by Abby Green
Ash.
Her heart beat faster. She took her hand away and Zach led her over to the bed.
She lay down and watched him looking at her. She felt a heady rush of feminine power. And then he came down on his hands over her and showed her all too easily who really held the power here.
He explored her body like a man discovering new territory. Every dip and hollow was traced. He paid homage to her breasts for long, luxurious minutes. He dispensed with her underwear, delved back between her legs, exploring with his fingers this time.
Her back was arching off the bed. His mouth was on hers, his fingers pushing her to the edge of her control, but it wasn’t enough.
She pulled back. Zach looked at her. ‘Please,’ she said, ‘I want you.’
His eyes glittered. For a second she thought she saw something like a flash of triumph, but she couldn’t decipher the enigmatic look. She was too needy right now. She’d never known it could be like this. All-consuming. Desperate.
Zach reached for something and she heard foil rip. He smoothed protection onto his erection and moved over her, nudging her legs apart.
Ashling sucked in a breath when Zach breached her body.
He stopped. ‘We’ll take this slow, okay?’
She nodded, once again disconcerted by his consideration. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but in her limited experience of lovemaking she had felt as if it was a man’s journey, not necessarily a mutual one, or even hers. But this was a world apart.
Zach joined their bodies with a slow, deliberate movement, giving her time to adjust. He was big. He took her breath away. For a moment the sensation almost bordered on painful, but as if sensing that Zach pulled out and then eased back in again. And this time Ashling breathed out.
It was amazing.
An instinct as old as time took over as Ashling’s body adjusted to Zach’s and she moved beneath him, wordlessly telling him he could go faster, be less gentle.
A big hand caught her thigh, lifting it up. He went deeper and Ashling made a helpless sound of pleasure. Perspiration covered her skin as her entire being became consumed with this moment, this man, and the storm of sensation gathering inside her, coiling tighter and tighter as Zach’s movements became less considered and more elemental.
She was climbing and climbing, begging incoherently, pleading...
Zach pulled out and she looked up at him, half-crazed. ‘Please, Zach...’
He surged back into her body and Ashling tipped over into a place of such extreme pleasure she blacked out for a second.
When she became aware of her surroundings again, Ashling felt Zach pulling something over her—a soft, light cover. She was so stunned by what had just happened, and by the waves of pleasure that still pulsed inside her, that she couldn’t help confiding, ‘I didn’t know it could be like that...’
* * *
Zach went still. He was leaning on his elbow beside Ashling. Her eyes were closed. Her words had been almost slurred, as if she was drunk. But he’d heard her. Her body was covered now, but he knew that after what had just happened every line of her physique would be burnt onto his brain.
The truth was, he hadn’t known that it could be like that either. His body was still humming with an overload of pleasure. He was still—after what had felt like the most intense orgasm of his life—semi-aroused.
He waited for a sense satisfaction to hit, recalling how she’d been completely at his mercy, begging for release. And she had begged. Her eyes had been wide and desperate, breath coming fast. She had been totally at his mercy. But any sense of satisfaction was elusive.
And at the time of her capitulation, Zach had barely noticed.
Because the edges of his own control had been badly fraying. The moment had come and gone before he’d even really realised its significance, drowned out in the desperate pursuit of a pleasure so mind-altering that he could only put it down to an anomalous freak of chemistry.
Short and hot. That was what he’d told Ashling.
It had definitely been hot. The only problem was that right now Zach couldn’t foresee just how short it might be. He had an uncomfortable feeling that he’d just unleashed a hunger that wouldn’t be easily sated.
* * *
When Ashling woke there were pink tendrils kissing the sky outside. Dawn. She was disorientated. Her body felt...different. Good. Heavy... Hungry, yet sated. A strange contrast.
And then there was a movement in the bed beside her and it all came flooding back in glorious Technicolor. She held her breath and turned her head. Zach was on his back asleep, an arm thrown over his head. His chest was bare, and a sheet rode strategically low on his hips, showing the start of dark curling hair where the sheet tented over an impressive bulge, even at rest.
Heat curled into Ashling’s belly and between her legs, where she felt tender.
She looked at his face. He looked younger in sleep. Lashes long and dark. Those dark, watchful eyes hidden. She imagined him waking and finding her looking at him. That galvanised her to steal from the bed as quietly as she could.
She pulled on her dress, just to cover up, and picked up her underwear. Back in her own room, she slumped against the closed door. The full magnitude of what had happened sank in. How amazing it had been. How considerate Zach had been. How she did have a capacity for pleasure—extreme pleasure.
She thought of Zach’s prediction that this would be short and hot. She almost hoped that Zach was right. Last night had been so intense, and totally unexpected. Surely, she thought a little desperately, that had been a one-off. Not every time would be like that? It had been a culmination of everything between them since they’d met again...that was all.
The thought of sleeping with Zach again, now that she knew what to expect, alternately excited and terrified her. She’d been so exposed. So needy. So ravenous. It was a side to her that she hadn’t known existed and it scared her slightly, because it hinted at a level of passion in which she could lose herself. Forget to protect herself. Forget the lessons she’d learnt about not falling for the wrong person.
