But he also wanted to savour her. He wanted to taste her body again, her sweetness.
Loving the way she clung to him, Rafe kissed his away across her face. First her cheeks and the soft skin below her ears, then her eyelids and her nose. Feeling her completely relax beneath him, he slowly moved down her body, laving her neck and licking at her collarbone.
Her gorgeous breasts pointed skyward, her nipples achingly beautiful, and he took first one and then the other into his mouth. Then he positioned her so that she was beneath him, her long legs moving restlessly on the outside of his own.
He used his knees to open her to the hard throb of his erection and he sank into her softness with unerring accuracy. She sobbed his name as he slowly filled her, sweat beading his forehead as her body took him in, her inner muscles gripping him tight.
‘Alexa...’ he groaned, remembering at the last minute that he wasn’t wearing a condom. She arched beneath him, her lower body straining for his thrust.
Seriously perturbed at just how close he had come to forgetting protection, he reached in
to his side table and sheathed himself before thrusting back inside her tight body.
She came almost instantly, the hot pulsing sensation of her climax shattering his self-control in a maelstrom of pleasure.
* * *
Opening her eyes to find herself wrapped in Rafe’s arms for the second time that morning, Alexa felt herself tense at the overwhelming vulnerability of being naked in his arms. Not because she regretted what they’d shared, but because she liked it a little too much. The feeling left her somehow defenceless, and her instinct was to pull back because, while she had anticipated the pleasure, she hadn’t counted on the emotional connection she’d feel when he joined his body with hers. Only she was quite sure Rafe would have experienced no such thing in return.
Undoubtedly last night had been par for the course for a man of his experience, and she had to keep that front and centre in her mind at all times. Because while she had experienced something monumental in his bed, she knew she’d be alone in that line of thinking.
But it had been monumental. The way he had worshipped her body, the tender kisses he’d lavished on her, the powerful thrusts of his body... It had definitely been mind-blowing, but not in the way that he had meant it would be. It was mind-blowing in that it was so lovely. So beautiful. So everything.
Deeply asleep, he was sprawled on his side, one arm above his head, the other draped over her waist. Shifting slightly out from under his hold, Alexa took advantage of the moment to take her fill of him.
Naked, he was utterly superb. The swell of his biceps and muscled shoulders, the broad chest and trail of hair that bisected his flat belly, the lean line of his hip that made her want to put her lips on his skin again.
He’d lost none of his power or authority in sleep, but he did look more peaceful. More rested.
She thought about the things she had discovered about him the night before. His generosity with his employees, his strong work ethic and the way his employees treated him with such deference and respect. Hannah had sung his praises and not because he was a prince. She truly liked and admired him for the man that he was.
A man, Alexa was starting to suspect, was decent and kind, even though she doubted he’d admit to it. And why was that? Why did he hide that side of his nature? And why, if he wanted her so much, had he stayed away from her all week?
Was it out of deference to her wishes? Because he was afraid she’d fall in love with him? Or something else? Whatever his reasons, Alexa accepted that she’d been very short-sighted in believing everything she’d read about him. And really she should have known better, but then almost everyone believed what had been written about him and he didn’t help that by not defending himself.
Still, there was no doubting some of the stories. He was a notorious playboy, and he’d definitely been a rebel when he was younger—the story of him stealing his father’s favourite sports car and cruising through the mountains with a girl, and another of him winning a dangerous cross-country horse race his father had forbidden him to enter, and the stories of his wild parties at the Summer Palace were the stuff of legend—but there was another side to him. A deeper side she longed to explore further.
Her eyes drifted to his mouth and her body flushed with remembered pleasure at all the ways he’d satisfied her throughout the night. He’d certainly delivered on his promise of unadulterated pleasure and in one night he’d completely obliterated her first bumbling sexual experience with the treacherous Stefano.
Recalling how easily she’d fallen under the Italian’s spell all those years ago, even knowing that she was older now, still made her throat constrict with unwanted emotion.
The earlier vulnerability she’d felt on waking in Rafe’s arms returned full force, along with the sense that she’d never felt such a soul-deep connection with another human being before.
And that was exactly the kind of thinking she needed to avoid at all costs.
Driven out of bed by the knowledge that she was at risk of history repeating itself and creating meaning where there was none, Alexa quietly made her way to her room and jumped in the shower.
Once there she groaned softly as the soapy cloth moved over the sensitive marks left behind by Rafe’s love making. He’d been both tender and demanding during the night, and a smile curved her lips as she thought about the way one particular mark had been formed. Warning herself again not to get hung up on what had happened between them, she pulled on her kimono-style robe and went in search of a much-needed coffee.
Determined to figure out how to work the machine on her own this time, she’d just tried her fourth combination of buttons when she heard a deep chuckle behind her. ‘For a smart woman, that machine seems to have defeated you.’
Alexa glanced over her shoulder to find six foot three of hot muscular man leaning against the doorframe watching her. He’d put on baggy sweatpants, the rest of him completely bare, his biceps bulging as he folded his arms across his chest, amusement shining from his sexy blue eyes.
She gave him a droll look, unable to stop her gaze from falling to his naked chest. ‘For a man with a huge wardrobe, you seem to have forgotten your shirt.’
A sensual grin curved his mouth as he sauntered towards her. ‘Why cover up what you like to look at so much?’
‘So arrogant,’ she accused, catching her breath when he wrapped his arms around her from behind and nuzzled her neck.