by Sarah Morgan
Trying to think clearly through the red mist that clouded his brain, Leandro slid one hand down her thigh, urging her to wind her legs around him, and then adjusted his own position in a decisive movement that drew a soft gasp from her.
Her soft moans increased with each rhythmic thrust and he was so aware of every movement she made that he felt the exact moment when her body tumbled out of control. The ecstatic tightening of her body stroked the length of his erection and he finally lost his own grip on control and fell with her, joining her in that scorching, exhilarating, terrifying rush to the very edges of extreme pleasure.
His mind blanked. In those few moments of exquisite perfection he forgot everything except the amazing chemistry that he created with this woman.
And as the sizzling, vicious response of his body finally calmed, he became aware of two things. One, that she was no longer fighting him and, two, that he was still hard.
Which gave him a choice.
He could either withdrew and allow her to sleep, or he could do what his body was urging him to do.
Allowing himself a half-smile in the safety of the darkness, Leandro made his choice.
Millie stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, seeing wild hair and flushed cheeks. And that was hardly surprising, was it? He’d made love to her until dawn.
Until dawn…
Trying to ignore the hurt that bloomed inside her, she pulled on a pair of loose trousers and a simple T-shirt and walked out onto the terrace.
A lizard lay basking in the heat of the sun and, nearby, one of the cats was stretched out, slowly licking his fur.
And as relaxed as any of them was Leandro, lounging at the breakfast table with his legs stretched out, his gaze focused on the financial pages of a newspaper. A coffee cup lay empty next to his lean, bronzed hand, his dark hair still damp from the shower.
Millie cleared her throat and he glanced up. His slow, sure smile made her want to hit him.
Leandro the conqueror, she thought miserably. Man enough to bed a woman even when he didn’t find her attractive. ‘Kalimera.’ He greeted her in Greek. ‘Te kanis? How are you?’
‘I’m fine, thank you.’
His eyes narrowed instantly and Millie quivered with suppressed emotion, so utterly humiliated that if she’d been able to leave the island without speaking to him, she would have.
She didn’t want to have this conversation, but she knew that Leandro was far too quick not to pick up on her distress.
He folded the newspaper carefully and put it to one side. ‘Obviously you’re not feeling so good this morning.’
‘I’m fine.’
‘Fine?’ His eyes rested on hers and then he said something in Greek to the staff who were hovering. They melted away, leaving the two of them alone on the terrace. ‘All right.’ His tone was even. ‘We no longer have company. You can tell me what you think of me.’
‘You don’t want to know.’
‘Yes,’ he said softly, ‘I do. No more secrets, remember?’
‘All right.’ Millie curved her hand over the back of the chair, too wound up and upset to contemplate joining him at the table. ‘If you really want to know what I think—I think you are the most ruthless, insensitive man I’ve ever met.’
Stunned dark eyes met hers. ‘Run that past me again?’
‘You heard me.’
‘I presume this interesting sentiment has hit you in the cold light of day. It certainly wasn’t what was going through your mind last night when you were naked and sobbing in my bed.’
‘Don’t speak like that! I find it really embarrassing. It’s bad enough that you do all those things to me and make me—you know…’ Hot colour flooded her cheeks and she looked away from his hot gaze, unable to look him in the eye and maintain the conversation. ‘It’s as if you’re sitting there smugly congratulating yourself on your amazing ability to turn any woman to jelly no matter what. What were you trying to prove?’
Leandro was unusually still, his gaze partially concealed by thick, black lashes. ‘What makes you think I was trying to prove something?’
‘Because why else would you have devoted your night to that whole…’ Millie waved her hand wildly ‘…seduction routine. What? What was it all about?’
‘They say actions speak louder than words—didn’t last night say anything to you?’
‘Yes. It said that you didn’t know how to apologise, but you do know how to have sex.’
‘You think that was apology sex?’
‘I’d rather think that than the alternative.’
‘Which is?’
‘Pity sex. That’s far worse than apology sex.’