In all honesty, she didn’t know if she could withstand a prolonged period of Zach’s seduction. She had a very real fear that she would be incinerated in the process.
* * *
Zach couldn’t quite believe his eyes. At the end of the garden, tucked away from prying eyes, well away from the hubbub of people preparing for the party that night, Ashling was giving a yoga class to Elena Stephanides. They both had yoga mats and Ashling was standing on one leg now, with the other one bent, her foot tucked against her inner thigh, arms outstretched.
Elena was mirroring her pose. But all Zach could see was Ashling. Every lithe and toned inch of her petite body. He’d felt her strength last night. The power in her thighs, clamped around his waist as the inner muscles of her body had contracted around his so forcibly that he’d—
‘Zach?’
It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over his head. What on earth was he doing?
He turned around. Georgios Stephanides was looking at him with a far too knowing twinkle in his eye. He was holding out a heavy silver ink pen.
‘Time to sign—unless, that is, you’ve changed your mind?’
No way, thought Zach, pushing all thoughts of a lithe temptress out of his mind.
He sat down and took the pen, and scrawled his name beside Georgios’s. He waited for the surge of satisfaction to come. After all, this deal blew everything else out of the water, and after this there would be no doubt that Zach had taken his place among his ancestors, whether his family liked to admit it or not. They wouldn’t be able to deny it—or deny him his rightful place.
Satisfaction was there. But it was hollow. Almost an anti-climax. Which made him think of another climax. One a few hours before, that had almost seared his brain clear of everything he’d
ever known.
Georgios clapped him on the shoulder. Zach looked up.
‘Take care of my legacy, Zach,’ the man said. ‘Don’t make me regret what I’ve done here today.’
Before, Zach would have spoken some platitude. He’d done it a million times before in similar situations. But for the first time he felt an echoing of the older man’s emotion inside him. Georgios Stephanides didn’t really know Zach. They shared no blood. And yet he’d shown a level of trust in Zach that his own flesh and blood never had.
He stood up, shook Georgios’s hand, feeling surprisingly humbled. ‘Thank you. I will.’
Georgios and the rest of their teams left the boardroom attached to his study. Zach took a breath. He was losing it. Going soft. Great sex had never had this effect on him before. He’d also never woken in his bed after a woman had left it. Usually he was the one to put very clear boundaries in place. He was the one to leave.
A sense of foreboding prickled over his skin.
He went back to the window and looked out. Ashling was bent like a triangle now, with her Lycra-clad bottom in the air. And just like that, any sense of foreboding melted into a haze of heat.
The first piece of karma had just been served. The second piece was her. In his bed again. For as long as this heat continued. And then he would be free to move on, unencumbered by any ghosts from the past.
Maybe Georgios Stephanides was right, and this house would be a home one day. But it would not be a home for the type of family that had shunned Zach since he was born. It would be for a family that would cement Zach’s legacy in society, and make all the sacrifices that had led to this moment, worth it.
CHAPTER NINE
IT WAS HER dream dress. A fairy-tale concoction of cream silk, lace and tulle, covered with huge embroidered gorgeous colourful flowers in reds and pinks and dark mulberry. Loose sleeves came down to her elbows, with lace trims. A layer of dark pink tulle also covered in appliquéd flowers fell to the ground.
It was breathtaking.
And Ashling couldn’t resist it.
She’d never seen anything so whimsical and romantic in her life. She felt like a princess.
The dress was one that had been sent over from the boutique. It had caught her eye a few times, so she’d pulled it out, and before she’d been able to stop herself she’d been trying it on. Just to see...
And now it was on and it was as if it had been made especially for her. The temptation to wear it was huge, and yet she felt guilty. Even though Diana had told her to help herself to anything.
The dress she’d been planning on wearing was the black silk one she’d worn the previous weekend. Normally Ashling would take pride in reusing clothes, not sniffy about being judged. But now it looked drab and cheap.
A voice whispered to her. You want to wear this because you feel romantic after last night. Because you want romance...with Zach Temple.
Immediately Ashling went to open the catch at the back of the dress, to take it off, but then something rebellious flamed to life in her belly. Was it so bad to feel romantic? To want romance?
She found Zach more and more intriguing. They’d slept together. And that had been...earth-shattering. Yet she wasn’t deluding herself for a second that there was anything beyond the purely physical happening here. So was it so bad to want to indulge in this moment? To feel beautiful? Desired?
Ashling made a face at herself. She was being ridiculous. It was just a dress. And after looking out of the window and seeing the guests start to arrive she needed all the glamorous armour she could get.
She hadn’t seen Zach all day. He’d been in his office suite with Georgios Stephanides and their legal teams. She looked out of the window one more time to see if she could see him.
The garden had been transformed into a wonderland. It was a gorgeous summer’s evening. The sky was vast and turning to dusk. Fairy lights in trees and flaming lanterns illuminated the darkening space. Small tables and chairs were dotted around. She could see the dance floor. A canopy of lights was strung from the trees to cover the space. It was like the setting for a Shakespeare play, or a film set.
