Page 25 of 2 Books in One Bundle

He lavished exquisite attention on her, taking his time, in no hurry to move on until, almost inside out with desire, she whimpered, ‘I need more,’ and he obligingly inched his way down her body, singeing her skin with his kisses, before finally stopping at the molten spot where she burned.

His hot, ragged breath on her made her quake with need. He removed her knickers, then put his hands on her knees and parted them. He draped her thighs over his shoulders and curled his arms around them. Then he put his mouth on her, where she so desperately throbbed for his touch and ached for his possession, and she had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying out, even though there was no one around to hear her except him.

Within seconds she was struggling for breath. He was going to blow the top of her head off. And soon. Her muscles were tightening and she was impossibly hot. Her heart was pounding. She was clutching at the sheet. The exquisite pleasure was building. A familiar tingling was beginning in her toes and then it was rolling up through her in a giant unstoppable wave until it tipped her over the edge, and she shattered.

Liquid heat rushed from her pelvis into every cell of her being. White lights flashed behind her eyes, while the contractions she felt vibrating through her went on and on, rendering her dazed and limp.

She gradually came to, to find Zander had moved and was once more gazing down at her from above.

‘That was fast,’ he said, his voice so low and rough it was almost feral.

Fast and intense and incredible. ‘Hormones,’ she said, still breathless, still dizzy. ‘They’ve gone a bit mad.’

‘Thisisgoing to be fun.’

A gleam lit the dark depths of his eyes and, incredibly, a fresh wave of desire washed over her. But she wanted to make him fall apart as she’d just done, for him to be putty inherhands, so she pushed him onto his back, arranged herself so she straddled him, and said, with a slow wicked smile, ‘It certainly is.’

Zander woke late the following morning to an empty half of the bed, which would have been a cause for annoyance and alarm were it not for the mouth-watering smells that presumably came from the kitchen and meant that while Mia wasn’t around to help him out with his mammoth erection she wasn’t far away.

What a night, he thought with a yawn and a stretch. Her response to him had been as stunning as that first night they’d spent together. Over and over again she’d shattered in his arms, and she’d blown his mind more times than he could count. How his bed had survived it, he had no idea. Why he’d ever had reservations about sleeping with her again he couldn’t imagine. What on earth had he been thinking? Together, like that, they truly were extraordinary.

After reassuring her that he’dalwayspractised safe sex and that there hadn’t been anyone since her anyway, for the first time in his life he hadn’t used protection and it had been a revelation. She’d felt like warm, wet velvet and the heightened friction, the exquisite sensitivity and the unexpected intimacy had rocked his world.

Rubbing his eyes, Zander reached for his watch, which sat on the bedside table, and squinted at the dial. It was ten o’clock. And a Friday. He ought to have been at his desk over two hours ago, and under normal circumstances he would have been. Yet this morning, after that night, work didn’t remotely appeal. Whatdidappeal was firstly food and secondly returning Mia to his bed and keeping her there to explore further ways in which they could be exceptional.

He’d built up a very capable team in the six years since he’d taken over from Leo as CEO of Stanhope Kallis, he reminded himself as he tossed aside the covers. The three-hundred-year-old company, which employed thousands across the globe and had a several-billion-euro turnover, wouldn’t collapse if he didn’t go in today. Unable to find his shirt, he located his shorts and trousers and pulled them on. Then, lured by the distinctive scent of frying bacon, he headed downstairs.

Mia was at the stove with her back to him, humming along to the Christmassy sounding music emanating from her phone. No wonder he hadn’t been able to find his shirt. She was wearing it. And not a lot else, it appeared.

For a moment, he leaned against the door frame and simply drank in the view. The long bare legs. The glimpses of her bottom which the tails of his shirt didn’t quite cover. All that red-gold soft, silky hair. And as the seconds ticked by, he was filled with the clamouring urge to walk up to her, wrap his arms around her from behind, push her hair to one side and kiss her neck until she was breathless. Instead, because he did still possesssomeself-control and that somehow felt important, he pushed himself off the door frame and walked into the room.

‘Good morning,’ he said, thinking it was a very good morning indeed.

‘Good morning,’ she replied, looking charmingly sexy and dishevelled and disconcertingly at home at his stove.

Aware that what little self-control he’d prided himself on retaining was in danger of slipping away in response to the evident curve of her breasts and the hard points of her nipples beneath the crumpled white cotton, Zander slid his gaze to the pots and pans and food beyond her. ‘You’re cooking breakfast.’

‘I am,’ she said, casting her eyes over his torso for one long, lingering moment before abruptly turning back to the stove and flipping the bacon with the deftness of someone who’d done it many times before. ‘I’ve made pancakes and French toast. The tomatoes are under the grill and the sausages are keeping warm in the oven with everything else.’

For both their sakes, Zander gave her a deliberately wide berth as he walked around the island to the other side and pulled out a stool. ‘You don’t need to cook for me.’

‘I know. But I enjoy it and we need to eat. Are you hungry?’

‘Ravenous.’

‘Grab a plate.’

‘Where did all this come from?’ he asked, waving a hand at the dishes on the counter and those she was removing from various appliances that before this morning had never been used.

‘The food hall down the road. I was going to go shopping myself, but Tony insisted on taking my list and having everything delivered instead.’

‘I’m not surprised he went out of his way to be helpful if you were dressed like that.’

‘It was the first thing that came to hand and he was in an apologetic frame of mind.’

A dart of guilt stabbed him in the chest. Roping Tony in to ease his conscience while he’d been hiding out at the office hadn’t been his finest moment, although he had done his best to make up for it in the bath he and Mia had taken some time around midnight. ‘It looks better on you than it does on me.’

‘I don’t know about that,’ she murmured, her gaze drifting over his chest once again, leaving fresh scorch marks in its wake. ‘You could wear a paper bag and still look gorgeous. But if it makes you feel better, I threw on some leggings and a coat.’

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