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

She gasped when he answered her silent plea, exploring her with his fingers, sinking them deep into her slick body.

But it wasn’t enough. She pulled back and reached for Nikos’s body again, wrapping her hand around him, drawing him to where she wanted him to fill her, to eclipse all the questions and fears in her head.

‘Please, Nikos...’

He took his hand away and put his arm around her back, nudging her legs even further apart. And then, with one powerful thrust, he was there...deep in the heart of her body...where she’d dreamt of him for a whole year.

Pleasure exploded outwards to his every extremity. This, Nikos thought as he plunged deep inside Maggie’s tight, slick body. This was what he needed. Over and over again.

And then she was quivering in his arms, both their bodies slick, their breath coming in short, sharp gasps, as with one final thrust Nikos’s thoughts went blank and were replaced with pure ecstasy. The kind of pleasure and transcendence that went above and beyond anything that could be synthetically made by humans. Pleasure in its purest form.

Maggie’s body convulsed powerfully around his, causing him to shudder against her as another tide of pleasure swept over him.

Maggie was barely aware of Nikos extricating himself, helping her off the marble counter, handing her her trousers. Her shirt was open, her bra undone. She felt...turned inside out. The whole thing had been fast and furious, and yet she was suffused with lingering pleasure and a sense of satisfaction that made her want to lie down and sleep for a hundred years.

She could sense the tension in Nikos. When she’d put on her underwear and jeans and pulled her shirt together she looked at him. He was grim-faced. The suspicion that he regretted what had just happened made her feel exposed. She’d all but thrown herself at him...lust overriding every other thought.

‘What is it?’ Her voice was croaky.

‘We didn’t use protection.’

Maggie struggled to make her brain work. She wasn’t unduly concerned. ‘I haven’t started my periods again yet... I won’t while I’m breastfeeding. It’s highly unlikely that we’re in danger.’

‘I was careless. I won’t be next time.’

Because he didn’t want children.

Reality slid back like a traitor as she remembered what had precipitated this explosive interlude.

She moved past him to the door. ‘I should check on Daniel.’

As she went back out into the apartment she realised the magnitude of what had just happened. They hadn’t even been in the apartment for an hour and they’d made love. Combusted.

Daniel was still fast asleep. Maggie went onto the terrace, feeling raw. She wasn’t in her right mind around Nikos. She couldn’t see straight...think str

aight.

She wasn’t sure what she’d hoped for when she’d put Daniel into Nikos’s arms—maybe, naively, some kind of idyllic bonding moment, with him weeping tears of emotion as he lifted his baby and proclaimed, My son!

She heard a sound behind her and turned around. Nikos was watching her. She felt vulnerable.

‘Maggie...that shouldn’t have—’

She put up a hand. ‘It’s okay—you don’t have to tell me it shouldn’t have happened. I know.’

He frowned and walked towards her. ‘I wasn’t going to say that. I was going to say it shouldn’t have happened like that.’

Maggie knew she should let this go. She really didn’t want to hear Nikos articulating that he couldn’t bond with his son, but she had to know what she was dealing with.

‘Why did it happen? What was going on with you?’

For a long moment he said nothing. Then he moved to the wall, putting his hands on it. Maggie turned around to watch him. Nikos didn’t look at her.

‘I’ve never held a baby before. He’s so small and defenceless. But strong. I felt it...’

He turned around, a stark expression on his face.

‘I wasn’t loved, Maggie. By my parents or my grandparents. Even if my mother did love me I was too small to remember what that felt like.’