Page 40 of Signed, Sealed, Married

Their mouths fitted as if made for each other. They brushed and clung in a dance of exploration and recognition. As if it wasn’t their first kiss, but a long-awaited reunion, each knowing instinctively what pleased the other.

He didn’t try to dominate. This was mutual. Pleasure racked her when he delved inside, making her lean into him, hands clutching. And when she gently bit his lower lip, his intake of breath and the increased pressure of his erection told of his delight.

Questing hands explored as their bodies melded. Distance of any sort was unbearable as their tongues caressed and passion built.

Gisèle had never been kissed like this. There’d been men on dates who were experienced lovers. But none who read her needs and met them as if it were the easiest thing in the world. As ifshewere all that mattered.

Each touch stoked the fire burning brighter inside, making her want as she’d never wanted in her life.

She was so caught up in wonder and growing urgency that she barely noticed he’d lowered her to the sofa. But when Adam joined her, lying half on his side, half above her, she rejoiced.

This was what she wanted. She arched, silently demanding more contact as she sucked his tongue hard into her mouth. She shivered, senses overloading as she swallowed the low growl emerging from the back of his throat. Her nipples were so hard they ached and the hollow feeling between her legs made her shift restlessly.

A callused hand found the slit in her skirt, smoothing over bare skin. Arousal notched up to frantic.

‘Adam!’

He’d lifted his head to watch his hand in the opening of her skirt. The tendons stood proud in his neck and his features were taut. He looked bold, untamed and gorgeous. Now his eyes met hers in a gaze saturated with desire.

‘I want—’ The jarring ring of a phone interrupted, making him scowl. ‘Sorry. I thought it was off.’

He moved to one side, fished out his phone and thumbed it, silencing the call. Then he leaned away and put the phone on the coffee table.

Gisèle watched him turn back to her, eyes ablaze and eager. His hand went straight back to the slit in her skirt, pushing all the way up to her silk panties, wet with arousal. One touch and she couldn’t help but jerk her pelvis high in response. It was what she wanted. What she’d craved so long.

Yet itfeltdifferent. Her body was still a hundred percent willing but her mind was elsewhere.

Drawn by a compulsion she couldn’t withstand, Gisèle turned her head. He’d put his phone down but instead of lying flat on the table, it was leaning upright against a box of handmade chocolate truffles, facing them.

Cold washed over her and the swirling heat in her belly turned into a nauseating churn. She went rigid, blood congealing as her fingers clawed his shoulders.

His voice came from far away. ‘Gisèle? What’s wrong?’

CHAPTER EIGHT

ADAMCOULDN’TBELIEVEwhat he saw. His vibrant, explosively arousing partner froze. Her beautifully flushed face, neck and shoulders turned parchment white above the deep red of her dress.

Her rounded eyes fixed on something beyond him, with the unblinking stare of someone mesmerised by fright.

Swift as thought, he swung his head around, expecting an intruder. His heart pounded and his muscles bunched ready to protect her as he rose above her.

There was no one there, nothing had changed.

‘Gisèle? What is it?’

At the sound of his voice she blinked and shook her head but her lips were a crooked line that spoke of pain or distress. At a loss, he turned again. Nothing had altered. The only difference from before was his phone. He reached for it and felt her flinch beneath him.

‘I just...’ Her voice was a broken whisper unlike her usual confident tone. Or the throaty, seductive voice that had undone him tonight.

Something was badly wrong. Clutching the phone, Adam pushed off the sofa, watching Gisèle watch him. No, not him, the phone. Her expression turned his veins to ice as his brain raced to make sense of her reaction.

Beneath the chill, a kernel of furious heat ignited.

He strode across the room, opened the door to his adjoining suite, and without looking tossed the phone inside then closed the door. By the time he’d returned to her, Gisèle was sitting upright, arms crossed around her waist, bare shoulders hunched. But there were streaks of colour high on her cheeks as she tilted her head to look at him.

Oh, Gisèle.

His chest squeezed hard as he watched her fight for control. As suspicion grew.

---