full of passion and desire. More importantly she shared his views. Love and happiness were only for the select few and they were not destined to be two of those.
‘You are very beautiful,’ he said as he moved towards her. Those expressive green eyes widened, pushing the desire within him higher still. He’d never wanted a woman as much as he wanted her and for that very reason he intended to savour every moment. Was it because she didn’t threaten him by hinting at beyond the here and now, looking for more than just one night? Or was it because they had both known pain and hardship in their lives? Either way, he wasn’t going to rush one minute of their night together, not when it was all they had.
‘Nikolai...’ She breathed his name, a hint of a question lingering in her whisper.
‘Now is not for talking,’ he said gently, pulling her to him. ‘It’s for pleasure like this.’
Before she could say anything else, he kissed her, resisting the urge to deepen the kiss and demand so much more. Savour the moment. Those words played in his mind as her lips parted beneath his, her tongue tentatively entwining with his.
With practised ease, his fingers found the zip at the back of her dress and pulled it slowly down her back as she deepened the kiss. He pulled back from her, needing a moment to gather his control again. Her lips were parted and her eyes so full of desire they were almost closed.
He took the straps of her dress and slid them slowly off her shoulders and down her arms. The only movement was the rise and fall of her delectable breasts as she breathed deeply. He let the straps go as his hands lowered past her elbows and the dress slithered to the floor, leaving her in a black bra and panties.
Her eyes had widened and she looked at him, the innocent woman who’d slipped in and out of the limelight back once more. Then she smiled and the innocence was gone, the bold temptress returning as she reached behind and unfastened her bra, letting it fall away to expose full breasts, testing his control further. Then slowly, without breaking eye contact, she pulled her panties lower, wriggling with ease out of the black lace. Finally she stood and looked at him, a challenge in her mischievous smile. Was she daring him to resist her or daring him to make her his for tonight?
‘You are even more beautiful now... I want to taste every part of you.’ Just saying those words made his pulse leap with heated desire, but when she stepped towards him, her naked body highlighted by the pale light from outside, it was almost too much.
‘I want you to.’ She reached up and stroked the backs of her fingers over his stubble. It was such an erotic sensation he was glad he was still fully clothed, otherwise he would have pushed her back on the bed and plunged into her; all thought of making the pleasure last would have gone.
He caught her wrist, putting a stop to her caress before it pushed him over the edge. She looked up at him and for a second he thought he saw shock, but she recovered before he could analyse it, pressing her naked body against him wickedly. He let her wrist go and trailed his fingers down her arm and then to her breast, circling the tight bud of her nipple. She wasn’t the only one who could be so wickedly teasing.
‘And so I shall,’ he said and lowered his head to tease her nipple with his tongue. She pushed her hands into his hair as he moved to her other breast to begin the torment again. Then he dropped to his knees and kissed down her stomach, holding her hips tightly as a spike of lust threatened his control. Gently he moved lower, teasing at the dark curls as she gasped her pleasure and gripped her hands tightly in his hair.
‘I never knew,’ she gasped, writhing beneath his exploration, ‘that it could be so nice, so...’
‘You make is sound like you’ve never made love.’ He looked up at her, each breath she took making him want her all the more.
‘Would that be so bad?’ She looked at him and bit at her lower lip. He frowned in confusion, wondering if this was why one minute she was a temptress, the next an innocent. Was she telling him she was inexperienced—or even a virgin? After the moments they’d just shared, and her boldness, could that really be true?
‘Why do you ask?’
‘It’s just that I’ve never... I’m a...’ She blushed, unable to finish the sentence, the temptress gone.
‘You are a virgin?’ Shock rocked through him, followed by something else. She’d never made love and was choosing him to be her first lover.
‘Yes,’ she whispered and looked down at him, her eyes full of longing. ‘And I want you to be the man who shows me what desire and passion is like.’
He stood up and took her hands in his, looking at her as she stood naked before him, uncertainty all over her beautiful face. He shouldn’t want her, shouldn’t want to be the man who showed her the pleasures of sex for the first time, but an overwhelming need to be that man flowed through him, making him want her more, testing his control beyond endurance.
‘It wouldn’t change anything, Emma.’ He wanted her to be sure, wanted her to know that after this there wasn’t anything else. ‘If we have sex it will still be just tonight. I don’t want a relationship. I don’t intend to settle down any time soon.’
She pressed her palm against his face, her fingers running over the stubble, unleashing the same wild desire as before. ‘I want nothing more than this moment in time.’
He pulled her to him, enjoying her soft skin beneath his hands and the feel of her nakedness against his clothed body. He kissed her gently, determined to make this as special as possible—for both of them.
In one swift movement he swept her up in his arms and carried her to the large bed he’d spent the last two nights alone in. As he placed her on the soft covers, he allowed his fingers to trail over her, his gaze fixed firmly on hers.
He stood before her and pulled off his clothes, enjoying the way she watched, her eyes widening when he stood before her naked and aroused. He picked up his wallet from the bedside table and pulled out the all-important foil packet. ‘I assume this is the only contraception we have between us?’
The impish smile which had been on her face as she’d watched him divest himself of his clothes slipped away as he rolled the condom on. ‘It is, yes.’
He moved on to the bed, bracing his arms on either side of her head, his body tantalisingly close to her as he teased her with a kiss. ‘Now that we’ve sorted that out, we can get back to the important issue of pleasure.’
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him to her, and he had to fight hard to stop himself covering that delicious body with his and thrusting into her. As she stroked her fingers down his back, returning his kiss with ever more passion, he knew he couldn’t hold out much longer and he moved on top of her. She wrapped her legs around him; if he hadn’t known she was a virgin, he’d never have considered it possible, as she rocked her hips teasing him mercilessly.
His control snapped and all he could think about was making her his. She gasped out and dug her fingernails into his back as he took possession of her, sliding in as gently as his burning need for her allowed. She opened her eyes and looked up at him as he moved within her.
‘Nikolai...’ She whispered his name and moved her hips with him, encouraging him to deepen that possession and pushing him over the edge.
He reached that edge, trying to hang on, trying to take her with him, and when she met him there he finally let go, collapsing afterwards into her embrace, their breathing hard and fast.
