Page 23 of Modern Romance September 2025 5-8
She was so hot and tight and wet that his mind went. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his hips and, driven purely by primal instincts he couldn’t begin to comprehend, he started to move.
She matched him thrust for thrust and he tried to slow things down but within seconds she was biting into his shoulder and shaking all over again, and he was lost. The tingles that had started in his toes shot up his legs, collided with the contracting muscles of his stomach, his chest, his groin to trigger the hardest, most intense climax of his life. The tension gripping him shattered. And, as he buried himself in her as hard and deep as he could, he exploded into a spiralling fireball of blistering ecstasy that was unlike anything he’d ever known before.
CHAPTER TEN
SOFIA WOKE UPwhen the shaft of bright midmorning sunlight slowly moving over her face eventually reached her eyelids. For a moment, as she blinked away the sleepy fuzz clouding her vision, she couldn’t work out where she was. Something was missing… The sway of the train… But then she heard a rustle to her right, felt the faint brush of a hard male leg against hers, and it all came flooding back in glorious technicolour detail.
What a night, she thought with a wide satisfied smile. It had been everything she’d dreamed of. Better, actually, because her imagination had not had the ability to conjure up some of the things Ivo had done to her. His dedication to the job wasn’t limited to his position as King. His passion had collided with hers and detonated with the force of a nuclear explosion. More than making up for lost time, he’d repeatedly drenched her in pleasure and by the time they’d finally succumbed to exhaustion just before dawn she’d barely been able to string a sentence together.
She’d never been so in sync with anyone. He’d understood what she’d needed before she had. Again. He’d taken her to heights she’d never dreamed of and she was still in one piece. And because she had not imploded as a result of the experience, it occurred to her now, while she was feeling all warm and sated and mellow, that rather than being something to avoid, perhaps this intense connection they shared was something to build on instead. They were tied to each other for life. They had to forge some sort of a relationship outside the bedroom and work, and she couldn’t deny that, after his ardent and unguarded confession last night, she was fascinated by the thought of what else might be going on beneath his very attractive surface.
How much of a risk to her heart would it be to find out a bit more about her husband, the man behind the crown? How dangerous could simple conversation be? Not a lot, surely. It needn’t get heavy. And, OK, so the trouble she’d always had in making friends indicated that she wasn’t exactly an expert in this field, but Ivo was going nowhere and she did enjoy a challenge. And maybe if her parents had talked more about how they felt instead of letting their grievances fester, they’d have argued less. So the voice in her head that was trying to remind her of both her intention to keep this strictly physical and all the reasons she should not be encouraging even the lightest of emotional entanglement could pipe down. She’d keep her guard up and her feelings contained. Everything would be fine.
Deciding that there was no time like the present to activate this plan, Sofia summoned up every drop of strength she possessed and glanced over to find Ivo lying on his side, propped up on his elbow. Their gazes met, his dark and smouldering, and longing shivered through her. She could scarcely believe she and the man she loved were actually in bed together. It didn’t seem real. Beneath the sheets, she pinched herself. Hard. Too hard, in fact, which was why she winced and let out a gasp.
‘Good morning,’ he said gruffly, as she surreptitiously rubbed the stinging spot on her thigh and wondered how on earth she’d survive the day if he put his mind to surpassing the night.
‘Good morning.’
‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m fine. Just a little achy.’ It wasn’t a lie. ‘Muscles I wasn’t aware I had are making themselves known. I’ve never had a workout like it. You definitely proved your point about delayed gratification. Plus, I seem to have stubble rash everywhere.’
He ran his gaze over her, hotly, languidly, as if cataloguing every spot he’d set his mouth to, which was why it took a while. ‘Not everywhere.’
‘No,’ she agreed, as fire licked through her in the wake of his scrutiny. ‘You avoided my face. That was clever of you. The press would have had a field day if I’d appeared in public with red patches on my cheeks and chin.’
‘I know what I’m doing.’
‘You certainly do.’
‘Want me to prove it again?’
Her blood thickened and slowed and desire began to throb in the pit of her belly, but she ignored it. She was on a mission of a different kind. ‘Later.’
‘Why waste time?’ Leaning over, he ran a hand from her jaw, down her neck, and would have slipped it beneath the sheet she was clutching to her chest had she not removed it and given it back to him.
‘You’re insatiable.’
‘And you aren’t? I distinctly recall you begging me for more on a number of different occasions.’
Sofia swallowed hard. He wasn’t wrong, but this little trip down memory lane wasn’t helping her focus one little bit. ‘I need a break,’ she said. ‘And sustenance,’ she added, flushing when her stomach chose that moment to rumble.
‘I’ll order breakfast. We can’t have you fading away.’
He rolled back to reach for his phone and she fought the urge to reacquaint herself with the bumps and ridges of his abs. ‘I know what we can do while we wait.’
He glanced up from the device and a gleam lit the dark depths of his eyes. ‘That’s an excellent idea,’ he said, evidently thinking of something she hadn’t. ‘Showering together is good for the environment. And I would enjoy lathering you up.’
She’d enjoy that too. But not just yet. ‘I meant, we could talk.’
He stilled and arched an eyebrow at that. ‘Talk?’
‘About last night. Before this—’ she waved a hand between them ‘—happened.’
Ivo deposited his phone back on the bedside table and frowned. ‘I’d rather not.’
‘It was quite a speech.’
