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Absently he rolled his shoulder, releasing a stiffness along the collarbone.
‘I’m so sorry.’ She leaned forward, her hand lifted towards him as if to smooth away the frown he felt settle on his brow. Then she sank back, regarding him seriously.
He waited for the inevitable, a question about why his marriage hadn’t proceeded, but again Alice Trehearn surprised him. Even inebriated she had enough delicacy not to trespass further. ‘Tonight must have been a trial.’
He shook his head, automatically rejecting sympathy. ‘It was fine. It was no big deal.’ Time to change the subject. ‘So what is the other thing you’ve never done? I told you my secret. It’s time for you to share too.’
She blinked, staring back at him with a look he couldn’t interpret. Annoyance? Embarrassment? Certainly the colour in her cheeks warmed to rose madder.
‘Alice?’
Her mouth tightened and then the words tumbled out. ‘Never had an orgasm, if you must know.’ For an instant she looked as regal as a young swan, stretching her neck higher and tilting her chin, trying to hide what he guessed was embarrassment.
Then something unexpected flashed in her eyes. ‘I don’t suppose you’d like to help me with that?’
CHAPTER TWO (#u066b7091-3fd1-590d-9eb4-81aba1c5306f)
HELP HER HAVE her first orgasm? Adoni tried and failed over the next hour to put Alice Trehearn’s words from his mind.
The idea was so outrageous it was laughable.
A woman, clearly the worse for drink, propositioning him so clumsily.
A woman without glamour or any of the usual seductive skills he expected in a lover.
A woman in an ill-fitting dress the colour of bile, with her hair hanging damp around her shoulders and not a scrap of make-up. She didn’t belong in his world and shouldn’t be in the least attractive.
Yet Adoni couldn’t banish the provocative idea of giving Alice her first orgasm.
Was it the idea of initiating her to pleasure that snared his imagination and wouldn’t let go? Or was it Alice herself?
The rose-pink colour of her cheeks would spread across her breasts. Those dark eyes would glitter and that decadent mouth would open on a gasp, or perhaps a scream as he toppled her over the edge into rapture.
The image of her naked beneath him, trembling with satiation, was so vivid it had him rock-hard in an instant.
The chirp of his phone, an urgent call from his North American manager, had saved both him and Alice from the embarrassment of a response. Then, when he’d ended the call and turned to tell her she needed to leave since he had work to do, Adoni had found her asleep.
Suspicious, he’d initially wondered if it was a ploy, especially as she looked ridiculously cute curled up, hands beneath her cheek and bare feet pale against the cushions. But her occasional tiny snuffles proved him wrong. They were too close to dainty snores for any would-be seductress to countenance.
Now, sitting at his desk on the other side of the room, reviewing the contract his manager had just sent, Adoni directed a darkling stare towards the woman lying on his sofa.
How dare she make such an invitation then go to sleep? She rolled onto her back, the too-big bodice pulling askew to reveal the gentle curve of one pale breast.
The pulse in Adoni’s groin pounded hard and fast as his gaze traced her slender figure. His mouth dried as she shifted and the edge of the fabric strained, close to revealing one nipple. Her skirt was rucked up above her knees from the way she’d twisted. Even so, most of her was covered by that appalling bridesmaid’s dress.
She shouldn’t look attractive, much less seductive. Yet Adoni registered the heaviness in his lower body, the restlessness, the powerful hunger.
Maybe it was that sultry mouth, those lush, slightly downturned lips, surely designed for sin. He looked at her and thought of those lips on his body and it was no wonder he couldn’t concentrate on the document before him.
Perhaps it was the novelty of not knowing what she was going to say next. Her cheerfully frank assessment of how she looked in that dreadful dress, or the apparently artless combination of guilelessness and insight.
Or was it the shy hints that she wanted him? The blush, the spark in her eye when she’d asked about him giving her an orgasm.
Of all the preposterous pick-up lines, that was the best he’d heard.
Except it hadn’t been a pick-up line. She hadn’t wanted to admit her inexperience. That probably explained her flippant question about him helping her rid herself of that particular lack in her life. She’d been bluffing. Of course she had.
Adoni turned back to the screen. Yet it wasn’t the legal document he saw, but the rosy blush that coloured her creamy skin and her haughty, challenging glare.
Give her an orgasm? The trouble was how much the idea enticed.
What had she said? She’d never had luck with men, never had a kiss that knocked her socks off. Never had an orgasm. Clearly she was unlucky if none of her lovers had bothered to take care of that when they sought their own pleasure.
Adoni’s heart might no longer be engaged when he had sex, but he prided himself on being a generous lover. His partner’s satisfaction added to his own pleasure, and he’d no more bed a woman and leave her wanting than he’d renege on a business contract.
The contract. He ploughed his fingers through his hair, sinking his head into his hands and forcing his attention back to the computer.
He’d finish the contract then wake Ms Trouble-on-Two-Legs Trehearn and send her off in a taxi. Then he’d get a decent night’s sleep ready for work tomorrow, despite it being Sunday.
