He made sure of it, and when the storm broke she screamed on and on because the reward for waiting was just as he’d said. Cataclysmic waves of sensation dashed all rational thought from her brain. She might have yelled so loudly her friends back in the village could hear her. She certainly groaned repeatedly in time to each delicious pulse. With no idea of the sounds she was making, she couldn’t have cared less. Reduced to primal need and nothing more, she hardly knew her own name, let alone anything else, and when clear thinking finally did return it was accompanied by one thing, and that was the urgent need for more.
* * *
The rush of triumph he felt at finally finding a woman who could match him where passion was concerned had made him doubly hard, but it was Kimmie’s unique mix of sexual hunger and relative innocence that touched him the most. She had made him feel again, care again, and that had never happened before. Sex had always been a good physical workout in the past, but it had left him feeling empty and, although they had yet to consummate their relationship, he knew it wouldn’t be like that with Kimmie. But he didn’t care about personal physical satisfaction, only that she should know the best and be happy. There was more to come, there was everything to come, so why rush a single second of it?
When he finally lowered her to her feet in the pool, he made sure she was hanging on to the side while he sprang out to grab some towels. ‘Here,’ he said, helping her out and wrapping her up warmly. ‘We’ll take a hot shower in the house.’
‘And then complete the tour?’ she said shakily.
‘If your legs will hold you up,’ he teased.
‘If they don’t it’s your fault,’ she said with a tremulous smile.
He watched as she began to wrap herself up like an Egyptian mummy in a number of towels. ‘Don’t do that,’ he whispered. Unpeeling one of the towelling bandages from around her collarbone, he kissed that tender spot and then her neck. ‘You’re beautiful,’ he whispered, ‘and you’ve done absolutely nothing wrong.’
‘Beautiful?’ she queried in that semi-comic way Kimmie adopted when she was feeling insecure. ‘And as for doing nothing wrong?’ she exclaimed, pulling a face.
He dragged her close to kiss her as her face twisted in a fretting expression. Anger filled him. He wanted to find the people who’d hurt her and make them beg for Kimmie’s forgiveness. He had never met a woman as strong and yet as vulnerable as she was. Kimmie’s spirit spoke to him in ways he couldn’t explain. She filled him with the urge to be her dragon-slayer, and the irony was she didn’t need anyone to do that for her. Kimmie was quite capable of handling life by herself.
‘You’re beautiful,’ he repeated, holding her at arm’s length so he could stare intently into her eyes.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered.
He hoped she believed him.
She looked around with interest when he took her into the house. And then she turned back to him with a worried look on her face. ‘Would you be angry if I said I used you to forget?’
‘Did you?’
She was silent for quite a while and then admitted quietly, ‘Even I don’t know.’
‘Do you hear me complaining?’
There was another silence and then she said, ‘Do you always make people feel this good?’
‘Not always,’ he admitted truthfully.
‘I’m looking forward to that shower,’ she said, shivering slightly, ‘and then the tour of the house.’
His plans lay in quite a different direction. From jilted bride to cherished bride crossed his mind as he lifted Kimmie to carry her into the house. There wasn’t much wrong with that, and it was becoming increasingly likely. Life had taught him never to ignore a seemingly random act of fate. He had yet to learn the ins and outs of her career, but they were both slaves to duty, that much he knew, so there was a strong chance she’d understand if he was away most of the time. It went without saying she’d have the best help available. Professional nannies, if and when necessary, and accommodation of her choice. These were things he could deliver. Another option was for Kimmie to build or buy a property to her own taste. He didn’t foresee any problems going forward.
CHAPTER NINE
HAVING SWEPT HER into his arms, Kris carried her up the stairs as if she weighed nothing. ‘We’re dripping all over the house,’ she pointed out, laughing a little with sheer excitement.
‘Who’s going to tell us off?’
Now they were both laughing as he jogged up the stairs. She had never felt freer in her life, or more uninhibited. As they mounted the impressive staircase she got the briefest glimpse of white, taupe and ivory décor, punctuated by vivid splashes of modern art. She had no doubt they were genuine, but the detail was lost on her because she was lost in Kris’s eyes.
At the top of the stairs polished wood gave way to plush cream carpet that ate up every sound as Kris took them down a broad corridor. Subtly lit so that it glowed invitingly in shades of amber and peach, Kimmie guessed they’d reached the sleeping quarters, though chances were there’d be more than sleeping happening here tonight.
