Chapter Eight #3
‘I need you now.’ He barely recognised the shaky tenor of his voice.
He reared up and their eyes met. Sammy nodded wordlessly.
Even in the midst of searing passion, she noted that he took time out to put on a condom.
She was a virgin so perhaps he assumed that she wasn’t on the Pill or maybe, even if she was for whatever reason, he was a man who never took chances.
He had brought her to the brink and had taken her to a place where nerves at taking him inside her had miraculously vanished. Yes, she still registered that this was going to be a whole new experience for her, but she literally couldn’t wait to feel the bigness of him inside her.
He ran a finger along her, delved briefly into her wetness, then nudged her tentatively with the tip of his shaft.
‘Leo...’ She whispered his name in a voice that was halfway between a gasp and a plea. Her hands were on his shoulders, her body arched up, ripe and ready, as he edged into her, inch by glorious inch.
The feeling was exquisite. Sammy had never actually dwelled on what sex might feel like.
It had always been a blurry, rosy image wrapped up in the comforting haze of love with a capital L.
There was nothing blurry or rosy about this.
The sensation of his hardness plunging into the very depths of her was mind-blowingly erotic and raw.
She pushed against him and that was all Leo needed to ramp up his rhythm.
He thrust deeper and harder and felt her whole body quiver around him, their bodies fused.
Sammy was scarcely aware of a brief twinge of discomfort. His need mirrored her own and it was proof of his mastery that he had been able to get her to a point of relaxing enough, trusting enough, to give herself to him without fear of stepping into the unknown.
The feel of her tightness was amazing, as was the heat of her body, the lushness of her feminine curves, the naked desire that had darkened her eyes and caused her nostrils to flare.
He held on, tuned in to her every whimper and cry, knowing just how to drive and angle his big body to intensify the sensations pouring through her as her cries became higher, more uncontrolled.
Her whole body tensed and arched up and only then did he allow himself to let go.
The timing was impeccable as their bodies convulsed in unison.
It was the most sensual experience Leo could remember having and he wondered whether the fact of her virginity had been a mental turn-on as well as a physical one.
Sagging against him, utterly spent, Sammy wondered what happened next in this scenario.
She hadn’t given that a moment’s thought.
She’d been way too busy rushing into Leo’s arms. Now, her nudity embarrassed her and she made tiny movements to distance herself from him and put the sheets between their damp bodies. Leo wasn’t having any of it.
‘Don’t tell me that you’re going to go all modest on me,’ he murmured, firmly lifting the sheets she had tried to stuff between them and pulling her close against him so that she was in no danger of pretending that what had happened had been a blip she could swipe away.
‘I’ve seen you naked now so trying to cover up is just shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.
’ He grinned and lay back flat, tugging her onto him and then draping his arm over her.
Sammy quivered. Her automatic instinct was to analyse what had happened and discuss what would happen next.
This was a big deal for her. It was slowly trickling into her that the lines between what was real and what wasn’t had become blurred.
Where did that leave her? She had handed her virginity to Leo.
What did that mean? Was this the beginning to an affair?
She’d never considered herself to be affair material.
Or maybe this was just a one-night stand, something that had happened because they had both been overwhelmed.
She knew that he was not being afflicted by similar internal angst. He wasn’t confusing lines or frantically wondering what happened next. When it came to sex, Leo was a man who lived in the moment. He had wanted her, she had wanted him and one and one made two—it was as simple as that.
If she told him that this was a one-off, a mistake, then she knew that he would shrug those broad shoulders of his and put it down to experience. Their charade would continue unimpeded.
And for her...
Would it be so bad for her to snatch a little bit more of this while it lasted?
Instead of reacting like Chicken Little with the sky falling down?
Leo was offering fun and the fact that they were supposedly engaged was an added bonus because it just added verisimilitude to the charade. What was wrong with fun?
She had had a hellish year and a half and now she had a chance to lighten up and enjoy herself for a little while. Where was the crime in that?
His phone buzzed and he rolled to his side and she watched his broad, tanned, muscled back as he read whatever message had been texted to him.
Daringly, she traced a pattern with the tip of one finger. It was probably the least wanton gesture she could have made but she was gratified when he moved and then turned back to her and swung her against him.
‘Nice,’ Leo growled, turning back to her and catching her finger, sucking it, while keeping his dark eyes firmly fixed on her face. ‘I can tell you’re destined to be an excellent pupil.’
‘What makes you say that?’ For someone as forbidding as he was, she was discovering that he could be incredibly engaging.
