Page 25 of Reclaimed By His Billion-Dollar Ring

She smiled. ‘Your turn,’ she said.

She reached for him, slid open each button of his shirt one by one, achingly and arousingly slowly, easing the shirt away to let her fingertips explore beneath. He stood stock-still, and with an instinct as old as Eve, she knew he was exerting every inch of his self-control to stand there while she slid the shirt from him.

Then she turned her hands to the belt around his waist. As she undid the buckle, feeling her way in the dim light, she gave a sudden gasp of shock. Her hands had felt, unmistakably, just how much self-control he was exerting.

A low laugh broke from him, but there was urgency in his voice when he spoke. ‘This is a torment such as I do not think I can endure,’ he said.

He lifted her hands away with his own strong hands, callused and rough from his work on the building site. Swiftly, he finished what she had started, and as he shucked himself free of his trousers and his shorts she gave another gasp. Instinctively turned away.

He caught her in his arms, scooped her up effortlessly against his muscled frame, then crossed over to the bed, pulled back the covering sheet and laid her down as gently as if she were made of porcelain.

Then he lowered himself beside her. ‘Shall we begin?’ he asked.

His voice was low and accented, filled with what she knew with all her being to be desire.

His hand glided along her flank, shaping her breast, leisurely exploring it, then moved over the soft, slender mound of her belly to slip his questing fingers over her thighs, between them...

They slackened at his touch and she gave another low, instinctive moan. What he was doing to her was exquisite—unbearable...

Sensation such as she had not known existed, had not known possible, teased through her, and she felt her hands clench into the bedding. She felt arousal sweeten inside her and knew that he was readying her body for his possession.

He moved his strong, hard thighs over hers, widened her legs...

‘Nik—I... I’ve never...’

The words broke from her and he stilled. Gazed down at her. For a few seconds he did not speak, and for a dreadful moment, she thought he would draw back.

Then he lowered his mouth to hers. ‘You give me a gift,’ he said, ‘that any man would treasure.’ He grazed her mouth again, the smile at his lips rueful. ‘I will be as gentle as I can,’ he told her.

He was true to his promise. There was pain, as she knew there must be, but it lasted such a little time compared with the eternity of bliss he gave her...

Again and again, and yet again, she felt her spine arch in ecstasy as he held her trembling body in his arms. Her own arms wound around him tightly, as if she would never, never let him go. It was bliss, it was wonder, and it was beyond all she had imagined such a time would be.

And then finally, as her own bliss ebbed and she felt the low throb of her own body enclosing his, drawing him in deeper, and deeper yet, he lifted his body from her and drove, with strong, powerful thrusts, to bring his own release.

As he did so, her body convulsed around his yet again...more intensely, more searingly. She cried out—she could not help it—her hands clutching at him, feeling the strain of his muscles, seeing his throat tensing as his body experienced what she was experiencing yet again. A groan broke from him, low and harsh, and his forehead lowered to hers as if in salutation.

She took him into her embrace, feeling a wonder and a joy and a happiness so great she could not measure it. He folded into her and she cradled him, feeling the sweet weight of his body on hers, smoothing his dampened hair, his muscled shoulders, soothing him, caressing him, cherishing him...

Loving him...

Was it tears in her eyes now, or simply the sea water wetting her cheeks? Well, what did it matter? The Nik she had known then—or thought she had known—was gone with the years.

She would not let him back in.

Dared not.

Whatever the temptation.

The word was in her head before she could stop it. Shocking her. Dismaying her.

With a gasp, she jack-knifed in the water, her wet hair clinging to her shoulders, and trod water rapidly. No, no—of course she wasn’t being tempted by him! How could she even think it?

For a moment she threshed in the water, pushing her soggy hair out of her eyes, and then, with an effort, duck dived into the clear sea. She had drifted quite far out. There were rocks below, on the seabed, small fishes darting, and she could feel the swell of open water.

Arcing around, she surfaced, looking back to shore. Only to see, with deeper dismay, as she blinked the water from her lashes, the tall figure of Nikos standing by the shoreline.

He was looking directly at her.

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