Swallowing hard at the sight of her, so full of desire and need for him it made him heady, he guided his erection into her welcoming heat.
He pushed himself in with one long drive and buried his face in her neck, biting gently into the soft skin. And as she gripped him tightly within her he knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was where he belonged.
Skin against skin, heartbeat to heartbeat, arms and legs entwined, he made love to her.
And she made love to him.
He could sense the tension within her building, could hear it in the shortening of her breaths, the shallowness of her moans, feel it in the way she gripped his buttocks, deepening his thrusts. And then he felt her pulses pulling at him, pulling him even deeper inside her, her slender frame stilling, her teeth biting into his shoulder.
He didn’t want it to end. He wanted it to last for ever, to be locked in her tight sweetness with her legs wrapped around him and her nails digging into his back for eternity...
And then there was no more consciousness. His own climax surged through him, tipping him over a precipice he hadn’t known he was on the edge of and exploding in a wash of bright colours that took him to a place he’d never been before.
* * *
Amy awoke in the comfort of Helios’s embrace, her face pressed against his chest, his arm hooked across her waist, his thigh draped heavily over hers.
Remorse flooded her in an instant.
What had she done?
Everything she’d sworn she wouldn’t do had been ripped away in one moment of madness.
She should go. She had to go. She couldn’t stay here.
How many times had she awoken in the night in his arms and felt the stirring to make love to him all over again? How many times had she lifted her head a touch and met his kiss? Had him fully hard and inside her in an instant? Too many to count. Sometimes she would wake in the morning and wonder if she’d dreamt their lovemaking in the early hours.
But at this moment Helios’s breathing was deep and even. If she was careful she might be able to sneak out without him waking. Then she could flee to her apartment, pack a suitcase and check into a hotel. That was it. That was what she had to do.
Because she couldn’t stay here—not now when she knew how hopeless she was at resisting him.
She’d tried so hard to stay away.
Oh, God, what had she done?
She could dress it up any way she liked but she’d given in to temptation, and now the ecstasy of being back in his arms had gone, replaced with an acrid taste in her mouth and a gutful of guilt.
She had to leave. Right now.
Carefully, after stealthily slipping out of his arms, she edged her way out of the bed, holding her breath until her feet touched the floor.
Scrambling, half-blind in the dark, she found her dress thrown across an armchair. She had no idea where her underwear had got to and was in too much of a panic to escape to hunt for it for long. She shrugged her dress on and, fearful of choking on the swell rising in her chest, tiptoed to the door.
‘You wouldn’t be running away, would you?’
Helios watched as Amy’s silhouette froze at the bedroom door. Switching on the bedside light, he propped himself up on an elbow as she slowly turned around to face him with wide, pain-filled taupe eyes. To see her mussed-up hair and her beautiful face contorted in such misery... Something sharp pierced him.
‘I’m sorry,’ she whimpered. ‘I know it’s cowardly to sneak away.’
‘Then why are you?’
‘I shouldn’t be here. We shouldn’t have...’ Her voice tailed away and she looked down at the floor.
‘Made love?’ he supplied.
She gave a tiny nod. ‘It was wrong. All wrong.’
‘It felt damn right to me.’
‘I know.’ She gave a sudden bark of harsh laughter and her eyes flashed. ‘It’s what I keep thinking. How can something so wrong feel so right?’
‘If it feels so right then how can it be wrong?’ he countered.
‘It just is. You’re getting married.’
That little fact was something that constantly played on his mind. Only being in Amy’s arms had driven it and the accompanying nausea away.
Tightness coiled in his stomach. Throwing off the covers, he climbed out of bed and strode over to her, slamming his hand on the door to prevent her from escaping.
He spoke slowly, trying to think the words through before he vocalised them, knowing that one wrong word would make her flee whether or not he barricaded the door. ‘Amy, I might be getting married, but it’s you I want.’
‘We’ve been through this before. It doesn’t matter what you want or what I want. It doesn’t change the reality of the situation. Tonight was a mistake that can’t be repeated.’