‘Well, there must be something we should do.’
His eyes glinted.
‘There’s certainly something I should do. This.’
His fingers smoothed the fabric of her wedding gown from one shoulder.
‘And this,’ he said, and his lips smoothed the skin beneath. ‘And similarly…’
He performed the same task to her other shoulder.
‘Then, of course, there is this.’ His hand went to her back, and with a single fluid movement drew down her zip. ‘Why, Theo Theakis, you do not appear to be wearing underwear…’
‘It’s the heat,’ she murmured.
‘Ah, well, that is something we can remedy, I believe.’ The glint in his eye, the deliberate not touching of her naked back, was sending tiny delicious sparks through her. ‘You may find it, Theo Theakis, cooler indoors. Shall we?’
He guided her inside the villa, into the single bedroom. With the double bed.
‘Much cooler,’ she murmured.
‘Oh, I think we can do better yet,’ he said. The jacket of his wedding suit had long ago been discarded, and still hung around the back of the chair he’d sat in for the breakfast. His cuffs were undone and his shirtsleeves rolled up. His tie hung loose around his neck, the top button of his shirt unfastened. Now he proceeded to unbutton the rest of it.
‘Allow me to help,’ said his wife. ‘Wives should always help their husbands in all those little tasks they like help with.’
One by one her fingers slipped his buttons, drawing the fine material apart, slipping it from his broad shoulders. Then, as he stood stock still, no muscle moving, she unbuckled his belt and started on the fastenings of his trousers.
His hands moved like lightning, imprisoning and lifting.
‘Some tasks,’ he said, and there was a tightness in his voice she’d have been deaf not to hear, ‘may prove a little…precipitate…if helped with. Allow me, instead, to reciprocate.’
He drew her loosened dress from her, exposing first one breast and then the other. They were full, engorged already, their tips like coral. He touched each lightly, felt them flower at his touch. Sensation shot through her.
He let her gown fall to the floor. She left it there. She would tidy it later. But now, right now, it was time for one thing only.
She took his hand and lifted it above her breasts, to her heart.
‘Roll back time, Theo. Make the past come back again. But make the present now the past. This the reality. Now. For us both. Now and for ever.’
He turned his hand in hers, and took hers with his, raised it to his lips.
‘Now and for ever,’ he said.
For one long, timeless moment they gazed into each other’s eyes, and all the needless pain and torment were undone.
Then he let go her hand and replaced his own at her breast.
‘Now,’ he said, ‘where were
we?’
‘You were starting to make sensual, passionate, bliss-inducing love to me on my wedding day,’ said Vicky helpfully.
‘Ah, yes, so I was. Well, then…’ His thumb started to tease her nipple, sending weakness and desire dissolving through her. ‘Let’s continue, shall we?’
‘Yes,’ said Vicky faintly, as her body turned boneless, ‘let’s.’