‘You’ve already picked up rule number four before I’ve even had a chance to tell you what it is.’
‘Have I? What is it?’
Still grinning, Leo primly tucked the sheet under her breasts and circled one of her nipples with his finger. Instantly, it peaked into hot arousal. He moistened his finger and returned it to her nipple and absorbed the little reactions of her exquisite body.
‘You’re making the first move,’ he drawled. ‘I like that, but before we have fun—’ he settled her against him ‘—we’re going to go downstairs and have something to eat and then we’re going to talk about tomorrow.’
‘Why?’ She flashed him a reckless smile. ‘Weren’t you the one who mentioned something about no chatting? Wasn’t that one of your rules?’
‘Like I said, a fast learner. But you’re going to have to be the teacher for a while,’ he told her wryly. ‘The text I just received was from my lawyer. We’re going to have Adele solidly for the next four days. A test, it would appear, to judge whether she can adapt to us.’
‘Day and night?’
Leo nodded. ‘I gather that this is Gail’s attempt to throw her granddaughter in at the deep end to prove a point, after which she will repeat her case for having the child stay in Melbourne with her, while she continues to collect even more money from me, no doubt, than she already does, unless she can convince the court that Adele is incompatible with my lifestyle, whether you’re on my arm or not, then her case is over and the money will stop. ’
‘My goodness! And how on earth is it going to be possible to prove anything at all? Is she going to have spies with binoculars peering from behind the bushes and writing reports on what we’re doing?’
‘A child psychologist will establish how well Adele is likely to cope in the UK and how comfortable she feels around us. So...’
Sammy could see a flicker of anxiety in the depths of his bitter-chocolate eyes although his voice remained neutral.
‘So?’
‘So I propose we escape to somewhere a little less busy. Head to the coast. I can get my lawyer to source somewhere we can rent. A villa by the sea.’
Without crowds around them and a deadline to meet before Adele was returned to her grandmother, it was going to be much harder for their charade to hold water, especially with a child.
Sammy knew, from experience, that most children were a heck of a lot sharper than adults thought when it came to assessing situations and people.
Leo wouldn’t have to pretend to be in love with her for the sake of lawyers and the public at large.
This was going to be a much more difficult task.
‘And,’ she said slowly, ‘you want me to teach you how to relate to Adele? How on earth can I teach you something like that?’
‘I didn’t come this far to fail at the final hurdle.’ He slid out of the bed, prowled naked towards the window, then returned and leaned over her, caging her in, his arms on either side of her body.
‘Children aren’t like adults,’ Sammy told him softly. ‘They don’t judge and they respond the more natural and open you are with them.’
‘Then natural and open is what I will have to be.’
Sammy gazed at him and she thought that it was going to be a lot more complicated for him than merely being natural and open. He would have to relinquish his desire to control everything around him. He would have to go with the flow.
Somehow the thought of that made it easier for her to accept that she wanted him even if it meant stifling her urge to analyse where that want would take her. They would both be functioning out of their comfort zone.
She laughed and then sobered up when she saw that he was dead serious. ‘Sometimes, it’s hard to believe that you and your father share the same genetic pool.’
Leo slipped back into bed. ‘I know,’ he said drily. ‘I guess I’ll just have to learn how to operate a little on his emotional level for a while.’
‘Is that going to be possible for you?’
Leo didn’t answer. The enormity of this undertaking was hitting home—and hitting home hard.
To leave Adele in the care of her grandmother would be a disaster but bringing her back with him was going to require changes to his life he had not considered in depth.
Would he be able to cultivate an emotional bond with the child?
He’d had a good childhood, he thought, even though he had hardened over time as he had watched the destructive path his father’s emotional excesses had taken him down.
He relaxed.
He might have trained himself to put his emotions on ice when it came to the opposite sex—he had seen for himself the catastrophes that could occur to the hapless bugger who wore his heart on his sleeve—but there was no reason to think that he wouldn’t make a perfectly acceptable guardian to Adele and, besides, what he lacked his father would make up for in spades.
‘Perfectly possible.’ He smiled lazily. ‘Especially with you at my side, applying a little discipline whenever you notice me slipping up.’ He dropped a kiss on her parted mouth and the kiss deepened until she was throbbing between her legs for him.
He pulled back. ‘I’ll get the ball rolling for somewhere by the sea.
’ He flicked on his cell phone and began scrolling through his address book.
‘And you can get dressed and start thinking of ways of turning me into a good little boy who can pass the next big test.’