The Maid's Best Kept Secret (The Marchetti Dynasty 1)

She ducked her head but he tipped her chin up. ‘You are stunning.’

Her cheeks were hot. ‘I’m not wearing anything...special.’

Nikos had to control his urge to strip her bare and bury himself to the hilt, seeking immediate relief.

‘Believe me, you are the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen,’ he said.

She looked serious. ‘You don’t have to say things like that.’

‘I’m not just saying it...’ He meant it. The women he took to bed were usually so confident they required little or no compliments. Maggie seemed...shy.

Something occurred to him then and he went still. But he dismissed it out of hand. She might seem inexperienced, but she was probably putting it on—because in this day and age no one her age could be that innocent. She just wasn’t worldly or sophisticated...

Maggie looked up at Nikos. For a second she wondered if he suspected how inexperienced she was, and she knew if she was going to say anything then this was her moment. She should tell him.

But all she could see in her mind’s eye was the way he would look at her—with shock and then disgust. She felt panicky at the thought of him rejecting her. Surely he wouldn’t notice?

A sense of desperation made her say, ‘Nikos... I do want this... I want you.’

His eyes grew darker. He pushed the shirt off her shoulders, down her arms, and it fell to the floor. Maggie kicked off her shoes, undid the button on her trousers and pushed them down, stepping out of them.

Now she wore only her underwear, and Nikos’s gaze travelled down over her body in a slow and thorough appraisal. Her hands itched and she clenched them into fists. She’d never felt so needy in her life.

With a brisk economy of movement Nikos shed the rest of his clothes until he was naked.

Maggie looked down and gulped. He was hard. Thick and long.

‘Touch me, Maggie.’

She wanted to. But suddenly she was shy.

She reached out and traced a finger down his length, over a throbbing vein. She heard a low moan. Was it her or him? She couldn’t think straight. She wanted to wrap her hand around him.

But he took her wrist and said, in a choked-sounding voice, ‘I’m feeling a little underdressed here...’

Maggie looked up at him. He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around, undoing her bra and letting it fall forward and off. He tugged her panties over her hips and down. They fell to her feet.

Her breathing was so shallow now she felt dizzy. No one had ever seen her as naked as this. She’d even been shy in front of her mother.

‘Turn around, Maggie.’

Slowly she turned around, eyes down. She heard Nikos’s indrawn breath. She bit her lip...saw his hand come into her line of vision. He cupped a breast, feeling its weight. His thumb traced the areola around her nipple and it stood to attention. Tight and hard.

Maggie bit her lip so hard she could taste blood. It was excruciatingly intense, the sensation rushing through her body. She’d never expected it could be like this—slow, exploratory... Torturous in the most pleasurable way.

She looked up at Nikos. His eyes were heavy-lidded. Cheeks flushed.

She tried to articulate what she was feeling, ‘I can’t... I need...’

He looked at her, his hand closing over her plump flesh, trapping her nipple between two fingers. Maggie reached out, her hands landing on his biceps. She had to hold on to something. She was drowning.

‘I need...you. More...’

Nikos took his hand from her breast and Maggie almost cried out. He led her over to the wide bed. The bed that she remade every week with fresh linen.

No, don’t think about that now.

He came down on the bed beside her, and the clamour of needy voices in her head stopped when he covered her mouth with his again. He explored her with his hands, finding curves she hadn’t even been aware of. His mouth moved down, leaving a trail of fire in its wake as he came closer and closer to where she ached most for him to explore: the throbbing points of her breasts.