‘Just helping you figure a few things out,’ he muttered.
He pushed her forward until her palms hit the wall in self-preservation.
‘What things?’ she squeaked as he nipped at her neck and then licked the sensitive skin.
‘If it’s just sex,’ he said roughly, pressing behind her, ‘there’s no need to take our time. No need to get naked. No need to stare into each other’s eyes. We can just do it like feral animals. Fast and dirty. Right here. Right now. Get the goddamn release and go.’
His words shocked her. Thrilled her. Because this was just sex—that was all it could be. And she was unbearably aroused.
She instinctively used the wall as leverage to push herself back against him. ‘Yes,’ she growled, angrily provocative. ‘Exactly that.’
She was flattened, rendered immobile, by a hot, furiously hard man. The man. Sensual shivers ran down her spine as he flipped up her skirt and yanked her bikini bottoms down to her thighs. Then he grabbed her wrists, lifting her arms above her head and pinning them there with one hand. Delicious pleasure hummed through her body as she registered his passion. His other hand moved back to her hip, holding her hard. Then he thrust, growling as she took him with a gasp of pleasure.
‘This is what you want?’ he asked furiously. ‘Me inside you? Me riding you until you come?’
‘Yes...’ She moaned again, lost to the demands of his body and his words. He thrust hard and fast and relentless, his hot mouth at her neck, his hands holding her fast, his possession total. And suddenly, shockingly quickly, she was right there, her body locked in the rigid paralysis that struck just before convulsions of pleasure.
‘You want it from me,’ he muttered. ‘Any time, anywhere, anyhow. You can’t get enough. You like it when I—’
Her scream drowned the rest of his words. She shuddered, her orgasm blinding her. Swift and violent, the waves of ecstasy screwed up every one of her muscles then released her, leaving her limp against the wall. He was still thrust deep inside her, basically holding her up. His breathing was hot on her neck and hard in her ear.
But then he withdrew. She shivered, her legs suddenly weak. He pulled her backwards, into his arms, and carried her to the sofa.
Dazed, she stared up at him as he joined her on the narrow cushions. ‘You didn’t finish?’
‘No,’ he answered grimly, gazing into her eyes as he locked back into position inside her. ‘Not yet. I want to see you.’
He thrust just as deeply, but more slowly than before. He framed her face with his hands, looking into her eyes, not letting her turn away as sensations began to pile onto each other again.
‘I want to look into your eyes. I want to see when you finally understand.’
That connection—chest-to-breast, eye-to-eye—their bodies not just sealed together but interlocked. He kissed her. Working not only to seduce, but to disarm...to overwhelm her.
She shook with the intensity binding them. The ecstasy she’d felt only seconds ago was nothing to the all-encompassing emotion she was drowning in now. It was such a heavenly way to die.
‘Giorgos...’ She was desperate to breathe.
‘You still think this is just sex?’
He was angry with her. She trembled, shocked at the rawness of his question. Angered.
‘It’s all it can be.’ She arched, tormented, arguing even as her body denied her words in its need for him.
‘Too late,’ he growled. ‘This isn’t just anything. It never was.’
He swept her into the maelstrom of their passion—right into the heart of the storm that brewed beneath the surface whenever they were near each other. She arched again, her body convulsing as it culminated in this—always this—pure, complete bliss.
But this time was different. This time something had been ripped away from them both, revealing stark need and the impossible, hopeless depths of their hunger.
She opened her eyes in time to see him driving hard in that final moment when all his muscles locked and his expression strained in the agony of ecstasy. His eyes were fixed on hers, with deep, wild emotion churning in the fiery green.
He whispered one last word at the moment of release—desperate anger in his demand. ‘You.’
* * *
He couldn’t bring himself to lift his head and look at her. He couldn’t bring himself to return to reality and face what he’d just done. But he couldn’t stay crushing her like this on the soft sofa either.
He pulled away from her, quickly standing and adjusting his clothing. He was still completely dressed—his shirt untucked, his skin sweaty. Finally he braved a glance at her. She looked shattered. Her eyes were wide and vulnerable as she silently watched him. Her lips were more swollen than usual. A purplish love-bite stood out angrily against the creamy skin of her neck.
God, he’d been an animal. He had lost all control—just taken what he wanted, held her closer and tighter as he’d driven as deep as he could into her body. He’d lost himself entirely in the pleasure he found only with her.
But she’d been ready—wet and willing—and she’d pushed back on him just as hard as he’d thrust into her. It had been wild and reckless and it had turned him inside out. His orgasm had been the most prolonged and intense of his life.
But wrong. So wrong.
Cold, acidic guilt roiled in his stomach. He had just had unprotected sex with her. The one mistake he’d never, ever made. But she was the absolute temptation of his life and he’d retaliated insanely at the thought of her leaving. At the thought of her being intimate with some other guy. At her insistence that she would return to her home and this would end.
He’d rejected the notion in an irrational, explicitly physical way. He’d lost utter control—of his emotions, his mind, his body. All he’d wanted was to gorge on the succulent delight of her soft embrace. He’d forgotten his duty—to his crown, to his country, to his father, to himself. And to her.
He froze as the ramifications flashed through his mind.
‘That never should have happened,’ he croaked formally, struggling to clear the words past his clogged throat. ‘I apologise.’
She blinked and slowly sat up, clearly confused as she tugged down the crumpled skirt of her pretty dress.
‘I didn’t stop to protect you,’ he explained shortly.
Her gaze narrowed. ‘You mean contraception?’
‘I’ll send for my physician immediately, to get an emergency contraceptive. There’s no need for you to be concerned.’
He couldn’t look at her. He couldn’t cope with the image in his mind’s eye of her pregnant. Vulnerable. The risk rendered his lungs useless. He walked away before he threw himself on his knees at her feet to beg her forgiveness. To beg her to...what?
‘I’ll make that call now,’ he growled.
* * *
Kassie stared as Giorgos retreated behind the grim, forbidding demeanour he’d perfected over the last decade. She felt flayed. He’d just told her this wasn’t ‘just’ sex and then in the next breath proved that that was exactly all it was. When cold reality hit—when the possible impact of their affair on the future was raised—he’d wanted nothing more than to reject her and run. The last thing he wanted was a long-term complication.
Well, she could put him out of his misery—even though he’d just thrust her into heartbreak.
‘I’m not going to get pregnant, Giorgos,’ she said, coldly quiet.
‘We just had unprotected sex. Pregnancy happens,’ he snapped.
‘It wasn’t unprotected.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m on the pill.’
‘Pardon?’
‘The contraceptive pill. I won’t get pregnant.’
He stared at her, clearly shocked. ‘Why didn’t you tell me sooner?’
‘You didn’t give me a chance,’ she said scathingly. ‘You were too busy planning for your doctor to come and save you from possible scandal.’
The truth? She’d wanted to see his reaction to the initial prospect—like the masochist she was. His horror had been unmistakable. Of course it had. He’d actually paled at the thought of her pregnancy. That had told her everything.
‘Why are you on the pill when you don’t have sex?’ He frowned, his tone hostile.
‘Don’t you believe me?’
‘You don’t strike me as the type to pump yourself full of medication unnecessarily.’
And yet he’d just directed her to do exactly that—without even discussing it with her. He had no consideration of her wishes or her feelings. Had he really thought he could just order her to do as he wanted?