Adoni ground his teeth at the sly voice telling him his life was lacking if that was the best he could do on a Saturday night. Send home the female he lusted after then get an early night ready for work.
Was this what all those years of toil had been for? He’d scraped himself up from the gutter when Vassili Petrakis, the man he’d believed to be his father, disowned him. He’d risen above the pain of his fiancée’s rejection and poured his anger and determination into building his company from nothing.
He’d let his drive to succeed fill the void where his personal life used to be. He had no family to distract him now. Fleetingly, he thought of his younger brothers, a pang of regret piercing his chest. But they belonged to another life, one barred to him for ever.
Now he was CEO of a company worth billions. He had homes in Greece and the UK, plus a ski chalet in Colorado and a yacht that shared its time between the Med and the Caribbean. Not that he managed much downtime to enjoy them.
Adoni sighed and raked his hand through his hair again. Maybe that was the problem. He needed a vacation.
Or an affair. Intense, enjoyable and short—just the way he liked them. He had no inclination for long-term now he’d taught himself never to trust a woman’s intentions, despite protests of undying love.
Rubbing his temples, he hunched over the screen, rereading clauses he’d skimmed half a dozen times.
He was just sending his response to his New York manager when the back of his neck prickled. He stiffened, instantly aware that his guest was awake. He felt her eyes on him. Worse, that needy throb in his groin was back full force, reminding him he’d been celibate longer than usual.
Even so his reaction to this woman was unprecedented.
Adoni didn’t turn to look at her. That would, for reasons he couldn’t identify, be a sign of weakness. Instead he finished his message, sent it, then closed the computer. Only then did he deign to swivel round in his seat.
She was standing, half turned from him. The satin of her dress slid over svelte, sinuous curves and delectably long legs as she raised her hands to fix her hair in a tight knot.
‘Don’t.’ The sound of his voice surprised him and made her swing round, eyes wide. ‘I like it down.’
He couldn’t read her expressive eyes from this distance but the sudden clamp of her jaw made him expect some dismissive response.
Adoni was surprised when, instead, she paused, arms still raised. ‘Do you?’
When he nodded she dropped her arms and a dark curtain of hair fell to cloak her shoulders. Now it was dry he saw rich hints of auburn in the dark brown. He curled his hands closed against the impulse to get up and stroke those shimmering tresses.
Her breasts rose with her deep breath and Adoni’s gaze trailed from her bare shoulder where one sleeve drooped down her arm, across the upper slope of her breasts then up via her slender throat to her lips.
Damn! That sulky, sexy mouth would be the death of common sense. Why hadn’t he fully appreciated it till she wiped the horrible lipstick away?
‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on your sofa.’ Had she misinterpreted his shudder of arousal for one of disdain? ‘I apologise for...’ she faltered and gestured wide ‘...for inviting myself in here.’ She looked around the vast executive suite as if she’d never seen it. Presumably she hadn’t taken in her surroundings earlier.
That, and the way she spoke, plus the shadow of tension where before there’d been nothing but a lack of inhibition, told Adoni the effects of the alcohol were wearing off.
He was torn between relief that she was obviously recovered enough to go home, and regret.
As if he wanted her to stay.
For her amusing conversation, or something else?
White teeth bit that plump bottom lip. Did she read the sexual interest he couldn’t douse?
‘No need to apologise. It’s been an interesting evening.’
She shut her eyes for a moment. ‘I’m sure it has. You’ve been very forbearing. Thank you for...’ again that wave of one hand ‘...for the coffee and for letting me sleep.’ Once again, soft colour stained her pale cheeks. Adoni found himself wondering how long it had been since he’d met a woman who still blushed.
‘My pleasure.’ He stood and again her eyes rounded as they traced him, as if she hadn’t realised how tall he was. Or perhaps he looked different now he’d shed his jacket and tie, undone a couple of buttons and rolled up his sleeves.
Neither moved. Did he imagine the heavy chug of energy thickening the atmosphere? Adoni wasn’t prone to flights of fancy, yet it seemed all the air in the room was being sucked away, making it hard to breathe.
He watched her swallow, her slender throat pale and alluring, especially when compared with that mustard horror of a dress. It was as if someone had taken something pure and hidden it beneath layers of camouflage.
Pure? An old-fashioned word for a woman who’d blatantly invited him to be sexually intimate. Yet it seemed apt. Alice Trehearn was surely the most honest woman he’d ever met. In Adoni’s world, where people pretended affection in return for material comforts, honesty was the purest quality he knew.
* * *
He took a step closer and Alice’s insides twisted like a riot of butterflies dipping and fluttering over a spring meadow.
Now the effects of the wine had worn off she was stunned to find herself alone with such a man.
That he was wealthy and powerful went without saying. It was obvious from the casual way he wore his hand-tailored clothes and the equally nonchalant way he took this exquisite, ultra-expensive suite for granted.
