Chapter Ten
DIDO FELT JITTERY as she set out the platters Evadne had prepared for a shared dinner. The housekeeper had left for the mainland and would be gone for forty-eight hours.
Which meant Dido was alone on the island with Theeny and Panos.
The thought of him made that syrupy heat flood her veins and the steady pulse of desire beat at the juncture of her thighs.
They’d barely spoken since coming back from Filos earlier today. A business call had distracted him as soon as they returned, and kept him closeted in his study until early evening.
Dido had spent the afternoon unsettled by her new perspective on the man she’d told herself she despised.
Determination alone wasn’t enough to maintain that hatred.
Not now she understood him better. Given his experience, she could understand, though not forgive, his readiness to think the worst of her three years before.
Then there was seeing him as a father and as a benefactor to those children.
That’s not why you’re distracted. It’s the thought of being alone with him. Sitting at the same table, wanting him so badly you can taste him on your tongue, even feel him moving inside you.
How can you? After how he treated you.
‘Do you need help?’
The platter landed on the island bench with a dull clunk as Dido spun around, face burning and belly clenching.
Panos stood in the doorway, shoulders almost filling the space, wearing the same clothes as this morning. She took in his rumpled hair and shadowed jaw. The open V of his shirt, and below his board shorts, powerfully muscled legs and bare feet.
He looked…untamed, elemental and potently masculine.
Memory slammed her. Of him emerging, bare-chested from the surf, walking with that loose-hipped saunter, shoulders back as he flicked water from his eyes.
Then he’d seen her waiting for him and his dark eyes had glittered, his face splitting in a slow grin that made her toes curl and her womb contract.
He’d opened his arms and she’d run, throwing herself at him, knowing he’d catch her.
Her arms had wound around his neck and her legs around his waist and he’d held her as if he’d never let her go.
Her throat contracted.
How many nights had she woken, imagining the taste of sea salt and Panos on her tongue? How often had she felt the phantom caress of his bristled jaw on her flesh as she snuggled against her lonely pillow?
She’d told herself it was over but it wasn’t. This craving was—
‘Dido, what’s wrong? Is it Athena?’
‘No.’ Her voice sounded strangled and she turned away, planting her palms on the marble benchtop for support. ‘She’s fine. Worn out from an afternoon on the beach. She almost fell asleep in the bath.’
Silence but for the pulse pounding in her ears.
Pushing her shoulders back she straightened and turned, only to find he’d padded across the tiled floor and stood less than an arm’s length away.
A snatched breath brought a hint of his unique scent.
Her nipples peaked against her bra and internal muscles tightened.
‘Then what is it?’
She bit her lip rather than blurt the truth. That despite his mistrust and her pride, despite his actions, she wanted him. Craved him.
‘Nothing. You just surprised me.’
He frowned. Not that disapproving scowl he’d directed at her in Tahiti and London.
Instead he looked perplexed, even concerned.
He raked his fingers through his hair, making it stand in tufts and leaving him deliciously dishevelled.
Like the surfer she’d fallen for three years ago.
The surfer who turned out to be a billionaire.
Don’t go there! No matter how much you want him.
She moved towards the refrigerator, needing to do something with her hands, but he flung out an arm and she stopped.
He said her name. Just that, in a voice of gravel that abraded her senses and brought every nerve ending into pulsing life.
She backed up a step, not trusting herself.
His gaze held hers, searching, his expression serious. Something unexpected glinted in those narrowed eyes. She saw his pulse pound at the base of his throat and his nostrils flare on a deep inhale, his chest rising.
Dido told herself he couldn’t know what she felt. Except she was wet between the legs. Could he possibly detect the scent of arousal? She pressed her thighs together and lifted her chin.
‘You’re tense,’ he said slowly as if weighing his words.
His gaze slid to the food she’d begun to assemble. But her appetite had vanished. She hadn’t been hungry to start with, just going through the motions to keep herself busy.
His eyes were on her again and she watched his pupils widen, turning his eyes almost black. The way they looked when they’d made love.
