CHAPTER FIVE
WHENALEXIOPOUREDwhisky into the glass his hand was shaking. He’d had to get away from Sidonie and he cursed himself for thinking it would be a good idea to take her into the shower. Washing her supple body, seeing her delicate skin marked after their making love and knowing he couldn’t touch her again so soon, had been a torture he wouldn’t inflict on an enemy.
He’d barely been able to walk away from her in bed, even though her eyes had been closing.
Sex. It had been sex. Alexio knew all about sex. He’d been having it and excelling at it pretty much since he’d been seduced by the sister of a friend of his older brother at the age of fifteen.
But what he’d just experienced up there in his bedroom, with someone he’d met mere hours before, had not been any kind of sex he knew. It had blown his mind. And yet they’d done nothing kinky... Apart from that little striptease downstairs it had been perfectly straightforward. Sidonie obviously wasn’t experienced.
Alexio’s brain struggled to grapple with this anomaly. Was it that? That she was a little gauche? Was his palate so jaded that the sheer novelty of an inexperienced lover turned him on?
But he knew in his gut it was more than that. Deeper. And he hated to admit it. Alexio threw the whisky down his throat as if it could burn away the hunger that was already building again, which had abated only for mere seconds after his orgasm. He prided himself on his stamina, but this was ridiculous.
When he went back into his room Sidonie had shifted to lie on her front. The sheet clung precariously to her bottom, barely hiding its voluptuous swell, and those dimples were making his mouth water. Her hair had come out of the towel, which had been flung aside haphazardly, and the damp strawberry golden tresses were spread out around her head like glowing halo.
Alexio curled his hands into fists. No way could he go near her on that bed and not rouse her and make love to her again. Silently he turned and took his aching body to his office, where he tried to distract himself with some work.
After staring at the computer screen for a while and seeing nothing but the memory of Sidonie’s face as he’d slid into her tight body for the first time, he sat back and rubbed his hands over his face. This was crazy. He was useless. He needed Sidonie again.Now.
When he padded back into the bedroom she had moved again and now lay on her back, the sheet pulled up, just about covering her breasts. She moved minutely, as if sensing him. He came close to the bed and saw those dark lashes flutter on pale cheeks scored with pink. Her mouth moved and he wanted to cover it with his. His gaze was riveted to its lush lines and he wondered again how he’d dismissed her at first glance.
‘Hey...’
Her husky voice startled him. Her eyes were open, slumberous. Shy. Something punched him in the gut. He had the bizarre feeling that everything in his life up till now had been a bit of a blur and he quashed it ruthlessly. This was no different from anything he’d done before. It was a little more intense, maybe...good chemistry. That was it.
‘Hey, yourself...mind if I join you?’
Sidonie shook her head and Alexio undid his jeans, taking them off. When he got into bed he couldn’tnotreach for Sidonie and she came willingly, her arms sliding around him like missing pieces of a jigsaw fitting together. Their mouths found each other and before Alexio could articulate another word he was giving up any attempt to rationalise what was happening because the urge not to think and just toactwas stronger than anything he could resist.
‘I want you to come to Greece with me.’
Sidonie was in paradise. A paradise where she felt at peace and sated and in a state of bliss she’d only ever read about. And that gorgeous voice...
‘Sid...wake up.’
Sid.No one had ever called her that before. She liked it. A mouth brushed hers and Sidonie instinctively followed it, seeking more. The by now familiar spurt of desire and awareness was rousing her.Arousingher.
She opened her eyes to see Alexio’s hard-boned stunning face and bare torso. She was aware of light flooding the big sparse room. Daylight. She blinked. Alexio hovered over her on one arm. His jaw was dark with stubble and she recalled feeling the delicious abrasion on her skin, her thighs. Her belly swooped alarmingly. A jumble of X-rated images tumbled through her mind and she had to breathe to try and not let them overwhelm her.
She remembered him waking her last night...making love to her again. Showing her that the first time, as spectacular as it had been, had only been a precursor. She’d never known it could be like that—so intensely, violently pleasurable. So altering. She felt different.
Alexio was looking at her, waiting for her to say something. Her voice felt rusty, hoarse from crying out over and over again. ‘What did you say?’
His hand was on her bare belly under the sheet now and it quivered. Instantly Sidonie’s body came to life, nerves tingling, skin tightening. As if well aware of his effect on her, Alexio moved his hand up with exquisite slowness until he cupped her breast, trapping her nipple between his fingers, tightening it gently, enough to pinch.
Sidonie sucked in a breath, wide awake now.
‘I said,’ he repeated, ‘I want you to come to Greece with me. I have a place on Santorini. I’ve decided to take a few days’ break...’
Sidonie automatically went to shake her head but Alexio’s hand left her breast and swept up to cup her chin.
Softly he said, ‘We’ve been here before, Sid...you know what happens if you say no to me.’
Sid. The way he said it made her feel as if she were drowning—as if she’d known this man for aeons when it had been a mere twenty-four hours. All she could see were those amazing golden-green eyes, hypnotising her. Drugging her.
‘You said yourself you don’t have a job to go back to...so why not extend your trip for a few days? Come with me...and I’ll show you paradise.’
He bent his head to kiss Sidonie and she felt like letting out a short, shocked laugh. He’d already unwittingly shown her paradise. But then his mouth was on hers and she couldn’t think. She struggled to try and focus. She knew that her aunt was safe and secure for a couple of weeks. All that responsibility hovered in the wings, but it didn’t have to be dealt with right at this moment—could she stretch one night into a few days? She wanted to, with a fierceness that surprised her.
