‘Oh...that feels good.’
Angelos grinned up at her as he started to tug off her shorts. ‘We’re just beginning.’
Another tug and her shorts were gone, and she lay before him completely naked, utterly exposed, and yet she felt no nervousness or vulnerability. She basked in his appreciative stare, the way his pupils flared as his gaze roved over her.
He reached out and cupped her breast, his thumb moving slowly over the peak. Talia arched up helplessly to meet his hand.
‘You are so beautiful,’ Angelos rasped, his eyes dark with desire.
‘You’re beautiful,’ she answered on a gasp, and he laughed softly before he put his mouth to her breast and Talia gasped again, her hands fisting in his hair, as pleasure rippled through her in exquisite shocks. ‘Oh...’ She sucked in a hard breath as he moved his mouth to her other breast. ‘Oh, I didn’t know...’
He lifted his head to glance at her, lazily amused. ‘Didn’t know what?’
‘That you could feel...’ She trailed off, overcome, because Angelos was giving her so much, showing her so much. If she hadn’t come to Greece...if she hadn’t been able to feel this way, to know you could feel this way...
It didn’t matter that it would end in a few weeks or even that night, Talia told herself fiercely. It didn’t matter if she left Greece heartbroken and alone. She had this, and it would be enough. She would never regret it.
‘Talia...’ Angelos propped himself up one elbow as he looked down at her, his smile soft, his expression unbearably tender. ‘Talia, are you all right?’
She realised how close she was to weeping, not with sorrow, but with sheer emotion. With joy. ‘I’m fine,’ she assured him, and kissed him hard, wrapping her arms around him, pressing her naked body to his. ‘I’m completely and utterly wonderful.’
Angelos caught her up in the kiss, his tongue tangling with hers as his arms came around her, clasping her to him.
He flipped her onto her back, making her let out a sudden laugh of surprise, and then slowly he slid his hand down her body, savouring each dip and curve before he pressed his palm to the juncture of her thighs.
Talia let out a little yelp of shock and Angelos glanced at her, one eyebrow quirked in question.
‘That feels...’
‘Good?’ he finished as his fingers touched her more intimately than she’d ever imagined.
‘Yes,’ she gasped as her hips arched instinctively. ‘Yes...’
She felt her body convulse as pleasure ripped through her in deepening waves, so an instinct she hadn’t even known she’d possessed took over, driving her forward. She grabbed Angelos’s hand with both of her own, and he gave a low laugh as his fingers worked their deft magic.
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ he assured her.
‘You’d better not,’ she breathed, and then pleasure gripped her like a vice before releasing her in a breathless daze. ‘Oh...’
In one fluid movement Angelos rolled over her before he slid smoothly inside, only to stop before he’d barely begun, shock turning his body rigid. ‘Talia...’
She blinked, surprised and a little alarmed at how...full it felt. ‘I’m okay,’ she said.
Angelos’s jaw was clenched as he struggled to keep himself still inside her body. ‘But—’
‘I’m okay,’ she insisted, and she angled her hips upwards to take him more fully into her body. It hurt; not a sudden, sharp pain, but more of a deep ache of adjustment.
Angelos’s face was etched with lines of restraint and regret. ‘I didn’t...’
‘No, don’t, please.’ She pressed her fingers against her lips. ‘This is what I wanted.’ She shifted beneath him, felt her body expand to accommodate him. ‘This is good.’
‘Tell me if—’
‘It doesn’t hurt, I promise.’
Angelos started to move, a groan escaping him as he braced himself on his forearms and after a few seconds Talia sought to match each smooth stroke. And with each stroke she felt the embers of pleasure rekindle, and then her body found a rhythm of its own. She clutched at his shoulders, meeting each thrust, gasping as it stoked the fire inside her higher and higher, until finally it exploded in a rush of sensation that left her boneless and trembling, tears leaking from beneath her closed lids.
‘Talia,’ Angelos said brokenly as he kissed the tears away from her cheeks. ‘Please don’t cry.’
‘It’s only because I’m so happy.’ She opened her eyes, giving him a watery smile. She still felt as if she could burst into tears, but not in a bad way. ‘That was...amazing. Overwhelming. I didn’t know...’
‘Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t know?’ Angelos asked. He’d rolled over onto his side, his skin glistening with a faint sheen of sweat, his eyes dark and fierce. ‘How much you didn’t know?’
‘I was afraid you wouldn’t want to go through with it,’ Talia confessed.
‘You should have told me,’ Angelos insisted as he brushed away a strand of hair from her cheek, tucking it gently behind her ear. ‘I would have done things differently.’
‘I didn’t want things done differently. And actually, I thought you might already guess... I told you how limited my life was.’
‘Yes, but...’ Angelos shrugged. ‘You’re a beautiful young woman. I thought you must have still had opportunities.’
Talia shook her head ruefully. ‘I dated a boy when I was seventeen, and we kissed a couple of times. That’s all.’
Angelos’s eyebrows rose almost comically. ‘That’s all? But then you were completely untouched.’
‘I wasn’t all that interested in boys to be honest,’ Talia told him. ‘I wanted adventure of a different kind. Seeing the world, painting pictures...that was what interested me.’
‘Which makes it all the more tragic that you hid yourself away for so long.’
‘I’m not going to hide away any more,’ Talia promised. ‘No matter what happens. I want to live life properly now.’ Angelos frowned and she hastened to add, ‘I’m not expecting... I know we haven’t made any...’ A flush rose to her skin and since she was naked Angelos could see how she blushed everywhere. She let out a groan of embarrassment as she closed her eyes.
‘Haven’t made any what, Talia?’ Angelos asked, and she couldn’t tell if he was amused or annoyed.
‘Commitments. I just wanted to assure you I didn’t expect any kind of...’ Again words failed her. ‘You know.’
‘I’m not sure I do know,’ Angelos answered. He cupped her cheek, his thumb resting on her lips, and Talia opened her eyes. ‘You know,
