‘And I need you, Orsino.’ He barely heard the words but he felt the soft puff of her breath on his bare flesh as she spoke. ‘Only you.’
Orsino made himself ignore the way that sounded almost like a vow. This was simple physical attraction. And the sooner they sated it, the better.
He drew her into the bedroom and lay her down with exquisite care on the bedspread. He feared one wrong move and he’d lose what little control he had left.
‘I love your hair,’ he admitted as he splayed the wet tendrils wide, like a fan of rich garnet.
‘I love yours.’ Her hand went to his forehead, brushing it back where it threatened to flop over his forehead.
Her touch was light, barely there, yet he felt it with a force that made something sing within him. That’s what Poppy did to him, what she’d always done to him.
‘Say it again.’
‘I want you, Orsino.’ Her hand traced a line of fire across his new scar. She traced it down to his eye then slid her hand up and into his hair and his heart thudded. ‘I need you.’
‘Good.’ He tried to smile but the tension in him was too great. He clasped the back of her hand and turned his face to press a kiss to her palm. ‘So in this we’re equals.’
After a moment she nodded and he moved away.
At her gasp of distress he did manage a smile after all. ‘I’m just getting this.’ He held up the box of condoms he’d put on her bedside table while she showered.
There was that blush again across her breasts and throat.
Possessiveness filled him. She’d admitted her hunger was for him alone, but he knew an overwhelming urgency to banish Poppy’s previous lovers from her mind.
His body wasn’t as strong as he liked. Plaster encased one forearm and one hand still didn’t work properly, but that didn’t prevent him lavishing the attention on her that she deserved.
Orsino planted tiny kisses up her rib cage, feeling her shiver and shift beneath him, then nuzzled the fragrant, soft skin of her throat where a pulse beat frantically. The scent of berries and aroused woman grew headier as he lavished kisses down her other side, pausing low on her hip where a tiny heart-shaped scar had always fascinated him.
With lips and tongue and hands he explored her supple legs, the groove at the back of her knees, where she was so sensitive he had to hold her steady, using his weight to anchor her.
He loved her writhing beneath him, a prelude to what was to come.
Smiling, he inched his way up her thighs, fingers trailing a butterfly-light tracery across tender ivory flesh.
She gasped when he reached the junction of her thighs, her legs parting beneath him.
‘So eager,’ he crooned, blown away as he always had been by Poppy’s unabashed sexuality. She gave herself up to him completely. He hadn’t let himself remember that in five years. Now the reality of her in the flesh was almost too much. He longed to slide up her body and thrust hard and fast till they dissolved in ecstasy.
But he was determined to imprint himself on her. He’d make sure she knew at the deepest level it was him giving her what she needed.
Poppy tasted sweet and salty, a tang of pure feminine delight on his tongue and lips. He nuzzled closer, enjoying her hoarse gasps and the way she held his head in tight fingers that betrayed everything she felt.
One last, long, luxurious lick and she bucked hard beneath him, right off the bed, only his body weight holding her steady.
He felt shudders race through her, jerking her limbs, and saw the bright flare of ecstasy under her skin. But it was the way she cried his name, like a benediction and a plea together, that unlocked something he couldn’t name.
Finally, when she lay still beneath him, he rose to lie beside her on the bed. Her eyes fluttered open and the drowsy contentment he read there warmed him in places he’d forgotten existed.
‘Now, Orsino.’ Her lips curved in a tiny, siren’s smile.
‘But I’ve only just started.’ His hand slid to that damp triangle of dark curls as his head bent to her breast and he finally allowed himself the freedom to suckle her breast.
It was a long time later when Orsino finally rose on his elbows above her.
His body throbbed with the tension of denying his own gratification so long, and with the effort required of his still-recuperating body, but it was worth it.
Poppy was his, branded by touch and taste and climax after climax till there could be no doubt in her mind or her heart that she was his.
Orsino stilled, frowning. This wasn’t about hearts.
She lay limp beneath him, her body glowing and perfect as he held her close and slowly, excruciatingly slowly, slid home.
Her eyelids rose, her expression the sweetest he’d ever seen. Warm arms wrapped around his back, soft legs tightened at his waist. And suddenly, before Orsino had a chance to feel triumph, his body surged high and hard, his breath ragged as he reached breaking point. With a great roar of pleasure his head arched back and his climax broke upon him, wave after wave of crashing ecstasy.