She shifted, shuffling back as she cleared her throat. She prided herself on her communication skills. Those and her ability to think on her feet were key parts of her work. Yet those skills deserted her. No words came.
‘I’m not hungry.’ His voice was low and soft, curling around her and drawing her skin tight. She shivered and tightened her hands into fists at her sides. Did he move nearer? That dark gaze seemed mere inches away. ‘Not for food, at least.’
Dido stared, his words sinking in. ‘I…’
Panos moved, obliterating the space between them. They stood almost touching as he tilted his head and pinioned her with that dark-as-midnight stare. ‘I’m hungry for you, Dido.’
Her mouth sagged. She wanted to protest that he didn’t trust her, didn’t like her. Instead her mind kept replaying his voice, and it felt like suede smoothing over sensitised skin.
Hungry for you.
And he was. She saw it in his eyes, felt it in the surge of power throbbing between them. Her own need fizzed in her blood.
‘I still taste you on my tongue, did you know that?’ His gaze dropped to her mouth and it was like being touched by a live wire. ‘Hot, sweet honey.’ His voice turned gravelly. ‘And I want more. So much more.’
The trembling in her limbs became a shudder of longing, rolling down her spine and dropping deep into her feminine core.
‘But you need to tell me what you want.’
He was so close, or had she moved? If she leaned forward they’d touch. It would be easy. She sensed the banked embers of lust would ignite instantly, removing the need for words.
But she wasn’t a coward. Confused, yes. Fearful of the depth of her hunger. But not a coward.
She’d fought this compulsion with everything she had but logic and caution couldn’t vanquish something so primal.
Her voice was thick but firm. ‘I want you.’ The ache in her chest abruptly eased as the words burst free. ‘I want to have sex with you,’ she added, needing to clarify so he didn’t think she’d fallen for him.
Years before she’d loved him desperately. That was a secret she’d never revealed, believing the time would be right to share that when his own feelings had deepened. That time never came.
Ruthlessly, Dido blocked that line of thought. This wasn’t about the past. Or the future. It was about now. This single point in time when she could reach out and have what she’d craved for so long. Surely she could allow herself this?
The way he looked at her turned her mind to mush. And every secret place in her body. And her knees…
He caught her hips as she wobbled. Then they were thigh to groin and the long ridge of his erection furrowed against her belly.
‘Panos!’ It was a gasp of pure need. She couldn’t have stopped it any more than she could have prevented her hands flattening against him and rubbing his chest.
She felt tremors pass through him too and the last trace of anxiety eased. This might be a mistake but they both wanted it. For the first time since they’d met again she felt they were truly equals. All his wealth made no difference when both trembled with want.
It was as if she sloughed off old, too-tight skin. A weight lifted. She even felt her lips curl in a shaky smile as he lifted her clean off the floor and up onto the end of the massive island bench, away from the food.
They were at eye level as he stood between her knees. ‘Tell me again.’
A command or a plea? With his hands on her, his solid body between her thighs and pressed to her chest, she felt the energy coursing through him.
A shaky breath pushed her breasts against his hard chest and even that felt like too much. She shuddered, opening her knees wider as he planted his hands on her bottom and dragged her against his groin.
It had been so long and she needed him so badly. ‘I want you, Panos.’ She opened her eyes and lost herself in the dark chocolate depths of his. ‘I need—’
His mouth slammed into hers and it was like the last time. Instant, all-consuming hunger. His fingers ploughed through her hair, tugging at curls, tilting her head so he could invade her mouth in the most satisfying way.
The pulse between her thighs thundered faster and she wriggled on the cool bench, pressing against his hardness. Was it possible to orgasm from just a kiss?
His hand found her breast and she had her answer. When, not if.
Thrusting her fingers into the short hair at the back of his skull, she tried to meld herself to him. He gathered her in as if he couldn’t stand anything but a complete fusion of their bodies either.
But then he lifted his head, just enough to brush her lips with his words. ‘We need a bed.’