‘You think I made love to you because I felt sorry for you? I’m not sure the male anatomy would allow “pity sex”, whatever that is.’ His apparent lack of emotion somehow made everything worse.
‘I’m sure yours would—you don’t exactly have a problem with your sex drive, do you? Although I did notice that even you had to do it in the dark.’
“‘Do it’?” He repeated her words with careful emphasis, the subtle lift of one eyebrow reminding her of just how unsophisticated she was compared to him.
Millie rubbed her damp palms on her loose trousers, wishing she hadn’t started this conversation. ‘It wasn’t making love. Making your point would be closer to the mark. Why did you do it? Was it a challenge to your reputation as the ultimate lover? Or was it supposed to be a going-away present? You don’t want me to feel bad about myself so you decided to give me a good night before you sent me packing, is that right?’ Her emotions were in such a heightened state of turbulence that his calm, watchful gaze was even more infuriating. ‘Aren’t you going to say something?’
Leandro stirred and drew in a breath. ‘I only realised yesterday how insecure you are, and clearly I’ve underestimated the depths of that insecurity.’ Putting his napkin carefully down on the table, he stood up.
Something in the set of his powerful shoulders and the glint in his eye made her step backwards but he was too quick for her. His hand closed around her wrist and when she twisted it in an attempt to free herself he simply drew her closer.
Memories of the way he’d held her hands in the moonlight deepened the flush on her cheeks. Hope warred with her feelings of inadequacy.
‘Let me go. You’re always grabbing me! What do you think you’re doing?’
‘You think last night was all about pity sex—you think I’m only capable of only “doing it” in the dark.’ He swung her into his arms, strode a few paces across the terrace. ‘Well, it’s not dark now, agape mou, so let’s test that theory, shall we?’
‘Put me down, Leandro!’
He lowered her onto the nearest sun lounger. ‘I’ve put you down.’ His voice was a soft dangerous purr and he undid the clasp of her trousers with a practised flick of his fingers.
With a gasp of shock she clutched at her trousers but she was too late. They were already discarded on the floor and his hands were stripping off her T-shirt with the same decisive force. ‘Stop it. Leandro, what are you thinking?’
‘That you’re incredibly sexy,’ he growled, releasing the catch on her bra and stripping off her panties without pause or hesitation. It was easy for him, with his vastly superior strength, to keep her where he wanted her. ‘And I’m thinking that being thoughtful wasn’t the right approach. Apparently what a man sees as sensitive, a woman can see as insensitive.’
Horribly conscious of the sun blazing a spotlight onto her naked body, Millie tried to slither away from him but Leandro held her firmly, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. ‘No more hiding, agape mou. No more robes, long trousers or dark rooms. We will do this in daylight and then you will know the truth, hmm? You will see how sorry I feel for you—how this injury of yours has affected me. You want to know if I’m aroused? If you still turn me on? Let’s see, shall we?’
‘Don’t do this.’ Millie drew her knees up, trying to cover herself but he pushed her legs down with one ha
nd and deftly dealt with the zip of his trousers with the other.
‘Do I look as though I’m having a problem becoming aroused, agape mou? Do I look like a man doing you a favour?’ His eyes glittered as he dispensed with his trousers, boldly unself-conscious as he stripped himself naked, exposing his lean, bronzed body. Lean, bronzed, aroused body.
With the flat of his hand Leandro pushed her gently back against the sun lounger and came over her in a fluid movement that was all dominant male.
His muscles were pumped up and hard and she felt the brush of his chest hair against the sensitised tips of her breasts.
When the blunt tip of his erection brushed against her exposed thigh she gave a gasp of shock that turned to a moan as he buried his face in her neck.
‘Does that feel like pity?’ He moved against her boldly and Millie groaned and turned her head away because the sudden explosion of excitement that consumed her was just too humiliating.