Then she saw him, and her heart hitched before she could stop it. He was wearing a white dinner jacket and black bow-tie. He stood out, and once again Ashling felt a little pang at seeing him look somehow...isolated, even though he was surrounded by people.
As if sensing her regard, he turned his head and looked up, directly at her window. Ashling shrank back, heart thumping. But she couldn’t hide up here for ever.
She found a pair of pink silk high-heeled sandals, and at the last minute picked up a yellow silk flower and pinned it in her hair on one side, where she’d gathered it up into a rough low bun. And then, steeling herself to see Zach for the first time since she’d left his bed that morning, she made her way to the party.
* * *
Where the hell was she?
The need to see Ashling gnawed at Zach like a physical craving. People were arriving. Surrounding him with their fake smiles and the sycophancy which he’d become inured to over the years...
And then, just when he was about to go in search of her, he saw her on the terrace, near the French doors. She was talking to Diana. Her hair was pulled back, showing off her delicate bone structure. And her dress...
Her dress stood out among all the monochrome, the blacks and greys and whites, in a riotous profusion of colours. He saw a flower in her hair. He found himself smiling. He shouldn’t have expected anything less.
She turned and looked and found him. At the moment their eyes met Zach felt for a second as if he was losing his footing. She picked up the dress, so it wouldn’t trail on the ground, and walked towards him across the lawn. The disconcerting sensation of something shifting underneath him, around him, lingered.
He shook his head. It was Georgios’s mention of home that was messing with his head.
She reached him and her scent tickled his nostrils. Sweet and musky. It reminded him of how she’d smelt when he’d tasted her—
‘You look beautiful.’ He forced the words out in a bid to regain some semblance of control.
He noticed she wore no jewellery apart from the necklace she’d worn the previous night. A kind of love knot. Clearly of sentimental value. That snagged in his brain, but he pushed it aside for now.
‘Thank you.’ She looked shy. Then she gestured to the dress. ‘It’s one of yours.’
Zach arched a brow. ‘Really? I didn’t know tulle was my thing.’
She realised what she’d said, and laughed. Zach was aware of people turning to look. He wanted to snatch her away.
‘No, sorry—not like that. I mean, it’s one of the dresses you have sent from the boutique. For guests.’
For his lover.
The dress could have been made for her. Impulsively, because he wasn’t usually inclined to give gifts to lovers in case they got the wrong idea, he said, ‘Keep it. It suits you.’
Her eyes widened, and then some expression that Zach couldn’t decipher crossed her face. She shuttered it quickly.
‘No...but thank you. I’ll arrange to have it cleaned...after...’
Zach shied away from trying to figure out what that expression had meant. He privately thought it would be a miracle if the dress survived intact. He couldn’t see any obvious fastenings, and anticipation was already firing his blood. He remembered waking and finding her gone that morning and that prickle of exposure.
‘You were gone this morning.’
She looked contrite. ‘I woke and... The truth is that I didn’t know if you’d appreciate waking and finding me still there. I wasn’t sure what you’d expect. I thought you’d want your space.’
It was the first time a lover had wanted to give him space. The irony that he hadn’t appreciated it wasn’t lost on him.
He said, ‘What I wanted wa
s you.’
‘Still?’
He almost didn’t hear it, her voice was so low. He looked at her, wondering if she was fishing for reassurance. But she looked genuinely uncertain.
‘Yes, still.’ The fact that it wasn’t patently obvious how much he hungered for her was comforting.
A waiter stopped beside them and Zach took two glasses of champagne, handing her one. If she was reacting to him telling her explicitly that he still wanted her, it wasn’t evident on her face.
He said, ‘I’m celebrating.’
She looked at him, comprehension dawning. ‘The deal? With Georgios Stephanides?’
He nodded, feeling a mixture of exposure and pride. Usually these victories were solo affairs. For the first time he felt the need to share it.
She took his hand, moved closer. ‘Zach, that’s amazing. Congratulations.’
He gave in to an urge too powerful to ignore. He bent down and covered her mouth with his. She was tense.
He pulled back. He saw the desire in her eyes, but she said, ‘I thought you wouldn’t want people to see...to know...’
He shook his head. ‘Come here.’
Something flared in her eyes and her cheeks grew pink. He put an arm around her waist, pulling her into him. This time when he kissed her she didn’t tense. She melted against him. It took all his restraint to stop the kiss. Pull back. When he did, her eyes stayed closed for a second. He uttered a silent oath.
‘Zach, there you are. Mr Carmichael has just arrived. He’s looking for you.’
* * *
It was Diana’s voice that broke Ashling out of the lust haze in her brain. Zach still wanted her. He hadn’t wanted her to leave his bed. He’d just kissed her in front of everyone.
He said, ‘I’ll be right there.’
Diana melted away discreetly. Ashling took a step back from Zach in a bid to try and clear her head. But he took her hand and led her with him into the crowd. She took a sip of sparkling wine, as if that might fortify her.