Chapter Ten
CHAPTER TEN
Vic woke just before dawn and watched Addie sleeping peacefully beside him. One of her arms was flung across his chest, her head nestled against his shoulder. He breathed in the scent of her, the flowers of her perfume, the fruity fragrance of her hair, and the unique smell of her body.
These days he rarely spent the whole night with a lover because of the deeper level of intimacy it entailed.
Waking beside a stranger was not something he enjoyed doing as much as he used to.
But making love with Addie was nothing like a casual hook-up, far from it.
It was intimate, erotic and tender in a way he hadn’t expected.
He had found himself offering her a fling even though he knew it was stepping over a boundary he never thought he would cross.
There were all sorts of complications in becoming involved with his best friend’s sister.
Keeping their involvement a secret was going to be difficult and he was uncomfortable insisting on it in case Addie thought he was somehow ashamed of their relationship.
Relationship. That was the word he never used in the context of his sex life.
But he was already in a relationship with Addie and had been since he had been introduced to her at Marcus and Isabella’s engagement party.
The weird thing was he was the reason Marcus and Isabella got together in the first place.
He had never considered himself to be the matchmaking type and he had always kept his private life separate from his public life.
But Isabella had been visiting him from Paris where she had been living and she was lamenting the poor state of her dating life.
Vic invited Marcus over on a whim, thinking it couldn’t hurt for his half-sister to meet his friend to show her not all men were bastards, and the rest, as they say, was history.
Vic wasn’t a believer in love at first sight, but even as cynical as he was, he had to admit his friend and his half-sister certainly fell for each other rapidly.
They were only dating a couple of months when they announced their engagement.
And that was when Addie entered Vic’s life.
He turned his head so he could plant a soft kiss to the top of her head.
She stirred against him, murmuring something, then nestling back against him like a sleepy kitten.
Something shifted inside his chest, a tightness loosening, a locked door cracking open to allow a tiny beam of light into the darkness.
Vic gave himself a mental shake. He was getting sentimental over Addie allowing him to be her first lover, that’s all it was.
He was in new territory, unfamiliar territory where it was impossible to completely cordon off his feelings.
He wouldn’t be human if he didn’t feel something , but what it was made no sense to him.
He wasn’t the falling in love type. He had never experienced the overwhelming sense of rightness other people talked about when they met their soulmate.
He had bedmates, not soulmates and he didn’t intend for that to change.
But…
Something stirred deep inside him as Addie lay sleeping in his arms. He fought against it, not wanting to allow his feelings to get out of control.
He could not undo their lovemaking. And it had been lovemaking, not sex.
Sex could be intimate and tender for him, but never had it been this intimate and tender.
Their intimacy would always be something they had shared.
Something unique and special, something she could never experience again and he suspected nor would he.
The uniqueness of their physical union encased it in an impermeable membrane of memory.
He would never be able to erase it from his mind.
He could never erase it from his body, for even now, hours after they had made love, his body hummed with pleasure, with aftershocks and tingles that made his body feel alive and vital in a way it had never done before.
Addie moved again and opened her eyes, blinking up at him. A delicate blush formed on her cheeks and her smile was shy but it still was like a ray of bright sunshine. ‘Good morning.’
Vic repositioned himself so he could press a kiss to her lips. ‘Buongiorno, bella.’
Her lips clung to his, so he went back for seconds, enjoying the feel of her soft lips moving against his with enthusiasm and stirring passion.
He loved her responsiveness to him, the way she gave of herself so freely, so openly.
Her mouth opened under his and he slipped his tongue through her parted lips, the eroticism of their tongues meeting making his spine loosen and his blood to pound in his groin.
How was he to control this rabid rush of feeling?
He wanted her like an addict wanted a drug.
A drug they had not realised they had no immunity to its powerful potency.
Vic was so hard for her he ached. He burned.
His heart slammed against the wall of his chest as her lips and tongue kissed him back with equal passion.
Her legs were entangled with his, her soft breasts pressed up against his chest. He removed his mouth from hers to kiss each breast in turn, stroking his tongue over her tightly budded nipples, delighting in the taste and texture of her body.
Addie arched her spine like a languorous cat and he moved his mouth down between her breasts, then all the way down to her bellybutton. Her skin was like satin, her soft whimpers of pleasure and encouragement sending him wild with desire.
He had to end this madness but how? He wanted her so much it was impossible to think of a time when he wouldn’t want her.
He knew he was wading in dangerous new waters, waters so deep and treacherous he could find himself in trouble—the sort of trouble he had thus far avoided.
Attachment. He feasted on her body, enjoying every gasp and groan of pleasure she made.
He couldn’t allow himself to think of the time when they would no longer have the enjoyment of each other’s bodies.
This was for now, not for ever.
Addie wasn’t sure how she managed to do it, but when Marcus and Isabella finally arrived the following day, she acted as if nothing had changed between her and Vic.
But in some ways, it was easier to do so because the parents were so desperate to be reunited with their little girl, their attention was on Katerina, not on Addie or Vic.
She was secretly impressed with Vic’s coolly impassive manner towards her considering the passion they had shared the night before, but she caught him looking at her when Marcus and Isabella were preoccupied with Katerina and his eyes glittered with raw longing.
It triggered a flood of desire in her body, a tidal wave of lust that no number of sandbags of common sense could withstand.
Her crush had moved from nine to ten as soon as he made love to her.
She was madly, foolishly in love with him.
Vic had mentioned to her the night before that they would leave as soon as possible after Marcus and Isabella arrived, so Addie had already packed her things, including her new things.
Marcus came over when it was time to say goodbye and gave Addie a warm hug. ‘Thank you so much for helping out. We knew our little angel would be safe with you and Vic.’
Isabella too, came to hug her. ‘We can’t thank you and Vic enough. I was out of my mind with worry until I knew you were coming to the rescue.’
Addie smiled and slipped out of Isabella’s embrace, not wishing to reveal how emotional she was feeling about leaving, not just Katerina but this lovely old villa with all the beautiful moments she had shared in it with Vic.
Moments that would never be repeated for soon it would be turned into a plush hotel, a showpiece for his chain of hotels, not the home she envisaged it as in her dreams.
Vic led her out to the chauffeur-driven car half an hour later. He waited until they were both seated and belted in and the glass partition closed before he glanced her way. ‘There’s something I want to ask you.’
Addie moistened her dry lips. ‘Ask away.’
He reached for her hand and drew it towards him, resting it on top of his muscled thigh. ‘Have dinner with me tomorrow night?’
Addie frowned. ‘You mean in public? Like on date or something?’
A flicker of annoyance moved through his gaze, but he covered it quickly with a wry smile. ‘Do you think it’s too dangerous?’
Of course it was dangerous. She was at risk of spilling out her feelings for one thing.
‘You’re not concerned about being seen with me?
I mean, we were lucky Marcus and Isabella didn’t suspect anything, but if we were photographed…
’ She couldn’t finish the sentence, not wanting to say out loud the scenario that played out in her head.
Vic gave her hand a gentle squeeze. ‘Look at me, cara .’ His deep voice had a note of command to it that made it impossible to do anything but meet his gaze.
He brought her hand up to his mouth, kissing each of her stiff fingers.
She could feel herself relaxing, melting like candlewax as his dark gleaming eyes held hers.
‘I thought I’d made it clear I want to see you when we get back to London.
We can keep it private. My staff will not breach my privacy or yours. ’