Nikos’s hands went to Maggie’s belt and he slowly undid it, looking at her as if to make sure she really wanted this. Now that she was being honest with herself she felt almost impatient. She wanted to seize every moment of this...whatever it was. One-night stand. Interlude.
Nikos pulled the robe apart and looked at her. The heat at her core spread outwards and enflamed every nerve-ending and cell. She reached for Nikos’s trousers, pulling down the zip. She tugged them down, over his hips and they fell to the floor, revealing his naked potency.
He pushed the robe from her body. They were both naked, and in that moment Maggie felt something emotional wash through her. No matter how conflicted he made her feel, she wouldn’t have wanted to share this deepest intimacy with anyone else. She was glad it was him. He was a man she barely knew, and yet she felt she knew him in a way she couldn’t really understand.
He pulled her down onto the bed and they landed in a tangle of limbs, hard against soft. Her breasts were pressed against his hard chest.
He put a hand in her hair and tugged her head back. He smiled wickedly and said, ‘Don’t give yourself a hard time, Maggie. I’m quite irresistible.’
She might have huffed at that assertion—but then his mouth was on hers, and his other hand was on her breast, and she could only agree.
Hours later, when dawn was breaking outside, Maggie lay in a half-slumber, sated beyond anything she’d ever felt before. Her bones felt as if they had liquefied. Nikos’s heart beat a steady strong rhythm under her cheek, where she rested on his chest.
That emotion she’d felt earlier was still there, and she knew how dangerous it was to be feeling anything for this man. But she couldn’t help wondering about him. Where would he go from here? What was his life like?
A thought chilled her—he could have a mistress, a girlfriend? Although girlfriend sounded far too pedestrian for a man like Nikos Marchetti.
As if he could hear her thoughts, he lifted her hand and brought it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the palm. Which did not help her rogue emotions.
‘Okay?’ he asked.
Maggie’s heart thumped. He was just being solicitous. Again, not something she would have expected.
She lifted her head and looked at him, nodded.
He flipped them so that Maggie was under him. He twined her fingers with his and held her hand above her head.
She couldn’t help blurting out, ‘Are you seeing anyone at the moment? I mean, is there a girl—woman—somewhere? Because I wouldn’t like to think that we...’ She trailed off, feeling self-conscious.
Nikos went still. ‘No. I’m not. I can be accused of many things, Maggie, but I don’t sleep around on women.’ Then he frowned as he looked down at her. ‘But you need to know this doesn’t go beyond this room...tonight. Now. I don’t do relationships, Maggie. I’m not interested in settling down, or romance, or happy-ever-afters. They don’t exist—or they certainly don’t exist with me.’
His words sank into her like cold little stones. She longed to ask him why, but she caught herself. He was telling her what she needed to hear—Nikos Marchetti wasn’t the type of man she should want anything more with. Not in a million years.
And yet she’d been drawn to him like a moth to a flame. What did that say about her and her standards? That she was as susceptible as the next woman to his particular potent brand of masculinity?
That she was like her mother, dazzled by the charisma of a powerful man.
A need to protect herself from that too incisive gaze made her say, as lightly as she could, ‘Don’t worry, I’m under no illusions as to what this is. Anyway, you’re not the kind of guy I see myself with long term.’
Nikos was surprised as a little dart of something pierced him. It couldn’t possibly be hurt.
He moved over her, using his body to push her thighs apart. He heard her indrawn breath, felt the way she arched against him.
‘I’m not?’ he asked.
She shook her head, her eyes turning a darker blue. ‘No way.’
He nudged her thighs further apart and notched the head of his erection against where she was hot and wet. He knew he had to slow the tempo or he would lose it even before he entered her.
‘So...who is this paragon who will serve you for the long term?’
She moved under him restlessly, but that dart of emotion he hadn’t welcomed made him torture her a little.
She said breathlessly, ‘I don’t know...someone kind. Respectful. Considerate. Dependable.’
Nikos made a face. ‘Sounds boring.’
Maggie reached up with her free hand and traced the muscles in Nikos’s chest. ‘Boring is good for long-term happiness.’