‘Completely satisfied,’ she lied, wondering how best to extricate herself from such an intimate position without making things all the more awkward.
At least her answer seemed to have eased the tension slightly.
‘You’re sure?’ he asked suddenly. ‘Completely satisfied?’
And then he flexed against her and Isla marvelled at how the awkwardness dissipated in an instant. As though there was no room for it when her desire came cannoning back.
‘You think you can do better?’ she teased after a moment.
His eyebrows shot up, and she liked that she had finally found a way to tease him back.
‘A challenge, Little Doc?’
‘A gauntlet.’ She grinned, only for it to fade into a low gasp as he shifted, pressing her legs apart again and nudging at her entrance.
She slid her hands to his back, almost in readiness as he held himself steady, poised above her.
‘Then allow me to defend my honour,’ he growled.
And, before she could answer, he thrust inside her. Deep, and big, and perfect. Isla cried out, low and wanton, her back arching up and sensation seeping all around her body. Nikhil slid out slowly, almost teasing her, and she opened her eyes to meet the cocoa-rich depths of his, seeing the same intense, primal expression that echoed inside her. Something walloped inside her chest but she didn’t care to examine it any further.
Instead she simply gave herself up to the sensations, letting Nikhil drive the rhythm and matching him stroke for stroke, her fingers biting into the strong cords of muscles at his neck. And then she felt the wave cresting over her. That blissful shiver pouring straight through her.
‘Stop fighting it,’ he growled.
Low and raw, into that crook of her neck. Making her tremble.
‘I’m not fighting,’ she countered.
But maybe she was. Maybe she never wanted this moment, this feverish need, to end. What if this was the only time she would ever know something this good?
As if reading her thoughts, Nikhil lifted his head, his eyes boring straight into her.
‘We have all night, Little Doc. And I intend to make use of every last minute of it.’
Then, before she could answer, he slid his hand between them. Down. Right to the centre of her need. And he played with her.
It was too much, and it was perfect.
It was as though Isla’s entire world was imploding.
She was catapulted into space. Into oblivion. The most glorious ride that anyone had surely ever known. All she could do was hold on tightly, and sob out his name—just as he’d predicted.
She soared for miles. For ever. And when she finally began to return to herself she realised he was waiting for her, his face taut with his own need, lifting her legs to wrap around him, as though it could pull him in deeper.
A shudder tore through him in an instant as he gripped her closer, building that pace back up. Faster now, harder, and more demanding. Grazing her fingers down his back, she cupped his backside, urging him on with such abandon that she barely recognised herself.
A bolder side of herself that she’d never realised had lurked within. She rather thought she liked it.
Then Nikhil thrust into her one last time, deep and true, and she couldn’t think any more. She just wanted to experience everything that this arresting man had to teach her.
And this time, when Nikhil tossed her back into that glorious abyss, he followed, her name never sounding more beautiful on his lips.
CHAPTER FIVE
‘HIS NAME IS JALEEL,’ the security officer explained as he hastily led Isla down a rabbit warren of corridors to the ship’s laundry room.
And not the Hestia, as had been planned, right up until the phone call from Head Office that morning—less than an hour after Nikhil had left her bed, and her hotel—but on the Cassiopeia itself.