‘Don’t do this, Leandro…’
‘Why? Because you’re afraid I’m doing it because I feel sorry for you? I never do things for other people, agape mou, you should know that by now. I’m selfish. I do things for myself. Because it’s what I want.’ His tone rough, he took her hand and drew it down to that part of himself, and her mouth dried because he was velvety hard and she could barely circle him with her shaking fingers. ‘I know you had no experience before I met you,’ he purred, ‘so let me spell out the facts, pethi mou. This isn’t called pity. It’s called chemistry. Hot, sexual chemistry. It isn’t me “making my point”, as you so eloquently put it, it’s me making love.’ He caught her face in his hands and lowered his mouth to hers. ‘Making love,’ he said against her lips. ‘Have you got that?’
‘Leandro—’
‘I want you. I’ve always wanted you and that isn’t going to change. Are you listening?’ He slid his hand behind her neck and forced her to hold his gaze. ‘Are you listening to me?’
Her hand was still holding him and she stared into the fierce heat of his eyes and forgot everything except the burning need in her pelvis.
His hand slid under her bottom, shifting her position. ‘You have scars on your body, yes,’ he said thickly, ‘but it’s still your body. One day, when you have my babies, you might have stretch marks or maybe other scars, but this will still be your body. And it’s your body that I want. No other woman’s.’
Babies?
Her head was spinning, her pulse racing out of control as she struggled to hold onto her thoughts before they slipped away. He’d said—Had he said…?
While she was struggling with his words, he entered her with a determined thrust, sliding deep, and Millie gave up on any thought of responding because the feel of him inside her drove every coherent thought from her brain. Unprepared for his invasion, she tried to make a sound but his mouth closed over hers and he held her hips as he drove deeper still, his virile thrust taking him straight to the heart of her. This time there was no gentle foreplay, no slow, clever strokes of his long fingers. Just an unapologetic demonstration of raw sexuality and male dominance.
His hand locked in her hair, Leandro lifted his head just enough to allow him to speak. ‘Can you feel me, Millie?’ He growled the words against her lips and ground deeper inside her. ‘Can you feel me inside you?’ He was big, hard and shockingly male, and she sobbed his name and dug her nails into his back, her body so sensitised by his invasion that she could hardly breathe. In that moment she’d never felt so wanted, truly desired.
His breathing unsteady, he gently bit her lower lip and then soothed it with his tongue. ‘You feel incredible,’ he murmured huskily, and he withdrew slightly and her eyes flew wide.
‘No…’
‘No what?’ He gave a slow, wicked smile, withdrawing still further. ‘No, don’t stop—or, no, don’t do this?’
‘Leandro…’
He kept her on the edge for several agonising seconds and then slid deep again, the movement sending shock waves of excitement through her trembling frame.
‘This isn’t pity sex,’ he breathed, lifting her hips to allow him even, ‘it’s hot sex, agape mou. It’s what you and I share. Can you feel it?’
Millie was incapable of speech, her body rushing forward to meet the pleasure that he was creating with each skilled, fluid stroke. For a delicious moment her eyes met his. He held that look, the connection between them impossibly intimate. And then everything inside her splintered apart and she arched her back as her body was convulsed by an erotic explosion so intense that she couldn’t catch her breath. The sensations devoured her, tearing through her body like a ravenous beast on the rampage, and she felt the sudden tension in his body and the increase in masculine thrust that brought him to the same dizzying peak of hot liquid pleasure.
Millie lay in dazed, breathless silence for a moment, her mind incapable of functioning. She was dimly aware of the hot sun burning her leg and the roughness of his thigh against her more sensitive flesh. And then she heard the distant buzz of a motorboat somewhere in the distance and was suddenly hideously conscious of the fact they were naked.
‘Leandro…’ She pushed against his bare shoulder, suddenly panicking that someone was going to see them. ‘We have to move.’
‘Why?’ Typically relaxed, he raised himself onto his elbow and surveyed her from under thick, dark lashes. ‘What’s the hurry?’
‘Your staff—’
‘Don’t venture near my private terrace,’ he said smoothly, dropping a lingering kiss to her parted lips.
