Page 19 of Virgin's Night with the Greek

He couldn’t begin to fathom how she was still a virgin when she looked the way she did, oozed such confidence and flirted so adeptly, but it was nothing to be concerned about. In fact, it could turn out to be a blessing. He’d have to proceed with caution and exercise restraint. He wouldn’t be able to lose control even if he wanted to, which, as always, he absolutely did not.

While Leo’s thoughts turned to the many things he planned to do to Willow once in close proximity to a bed, Stavros swung the car off the road, drove through a pair of gates and down a tunnel that led to the underground car park. The minute the car came to a halt, Leo sprang out of it, heart pounding, body primed, and strode around the back to the other side. He yanked open the door and held out his hand, which Willow immediately took, exiting the car with far more decorum than he had. He muttered a curtkaliniktato Stavros and then marched her to the lift. One quick press of his forefinger to the reader and the doors opened with a soft swoosh. He hustled her in and a moment later they closed, shutting out everything but her and him and the night to come.

The air within the confined space seemed to vibrate with taut anticipation, the electricity sizzling between them practically visible. Her scent, even more intense now than in the car, enveloped him and seeped into him, winding around every fibre of his being. She stood so close they were almost touching. He could feel her heat. Sense her urgency. But he wouldn’t touch her. Not yet. He could hold on for the ten seconds it would take for the lift to reach his apartment. Of course he could. He wasn’t an animal.

At least he wasn’t until he made the mistake of casting her a quick sideways glance. One look at the deep flush on her cheeks, the rapid rise and fall of her chest and the scorching haze of desire in the eyes that were gazing into his and all his good intentions evaporated. To know that she wanted him as much as he wanted her pulverised what few wits he’d been clinging on to, and whether he turned to her first or she turned to him, he neither knew nor cared. All that mattered was that one minute they were staring at each other, as if frozen in time, and the next, something snapped and they were plastered against each other, mouths colliding, teeth clashing, hands everywhere.

As the kiss heated and deepened, Leo backed Willow up against the wall of the lift and pinned her in place with his hips. She melted against him and moaned. The wave of lust that rolled over him nearly took out his knees. His heart pounded. His ears popped. His blood rushed round his body like liquid fire.

Becoming dimly aware that the doors had opened—when had that happened?—Leo wrenched his mouth from hers, shifted his hold on her and scooped her up. He didn’t allow himself to be derailed by her breathy gasp of surprise that would have had him depositing her on the nearest flat surface, which was the floor. Or by the fact that, having zero time for romance and all the fraught messy emotions that came with it, this was the first time he’d ever held the soft warm weight of a woman in his arms. It didn’t occur to him to offer her a drink or something to eat. He simply carried her straight down the wide shadowy hall and into his bedroom at the end of it.

‘That was very masterful,’ she said breathlessly once he’d reached the bed and reluctantly lowered her to the floor.

‘I was going for efficient, but I’ll take masterful.’

‘What do I do?’

Leo’s heart thudded. His mouth dried. He’d never experienced anticipation like it. He was so hard he hurt. So addled with desire he was incapable of issuing instructions. ‘Whatever you want.’

Willow tilted her head and bit her lip, as if thinking it through for a moment. Then she put her hands to the buttons of his shirt and started undoing them from the bottom up. Every time her fingers brushed against his skin, his muscles flinched and he hissed out a breath.

‘I know I said I wanted to draw you,’ she said softly as she pushed his shirt and jacket off his shoulders and down his arms, ‘but I think I’d rather sculpt you. You are constructed quite magnificently. You’d look exceptional in marble.’

‘Thank you. I think.’

However, with her hands running so lightly and teasingly over his torso it was becoming increasingly impossible to think full stop. Especially when she brushed a thumb over his nipple and then leaned forwards to lick it.

‘Are you sure you haven’t done this before?’ he said, his voice thick and hoarse.

‘I’m just doing what I want,’ she murmured against his skin. ‘It was your idea.’

And a mistake, in hindsight. Because he could feel her touch everywhere, like a brand, and it was undoing him so fast he was a hair’s breadth from picking her up again and tossing her onto the bed.

Gritting his teeth and ruthlessly resisting the urge to do exactly that, he batted her hand away and pulled her into his arms instead. He buried one hand in her hair and caressed her satiny smooth bare back with the other and kissed her until she was letting out the soft little moans he’d so easily imagined and pressing against him even more tightly.

In response to the rocketing need to be skin to skin, Leo slipped his hands beneath the drapey straps of her dress. As he drew them down her arms, the bodice slithered to her waist and then, with a minute wiggle of her hips, to the floor.

‘This dress just gets better and better,’ he muttered as she stepped out of it and then stood there in nothing more than gold heels and white lace knickers.

‘There’s less of it than I’d have liked.’

‘Why waste fabric?’ He felt a tremble ripple through her, stilled for a second, and frowned. ‘Are you all right?’

‘I’m fighting the urge to cover myself up like the virgin I am.’

‘Nervous?’

She swallowed hard and gave a tiny nod. ‘A little.’

His heart thumped. ‘Are you having second thoughts?’

‘Not a chance.’

‘You can back out at any time.’

‘I won’t.’

‘Theos, you’re beautiful.’

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