She nodded.
He held out a hand. ‘Come here.’
She walked forward, her eyes never leaving his face, as if he was a port in the storm. He drew her close and after a torturous moment lowered his head and settled his mouth over hers.
&
nbsp; She’d expected instant conflagration. But it was far more subtle than that. His kiss was like a benediction. And it soothed her as much as it frustrated her.
She pressed closer, hands finding his shirt, gripping it tightly. Her tongue sought his, and that first contact was like a match being thrown onto dry tinder. The kiss went from gentle to carnal in seconds and Leonora relished it, seized it.
Gabriel pulled back his head, breathing fast. ‘You... Is this what you want?’
Leonora nodded jerkily. ‘Please don’t be gentle with me. Not now.’
He looked at her as if trying to figure her out, but then he took her hand and led her into the bedroom. He undid her hair, letting it fall loose around her shoulders. Then he pulled down the zip at the back of her dress. It fell to the floor in a swathe of silk and chiffon. She kicked off her shoes and stepped out of it and turned around to face Gabriel, lifting her hands to his shirt.
She tried not to think of that first night when he’d brought her to life. It was too cruel when they couldn’t create life.
She almost faltered at that point, but Gabriel took her ineffectual hands from his shirt and undid his buttons, opening the shirt and pulling it off. Then his trousers. Everything until he was naked. And her mind was wiped clean of anything but this. Perfection.
Her inner muscles clenched with anticipation. It had only been a few weeks but it felt like a lifetime. Suddenly she was the one who wanted to go slow. She reached out and touched him reverently. Trailing her fingertips over his chest, tracing his muscles.
Then he caught her hand and lifted it to his mouth, pressing a kiss to her palm. Her heart ached. She pulled away and lay down on the bed, slipping off her panties. She hadn’t been wearing a bra.
He looked at her for such a long moment that she almost begged him to stop. But then he moved towards her, kneeling on the bed between her legs, pushing them apart so he could come down between them, pressing kisses to her inner thighs.
Leonora caught his hair in her hand, lifting his head. He looked at her, sultry and sexy. Her heart broke.
She said, ‘No. I want you...now. Please, Gabriel...’
Because in that moment she knew this was it.
The last time.
He moved up between her legs, taking himself in his hand to guide himself into her.
At the last moment she said, ‘Wait, let me...’
He took his hand away and she put her hand on him, around his length, savouring the sheer majesty of his body.
She stroked him until he said, ‘Leo...’
And then she took him and guided him home. He seated himself inside her, as deep as he could go. And then, with slow and remorseless precision, he moved in and out.
Leonora could feel the storm building, gathering pace inside her. She desperately clung on, wanting to record every tiny second onto her brain so she could take it out and remember what it felt like. But she knew her memory would be cold comfort...
The point came when she couldn’t hold back any longer. With a sob, she let the energy rush through her, incinerating everything in its wake, and waves of pulsing pleasure made a lie of the pain in her heart...
* * *
When Gabriel woke at dawn he knew immediately that he was alone in the apartment. A sense of déjà vu mocked him. He opened his eyes. He could still smell Leo’s scent. He could still feel her nails scoring his back as her body clamped down on his, so tightly that he’d not been able to hold on, falling over the edge and down into an abyss of pleasure so intense he was still wrung out.
He got up and pulled on jeans. As he’d intuited, the apartment was empty. Like last time, he almost had a moment of wondering if he’d imagined it—but, no. There was a note on the table in an envelope.
Gabriel.
He went over and opened it. There was a card inside. A short note.