He came closer and everything in Sidonie tightened with anticipation. She tried to ignore it.
Heavily, Alexio continued, ‘I should tell you why I jumped to such conclusions. My mother was the most cynical person I’ve ever known. She taught me not to trust at an early age, and the world and my peers have only confirmed her lesson. I’m used to lovers as cynical as I have become. You were so different from anyone I’ve ever met before...’
His words resounded in Sidonie’s head, shocking her. She felt weakened by this mutual confessional. The hard knot of tension and pain inside her felt as if it was dissolving, treacherously.
Alexio went on. ‘My parents’ marriage was not happy. It was sterile, loveless. I told you why I decided to break with my father...but there’s more to it than that. Once he beat my mother. I rushed in to stop him, to protect her, but she put me out of the room and went back in and closed the door, shutting me out.’
Alexio’s mouth twisted.
‘She didn’t want or need my protection—not even then... And that’s why I wanted nothing more to do with my father.’
Sidonie’s heart clenched. She felt increasingly vulnerable and was aware that only inches separated them now. When had they even moved that close?
Alexio’s hand closed around one upper arm, warm against her bare skin, setting off a chain reaction.
‘I’m sorry, Sidonie. Truly.’
Something moved between them. Something fragile and yet something very earthy too.
But Sidonie was reeling. It was too much. She pulled her arm free and said weakly, ‘I’m tired now. I should go to bed.’
Alexio just looked at her in the soft glow of the lamps. ‘Yes.’
Sidonie knew she should move, but for a second she couldn’t seem to. All she could see was that mouth, and all she could think about was how she wanted to feel it on hers right now. She had to get out of there before she did something stupid. Exposed herself.
Backing away, eyes huge, as if she was afraid he might pounce on her, Sidonie left the room and shut herself inside her bedroom. Her heart was beating as rapidly as if she’d just run a mile. Alexio’s words swirled in her head and every cell in her body was protesting at being out of his proximity.
Trying her best to ignore the insistent throbbing of her blood and pulse, Sidonie washed herself and put on her nightshirt, got into bed. But as soon as she lay down she knew sleep was an impossibility.
She clenched her hands into fists. It was as if his words had unlocked something tight and painful inside her and replaced it with pure desire. She needed Alexio with an almost physical pain. Hunger for him made her grit her jaw. Hormones were flooding her body, stronger than anything she’d felt before.
Almost without thinking, operating on some very base level, Sidonie got out of bed and opened the door of her bedroom. She went back into the drawing room and saw Alexio standing at the window, looking like a remote figure. For a second she hesitated, but then he turned round...and she was no more capable of going back than she was of ceasing breathing.
Rawly, she blurted out, ‘I need you to make love to me.’
Alexio thought he was dreaming. He saw Sidonie silhouetted in the light of a nearby lamp. Her flimsy nightshirt clearly showed the shape of her body and the fact that she wore no underwear. His blood boiled, blanking his brain of everything he’d been thinking about. Lust surged, making him so hard it hurt.
Her breasts looked bigger, he could see the swell of her belly, and something deeply primal within him exulted fiercely.Hisseed in her belly. After their conversation he’d been feeling ridiculously exposed, but that was incinerated by the heat he felt right now.
Fearing she might disappear, Alexio instructed her throatily, ‘Come here.’
Sidonie moved with endearing jerkiness, and then she was in his arms and Alexio’s mouth was on hers. Her body was pressing into him so hard it felt as if he’d be branded with her shape for ever and he was devouring her...and wondering dimly how he’d survived for as long as he had without this.
Sidonie groaned deep in her throat as sheer wanton pleasure burned up inside her at the feel of Alexio’s arms around her again, his mouth on hers, his tongue stroking hers.
She barely noticed him lifting her up into his arms, feeling weightless as she wrapped her arms around his neck and sank deeper and deeper into the kiss. They only broke apart so that Alexio could lay Sidonie down on his bed, and she looked up at him as he pulled off his shirt, revealing the hard-muscled perfection of his torso. He looked leaner, harder than she remembered, and everything feminine within her sighed voluptuously.
He took off his trousers and underwear and he was unashamedly naked and aroused. The dusky light from outside bathed him in a golden glow.
‘I need to see you.’ His voice was hoarse.
Sidonie’s body was on fire. She couldn’t remember feeling so desperate, so sensitised. Her breasts were literally throbbing, aching with need. And between her legs she felt damp and hot.
She sat up slightly and pulled her nightshirt off, but her hands were awkward.
Alexio said roughly, ‘I’ll do it.’
He reached down and pulled it up and then all the way off. She was naked but she couldn’t drum up any embarrassment. She needed him too badly.
