But as she bent down to pull a carton of milk out of the fridge she was aware of her own body in a way she never had been before. The feel of his eyes on her made every action seem loaded with sexuality.
She knew he wasn’t watching her with his attention on her posture or her muscle recruitment. She knew he was thinking about sex. Her whole body started to tremble.
She straightened up and turned back to the counter to pour a dash of milk into her mug, but her feverish body didn’t cooperate with its usual precision. The carton slipped from her fingers and jolted against the counter, splashing milk over her hand and up her arm.
‘Let me help,’ Nik said, suddenly coming up behind her.
‘It’s all right,’ Carrie said huskily, staring almost blankly at her milky hand. She was completely aware of Nik standing behind her. He was so close. If she reached for a paper towel she’d collide with his chest. His arms would close around her and they’d be kissing with all the fire of their first encounter.
He’d caught her unawares in Darren’s study, and her own body had shocked her by responding so fervently. She knew it would be crazy to let it happen again, but an intoxicating yearning was building deep inside her. If he pulled her into his arms again she feared she’d be lost to reason.
‘Let me see,’ Nik said, taking a step closer and placing his hands gently on either side of her waist.
Carrie gasped and spun round to face him. As she turned his hands skimmed the circumference of her waist, tracing the narrow band of exposed skin. The sensation of his fingers brushing against her bare flesh set off a chain reaction of tremors quaking through her body, and she couldn’t stop shaking. She knew he must be able to feel it because he was still touching her waist.
She was holding her milky hand out in front of her gingerly, almost as if it was injured. Her palm was facing upwards with the fingers curled over, instinctively trying to contain the spilt liquid.
She swayed as Nik released his hold on her waist, but almost immediately his hands moved to support her again. He placed one gently under her forearm and the other he brought up carefully to cup her milky hand.
Carrie stared down at his bronze fingers curling round her. He was only holding her hand, but somehow it seemed too intimate. A knot of anticipation tightened deep within her and she licked her lips nervously.
‘The paper towels are over there,’ she said, hardly recognising the husky tones of her own voice.
‘It’s only a bit of milk,’ he murmured. ‘We don’t need a towel.’
Slowly, ever so slowly, h
e lifted her hand up to his lips. She followed the movement with her eyes, hardly daring to think what he meant to do.
Suddenly she found herself looking across her palm, straight into his vibrant blue eyes. She could feel his hot breath on the skin of her hand and she swallowed hard.
His lips parted and, still ensnared by his burning gaze, she watched his tongue emerge to lick a drop of milk from a finger.
She sucked in a startled breath and thought vaguely of pulling her hand away. But before her whirling thoughts had a chance to settle he drew the finger slowly into his mouth.
Sensation flooded her, and the heat of his mouth seemed to radiate through her whole body. The sinuous feel of his tongue moving against her skin sent a tidal wave of longing crashing over her. Without realising what she was doing her own lips parted and a small sigh escaped.
Nik’s eyes were fixed on her, registering her response, and immediately he pulled her closer. He released her finger and moved his open mouth over the skin of her palm, nibbling and teasing with his lips and tongue.
Carrie trembled. She didn’t want Nik to know the effect he was having on her over-excited nerve-endings, but it was more than she could do to tug her hand out of her grasp. He pulled her closer and brought his lips to the sensitive skin on the inside of her wrist, flicking the tip of his tongue over the beating point of her pulse.
Her breathing quickened, echoing her racing heart, and she closed her eyes, trying to shut out the reaction that was rapidly taking over her whole body. But, instead of grounding her, the action left her completely cut off from any reality apart from Nikos Kristallis. She was only aware of how he was making her feel.
She wanted him to kiss her! She wanted to feel his hot mouth covering hers, feel his tongue moving against hers.
Her breath was coming in short sharp gasps, and although she tried, she just couldn’t think about anything else. Suddenly she realised he had let go of her hand. Her eyes flew open, and she saw his face was only inches from her own.
The moment seemed frozen in time, yet only lasted a second. In slow motion she saw him lift his hands to cup her cheeks and incline his head slightly, ready to kiss her.
Then his mouth closed over hers, and her world exploded into a startling frenzy of desire.
Her lips were already parted as his mouth came down to kiss her, and their tongues were suddenly writhing together in an erotic dance. Her body trembled and she clung to his strong arms for support, overwhelmed by the blood singing wildly in her ears, the fervent uprising of excitement that threatened to completely engulf her.
She had one last coherent thought—she hadn’t imagined the effect of his kiss yesterday. Then she closed her eyes and was lost as a rush of sensations powered through her boneless body.
Her hands slipped up to his broad shoulders and she pressed herself close to him. His body felt so good, so hard and strong against hers. Her arms reached further round and she let her hands slide slowly across his strong back, feeling the heat of his body through the fabric of his shirt. She yearned to touch his naked skin, feel the play of his muscles beneath her questing fingertips.
All the time they kept on kissing, an ardent expression of their mutual desire, but she was getting increasingly breathless and her head was starting to spin. At last he pulled away from her lips, and she heard his breathing was as ragged as hers.