As Alexio moved over her body, sinking his hips between her thighs, his erection hard and ready, Sidonie was melting, weakening. She wasn’t ready to walk away yet...she wanted more of this man. More of this fantasy. More of this wicked self-indulgence.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and opened her legs to him and then, when he stopped kissing her for a few seconds, just before he joined their bodies, Sidonie looked up at him and said huskily, ‘Okay...I’ll come with you.’
Alexio Christakos was a magician. A sexy, devilish magician. Just over twenty-four hours after meeting him he had magicked her to an island in another country. Where everything was painted blue and white, where the sun sparkled overhead, and where the glittering sea stretched as far as the eye could see. There was nothing but the hazy shapes of more islands in the distance to break the horizon line.
Her hand was wrapped tightly in his as he showed her around his stupendously gorgeous villa near Oia, on the north-west coast of Santorini. Sidonie could feel the faint burn of secret muscles after the long hours of intense lovemaking the previous night. If she stopped to think about it all for a second she might explode...so she bit her lip and tried not to gape as he showed her into the master suite, which led directly out to a terrace featuring an infinity pool.
He glanced back at her, saying, ‘I know you didn’t exactly come prepared...there are some clothes here for your use.’
Sidonie watched as he let her hand go to open double doors which led into a walk-in closet. His clothes were hung up and laid out on the left hand side and the right hand side was bursting with a glorious kaleidoscope of colours and textures.
A funny pain lanced her chest. Ofcoursehe had a wardrobe stocked with women’s clothes. This had to be a frequent pitstop for him with his lovers/mistresses. He was a generous man. She was sure many of the garments must still be unworn.
To buy time, and hide her reaction, Sidonie reached out and fingered a piece of silk which felt as delicate as air in her hands.
This whole experience was transitory and all this was doing was driving the point home. She had tonotthink about things like how attentive he’d been on the flight to Athens on his private jet—distracting her from her fear of flying with drugging kisses. Or the revelation on the helicopter flight to the island that instead of feeling her fear increasing she’d felt exhilarated.
Sidonie forced herself to smile and said with bright joviality, ‘Well, at least I won’t have to worry about washing my knickers out in the sink. I’m sure your housekeeper would be horrified.’
She looked at him and her smile slipped a little as she saw something hard in his eyes—something she hadn’t seen before. But before she could dwell on it he’d stabbed his fingers deep in her hair and tipped her face up to his, distracting her with a mind-altering kiss.
When he finally pulled away they were breathing harshly and Sidonie’s body trembled all over. She still wasn’t used to this unprecedented physical reaction—as if she were some kind of a puppet and he could control her responses at will. It made her feel intensely vulnerable.
‘Get changed and let’s go for a swim.’
Sidonie burned at the thought of seeing Alexio’s semi-naked body just for her private pleasure.
She managed a rough-sounding, ‘Okay.’
And when he gently turned her around and pushed her in the direction of that wall of clothes again Sidonie tried in vain to stem the flood of emotions that made her hands shake as she searched for the relevant garments.
Sidonie wrapped her legs around Alexio’s waist and her arms around his neck. His back was broad, strong and smooth between her legs and against her chest. They were both wet and salty after swimming in the sea at the bottom of a precipitous set of stone steps leading directly down from the villa. His arms were looped under her thighs as he carried her piggyback-style back up.
The sun was hot on Sidonie’s back and Alexio grumbled good-naturedly, ‘I’m not a mule, you know.’
She grinned and pressed a kiss to Alexio’s neck, feeling his arms tighten under her legs. ‘I know. You’re much, much better-looking than a mule, and far more comfortable.’
She rested her head on his shoulder for a moment, squinting her eyes at the glittering endless azure blue of the sea. Three days had passed since they’d arrived at his villa. Three days of sun, sea and... She blushed at the thought of all the mind-blowing sex.
They’d only left the villa once. Yesterday evening Alexio had taken her out on a small boat into the Caldera where he’d surprised her with a light supper complete with wine. They’d had prime position for watching the famous Santorini sunset and Sidonie had never seen anything so stunning or special.
She’d felt absurdly emotional at the beauty of everything...at the experience that this man was unwittingly giving her when her life was about to change so dramatically. She was storing up every moment—morsels she would take out at a later date and comfort herself with.
An all but invisible housekeeper at the villa left out food at strategic times, so she and Alexio had done little but eat and sleep and make love. Sidonie felt sated on a level she’d never known before. Sated...but curiously unfulfilled too.
Conversation with Alexio never went beyond the superficial. It felt almost as if the level of closeness and intimacy she’d experienced when they’d first met had been closed off.
But then what had she expected? This was transient. Alexio didn’t do relationships, and neither was she in any position to cleave herself to a man.
Sidonie had realised that the only way she could get through this and remain in any way protected was to try and fool Alexio into believing that this wasn’t half as special for her as it really was. So she was doing her best to project an air of vague nonchalance. Every time her mouth wanted to drop open in awe, or she wanted to squeal with excitement, she reined it in.
Because if she let her guard slip for a second Sidonie was terrified he would read the depth of her emotions—and as she wasn’t even prepared to inspect them herself she certainly wasn’t ready for his laser-like gaze to see them.
‘I want to take you out tonight.’
Sidonie murmured something indistinct. Her cheek rested on Alexio’s chest and one of her legs was thrown over his thighs. He could feel his body stir against her and despite the sated languor of his body he could have groaned. When would it end? This ever-present hunger?
His fingers trailed up and down Sidonie’s spine. After carrying her up the steps from the sea earlier he’d walked her straight underneath the outdoor shower on his terrace, near the glittering infinity pool. The cool spray had done little to stem his desire. Within seconds Sidonie had been in his arms, her body pressed against his, and they’d inevitably ended up in bed.
