d already seen and she knew, and she wanted to know more.
‘Then do it,’ she begged hoarsely. ‘Do it now. Please. You’re driving me crazy.’
‘So impatient.’ A sexy smile hovering on his mouth, Stefan shifted over her and curved her leg behind his back. ‘I’m going to torture you with pleasure,’ he murmured against her mouth, ‘until you’re mindless and begging—’
