She ran her hands over his chest, his sides, his back, exploring every last inch of his torso, and then, her eyes flitting nervously to his, she grazed her nails gently against his skin. Fitz offered a soft groan of appreciation as his mouth fell to plunder hers, and then without warning her hand was moving around to take him in her hand, fitting him to her palm. His groan was instinctive and far more guttural this time, as he flexed against her.
Something seemed to shift in her attitude as she realised the sexual power she had over him. A mischievous glint appeared in her eyes. A hint, perhaps, of the young woman she’d been before something—or someone—had quashed her?
‘If we have all night,’ she observed, running her thumb around him and then over his tip, ‘surely we can slow things down next time.’
‘You’re sure that’s what you want?’ he managed gruffly.
She lifted her heavy eyelids to look at him, those emerald depths almost black with lust, her breath already shallow and rapid.
‘Quite sure.’
He didn’t need any further invitation. It took him seconds to open the foil square and roll the condom down his length, ignoring the little voice that taunted him that he’d been so caught up in Elle that he’d only remembered protection when it had fallen out of his pocket as he’d taken off his jeans. The bewitching creature had made him forget the one thing he’d been so fastidious about ever since...well, ever since what had happened with Janine.
The baby he’d never fought for. The baby she had lost at three months because he hadn’t taken care of her the way he was supposed to have.
He jerked his head up in frustration. These were the blackest of thoughts he’d locked away in a box over a decade ago, and had thought he’d thrown away the key. The beginnings of memories he didn’t want resurfacing, tonight of all nights. He’d slept with his fair share of women over the years and not one of them had ever pulled at something deep inside him, the way Elle seemed to.
Angrily, he thrust all thoughts from his head.
Tonight was supposed to be about indulging in a beautiful, intelligent woman. A woman who had made him crave her, a woman who seemed to want him with the same dark intensity.
Fitz blocked out his mind and concentrated on Elle.
Gently, he nudged her legs apart and covered her body with his, nestling into her wet heat and revelling in the slickness of their bodies moving over each other. And then he gave in to the aching need and slid inside her.
Sensations rushed him, urging him on. Her soft gasp and low moan only pushed him further but he forced himself to go slowly, to give her a chance to stretch around him, to make sure she was ready. Carefully he moved, languorous slides in and out as he watched her, waiting for her to find his rhythm, to meet him, to match him. Until soon they were moving in perfect synchronicity, and she was arching her hips to draw him in deeper and drive him on. Faster and wilder.
He layered butterfly kisses on her sweetly exposed neck when she let her head fall back, like nectar he had been denying himself for so long. And when he heard her gasp his name, a peculiar sense of euphoria flooded through him. A sense of possession.
As if she were his.
The realisation should have slammed him with more force. It should have set alarm bells clanging wildly in his head. It should have made him feel guilty for beginning this madness. He’d sworn to himself back in the street that whatever it was Elle possessed that seemed to stealthily intrude inside him in a way nothing else ever had, he would control it.
Instead, he was imagining she was his. Wondering what it would be like to come back to this strong, characterful, beautiful woman again and again. Stupid. Because that could never happen. She could never be his, he had nothing to offer but pain and betrayal. He should never have begun this madness with her. But he hadn’t been able to help himself, inexorably drawn to her as though her brilliance, her energy could somehow illuminate the darkness in him.
Then she cried his name a second time and he was lost again, consumed by his need for her. And as her body gripped his and she exploded around him with shudder after shudder of her release, he gave himself up completely to the pleasure of her all around him. Seconds later, he followed.
If this was the start of their night together then he could only wish it would never end. Imagine it would never end. For this one night he could pretend he wasn’t damaged, wasn’t incomplete, that he was the kind of man who could make a woman like Elle happy in life, not just in bed.
She made him feel like he was more than just a good colonel, a good soldier, a good engineer. Elle made him feel that somewhere deep inside he was good man. And, just this once, he wanted to believe it.
He could deal with the fallout later.
* * *
Fitz checked his mobile. Zero-five-hundred. He really should get going, back to barracks. He wasn’t required specifically but his visible presence around the barracks would be good for his men’s morale, especially for those who hadn’t been on operational duty before and especially because this was his new role as their commanding officer.
He eased himself out of the bed, but as he rolled Elle rolled too, as though seeking out his warmth, and so help him he couldn’t tear himself away. He didn’t want to. He kissed her as she pressed herself against him, his own reaction instantaneous at the feel of her silken skin all along the length of his body.
‘I have to leave,’ he whispered, making no effort at all to untwine himself from her arms.
‘Already?’
Sleepily seductive, she stretched languorously until she realised exactly what she was stretching against. Her eyes flew open wide.
‘Morning,’ he managed wryly.
She peered at the clock and grumbled good-naturedly.