‘But what if one of them comes to clear up the breakfast things?’
‘I’ll fire them.’ He kissed her cheek. ‘Relax.’
But she couldn’t relax. ‘I should check Costas.’
‘He has a nanny, remember? And if he was awake you would have heard him through the baby alarm.’
‘What if it isn’t working? I need to get dressed, Leandro.’
‘No. You don’t. You just want to hide your body and I’m not going to let you.’
‘You may be comfortable with nudity, but that’s only because you look great.’
‘Thank you.’ Laughing, he caught her face in his hands. ‘You have a great body, too. I thought I’d just proved that. You’re not running away.’
Millie bit her lip and then gave a faltering smile. ‘I really do want to see the baby. It’s been such an upheaval for him, being passed around as if he’s some sort of trophy. He needs stability and security. I want him to know I’m here. I need to take a shower and dress.’
He sighed and lowered his mouth to hers. ‘You are quite extraordinary,’ he murmured softly, stroking her hair back from her face. ‘Go on, then. I’ll see you in a minute.’
Her senses and emotions churning from what had happened between them, she drew away from him and walked awkwardly across the terrace and back into the bedroom.
Locking herself in the bathroom, she turned on the shower, wondering what exactly had it all meant to him. What had he been proving? Convinced that he’d made love to her in the night out of some misplaced sense of guilt, she was no longer sure of anything. Not even herself. Her body still ached and tingled from their lovemaking and she stepped under the shower and then changed into a long cotton skirt and a strap top.
She contemplated blow-drying her hair and decided against it, anxious in case Costas had woken and was upset.
Hurrying along to his room, she heard happy gurgles and cooing and walked in to find him lying in Leandro’s arms.
Millie watched for a moment, her insides turning to mush as she saw how gentle he was with the baby. He was speaking in soft, lyrical Greek and then he looked up and saw her.
‘And here is beautiful Millie.’ He placed a kiss on top of the baby’s head and handed him over. ‘He seems quite happy.’
Millie took the baby, feeling his solid warmth in her arms. ‘He needs his nappy changed.’
‘Now, that,’ Leandro drawled, ‘is definitely outside my area of expertise. Do yo
u want me to call the nanny?’
‘Believe it or not, I’m capable of changing a nappy.’ Millie laid Costas on a changing mat on the floor. Relieved to have a reason to avoid Leandro’s disturbing gaze, she cooed at the baby who kicked his legs in delight. ‘He thinks I can’t change a nappy.’
‘Why don’t you put him on the bed?’
‘Because he might roll off.’ Millie deftly changed the nappy and scooped the baby against her. ‘Time for breakfast.’
‘Give him his bottle on the terrace,’ Leandro instructed. ‘There are things I want to say to you.’
She looked at him warily. ‘Things that can be said in front of a baby?’
He looked amused. ‘Absolutely. In the unlikely event that he files our conversation for future reference, it will do him good to know that adults can sort out their problems rather than giving up on their marriage. That is the example I would want to set for the younger generation. And you?’
Millie’s heartbeat faltered. ‘I—We—It isn’t that simple, Leandro—you’re unrealistic.’
He guided her towards the door that led to the vine covered terrace. ‘The difference in our approach may be rooted in our cultures. Your divorce rate is higher than ours.’
Still holding Costas, Millie sighed as she walked towards the table that had been set for breakfast. ‘I think cultural differences are the least of our problems at this point in our relationship.’
His response to that was to turn and deliver a slow, confident smile. ‘Problems are merely there to test resolve. If you really want something, you can overcome the problems.’ He stepped towards her, closing the gap until she drew in a breath. ‘How much do you want our marriage to work, Millie?’
How much? Her heart was thudding and she was trapped by the unshakable confidence in his eyes. ‘I—I want it, of course, but you don’t—’
‘Don’t I?’ He didn’t even wait for her to finish the sentence. ‘What do you think this morning was all about?’