But it wasn’t the fact he came from a world far removed from her own that made her stare. It was the man himself. Tall, with a hard, chiselled face that had more than a trace of arrogance in those winged black eyebrows and high cheekbones. His mouth looked as if it didn’t smile enough, as if his world was too serious. Yet when he did smile his eyes, an amazing colour somewhere between blue and green, danced. The tight curve of his lips undid her as if he reached out and loosened a ribbon deep inside her.
What on earth had she said to him? She remembered some of their conversation, not all. She vividly recalled his laugh, rich and warm, enfolding her.
He hadn’t laughed at her, despite her appearance and the way the wine affected her. He’d laughed with her, sharing whatever joke she’d made. That sense of humour undercut her common sense. It was too appealing.
How she’d missed laughter lately.
She felt a link to this man she’d never experienced before, except to David, her godfather, who’d been her best friend despite the age difference. But her feelings for David had been a far cry from this. She swallowed hard, simultaneously shocked and intrigued by the way her body came alive under the Greek’s sea-bright stare. Tiny shivers prickled her skin and her nipples budded against the loose bodice of her dress.
When he noticed, his gaze dropping to her breasts, Alice’s breath clogged and excitement danced in her blood. To her amazement her breasts seemed to both tighten and swell. She’d never felt anything like it. But then her experience of men, and of sexual arousal, was almost zero.
She blinked, lifting her hands to rub her bare arms.
Was she trying to invite his attention? As if he’d be interested in a woman so ordinary and unsophisticated!
Yet her feet seemed welded to the floor.
‘Well, thank you again for your hospitality.’ She moistened her bottom lip with her tongue and was shocked when his eyes zeroed in on the movement. A hot wire of sensation tugged between her mouth and her breasts, then down to the achy spot between her legs. ‘I should be going.’
She made herself turn, looking for her handbag on the sofa. When she turned back he was closer—much closer. She had to tilt her head back to keep eye contact. Dimly she realised she was barefoot, that she’d need to search for her shoes. Her toes curled into the thick pile of the rug at the look in his eyes.
‘Is someone waiting for you at home?’
Alice frowned, feeling the sudden gnaw of anxiety that had become so familiar. She’d lost her home when David died and, though she’d known that day would come, she’d been so caught up in looking after him, making his final days comfortable, she hadn’t focused enough on where she’d live afterwards. Her little nest egg hadn’t gone nearly as far as she’d hoped. Nest egg! It had been barely enough to keep a roof over her head until she got a job.
‘I live alone.’
‘Then there’s no rush to leave.’ Those sleek dark eyebrows rose as his expression turned wickedly seductive.
Alice’s heart banged her ribs and her breath stalled. ‘Are you...’ She paused, hardly crediting what she read in his face. ‘Are you suggesting I stay here?’
‘You weren’t so hesitant earlier.’ His smile was slow and intense and it superheated her blood.
‘I wasn’t?’
He frowned. ‘You don’t remember?’
‘I...’ She frowned as snippets of conversation came back to her in vivid clarity. ‘I asked if you were a good kisser.’ Part of her shrank at the memory of such champagne-induced frankness, but now she was here, toe to toe with this fascinating man, excitement overrode bashfulness.
‘Would you still like to find out?’ His voice dropped to a low note that wound its way through her belly and down to her knees, making them wobble.
Impossible that he should affect her so intensely, this man whose name she couldn’t even recall. Adoni something. She knew so little about him.
Sensible Alice Trehearn, the one who’d spent years being dependable, devoted and reliable, knew this was her cue to leave. Yet another Alice Trehearn, the one who secretly yearned for life, and who’d only surfaced previously in her hell-for-leather gallops across the moor, shivered in excitement.
‘Yes.’ The word was out before she thought about it. Because if she thought about it she’d never say it.
‘Good,’ he murmured. ‘Your mouth has been driving me crazy.’
Her mouth? Alice lifted a hand to her lips but instead met his chin as his head lowered. He stopped a breath away. She felt his exhalation on her lips, scented with coffee and brandy and something indefinable. The pads of her fingers trembled against the solid plane of his jaw, then spread, testing warm skin with a hint of stubble that grazed her flesh as she settled her whole palm across his chin.
She’d shaved both her father and later her godfather, David, when each grew too ill to do it themselves. Neither had been like this. Adoni radiated heat and vigour and a sensuality she felt right down to the marrow in her bones. He was strong, his flesh taut and so vitally alive.
Alice drew a shuddering breath filled with the alien, delicious scent of man in his prime. She stared up into eyes as bright as she imagined the Aegean Sea to be. She read a question there. He was giving her time to change her mind.
In answer, Alice slid her hand around into his thick, short dark hair, surprised at its softness. She rose on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his.
For a moment he didn’t move and she cringed inside. This was a mistake. Hadn’t she known he couldn’t really be interested?
Then his mouth moved on hers, gently persuading her lips apart. His warm tongue slicked her lips then delved within and everything inside her melted and swayed at the eroticism of that sweet invasion. Her belly liquefied, her knees loosened and it was only the firm loop of his arm around her waist that kept her high against him.
His other hand eased the hair back from her face in a gesture so tender her heart rolled over.