‘Thoughts?’ he prompted, feeling her tense in his arms.
‘You must have great staff to keep a place like this so pristine,’ she said, avoiding riskier topics now the moment of no turning back had arrived.
‘Changed your mind?’ he asked softly, reading her shrewdly as always.
‘No,’ she said firmly. Whatever life held in the future, she needed this, needed Kris, even if it was for just one night. She’d made her decision and no way was she going back on it now.
With a nod of acknowledgement, Kris shouldered the door and it swung open on silent hinges to reveal a large, tastefully decorated room. Free from clutter, his bedroom boasted another superb lighting scheme, which he turned down until it was only a glimmer. The only way the room fell short was on the cosy front. For all its opulence, expensive tech and design features, it was more like a top-end hotel room, kept ready for its VIP guest, rather than a sanctuary to block out the rattle of the day. Kimmie guessed anything Kris owned would be the same. Kept up to the mark by an army of staff so he could land anywhere at any time and be sure of the same impersonal yet dependable welcome. Her last thought as he laid her down on the bed was that there was nothing to envy here. If Kris’s house had failings, he had none, she thought as he shed his towel and stood naked in front of her. How she wanted him. But...
No buts. Stop thinking too hard. Or she’d think herself straight out of this and then she’d have the rest of her life to regret not going through with it. Yet, despite her own mental urgings, what might be in it for Kris couldn’t help but cross her mind.
‘What about the shower and tour?’ she asked as he joined her on the bed.
‘I like you damp and tasting of salt.’
A nagging doubt was stubbornly ticking over in her mind. ‘Is this pure passion for you, or do you have an agenda?’
‘What?’ Kris pulled back his head to stare down at her.
‘Perhaps I’m just another notch on your bedpost?’ she suggested.
‘Please,’ he said, drawing her into his arms. ‘You have an overactive imagination, and a very suspicious mind.’
‘Kyria Demetriou would say I’m too trusting.’
‘And Kyria Demetriou is always right.’
‘Yes,’ Kimmie murmured thoughtfully. If her elderly friend trusted Kris, should she do the same?
‘What did she tell you about me?’ Kris asked.
‘Not to trust you,’ she lied, giving him a wink. ‘Actually, every time Kyria Demetriou mentioned you it was to praise you to the skies.?
??
As Kris laughed and relaxed, she went one step further. ‘Then again, she would like me to believe that not all men are bad.’
‘And you think they are?’ Kris growled softly as he stretched like a panther to make himself comfortable on the bed.
Turning onto her back, Kimmie stared up at the ceiling. ‘Do you know what I’d really like now?’ When Kris remained silent, she said, ‘I’d like a hug.’ Turning her face, she looked him in the eyes. ‘Sometimes that’s all you need, you know?’
Reaching across the bed, he drew her into his arms and held her in an unthreatening way, which prompted her to admit that Kyria Demetriou had also urged her to try again where men were concerned, and that her experience with Mike shouldn’t sour her for life.
‘And here you are with me, which is far from ideal,’ Kris commented, ‘For you, that is,’ he clarified. ‘I’m quite happy.’
‘Are you?’ Kimmie asked softly. ‘Anyway, now you know everything.’
‘I very much doubt that,’ Kris argued gently in between dropping kisses on the top of her head.
‘I’ll take my chances,’ she said.
He could only marvel at how tiny and vulnerable she was. ‘Don’t cover yourself,’ he said as she crossed her arms over her chest on top of the legion of towels. ‘You should be proud of how you look.’
Her answer to this was to cross her legs and turn slightly on to her side. ‘I’m not—’
‘You are,’ he insisted. ‘You’re beautiful.’
‘And you’re always right?’
‘Invariably,’ he confirmed, teasing her with a smile and more kisses.
‘Why me?’
‘Why not you?’ he countered, frowning.
‘Is this to your advantage somehow?’
‘What a thing to say.’
‘Is it?’ Kimmie probed, her forehead pleating. ‘I know how driven you are, and I think you’d do pretty much anything to get—’
He kissed the next words out of her mouth. The stinging accuracy with which she intuited at least part of his motivation for tonight had shocked him, and it didn’t make him feel very good about himself. ‘Why are you so suspicious?’