Despite the heat that flicked to life in her belly, a pang of pain reminded her of the past. ‘I’m afraid you’ll have to. I don’t want to make assumptions.’
‘I felt you needed a little more...convincing.’
Her breath shook as she exhaled. ‘Convincing or seducing?’
His expressive shrug was rich in arrogance. It said whichever road she took she would end up exactly where he wanted her. Trouble was, Alexis wanted to be there. ‘Take your pick. The outcome will be the same.’
‘You’re very sure of yourself, aren’t you?’
‘Even now, you tremble. Your lips yearn for me and your pulse is feverish with need.’
‘I’m... I’m...’
‘Afraid? No, you’re not. Unwilling? You’re not that either. What you are, Alexis, is desperate to embrace the need pounding inside you. All that’s holding you back is the notion that giving in makes you weak. It doesn’t. Being brave enough to grasp what you want is a strength, not a weakness.’
Heaven help her, but she lapped his words up like a starving exile offered a banquet. And when his thumb glided over her bottom lip in that indolent way he seemed to enjoy, she took that bravery one step further and flicked her tongue against his flesh.
His sharp inhale was a triumphant orchestral crescendo to her ears. He let her taste him for several thrilling seconds, before he removed his touch.
‘Tell me what you want, Alexis,’ he instructed thickly.
The presence of the emperor-sized bed behind her loomed large in her mind. But she managed to force back the words clamouring for release.
‘Kiss me,’ she said instead. ‘Please.’
His chest expanded in a supremely masculine show that made her insides quiver. He cupped her nape in a firm hold and dragged her close. Before she could catch her breath, he captured her lips, his tongue delving deep in conquest, looking for a surrender she was willing to grant. The sound of her moans filled the magical space as she dared to taste him as boldly as he was devouring her. Arms tight around his neck, she felt light as a feather when he lifted her up. A few long strides and she was wedged against one cool wall.
She was being kissed by Christos in a cave on a paradise island. A surreal appetizer to a heady feast, enticing her to wrap her legs around his waist.
‘Thee mou,’ he muttered against her lips, then pinned her tighter, their position leaving her in no doubt as to the power and potency of his arousal. ‘You feel how much I want you?’ he growled.
‘Yes,’ she gasped, tightening her hold and making him groan.
Words evaporated a
s they indulged in another torrid kiss. As her core grew slicker and her breathing all but evaporated, she was at the point of begging when Christos lifted his head.
‘I’d love nothing more than to toss you onto that bed and bury myself deep inside you,’ he rasped, pausing to nip at her bottom lip before soothing it with his tongue, ‘but we won’t be alone for much longer.’
Disappointment seared her even as her imagination raged. ‘Wh-what?’
‘There’s one last thing to be set up, and dinner to be served. But after that...’ Words weren’t necessary to convey his intention. His deeply smouldering gaze and the passion vibrating from his hard body told her everything.
With a clear reluctance that salved her disappointment, he stepped back and lowered her to the floor.
In silence he took her hand and led her out of the sleeping area.
As they passed the screen, she looked back at the bed. And knew without a shadow of doubt that whatever armour she’d built around her emotions was perhaps irreparably fractured.
CHAPTER NINE
SHE FOLLOWED HIM back out of the cave then once again stopped in her tracks, her jaw sagging open at yet another spectacular sight.
‘Oh, my God.’ Her reverent whisper was completely in line with the awe of what his staff had created for them while they’d been locked in an embrace.
She turned to Christos, to find a smug and altogether far too superior smile curving lips slightly reddened from her enthusiastic kisses. ‘How did you know?’
‘There was a firm-wide poll of dream activities floating around I may have taken note of.’