Page 203 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

She was in awe as his potent sexuality overpowered everything—until she was aroused in a way she’d never been—wanting things she’d never wanted and twisting restlessly until he took pity on her and kissed her through the silk dress. It was no less of an intimacy—of a torture.

‘Ramon!’ She wanted him closer.

He slid her dress up, slid her lace panties down. His smile was feral as he watched her arch to meet his hand and let her have just a finger. It wasn’t enough and yet she shook with need. There was only now. Only him. In that moment he was all there wouldeverbe for her.

‘I can’t take any more.’ She trembled. ‘Please, Ramon.Please.’

He was flushed and breathing hard, revelling in her escalation. ‘What do you want?’

She shook her head, only able to gasp his name. She wanted to hold him. To feel his whole body against hers. Skin to skin. But he just teased her—devastatingly—watching her lose control at his touch.

‘Tellme,’ he groaned. A plea as much as a dare.

Singular words tumbled from her in an incoherent erotic mess. But he didn’t do as she begged. He just kept teasing her with that devilish touch until she thrashed beneath him then utterly strung out, she arched one last time.

‘Oh, no...’ she shuddered.

‘You don’t like that?’ he rasped. ‘You don’t want—?’

‘I want youinsideme...’ she moaned.

But it was too late. She shuddered as waves of bliss tumbled over her until, wrecked, all she could do was gasp for air. He chuckled and slowly nudged the thin straps from her shoulders. Soon she wore only the diamonds. He touched them, then lifted his gaze. She was simply a puddle of goo in the heat of his blue eyes.

She didn’t strip him. Yeah, that threat had been completely hollow. She couldn’t even move. She was still quivering too much. He stepped back and yanked off his jacket and shirt, shedding shoes, trousers, boxers. He even remembered to use protection when she’d not even thought of it. She was just stunned—only able to watch because Ramon was geneticallyblessed.He was beautiful and so terrifyingly, fantasticallyfocused. On her. She couldn’t handle the intensity of her rising desire.

And he seemed to know because he helped. He was gentle as he joined her on the bed, pulling her closer. She moaned almost helplessly as he braced above her. He slid his hands beneath her, holding her so he could sink deep in a powerful thrust. She cried out, unable to hold back the delight as he filled her. His beautiful face stiffened as his jaw locked.

‘Happy now?’ he gritted.

So happy she choked back a sob and closed her eyes to hide her tears. The only thing she could manage was to kiss him. His moan as he pressed deeper into her was guttural. It was so slow. So perfect. Every inch of her skin tingled. Every muscle was like jelly, wrecked from the shuddering tension between bliss and need. The sensation—to her bones—was exquisite. He swept his hand down her arm, pressing his palm to hers, locking their fingers together.

His blue eyes blazed into hers. ‘I knew we’d be good butthis—’

Yeah. Ecstasy competed with overwhelm. All she wanted was to pull him closer still. Finally she found her strength. She wrapped her legs around him, kissing him long and deep. Something unleashed within her. Somethingheunleashed. Not just pleasure but power, she found purpose in her own body. She was meant to be here—meant to be like this—with him. She welcomed it. Wanted more. Braced closer. Everything melded as they made love.

He closed his eyes and hissed. They were locked together, fighting to get closer still. Best feeling. Ever. Best moment of her life. Ever. She didn’t want it to end. Ever. But his draw was too strong, the drive between them inexorable and her next release simply sneaked up. The savage cry was pulled from her soul and she shook in his arms. They tightened—so very tightly. He gripped her and growled as he thrust hard one last time. She clung to him as he shuddered in her arms. She never wanted to let him go. She would hold him like this always.

Ramon didn’t want to move. Couldn’t, actually. Elodie was draped over him, her legs entangled with his. Soft, warm, utterly asleep. They were nestled together and apparently had been the entire night. So much for all his threats of prowess. There’d been no acrobatics. It had hardly been a sexual marathon. He’d been shattered on a level he didn’t recognise by that one encounter then slept like nothing else. She was still knocked out.

He wriggled to glance at his clock, stunned to realise the time. He roused his will—the discipline that saw him rise early. Always. That’s how he caught up on issues from the other side of the globe that had come in overnight. He needed to do that now. So he ignored the inner scream to stay and keep cuddling her and steeled himself. Stole out of the bed and went to shower in a bathroom further away so he didn’t disturb her. Though she was so asleep he doubted she’d wake.

He turned the water to cold because the desire he’d thought would ebb, had only done the opposite. He was hot as hell and it was everything he didn’t want.

His father had been ridden by urges, unable to control impulse or appetite. He’d wanted everything and had no compunction in going for it all. He’d groomed Ramon to be his heir. In everything. Once when Ramon had accompanied him on a business trip, he’d walked in on his father with his ‘assistant’. Not an image Ramon ever wanted to recall. Nor was the ‘man-to-man’ talk his father had then had with him.

‘These things are minor. Mean nothing. There’s no need to hurt your mother. It’s never anyone she knows, never at home. You play away—you understand? As long as you’re discreet—’

As if that made it okay somehow.

To the world—indeed to Ramon up until that moment—it seemed his father hadadoredhis mother. Ramon suspected his fatherbelievedthat he loved her. But his greed and conceit led him to think he could have more—to have everything and anything and anyone he wanted. And he did. Less than a year later his father had died while in the company of one of his lovers. Ramon had moved mountains to keep that horrible secret safe from his mother and he’d succeeded until her own sister—Cristina—had revealed something far worse.

Ramon was a lot like his father—fullysuccessdriven. He’d feared it would take nothing to tip into that same world of greed and excess, so he restrained himself. Never made promises he couldn’t keep—never allowed a lover to consume his thoughts or influence his choices. He’d never intended to marry and definitely didn’t need heirs to dump his driven nature onto. He’d relished his work and would work until the day he died. It had satisfied him completely.

Until he’d met her.

Now Ramon finally understood why and how his father had just ‘needed more’. Elodie Wallace had activated his libidinous gene. All he could think about was going back to bed and taking up from where last night had ended. Because it had been amazing. Yet their intimacy had gone differently to how he’d expected. She’d talked a big game but the second he’d actually touched her she’d rapidly become so overwhelmed it was almost as if she’d beenshy. Her fingers had curled in and she’d only been able to gasp as he’d tasted her. She’d certainly beensweet. He’d been happy to take the lead and in doing so it had become evident that she adored sex. Which was good. Being as insatiable as each other meant they could burn this out. For his own peace of mind he needed it to burn outquickly.

He looked in on her and mentally willed her to wake. She didn’t. She was so deep in slumber that he felt like a stalker. He went back to his office, printed off the document that had arrived in his inbox, spent an hour reading it before realising not one word had sunk in. Then he returned to his bedroom—delighted to see her sharp eyes open. He could only see to her shoulders because she was snuggled beneath the sheet. Her hair was somewhat wild and her face flushed, and she was still wearing the diamond necklace.

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