while his hands on her hips moved her further in.
As he met her mouth again, she felt the odd sensation of panic devoid of fear.
The intimate taste of him was briefly shocking, the intensity and the thoroughness of his kiss was better in the flesh than in dreams. There, in imaginings, she did not know quite what to do, but here, with him, she held his breath in her mouth and swallowed it as he accepted hers.
They made hunger.
Illicit.
That was the taste they made.
The tip of her tongue was surely nectar for he savoured it, and the scratch of his jaw was a new hurt for her to relish.
Her breasts ached against fabric as his hands roamed her curves, and she felt the dig of his fingers in her hips and the grind of him against her.
Dignity was not Gabi’s forte.
She slipped and fell on so many occasions.
Tonight, though, she danced with the man of her dreams.
It was just a dance, she told herself. Her body denied it.
Oh, it was so much more than a dance.
He moved her an inch, a dangerous inch for it felt as if their heat met and she was scared to let go, scared to misread the situation again, but it felt as if they were headed for bed.
As she opened her eyes to the coolness of his cheek Gabi was ready for more.
It was the eyes of insatiable heat that met his.
‘What the hell was I thinking?’ Alim asked, for he still could not believe he had sidestepped that dance.
She did not understand the question, and since he offered no clarification Gabi did not attempt a reply.
Alim spoke for both of them.
‘Come to bed.’
HE TOOK HER hand and led her from the dance floor but as they reached the double doors he dropped it.
‘For this to work,’ he told her, ‘we must be discreet.’
Alim was talking of the weeks and months ahead while Gabi was thinking just of this night, but nevertheless she nodded. Her cheeks were flushed and her mind was flurried with hormones like a snow-globe, and so she was grateful that he could think of sparing her blushes in the morning.
His thoughtfulness spurred her to think of tomorrow also.
‘I need to get my coat, or they’ll know that I stayed the night.’
‘Do so, then,’ Alim told her. ‘Just say goodnight and that you are collecting some dresses...’
He knew her routines for he had noticed her... Often, before she went home, Gabi would head up to the dressing suite, where bridesmaids and such got changed, and leave the hotel with her arms filled with tulle.
She blinked at the fact that he knew.
‘I’ll head up,’ Alim said. ‘I have a private elevator...’
‘I know that you do.’
‘I shall send it back down.’
Alim left the ballroom and a moment later so too did she.
It was like any other night.
He walked to his elevator and pulled open the antique gate as Gabi smiled at Silvia, the receptionist on duty tonight.
‘I just have to get some dresses and then I’m done,’ Gabi said. ‘Can I just get my coat?’
‘Sure.’
Gabi slipped behind the desk and into the small staff cloakroom, where she collected her coat and put it on.
And just like on any other night she walked through the foyer.
There was a loud couple by the lifts who Gabi recognised as guests from the wedding and as she turned her head she saw a polished group coming in through the brass revolving doors.
No one was looking at Gabi.
The doors to the elevator were heavy and for a moment they did not budge and she wondered if he had forgotten to unlock them.
She was almost frantic, but suddenly they slid to one side and she stepped in and closed them.
His exotic fragrance lingered in the air and she leant against the soft cushioned wall.
The light was dim and she took a second, or maybe ten, just to imprint this moment for, she knew, things between them could never be the same again.
Oh, she accepted this was just one night, but it would be the absolute night of her life and she would never regret it, Gabi swore.
She went to press the button but before she did so the elevator jolted, and she guessed Alim would have known she was inside and was impatient for her to arrive.
It was he who had pressed the summons.
For he was impatient.
Alim was an ordered person.
Even as the elevator lifted her towards him, he made plans. Tonight was not the time to offer her a position here at the hotel and as his lover; he would wait until tomorrow when his head was clearer.
For now, he would take her to the bedroom and make very slow love to her, for he knew she was inexperienced and deserved due care.
And for once there was tomorrow.
Yes, Alim made plans...but then he saw her. She was flushed in the face and her hands moved with his to open the gated doors. Their fingers met, and haste was born.
Gated elevators were not so good for self-control, for they started to kiss through the gates. Dirty, fevered kisses as their hands reached through the bars.
It was ridiculous—one second apart and they could open them and be together, but even a second apart felt too long.
For the greater good she stepped back as Alim wrenched open the gate and rather than behaving shyly and reticently, as in her dreams she had been, she simply toppled into his arms.
How, he wondered, had he resisted her for so long?
‘I hated it when you came up here with her...’
They were jealous words but she felt free to say them and he knew exactly the time Gabi referred to.
‘You will recall that I sent her back down,’ Alim said as he kissed her hard against the wall.
‘Why?’
