Christakis's Rebellious Wife

Betsy watched his spectacular lean bronzed length emerge as the garments slid away. Her heartbeat was racing. He was fully erect and ready for action and her self-consciousness ebbed as though he had thrown a switch inside her. She sat up, unclasped her bra and skimmed off her panties with an eagerness she had never really dared to show him before. A predatory grin of appreciation slashing his mouth as she unveiled her succulent breasts, Nik came down on his knees on the bed.

‘Multiply amazing by ten,’ he advised, brushing his mouth across a straining pink nipple.

‘You’re just sex-starved—’

‘Totally,’ Nik agreed without shame. ‘I haven’t had sex since I got you pregnant...’

‘Or after leaving me,’ she reminded him, stroking an appreciative hand down the velvety length of his boldly aroused shaft in a way that made him jerk and suppress a moan.

Nik lounged back against the tumbled white pillows, the very image of sleek, dark, sexy masculinity. Blue eyes bright with hunger, Betsy bent over him. Silky blonde hair fanned his abdomen and brushed his lean, hair-roughened thighs, and his breath caught on a groan of pleasure. He wanted her so much. He had never ever wanted anything so much.

‘Enough,’ he urged hoarsely, tugging a strand of pale hair to restrain her. ‘Words can’t describe the pleasure of what you’re doing to me but I want to come inside you.’

Heat was already throbbing between her thighs and she could feel the moisture gathering there. He tugged her up into his arms and fastened his mouth to a lush rosy nipple, lashing the prominent bud with his tongue, and her spine arched and her pelvis brushed against his arousal. She came down with her knees either side of him and instinctively glided the neediest part of her back and forth over him.

‘Hot,’ Nik pronounced appreciatively, green eyes glittering like jewels in his lean, strong face. ‘Am I allowed to assume that you’ve found the nights long and unsatisfying too?’

‘You are,’ Betsy confided, quivering over him, alight with so many different sensations she was intoxicated by that physical contact.

He took her mouth, his tongue plunging deep, his hand knotted in her hair to hold her fast. His dominance excited her beyond bearing. His other hand was engaged in darting explorations of whichever part of her was within reach and she immediately shifted up higher on him, squashing her tingling breasts against the hard, solid wall of his chest, settling her hot, damp core down to ride astride a lean, powerful thigh, and attempted to rock away the tormenting ache of emptiness afflicting her.

‘Be patient...we’ve got all night,’ Nik growled urgently.

‘To heck with patience!’ Betsy almost sobbed against his wildly demanding mouth, her fingers biting into the satin-smooth width of his shoulders.

A disconcerted sound of amusement was wrenched from Nik. He reached for her and lifted her, rearranging her over him to realign their bodies. He angled up his lean hips, initially sliding against her before finding entry with a sudden precision that wrested a sob of wonder and pleasure from her parted lips.

‘Never say I can’t take a hint,’ Nik teased breathlessly, settling her over him and driving deep and then finally, with a revealing sound of frustration, he eased her over and pinned her flat to the mattress under him. ‘Better?’

He thrust into her hard and she felt every inch of him and the delicious friction of the movement sent tiny convulsive tremors rippling through her womb.

‘Perfect,’ she told him, barely able to find her voice.

And it was, absolutely perfect in every way. With every driving stroke of his possession he unleashed a storm of pleasure on her eager body. She lifted her hips and bucked beneath him, matching his insistent rhythm while the consuming, tormenting delight grew and soared to a blinding high of raw excitement. Her heart thumping like crazy in her ears, she flew higher than ever before, carried by the wild throbbing pleasure to a stormy climax that lit her up inside and out with joy and sweet release.

‘So, Cinderella shall go to the ball,’ Nik mused huskily into her damp, tumbled hair. ‘In fact if this is your response to the chance of attending a family party, I will find a party for you every night.’

A choked giggle escaped Betsy. He rolled onto a cooler patch of the bed, taking her with him, draping her over his sprawled powerful length with careful hands, fingers smoothing down her slender spine. It was a long time since anything had felt so right to her as the peace she experienced in the protective circle of his arms. She was tempted to tell him that she loved him but she swallowed the words that she had once offered so freely and with such trust, impervious to the reality that he did not return those words. She was not so naïve now. She rubbed her chin against a broad bronzed shoulder and drank in the hot, musky scent of him like an addict, happy, content but frightened that she was being foolish and short-sighted about the future.

Could she dare to trust Nik Christakis again? Could he be persuaded to make more of an effort this time around? Perhaps she should negotiate with him before she agreed to a proper reconciliation. Sometimes she thought Nik understood business deals much better than he did human relationships. If she laid out her needs as terms and conditions, would he listen then? What could she offer him in return? That second chance he had mentioned and as much sex as he could handle? Hot-faced, she grinned against his shoulder, struggling to pin her dizzy feet to planet earth again and be sensible. She had to learn to be as logical as Nik was and address future problems in a positive rather than critical way.

CHAPTER NINE

NIK STUDIED BETSY as if she had gone insane without him having noticed, with wonder and disbelief and, yes, unfortunately, just a little amusement. ‘Let me get this straight...you want to negotiate the terms of our marriage before you’ll consider making a reconciliation permanent?’

In the background the hum of the jet engines provided a surprisingly soothing backdrop to Betsy’s ears. Nik was a trapped audience when he was airborne. He couldn’t walk away, make an excuse about pressing business or lose his temper because he would dislike the risk of the cabin crew overhearing him arguing with his wife.

‘Yes. I think it’s the practical approach. We failed the first time around, so we should try to foresee the potential problems there might be and endeavour to avoid them this time,’ Betsy responded doggedly, lifting her chin as Nik sprang restively out of his seat and frowned down at her.

‘But we didn’t have any problems the first time—you decided you wanted a baby, I knew I couldn’t give you one and it all went downhill from there,’ Nik recited drily.

‘It only went downhill because you decided that you couldn’t tell me the truth about your vasectomy,’ Betsy contradicted.

His green eyes glittered with challenge and his strong jawline clenched hard with

tension. ‘How many men want to tell a woman that they can’t give her the one thing she most wants in the world?’ he demanded in a harsh undertone. ‘How do you think I felt when I stumbled on the baby clothes you had hidden in a bag at the back of the closet?’

Betsy was taken aback by that bold and unusually emotional question. It made her appreciate for the first time that Nik’s macho spirit had been crucified by her desire for what he had known he could not give her; she had made him feel inadequate. When he mentioned the secret cache of baby items she had bought as a gesture of continuing hope and then shamefacedly hidden, she didn’t know where to put herself. She was deeply embarrassed by that revelation, did not even want to think about how that discovery must have made him feel, and her face burned with discomfiture.