Chapter Five #2
‘We shouldn’t.’ She straightened, placing her wine glass down on the table with shaking fingers.
She had done her best to keep away from this man for the past year and the strange nervous energy she felt in his presence.
He made her feel too much. He made her want too much.
She closed her eyes, trying and failing to get a handle on her rapidly scrambling train of thought and ignore how delicious he smelled as he slowly encroached into her personal space.
She had to control this situation; she had to tell him what needed to be said and let them both deal with the fallout.
‘Do you remember our first kiss, Astrid?’ His low whisper was wicked. ‘Do you remember how clumsy we were in the dark?’
‘Yes,’ she heard herself answer. ‘We bumped foreheads a couple times.’
‘I had a small bruise the next day.’ He smirked, leaning closer. ‘I told myself, if I ever found you again, that I’d do it right. I’d kiss you slow and perfect, like you deserved.’
In the glow of the fire, she watched him lick his lips with exaggerated slowness and she suddenly needed to kiss him again, to know that she wasn’t alone in feeling this crawling need that refused to shift whenever they were around one another.
When he reached out and gripped her hips, she nudged closer. When he urged her down sideways onto his lap, she obeyed and heard a sound somewhere between a sigh and a moan escape her lips right before his lips claimed hers.
Apollo almost gave a roar of triumph as he took his fill of Astrid’s soft mouth.
He kissed her in slow tastes at first, savouring the fact that he’d finally got her right where he wanted.
His hands traced a slow path up the soft curve of her hip until he cupped the underside of her breast through the material of her shirt.
It was chaste and nowhere near enough, a fact he knew she felt too, as she pushed herself against him, seeking relief but not finding any.
He fought the urge to rip the garment from her skin, slowly unbuttoning the front of her blouse and letting it slide down over her shoulders. Her bra was white lace, and he ached to remove that too, but they had time, he reminded himself. They’d have the entire night this time, if he had his way.
She straddled him fully now, her skirt bunched high up on her hips.
The heat of her core was right…there… .separated only by the thin layer of her underwear.
With her lips devouring his and her soft bottom filling his hands, he had to fight not to thrust up hard as they ground against one another, her tiny gasps of breath indicating she was just as eager to find her pleasure too.
It was the hottest thing he had ever seen.
His memory of his mystery woman’s sounds in the dark from that long-ago night was nothing compared to seeing Astrid Lewis beginning to come apart in his arms in the present.
He’d thought perhaps he’d exaggerated his recollection of the powerful desire he’d felt in that darkened lift; that her walking away from him before he’d had his fill of her had been the reason he’d not been able to shake the thoughts of her for years afterwards.
Their encounter had been short, but the chemistry had been as undeniable then as it was now.
The soft lamplight illuminated her fair skin, pink spots high on her cheeks as she moaned her approval and rubbed herself against the hard ridge of his jeans-covered erection. Apollo thought his eyes might roll back in his head from the pleasure of it.
Dio, if he was already being driven wild by this, how on earth would he last inside her?
The fact that they were both almost fully clothed only seemed to intensify the sensations and he was powerless not to match her thrusts with his own greedy ones, a rough groan escaping his throat as she increased her pace.
He had been in control of this seduction mere moments before; he’d been sure of it.
But now, as he lost himself in the sensation of her softness gliding against him, he felt dangerously close to the edge.
He’d never lost it this way, not even in his twenties.
Now, at the grand age of almost thirty-three, the very idea of not being able to maintain control for long enough to give his partner an orgasm seemed ridiculous.
But here, feeling the heat build behind the zip of his jeans, he understood.
Adjusting her on his lap, he used his hand as a barrier between himself and her sweet heat and he slid one digit along the centre of the delicate lacy scrap of neon-pink silk. The material was already damp and he knew she must be close.
‘You’re shaking, carina,’ he crooned against her ear, nipping the lobe gently with his teeth and glorying in her hiss of breath. ‘You need release so badly, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’ She breathed the word on a groan, her body instinctively pressing against his touch as he replicated the jerking up-and-back motion she seemed to like.
Her eyes widened and he smiled, fighting the urge to make a cocky comment about racing drivers and quick observation skills.
Now was not the time for joking, not when she was beginning to shake and shudder so prettily under his touch.
He slowed down as he felt her thighs tighten around him, his eyes never leaving hers as he sucked one pert nipple into his mouth through her bra and bit down hard.
She broke apart spectacularly in a cascade of ripples and shakes.
The soft breathy cry of, ‘Apollo!’ was like heaven in his ears, her polished accent so dirty and divine all at once.
As she fell forward onto his chest, he swore it wouldn’t be the last time she called out his name like a prayer.
He needed more. He needed all of her.
‘I want you completely bare to me,’ he murmured against her breasts. ‘I want no secrets between us.’
Astrid paused, feeling the warmth of her orgasm cool at his words. Secrets… She moved backwards off Apollo’s lap until she could stand up. Shaky fingers hastily straightened her skirt to hide her still trembling thighs from his hungry gaze.
He licked his lips, moving forward as though he planned to touch her. Instinctively, Astrid stepped out of reach and gulped in a cool breath of air, wondering how on earth she’d just lost control so spectacularly.
She hadn’t avoided the final part of her revelation from him on purpose, she’d just got swept away. But would he see it that way? She should have told him about Luca immediately. Damn it.
She blew out another breath in an effort to calm her racing heartbeat and treacherous libido.
Her body very much wanted to continue what they’d just begun, a fact that Apollo was quite aware of as he stood up and prowled towards her in the soft light.
His hands slid up her arms, then immediately paused as she stiffened under his touch.
‘You can’t even look at me now?’ he said roughly. ‘What have I done? Did you not want to—?’
‘I wanted to,’ she said, pulling out of his touch and crossing her arms over her chest to stop herself from falling back into his strong embrace. What on earth was wrong with her?
‘But there are things you need to know. Something I should have told you today.’
‘There’s nothing you could tell me that would make me not want to do exactly what I just described, Astrid.’
‘You might reconsider that in a moment.’ She let out a weak attempt at laughter, steeling herself as she met his gaze.
‘I told you that I wanted to remain anonymous that night and I did. I didn’t start searching for you until eight weeks later, by which time you’d completely disappeared.
I even saved up and hired a private investigator. ’
‘That’s bordering on a little obsessive, bellezza, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t tried various avenues to find you too.’ He sat back on the sofa, his strong arms spread wide and his eyes still dark with need. ‘So long as it leads us both back to the same place—preferably my bed, this time.’
She inhaled a shaky breath. ‘I didn’t try to find you to get back into your bed, Apollo.’
He quirked one dark brow. ‘No?’
‘No.’ She forced herself to meet his eyes, to get the words out in a way that didn’t make her feel as unhinged as she felt inside. ‘I needed to find you…to tell you that I was pregnant.’