‘We did more than survive, we nailed it. Did you see their faces? They loved it.’ He threw her a satisfied smile.
‘Wonderful.’ She’d hardly noticed anyone else. She’d hardly eaten anything at the dinner. And she’d managed only a couple of mouthfuls of champagne.
She glanced around his apartment, taking in the details to divert her thoughts. The set-up was similar to her own, only his had been refurbished in a modern style—no old-fashioned gaudy wallpaper for him.
‘I might go straight to bed,’ she murmured awkwardly.
‘That’s what you want?’
She froze. She couldn’t even swallow.
His expression suddenly twisted. ‘Relax, Hester. It’s okay. Take the bedroom, second door on the left.’
She ought to have felt relief; instead hollow regret stole her last smile. But she’d only taken two steps into the bedroom when she realised the problem. Heat beat into her cheeks, but there was no getting around it. She walked back out to the lounge. Alek was exactly where she’d left him, staring moodily at the table.
‘I’m going to need help to get out of this dress,’ she said.
He lifted his chin and speared her with that intense gaze.
‘I’m sewn into it.’ She bit her lip, so embarrassed because it felt stupidly intimate and he seemed reluctant to move nearer. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘No, it’s okay.’ He cleared his throat and walked over to her. ‘Let me see.’
She turned her back, so crazily aware that she held her breath as he ran his finger down the seam of her dress.
‘I think I need scissors or something,’ he said.
‘You could always use your ceremonial sword.’ She tried to lighten the atmosphere but it didn’t work. Nothing could ease the tension she felt.
‘Or my teeth,’ he muttered.
She tried to quell her shiver but his hands stilled on her skin. For an endless profound moment, awareness arced between them.
‘Come on,’ he finally growled. ‘I have scissors in the bathroom.’
He meant the bathroom that was en suite to his massive bedroom. Hester hovered on the edge of the room, trying not to stare at that huge bed, while he retrieved the scissors. Then she turned her back to him again.
‘I don’t want to ruin it,’ he said in a low voice that purred over her.
She closed her eyes. ‘I’m not going to wear it again—it won’t matter if it gets a little torn.’
He worked silently for a moment longer. ‘They’ll put it on display at the palace museum eventually.’
‘Really?’ Even with her back to him his magnetism almost suffocated her. She wanted him to touch her more. She wanted another kiss...
‘I really need to get out of this dress,’ she begged desperately. ‘I can’t breathe any more.’
‘Then let’s get you out of it.’
She felt a tug and then he swore. ‘I ripped a button off. Sorry.’
‘It’s fine.’
She heard his sharp intake of breath. And then she heard another unmistakable tearing sound. Her dress loosened, then slipped and she clutched the bodice to her chest. Gripping the silk tightly against her, she slowly turned to face him.
He was so near, so intent, so still. And she could so relate. She had to stay still too or else she was going to tumble into his arms like some desperate, over-sexed...virgin.
‘Hester...’
She stared up at him.
‘Just so we’re clear,’ he said softly. ‘I didn’t steal the third kiss for the cameras.’
She didn’t move. She couldn’t.
‘It was pure selfish want on my part. I know I ought to apologise, but I think you enjoyed it as much as I did.’
He was so close she could feel his breath on her skin.
‘I want to think you want another,’ he said. ‘Not on any stupid contract. Not limited.’
She couldn’t reply.
‘Your lips clung to mine.’ Emotion darkened his eyes as he stared down at her, solemn and so intense, pressing his will on hers. ‘I think you want me to kiss you and I sure as hell want to kiss you.’
He still didn’t move. But he was right. She wanted him to touch her again. She ached to feel the electricity that had sizzled in that too-brief kiss. She wanted to know if it was real or if she’d imagined it. She needed to know that. ‘Yes.’
‘Yes?’
She knew he was warring within himself the same way she was.
‘I do.’ She whispered a vow more honest than the other one she’d given today.
He swooped down on her instantly. She’d never know how it happened but somehow she was backed up against the wall and he was kissing her and she was kissing him back as best she could because everything she’d been holding back for so long was released in a massive rush. All the want. All the heat. Sensual power burgeoned between them. She could no longer think, she no longer cared about anything other than keeping him kissing her. Keeping him close.
‘Tell me to stop,’ he groaned, lifting his head to gaze at her. ‘Or do you want me to keep going? You know what I want, Hester. And while I’d like to think I know what you want, I need to hear it from you.’ His breathing was rough but the touch of his hands at her waist was so gentle. ‘I need to hear your voice.’
Even though she really wanted to, she couldn’t make herself answer. She was so locked inside herself because what she wanted was so huge and she wanted it so much, she was terrified to ask for it.
‘Hester?’ His hands tightened on her waist.
As she gazed at the restraint in his eyes a trickle of power ran through her veins. And that trickle was enough to make her walls crack.
‘I’m stronger than you,’ he growled. ‘I have you pinned against the wall. I could—’
‘It’s fine.’
His pupils flared. ‘It’s what?’
?
??Fantastic,’ she corrected in a desperate rush. ‘Please, Alek...’
She needed his touch—needed him to take her, completely. She wanted all of him for just this one night. Because she was so tired of being alone. She’d not realised how lonely she was until he walked into her life and made her want all kinds of impossible things. Things she could never have for good, but maybe just for now. Just for a night.
‘Please what?’ he growled, leaning closer. ‘Tell me, Hester. I need you to tell me.’
He remained locked before her, waiting—silently insisting. His fierce expression forced her own fiery need to burst free.
‘I’m tired of feeling nothing,’ she cried at him breathlessly. ‘I want to feel good. This feels good. I want to feel more good. Like this. With you.’
His eyes widened but he nodded. ‘Okay.’
He lifted his hands from her waist to her wrists. She was holding her dress tightly to her chest but she knew what he was about to do. He applied gentle pressure to her wrists; he pulled her arms away from her body, making her beautiful dress slither to the floor. The tight bodice had meant she’d not needed underwear so now her breasts were bared. His coal eyes blazed into hers for a long moment before his gaze then lowered. His tension tripled as he stared at her. Stark, savage hunger built in his expression—an echo of her own. With a muffled groan he bent and pressed his mouth to her—kissing, caressing, caring. Unable to resist, she leaned back against the wall, shuddering with the intensity of the sensations he was arousing in her with every hot breath, each slide of his tongue and tease of his fingers. Her body arched as she was lost in the delight of it. Of him. He was so overpowering, so perfect.
‘Oh...’ She closed her eyes as his hands roved lower.
She was almost scared at how incredible it felt. ‘Alek.’ She couldn’t stand it any more. ‘Alek.’
‘Yes,’ he muttered, as breathless as she. ‘Yes, darling.’
She tumbled into incoherence, into nothing but heat and light, burgeoning sensations of pleasure and want. She arched against him as he slipped his hand beneath her silk panties, writhing until he had to hold her hips still with a hard hand so he could pleasure her, so he could coax her to the very crest of that most incredible feeling. He stroked her hard until she shook in his arms and screamed out the agony of ecstasy.