Alix’s jaw was so tight it ached, and yet he couldn’t stop a series of images forming of Leila being stripped, massaged, washed and dressed by an army of women. And of him coming here to these secret and sensual rooms to find her waiting for him. Supplicant.
He wanted her so badly right then that he shook with it. He curled his hands into fists and said, ‘Want to discuss what that was all about?’ He couldn’t even articulate himself properly. This woman tied him into knots.
She folded her arms over her breasts and it only served to remind Alix that he kept noticing how much fuller they were. The wrap dress she wore accentuated every womanly curve. He’d found it near impossible not to look at her bared belly in that room in the hospital, his control feeling far too flimsy.
‘I’m talking about the fact that you might as well have been looking at a weather report in the hospital... Did seeing our baby on that screen affect you at all?’
CHAPTER TEN
ALIX LOOKED AT HER. Did seeing our baby on that screen affect you at all? His mind reeled. It had affected him so much he’d almost doubled over from the rush of pride, mixed with love and an awful bone-numbing sense of terror. Terror that something would happen to that fragile life that wasn’t even born yet. Terror that something would happen to Leila. Terror at the surge of an emotion he’d never expected to feel again.
Leila didn’t wait for him to speak. ‘You were so cold...impervious. I will not bring a baby into a marriage where there is nothing between us except a sense of responsibility and duty. It’s obvious you feel nothing for this baby beyond valuing it for the fact that it will inherit—’
Alix put up a hand, stopping her. Her words scored at his insides and yet he couldn’t let it out—it was too much. And all he could see was her. So beautiful, so vital, and here. In front of him. Pushing his buttons.
Suddenly Alix wanted all the turmoil he felt to be consumed by fire. He moved closer to her and w
as gratified to see the pulse grow hectic at the base of her neck. Her breasts swelled with her breath.
‘You say there’s nothing between us?’
She nodded her head jerkily. Not so sure of herself now. ‘There isn’t. You only pursued me to distract people from your plans. You used me. You don’t want me—you just want a vessel for your heirs. And it’s not enough—for me or the baby.’
Alix was so close to Leila now he could smell her scent. Her unique brand of musk and sweetness.
‘You’re wrong, you know.’
Something flared in her eyes—something that once again he didn’t want to identify.
‘How?’ she asked defiantly.
Alix reached out and took a lock of long, dark, glossy hair, winding it around his finger, tugging her gently towards him. She resisted.
‘There is something between us and it’s enough to bind us together for ever.’
He saw Leila swallow. He tugged her hair again and she jerked forward slightly, almost against her will.
‘You see, I do want you. I wanted you the moment I saw you. I have ached with wanting you for the past seven weeks. And I am afraid that I will never stop wanting you, no matter how much I have of you—damn you.’
And with that Alix’s control snapped and he hauled Leila into his arms, driving his mouth down onto hers, crushing her soft abundant curves to his body that was aching with need to be embedded in her tight, hot warmth.
Leila’s brain fused with white-hot heat and lust. For long seconds she felt only intense relief as Alix’s mouth crushed hers and he finally relaxed enough to allow the kiss to deepen and become a real kiss.
Then Leila’s brain finally cleared enough to recall his words: I have ached with wanting you. Just like her. And now that ache was finally being assuaged.
Alix’s big hands were roving over her back and waist, finding her hips, squeezing. Cupping her bottom, lifting her against him so that the hard ridge of his erection slid against her...just there.
She moaned into his mouth, rubbing herself against him, wanting more. She was incoherent with lust. Warning bells telling her to stop and think about what they’d just been saying to each other were being drowned out, and Leila knew that she was complicit in this.
She also knew that she was proving some point for Alix—and it wasn’t necessarily a point she wanted to prove. But it was too late. She needed him too badly. She needed this. Physicality. No words or confusing emotions or hurt. Just the satisfaction of needs being met. Transcending everything.
Alix broke the kiss and drew back. He yanked aside the material of her dress to expose her breast, encased in lace.
Leila bit her lip to stop herself from begging. She was only still upright because one of Alix’s arms was around her. Her legs were like jelly. And now he was pulling down the lace cup of her bra, freeing her breast and thumbing her nipple, then squeezing it gently.
She was so sensitive there that she almost screamed, circling her hips against Alix, utterly wanton.
He looked at her, his eyes flaming dark silver with need. A need that resonated within her too.