Dido thought she’d die if she had to wait. For three difficult, lonely years she’d longed for this, even as she told herself she hated him. A few minutes longer should make no difference yet she knew an atavistic fear that once separated, even by inches, something would stop this happening.
She lifted surprisingly heavy eyelids to meet his searing stare. Even that notched her arousal higher. ‘We don’t need anything but each other.’
A second passed. Pride abandoned, she was about to plead when he nodded. Yet he slid one arm away. Seeing her pout he gave her a tight smile and held up a tiny package he must’ve grabbed from his pocket. ‘Condom.’
‘You carry a condom around the house?’
The glint in his eyes was devilish as he tore it open. ‘All the time, since you came to stay.’
Later she’d examine her emotions. Annoyance or relief that he was prepared?
‘What is it, Dido? Have you changed your mind?’
‘No.’ This between them was vital, unstoppable. She’d take this moment for herself and tomorrow, when sanity returned, she’d face the consequences.
Her hands went to his shorts and with one ruthless tug, dragged them down.
Their hands collided, tangled. She reached for him as he began to sheath himself. His breath hissed and her lungs grabbed as she brushed velvet softness over rigid heat. Then he nudged her hand away and she let him. She couldn’t bear any more delay.
Dido was pulling up her dress, bunching it high, when hard knuckles skimmed her inner thigh.
‘Just a sec.’ She shifted her weight, tugging her dress out from under her. Long fingers stroked between her parted legs, discovering damp cotton, before curling around the edge and dragging it aside.
Did fabric tear? She didn’t care, because now there was pressure right there, at her core, where she needed it. Large hands pushed her thighs wider as Panos moved close.
Her head tipped up. He was watching her face as if waiting for permission or for her to change her mind.
As if! Never had she wanted anything as much as this. Here, now, with this man.
Only Panos.
Did he read her mind? He nudged closer and she felt that remarkable sensation of her body opening for him. His heat, his flesh and power, merging with hers.
Stars sparkled in her bloodstream as they held each other’s gaze and came together at last. It felt like a miracle, impossible yet indescribably perfect.
Under the bright kitchen lights she saw every plane and angle of his face, the sharp tension gathering in the hinge of his jaw and drawing the flesh tight across his cheekbones. The same tension that made her arch her back and wind her hands around his neck, pulling his head down to hers.
But he stopped a heartbeat away from her mouth, just far enough to hold eye contact as he pushed home to the very heart of her, anchoring them together.
She’d thought she remembered but memory paled against reality. So many sensations, all exquisite.
Her soft puff of breath feathered his lips and she felt his next, sighing exhalation like a phantom kiss.
They trembled together on the brink, neither moving, as if the slightest change would shatter their fragile communion.
Dido saw need in his face, a desperation that matched hers, and something even more powerful that made jubilation rise.
He lifted one hand to stroke her cheek, throat, then down to cover her breast. It was enough to break their stasis. On a moan of pleasure, she pressed into his hold, triumphing when he gritted his teeth and withdrew before bucking hard.
Her hands tightened around his neck as she tilted her hips to meet his thrust, every nerve ending rioting at the glorious friction.
The stars weren’t only in her blood now. They prickled her skin and spangled the perimeter of her vision as Panos thrust again—slow, sure and deep.
‘Yes,’ she hissed as she read changes in his body that matched her own rising excitement. ‘You need this too.’
His nostrils flared. Everywhere they touched his flesh was burning hot, his body a symphony of steely masculinity. And suddenly the sensations were too much, a sensual overload that started deep inside and exploded, making the world splinter.
Only the solidity of his touch and the power of his gaze anchored her as the crisis hit and she jerked in his hold, lost in euphoria. A second later she felt the hard pulse of him spilling deep inside and finally closed her eyes, clinging to him as the rapture rolled on and on.
His head settled in the curve of her shoulder, her hands clutching him close. She felt his lips move against her skin.
‘Only with you, Dido.’
Her battered heart soared.
But she was no longer an impressionable innocent. Even through her elation she knew she’d imagined those words because they were impossible. He must have said something else.
She told herself that didn’t matter. For now this was enough.