Page 40 of Reunited By the Greek's Baby

Until his brain began to work. Zips, buttons, shoes. Barriers to what they both wanted. Barriers he wanted to strip instantly, but he made himself pretend he was civilised. A man who understood that tearing his lover’s clothes from her body might be scary, even for a woman trembling with a need that matched his.

That tiny sign of Isla’s desperation, despite her proud stance, tugged at emotions far deeper than lust. Emotions he’d take time to analyse later. When he could think straight.

‘Take your hair down, Isla.’

She didn’t hesitate and that was another punch of arousal to his already heightened senses.

Theo watched the glorious waves tumble around her shoulders, her beckoning scent stronger now. Or perhaps he was even more attuned.

‘Perfect.’ His voice was a rumbling growl that should have scared her. Instead, her lips parted as if she too were so aroused she found it difficult to catch her breath.

Theo’s fingers flexed. ‘Now the dress.’

Was that a pout? His pulse was a driving beat deep in his groin as she slipped her tongue across her bottom lip and he fought to smother a groan.

‘You don’t want to take it off me?’

Theo imagined doing it. Not questing for the zip at her side, but fastening his big hands on the delicately draped neckline and tugging to rip it apart from neck to hem, revealing Isla in all her glory.

His throat was lined with sandpaper as he tried to swallow. ‘It’s better if you do it. Faster.’

Fathomless eyes surveyed him from that uptilted face. ‘Only if you take your pullover off.’

Theo lifted his arms and wrenched it up over his head. By the time Isla had found her zip and undone it he was naked from the waist up, the night air a relief against burning skin. Was she deliberately going slow to tease him? More likely his movements were rushed.

He stepped back, giving her space as he removed his shoes and socks. Straightening, he was in time to see her shimmy out of the dark red dress. It dropped to the floor like his plunging stomach as he drank in the sight of her.

‘So perfect,’ he whispered hoarsely. Despite her recent weight loss she was stunning.

When he looked at her face again Isla held his gaze and even in the moonlight he felt the gut-deep slam of connection. Like the unseen but palpable waves of energy radiating from an explosion. He almost expected to hear the reverberating boom of detonation.

When her hand moved to cover her belly he was surprised. Could she possibly think her pregnancy marred her sensual perfection? Or was it a gesture born of protectiveness?

Either way it pierced his swelling satisfaction.

‘You don’t believe me?’

‘None of us are perfect.’

Finally her hand fell away. There it was, the beginnings of a baby bump. A rush of emotion surged through him. More than desire, more than appreciation.

Theo dropped to his knees, his fingers reaching for the waistband of her tights. He paused, his breath hissing at the delicious shock of her smooth, bare skin against his knuckles as he slipped his fingers inside the stretchy fabric and drew it down her hips.

The scent of her was different here. Earthier, more decidedly feminine, beckoning him with the evidence of her arousal.

He moved quickly, rolling the fabric past the narrow band of her black lace knickers, down her silky thighs, past her knees to her shins, her slender ankles. His heart knocked hard when she planted her fingertips on his shoulders for balance as she lifted first one foot then the other so he could strip the tights away.

Theo skimmed his palms back up to that inviting band of lace. But his patience wore thin and a second later he’d yanked the delicate material down so hard it pooled around her ankles. She shifted her weight, one thigh moving forward a little as if instinctively protecting her modesty.

He shook his head, circling his hand around her thigh and gently tugging it wide. Silently he drank in the treasure revealed. The pale swathe of her abdomen, where a precious new life nestled. The dark V of soft hair guarding her femininity.

The female body,Isla’s body, was the most wonderful, remarkable thing in the world. And the most arousing. Theo’s jaw set hard and aching as he tried to hold on to control.

He looked up, meeting her eyes. ‘Now the bra. Take it off.’

Her lips moved, her expression just the right side of mutinous. ‘What about the rest ofyourclothes?’

‘Soon. First I need you naked.’

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