Page 26 of Cinderella's Secret Baby

He had to consciously tell himself how to do that, because he’d fallen into a purely animalistic state that wanted to hold on to her for the duration of whatever was about to happen between them.

That noise was Peyton. Her cries were coming through the monitor.

As Amelia hurried away, Hunter bit back a groan that was both pain and relief. Pain because he was so aroused by their kiss, the denial of stopping physically hurt.

He was glad it hadn’t gone further than that kiss, though. He had already revealed too much of himself. Too much hunger and—no. He refused to call it a need.

He couldn’t believe he had confessed to all of that. It was lowering and left him feeling vulnerable that she knew how much he had craved another encounter with her. That night of theirs had kept talons in him for all these weeks and months since. He’d been thinking of her when he had finally given in to Vienna’s prodding and asked Eden to dinner. His mind had been split between the past and the present when he proposed. From the moment his ring had gone onto Eden’s finger, he had fought to forget a single night with a waitress he was convinced he would never see again.

Then she had reached out in November.

The temptation to say more than he had, to bring her closer rather than push her away, had been acute.

The very fact that he would think it, while engaged and moving down a far more sensible life path, had told him that Amelia was becoming the sort of obsession for him that Irina had been for his father. The same sort of weakness.

He had feared she would upend his life if he wasn’t very, very careful, so he had told her he was committed elsewhere.

Don’t text me again.

She hadn’t.

That should have allowed him to put her firmly in the past, but it hadn’t. The moment the first rows of grapes had appeared as he’d driven into the vineyard this morning, his libido had come alive with memories of sexual heat and shy touches and greedy lips and passionate cries. With the feel of her soft skin against his nude frame as he stretched awake.

That last, intensely satisfying tumble had been the hook. His orgasm-drugged mind had begun rearranging his world so he could bring her into it. He clearly remembered his sense of entitlement.Why not?He had mentally brushed aside duty and the importance of meetings with lawyers. He was a powerful man. The boss. He could do what he wanted. He couldhavewhat he wanted. He worked hard anddeservedto have what he wanted. He wanted Amelia.

Into that slumberous arrogance, she’d picked up her phone and released a torn cry. Minutes later, she had dressed and left with that final, wounded look.

And she’d been avirginthat night?

He pinched the bridge of his nose, still trying to comprehend how he’d missed that salient detail. She’d been bashful, obviously feeling awkward, but the first time with any lover was always a little awkward. He hadn’t thought anything of the nervous laughs and hesitant touches.

No, he remembered her passion. She might have been unschooled in the way she touched him, but her small gasps and moans and the way she had clung to him had told him she liked the way he touched her. That had turned him on like nothing else could. Her first climax had been against his hand, and her abandonment had almost taken him over the edge with her.

Maybe he should have realized her lack of experience when she had apologized for peaking so unexpectedly.

He recalled chuckling hoarsely, bemused, so horny he’d thought he would combust.

Had he rushed her at that point? He always wore a condom, always asked. She had said yes, she wanted him inside her, but he’d been aware of her tension as he pressed into her.

He’d thought maybe she wasn’t as aroused as he was, having just climaxed, so he had paused and slid his touch between them, nearly losing it again when he found her dewy and taut. Her breaths had shortened as he teased her. She had clenched around his tip and her knee had come to his ribs and she had opened her mouth against his neck. Her moan of need had sent a vibration through his blood, straight to where he was penetrating her.

Slowly, slowly, he sank all the way in. It had been heaven and hell to hold himself still, hold back. He wanted to let loose, yet wanted it to last. Her arms had twined around his neck and she’d released a shaken sigh, pressing a tremulous smile to the corner of his mouth.

Thatwas the moment he should have realized it was her first time, but his mind had been fixated on the feel of her. His pulse had hammered in his ears, and his breath had been fire. They had started kissing and he began thrusting and she moved with him in perfect synchronicity. Her hands had been in his hair and across his shoulders and danced across his spine. Her legs had hugged him; her heels had been in his buttocks, encouraging him.

Pure torture and absolute paradise. His whole body had been a tense line of delicious self-denial, but he was determined to last for her. It had been hard not to give in to the pleasure crashing like waves over him, so hard the effort knotted his breath. The tingles of culmination had been gathering in his tailbone when her ragged breaths had become sobs of desperation.

Come, he had ordered roughly, as if he had the power to command it.

She had. Her inner muscles had clamped around him and released into the fluttering contractions that tripped his own powerful release. He’d nearly been ripped in half by the force of it. And loved it.

He ran his hand down his face, finding himself back in his Toronto penthouse with a rattled shake of his head. He was hard. Muscle memory, he thought ironically. He remembered every millisecond of their lovemaking, because he still replayed it in his highlight reel. Shewashis highlight reel.

She was his weakness, exactly as Irina had been for his father. Had he already forgotten that Amelia had ruined hislifetoday?

On the baby monitor, he could hear her cooing to Peyton, laughing softly.

“How can you be hungry again? Okay, okay. Don’t panic. I’m right here.” Her voice faded as she moved away from the monitor, but he still heard her as she murmured, “So demanding. I wonder where you get that from?”

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