Now. Please,’ she said huskily. ‘I need … I want …’ Why couldn’t she even string a sentence together? She was never this inarticulate.
He smiled. ‘Guess what? I want you all the way back.’ He stripped off his jockey shorts, then took a condom from his discarded jeans and rolled it on before kneeling between her thighs again and kissing her. She felt the tip of his penis nudge against her entrance—and then he was inside her with one long, slow, deep thrust.
She shuddered.
He stilled, letting her body adjust to his. ‘Are you all right, Bel?’
‘Yes—I just wasn’t expecting this to … Oh-h-h,’ she said as he began to move again.
She could feel the pressure growing, warmth curling at the soles of her feet and spreading up through her body into ripples, then waves.
She’d known Alex would be good at this—Alex was good at everything he did—but she really hadn’t expected it to be this good, taking her to a completely different world.
‘Bel,’ Alex demanded softly. ‘Look at me.’
She opened her eyes—and saw the same wonder she was feeling reflected in his own eyes as her climax hit her.
It was a while before she could even think, let alone speak. And she was cradled in Alex’s arms, her head resting on his shoulder.
‘I think,’ he said softly, ‘that proves we’re pretty compatible.’
‘Yes.’ More than she’d ever expected.
He stroked her face. ‘So. We like each other. We have a lot in common. And the sex is good.’
She had a nasty feeling she knew where this was heading.
‘So how about we don’t burst anybody’s bubble?’ He shifted so he could kiss her lightly. ‘If we get married, it’s going to solve all the problems at a single stroke.’
No, it wasn’t. Because she was going to have to tell him about the miscarriages. ‘Alex—about the baby business …’
‘It’s fine.’ He pressed his forefinger lightly against her lips. ‘Stop worrying. I know you love your job and you’re good at it. I’m not expecting you to give it up. If we do have children, we’ll work something out. If we don’t, then we’ll carry on exactly as we are.’
He said that now, but how would he feel later?
‘It’s a win-win situation.’
Hardly. Because Alex didn’t love her. Which meant their marriage would be one-sided—and if he had any idea that she was falling in love with him, he’d back off straight away. He made no secret about the fact he considered himself allergic to love.
‘Bel. Stop panicking.’ He stole a kiss. ‘It’s going to be fine.’
‘Is it?’
He smiled. ‘I think I’m going to enjoy spending the rest of today proving it to you. Very, very slowly.’
Her face felt hot. ‘Alex!’
‘I’m going to get us something to eat.’ He climbed out of bed. ‘Stay put. And I mean it, Bel. No worrying. This might just be the best idea either of us has ever had.’
THE alarm shrilled; Isobel rolled over to hit the snooze button and collided with a body.
A warm, hard and very obviously male body.
‘Good morning, Bel,’ Alex said quietly.
How could he possibly be awake already? They’d spent much of the previous night making love, after Alex had returned to bed with a platter of fruit and cheese and crackers and insisted on feeding her. They’d explored each other’s bodies so completely that neither of them had anything left to hide.
And right now all Isobel wanted to do was snuggle back under the duvet, wrapped in his arms, and go back to sleep.
‘Hello? Earth to Isobel? Anyone home?’ he teased.
He sounded bright and chirpy. But that was Alex, able to burn the candle at both ends. He could stay up late—or, in the case of last night, spend a fair part of it making love—and still be wide awake and ready to go at the crack of dawn.
‘Uh,’ she said.
He must’ve hit the snooze button because the alarm stopped shrieking; then he rolled her onto her side and curved his body round hers. ‘Good morning, sleepyhead.’ He kissed the sensitive spot behind her ear. ‘I take it you have to be up for work this morning.’
‘Uh.’
He chuckled. ‘I always thought you were a morning person.’
‘I am,’ she mumbled, ‘if I get enough sleep first.’
He traced a lazy circle round her navel with his fingertip. ‘Ah. That. I guess we were a bit … busy, last night.’ His hand flattened against her stomach, then slid upward to cup one breast. ‘Any regrets, this morning?’
Apart from aches in muscles she’d forgotten she had … She twisted round to face him and pressed a kiss into his chest. ‘No.’
‘Good. So you’re going to marry me, then.’
He hadn’t actually asked her, the previous night. None of the traditional down-on-one-knee stuff, no declaration of love, no four little words.
She suppressed the sting of hurt. He had asked her, a few days before—and she’d refused him. So this time round he hadn’t asked and she hadn’t accepted. Which, in a weird sense, made them quits in this marriage that wasn’t a marriage.
‘Bel?’
She forced herself to sound light-hearted. ‘Depends.’
‘On what?’
‘I need coffee.’
‘I can take a hint.’ He laughed. ‘Go and have a shower, and I’ll make us some breakfast.’ He stroked her hair. ‘I’m tempted to join you in the shower … but then you’d be seriously late for work, and I don’t want to get you into trouble.’
‘Trouble?’
‘For spending the morning in the shower with me instead of doing what you’re supposed to be doing.’
She could just imagine the water beating down on them as Alex eased into her body, and desire flooded through her. ‘Oh-h-h.’
‘Tempted?’ he teased.
She slid the flat of her palm down his side, curving round his buttocks. ‘Mmm.’
The
