tongues that left them both panting for air.
He groaned and his arms left the back of the sofa, one banding around her waist to hold her close and the other sliding up her thigh until his fingers delved between her spread legs.
He hissed. ‘Fuck, you’re soaking.’ His fingers probed her entrance from behind while his mouth settled hot and demanding over one taut nipple.
‘Yes. It’s your fault.’ A whimper caught in her throat as he sucked hard through the silky fabric and then scraped with his teeth.
She released her hold on his hair to untie the straps of her dress, which were knotted behind her neck. She wanted him skin to skin. To feel his sexy day-old stubble scrape her nerve endings alive.
He obliged. With an impatient tug, he followed her lead and pulled the top of her dress down until both her aching, heavy breasts spilled free.
He cupped one, his hot stare tracing her while his thumb tortured the nipple again and again with rough swipes. ‘So pretty.’ Then he swooped, his mouth covering the glowing bud with long sucks and flutters from his talented tongue.
Essie dropped her head back, too strung out to hold in the moan of delight his fingers inside her and his mouth laving her breast unleashed.
He pulled back. ‘You’re going to have to stay quiet. We don’t want visitors.’
Stay quiet? Was he aware how good he made her feel? She didn’t give a damn if the whole of Paris rocked up with popcorn and opera glasses. But she didn’t want him to stop, so she bit down on her bottom lip and focussed on the silvery wallpaper behind his head to battle the strong sensations he was thrusting upon her willing, eager body.
Essie cradled his head as he leaned in for another taste, but this time fiery jolts of electricity slashed from her nipple to her core.
Enough.
She tugged at the hem of his T-shirt and collapsed forward so her face was buried in his divine-smelling neck. After two or three impatient tugs on his shirt hem, Ash released her flesh and between them they removed his shirt with hurried jerks.
Ash tossed it aside while Essie just stared at him up close.
Despite the time he spent behind a desk or in a boardroom, he somehow maintained the ripped physique now laid out for her. She spread her fingers wide as her hands glided over the smooth tanned skin of his torso and tangled in the thatch of dark hair covering his pecs.
His fingers clutched the fabric at her hips, releasing and then gripping again while she took her time exploring him. She kissed a path down his neck, the stubble scraping at her sensitive lips.
A strip of black hair ran from below his navel and disappeared into his boxers, which were tented with his ready erection. As if she had been jump-started, she flew into action. She grabbed the condom and tore into it. Ash, equally eager, shimmied his jeans and boxers lower down his hips, releasing his cock, which bobbed on his hard, grooved belly.
Essie licked her lips. She wanted to taste every inch of him. But the clock was ticking. And if she didn’t get him inside her soon, she’d burst from sexual frustration.
He grinned. ‘Later.’ His voice was so low, he sounded like a stranger. In many ways, all the important ways, he was. But just like the first time, she wanted him anyway.
‘Don’t worry.’ He grinned. ‘I want to eat you, too.’
She’d been right about the oral skills—she couldn’t wait. She rolled the condom over the hard length of him, her movements hindered by the inferno burning her up from inside and his constant fondling of her breasts and rolling of her nipples between his fingers and thumbs.
And then she rose up over him, gripping him between her legs and angling him back towards her entrance. Ash shuffled his hips under her and she braced one hand on his shoulder while between them they guided him inside.
She sank, stretched and filled to perfection so a cry escaped. Ash covered her mouth with one hand, a reminder of their public location. Although the expression on his face—his bunched jaw, his flared nostrils, his hooded eyes—told her he, too, struggled to contain the intense bite of pleasure.
This was what she’d craved since she’d walked into his office that fateful morning. His surrender to this flammable chemistry that rendered her helpless. She wasn’t alone—confirmation was etched into the harsh planes of his taut features.
With his hand still clamped over her mouth, Essie began to move, rocking back and forth on his lap. The angle rubbed her in the perfect spot and she picked up the pace, bouncing on his lap with renewed energy, delivering what they both craved.
Ash settled back and gripped her hips, allowing her to dictate the angle and depth of penetration. But he didn’t lay idle for long. One hand cupped her breast, tweaking and pulling her nipple until lightning snaked across her belly. The other hand delved between their bodies until the pad of his thumb settled over her neglected clit, strumming and circling.
‘Yes,’ she half hissed, half whispered. No way could she stay completely silent, not when he lay sprawled beneath her looking sexier than any sight she’d ever seen. And not when he filled and stroked her with sublime perfection.
When he started thrusting up from below, each blow accompanied by a harsh grunt while his big hands held her hips firm to hit the same spot over and over again, she lost all strength in her upper body and collapsed forward. Her hands clasped his sweat-slicked chest and her hair formed partial curtains before her face.
‘Damn, you’re tight. You clutch me just right.’
She whimpered, his verbal encouragement, his deep thrusts and his thumb back on her clit working a unique brand of magic over her body.
She gasped, flinging her wild hair back over her shoulders, her neck arched.
‘That’s it, ride me.’ He panted out, his gruff commands low but no less insistent. ‘I’m going to make you come so hard.’
With one last swipe of her clit and three rapid-fire thrusts of his hips, she climaxed, her whole body tense as she fluttered and clenched around him. Her cries bounced off the walls, but they were both past caring.
He sat up, buried his face between her breasts and clutched her to him with breaking force as he convulsed and groaned out his own climax.
Essie swallowed past her dry throat, gripping his shoulders while the spasms petered out and her heart slowed.
The sheen of cooling sweat stuck their clammy chests together. Essie caught her breath at last. ‘Well, that was fun.’ She buried her nose in his hair, stifling a giggle.
He kissed her breastbone, between her breasts.
‘Hell, yeah, it was.’
She cracked up, taking him along with her.
ASH WOKE TO the melodic sound of distant church bells.
He opened his eyes to find the hotel suite, which
