In Bed With the Boss

And he took her higher still, winding her body tighter and tighter until she teetered on the edge of something deliciously dangerous and unfamiliar from which there was no going back.

And with a sudden increase in tempo he sent her over the edge into a thrilling and terrifying vortex that consumed her body and threatened to engulf her forever. Her body contracted around his and she saw flashes of light, heard him mutter something in harsh tones and then felt the hot liquid burst of his own release. And then there was nothing but sensation, so agonisingly prolonged that if he hadn’t been holding her she would have been terrified.

She clung to his shoulders and eventually the world around her calmed. She felt the pounding of his heart and the slick warmth of his skin against hers as they both struggled to recover sufficiently to move.

But he didn’t move far. Instead he just rolled onto his back, pulling her with him so that she was still wrapped around him.

Still dazed and shocked by the intensity of the experience, Grace lay unsure what to say. And it soon became clear that speech wasn’t necessary because he clearly had no desire to indulge in conversation.

Instead he closed his hands over her hips and moved her so that she straddled him. Her hair flowed onto his chest and he gave a slow smile and lifted his hands to her face.

‘That was amazing, minha paixao.’

They were surrounded by the heat, sounds and rhythms of the jungle but all she could focus on was the hardness of his body, the touch of his hands and her own, burning excitement driving her on.

She couldn’t get eno

ugh of him.

The connection between them was so intense, so perfect, that it was as if nothing outside the rainforest existed for either of them.

CHAPTER SEVEN

GRACE awoke to the sounds of the rainforest all around her and opened her eyes with a smile on her lips.

Was there any better place to wake up?

She was on her side and Rafael was lying next to her in a careless sprawl, one of his legs trapping her to the bed, as if to prevent her escape. But she had no plans for escape. At that moment she knew that there was nowhere else she’d rather be. No other man she’d rather be with.

Perhaps it was because they were both a little damaged, she thought, unable to resist stroking a hand over his shoulder. His skin was bronzed, a legacy of the sun and his Brazilian heritage, the muscle clearly defined and unmistakably masculine.

He had an incredible body and it was obvious to anyone fortunate enough to look at him that he was a very physical man. A man with strength who pushed and tested himself.

‘You’re staring at me.’

She hadn’t even realised that he was awake. She moved her gaze from his shoulders to his face and saw that he was looking at her. His eyelashes, so thick and dark, all but concealed his expression and suddenly she felt impossibly shy.

‘It must be late. We ought to get up. Your pilot will be here soon and I still have to gather up all my things.’

‘My pilot is in Rio. Your things are all here. Maria brought them over last night.’ He gave a lazy, satisfied smile. ‘This is your bedroom now.’

What was he talking about? The night was over.

And somehow in broad daylight she felt so much more self-conscious than she had last night in the mysterious dark.

As if sensing her confusion, he pushed her onto her back and slid his hand over her abdomen and on to the curve of her hip in a gesture that was unmistakably possessive. ‘I cancelled the helicopter. There’s nothing to get up for.’

She felt a flicker of disquiet. ‘You cancelled it?’

‘Of course.’ He delivered that confirmation in a tone of arrogant assurance. ‘Did you really think that I was going to let you just fly home?’

Her heart banged crazily against her chest. ‘It didn’t occur to me that you’d want me to stay.’

‘How could you doubt it?’ With his customary decisiveness, he rose over her and lowered his mouth to hers, coaxing her lips apart with his. His kiss was demanding, hotly sexual and an explicit reminder of everything they’d shared the night before. And she kissed him back, her head spinning and her body bursting into flame in an instinctive and uncontrollable response to his touch.

The chemistry between them flared into something violent and powerful and he muttered something in Portuguese and parted her thighs with a firm and deliberate movement of his hands.

‘Fly home? I don’t think so. I want you,’ he breathed against her mouth, ‘isn’t it obvious? Can you feel what you do to me?’