hands on his shoulders to hold on to him. She could smell the familiar tang of his aftershave, could feel the heat of his body against hers, the power of his muscles beneath her fingertips.
Being in his arms brought back a flood of memories. She remembered the first time they had made love in her flat. She remembered the feelings, the exquisite tenderness of his touch combined with the almost ruthless domination of her body.
She wanted to lean in against him and wind her arms more tightly around his neck, wanted to give in to the yearning need he stirred inside her. It took all her self-control to hold herself stiff and unyielding against him. ‘Are you going to put me down now?’ she asked as they crossed the hallway.
‘Definitely not!’ He continued on up the curving stairway and along the galleried landing.
Her heart was racing against her chest as he pushed a door open and then placed her down inside the bedroom.
For a moment she stood awkwardly in front of him, and his eyes seemed to burn with intensity as he looked at her.
‘Well, Mrs Demetri, this is exactly where I have wanted you all day … where I have pictured you all day …’ He traced a finger down over the side of her face and then traced it lower to the sweetheart neckline, teasing her with the butterfly caress. ‘In fact, maybe for longer than that …’
Katie swallowed the raw feeling in her throat. This was exactly where she had been picturing herself all day, too. She wanted him so much, but she was also frightened—frightened of revealing her true feelings for him, and of giving her heart and soul to him only for it to be smashed to smithereens if this fragile marriage fell apart.
His hand moved from the side of her neck to her face, stroking it gently, whilst his thumb held her chin so that she was forced to look up at him. ‘This is what your eyes have been asking of me ever since you walked back into my office.’
‘You are the most arrogant and conceited man I have ever met, Alexi!’ Her voice trembled, but not as much as her body as his other hand moved to unfasten the top button of her jacket.
He noticed the subtle yet unmistakable way she quivered as his fingers brushed against her skin, noticed the way her nipples hardened against the cream silk material.
He smiled to himself as a flare of triumph soared through him. For all her prickly defences, the chemistry was still scorching between them. He knew it and so did she.
Katie could feel her heart thundering against her breast. His lips were just centimetres from hers, and she wanted him to kiss her. Wanted it so much that her whole body ached.
Desperately she tried to counteract the feelings. ‘If you must know, I haven’t looked at you with anything but distrust since I walked back into your office.’ She forced herself to say the words; she couldn’t allow him to think for one moment that her heart was his. She had to keep strong; she had to remember that he had allowed her to walk away from him, that he hadn’t wanted a real relationship with her until the baby.
He laughed at that. ‘So that morning at my apartment was just a figment of my imagination?’
Her skin flared with bright embarrassment as she remembered how much she had wanted him. How dared he mention that and laugh at her? ‘Sometimes I—I don’t even like you!’ she muttered angrily.
‘Don’t you?’ He smiled, but his eyes narrowed. ‘But you like what my body can do for you, you always have.’ His fingers skimmed over her breasts, caressing them through the silk, and she closed her eyes on a wave of immediate ecstasy.
He leaned closer and his lips covered hers hungrily and possessively, his body pressing hard against hers.
This was where she wanted to be—it was the only place to be—in his arms, his lips hungrily devouring her. She kissed him back, her hands moving upwards to stroke along the broad contours of his muscular torso.
‘You see?’ He pulled away from her and smiled. ‘Katie, you can pretend as much as you want, but we both know that we are good together, and you still want me so badly it hurts.’
As he spoke he trailed a hand down over the collar of her dress. Then he started to take off her jacket and allowed it to fall to the floor.
Her breathing felt tight with a mixture of apprehension and desire.
‘And you belong to me now …’ The arrogant words inflamed her senses, as did the touch of his lips against her neck as he pulled her closer.
She leaned against him weakly, loving the feel of his body against hers, the familiar scent of him, the possessive touch of his hands circling her waist.
He started to unfasten the buttons at the back of her dress until it fell from her shoulders. She put a hand up, trying to catch it, but he brushed her hand away.
Then he pulled the dress down so that it slithered to the floor, and she stood before him in her lacy bra and pants.
His eyes raked over her body. God, but she was gorgeous. She’d lost a little weight since they’d last made love, but her body was still perfect. Her breasts were pushed up, high and pert above the band of her bra; her waist was tiny, her hips gently curved. Just looking at her gave him a thrill of pleasure beyond belief.
‘You are so beautiful, Katie.’
The warmth of his eyes on her body, and the guttural sound of his voice, made her melt inside. She wanted him so much.
His hands moved upwards, roughly stroking against her breasts through the lace material. ‘There’s so much that’s unfinished between us …’
She moved her head to find his lips, and as they met it felt like barriers were crashing down inside her like huge steel gates of emotion. She groaned with pleasure as his hand moved to push down her bra, his thumbs stroking over her with a sensual heat that made her gasp with desire.
She closed her eyes as his hands squeezed against her, toying with her, then he lowered his head and his lips took one hard, throbbing peak into the warmth of his mouth.
She quivered with arousal, and the last of her control snapped completely. Her hands raked through the darkness of his hair, then her nails scratched down the powerful lines of his back through his shirt as she pressed herself closer, her need for him like a burning fever.
‘Ah … My little wild Kat has come back!’ He laughed with pleasure as he scooped her up into his arms and put her down on the bed.
Then he straddled her, kissing her, stroking her, teasing her with his tongue until she was panting and wild for him. She reached to try and unfasten the buttons on his shirt, her hands trembling and unsteady.
He helped her and the shirt was thrown to the floor. For a second her eyes moved over his powerful torso. ‘You have a perfect body,’ she murmured, tracing one hand over the satin-smooth shoulders that gleamed like gold in the afternoon sunlight slanting through the window beside them.
He laughed at that. ‘You’ve stolen my lines,’ he whispered as his hands curved against her breasts, his fingers squeezing against her nipples until they pulsated, heavy with pleasure and need.
She closed her eyes on a wave of ecstasy.
‘You like that, hmm?’
She
