Page 7 of Modern Romance January 2025 1-4

Lexy was being engulfed by a tangle of conflicting reactions. Her body was so on board with his every move that it was simply willing him on to the next step. Her brain was dimly echoing her mother’s warnings about men, something crazy about why would a man buy a cow when the milk is free, a hangover from her mother’s generation and out of step with current mores. But at the end of the day, it was simply sex, she reminded herself even though her emotions felt much more intense than that belief suggested. It was a bodily thing, not a mental thing.

She didn’t need to tie herself up in knots about something so basic and naturally she was curious because the touch of his fingers on her breast was magically arousing. And when he used his mouth there as well, it was even better, like a hot wire tightening between her breasts and the juncture of her thighs. It made her squirm, it made her needy and she was entranced by those responses.

Her tee shirt glided over her head and vanished. He laid her down on the wide, soft sectional sofa and began to gently divest her of her remaining clothes. If it hadn’t been so dark, she would have felt more exposed and shyer, but the only light in the room was the flickering flames of the log burner because he had switched off the TV. Outside the snow was falling in the most hypnotic style, big fluffy flakes drifting down beyond the glass, while all was cosy and warm and calm indoors. It felt magical to Lexy, absolutely magical, just as a dream would be with a gorgeous guy, a gorgeous house, and that gorgeous guy miraculously wantedher.

‘This feels special,’ Nic murmured softly, spectacular dark eyes locked to her. ‘Youfeel special. Do you want me right now? Or would you rather...wait?’

And Lexy stared up at him in wonderment, it being her conviction that no man would ever offer to defer his own pleasure to please a woman. She smiled, wide and bright then, at being proved wrong. ‘I want you now,’ she told him gently.

‘Contraception?’ he asked.

‘No, I’m not on anything.’ Lexy could feel her cheeks burning as he leant down to her. ‘And I haven’t done this before.’

His perfect ebony brows drew together. ‘Haven’t done what before?’

‘Sex,’ she said simply.

Comprehension tautened his lean bronzed features, followed by bewilderment.

‘Don’t look at me like that!’ she said sharply. ‘I just never had that freedom until Mum passed.’

Nic lowered himself down to her and kissed her breathless, struggling to slow the pace down to give her the treatment she deserved. ‘I was surprised, not critical.’

That kiss connected Lexy again. She stretched up to him as he began to remove her last garments, hunger twisting through her, making her restless. He shimmied down over her body and spread her thighs and she just about had a heart attack when she realised what he planned to do. It was something she had read about in steamy books, not something she had ever fancied on her own behalf, and she went rigid.

‘No,’ she told him shakily.

‘You’ll like it,’ Nic swore with sensual resolution. ‘Please...’

It was the ‘please’ that seduced her. If he was willing to say that word in return for doingthat, she couldn’t say no. In any case, shouldn’t she explore every possibility? This night was one night out of time between two strangers and it would never be repeated. Ten to one, during the night, the snow would vanish and he might drop her off somewhere and she would never see him again...ever. The prospect of never ever seeing Nic again left her chest feeling scarily hollow and she suppressed the thought of that scenario as soon as it appeared.

Breathtakingly exquisite sensations seized her. Yes, just as he had forecast, she liked every glide of his tongue, every lingering attention to the most sensually aware nub in her entire body. Her heart thundered in her ears and the cascade of feelings rose in a blinding wave and a climax shuddered through her, shaking her inside out.

‘Don’t you dare say I told you so,’ she warned him breathlessly.

Nic grinned that smile that whipped her into the clouds and back with its charisma. ‘I’m not stupid... I simply want to make this as good for you as it will be for me,’ he murmured soft and low.

His sensual lips descended on hers again and a big hand curved over the pouting mound of her breast, skilful fingertips stimulating the beaded tip. The first spark of anticipation was rekindled at that moment. Lexy drew in a stark breath and surrendered to sensation.

When he slid between her slender thighs, she was on a high. His sensual attentions had provided her body with a slick welcome and he eased into her with care. Initially that feeling of fullness stretching her untried depths was both unnerving and stimulating and then he settled deeper and there was a sharp, tearing pang of pain that made her gasp in dismay. He stopped, gazed down at her with those incredibly warm dark eyes and leant back from her and shifted position to kiss her again, carrying her through that moment.

She felt his heartbeat. She felt him move inside her and the thrill of anticipation gripped her when she discovered that there was a wild hunger within her demanding more. It was a need, a desire she had never known before, and it was remorseless and overwhelming. His every potent thrust sent sensation shimmying through her taut body and a pool of liquid heat began to burn at her core. Her heart slammed inside her chest. She couldn’t catch her breath as the wild tension built into a fierce, driving need. The excitement seething through her climbed to an almost unbearable level and then, with no warning, as it seemed to her, she was suddenly hurtling over the edge into wave after wave of glorious pleasure again. Nic shuddered in the circle of her arms and groaned.

In the silence of the aftermath, she couldn’t quite credit what she had done or what she had just experienced. ‘That was...’ Words failed her.

‘Wonderful,’ Nic slotted in thickly, releasing her from his weight only to tug her back into his arms and drop a kiss on her brow that made her smile drowsily. ‘You’re about to fall asleep on me now.’

‘Trying not to,’ she mumbled. ‘But it feels like it has been the longest day of my life...’

‘You’re sleeping in my bed with me tonight. I’m telling you now while you’re still awake and capable of objecting.’

Lexy tried to lift eyelids that felt as though they had weights attached to them and swallowed back a yawn. ‘Don’t care where you put me,’ she framed. ‘As long as it’s not out in the snow.’

Nic laughed but she was already going limp in his arms. He studied her tranquil face in helpless fascination because he was feeling things he had never felt before. Selfish though it would be, he was actually tempted to wake her up because he wanted to get to know her better. He wanted her company. When had that ever happened to him with a woman before? Or when had he ever felt so protective that he refused to wake up an exhausted woman? When, furthermore, had he ever cuddled one after sex? The more he thought about his own behaviour, the more bothered he was by it. What had happened to playing it cool? His normal approach? And why had it seemed so important to get her intohisbed? After all, he always slept alone and never gave any woman the chance to assume that anything more than sex was on offer.

He stood upright, naked, tugged his jeans back on and then lifted her limp body up into his arms. He wanted her to sleep in comfort. Why did he care about that? Frowning, he headed through the connecting door into the master suite and carefully laid her on his giant luxurious bed, where he surveyed her from all angles with frowning curiosity. He didn’t even want to leave her alone, which shook him even more. She was definitely making him feel weird.

Lexy woke up during the night and slid out of bed, pulled on Nic’s discarded tee shirt and crept quiet as a mouse through the house to pour herself a glass of cold water. One glass of wine and tiredness had wiped her out very early in the evening, she thought in embarrassment. But she had no regrets, none at all. What if it wasn’t to beonlyone night that he wanted? The thought slunk in and as quickly she squashed it again, afraid of being naïve. She was cautious in acknowledgement of her inexperience with men.

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