As his groans became louder he placed one hand flat on her breast, whilst his other hand held tightly to her hip, steadying and supporting her. Then, with her hands resting lightly on his shoulders, she began to move. The feel of him deep inside her, the friction of their movements, it all built on the sensations already whirling inside her.
She could make love to this man every day for the rest of her life and it still wouldn’t be enough. She would always want—need—more. Even if they had all the time in the world it wouldn’t be enough time for her to look at his face, to touch him, to hear his voice, to witness his smile.
But there was only now, this moment in time when it was just them. There was no palace, no duty...
Just them. One man. One woman.
She wished she could hold on to it for ever.
She tried to hold back the climax growing within her, tried to blunt her responses, but it was all too intoxicating. With a cry that was as much dismay as it was delight, the pulsations swept through her, starting deep in the very heart of her and rippling out to embrace her every atom.
She threw herself down to bury her face in his neck and his arms immediately wrapped around her. A strangled groan escaped his mouth and he gave one last thrust upwards as his own climax tore through him with the same strength as her own. Both of them rode it for as long as they could until there was nothing left but their breaths, burning heavily into each other’s necks.
* * *
The hotel, arranged by Talia under Helios’s instructions, had a charming air to it, an ambience that carried through inside, through the cosy lobby and into the even cosier restaurant.
It was Agon’s oldest hotel and a favourite on the tourist trail. It was guaranteed to be busy, whatever the time of year. Thus, two women could meet and dine together during the lunchtime rush without attracting any attention. It was safe for Amy’s birth mother here. No one would know who she was. No one would report back to her husband. Ignorance would continue to be bliss for him.
As strange as she knew it to be, Amy would have recognised Neysa even if she hadn’t known who she was. Her heart stuttered as she was caught in the gaze of eyes that were identical to her own.
This was the woman who had carried her in her womb for nine months.
This was the woman who had abandoned her.
Neysa Soukis hesitated before asking, ‘Amy...?’
‘Neysa?’ Calling her Mum or Mother was not an option.
Grasping the outstretched hand, Amy marvelled at how it was an identical size to her own. It was like seeing a model of herself twenty years from now, although she doubted she would ever be as well groomed. Neysa was expensively dressed and immaculately coiffured.
After ordering drinks and some mezzes Neysa gave a brittle smile, opened her mouth and then closed it again.
Amy filled the silence. ‘Why didn’t you want to meet me?’
Fingers similar to her own but older, and with buffed nails, drummed on the table. ‘You are a stranger to me.’ Her English accent was heavy and unpractised.
‘You carried me. You gave birth to me.’ You abandoned me. ‘Weren’t you curious?’
‘I have a life now. Husband. A son.’
Yes... Her son. Leander. The man-child Neysa doted on.
‘What made you change your mind?’
She gave a harsh bark of laughter. ‘The threat that my husband would learn of you.’
That would be Helios’s doing. He was not a man one could say no to. Neysa was here because Helios had effectively blackmailed her, not because she wanted to meet the child she’d given up.
‘Leander could tell your husband.’
‘Leander would never tell.’
Neysa’s confidence in this statement didn’t surprise her. Helios had done some more digging into the mother-son relationship and discovered that Leander’s father had all but given up on him. Neysa was the one to lavish him with love and the all-important money. He was dependent on her. If she withdrew her funds he would, heaven forbid, have to get a job and keep it.
If her husband was to learn that Neysa had been keeping such a monumental secret from him throughout their twenty-five-year marriage who knew how he would react? Both Neysa and Leander might be thrown off the gravy train they worshipped so much.
A waiter appeared with a tray of drinks.
‘Did you ever think of me?’ Amy asked when they were alone again.
A flicker of something she couldn’t decipher crossed Neysa’s face. ‘Many times.’
She was lying. Amy didn’t know how she could be certain of this, but certain she was. Neysa had forged a new life for herself, with a rich husband two decades her senior. Amy was a dirty little secret she couldn’t afford to let anyone find out about. She had no interest in her child. Her only interest was in protecting her secret.