A slight noise coming from inside caught her attention, and she turned to see what it was. Nik was leaning over the cot, looking down at Danny.
A ripple of emotion passed through her and she bit her lip, staring at him. Why did she feel so pleased to see him when she’d spent most of the day feeling angry with him for the way he’d been ignoring her?
He looked up and, seeing her watching him through the open door, he smiled. Before she could help it she’d smiled back, suddenly realising that she had missed him. Why did his smile have the power to make her bad mood drift away?
But as he w
alked towards her she remembered her intention to make him talk about the future. She folded her arms, determined not to let him charm her with a dazzling smile, and tried to make her expression stern.
‘I’m sorry.’ He held his hands out in an open gesture as he approached her. ‘I’ve left you alone too long and I want to make it up to you.’
‘It’s not enough just to say sorry,’ Carrie said, determined not to be distracted from her good intentions to sort things out between them. ‘I don’t want to just sit around here waiting for you to spare us a few minutes out of your work schedule. I need to build a proper life for Danny and me. And that involves going out and meeting people, being part of the community, maybe getting a part-time job as a personal trainer…’
‘There’s no hurry to talk about that now.’ Nik took a step forward and lifted his hand to brush a strand of hair back from her face.
As his fingers touched her skin a tremor ran through her, and suddenly it was hard for her to be aware of anything other than Nik standing right in front of her.
‘We can’t put this conversation off.’ Carrie tried to sound firm, but her words came out in a breathless rush. ‘You’ll be gone again in the morning, and I won’t see you again for days.’
‘It’ll be all right.’ Nik bent to press his lips against the side of her neck. ‘My business deal is completed so we can talk about it tomorrow. I’m not going anywhere.’
‘But I want to get things sorted out,’ Carrie said, sucking in a wobbly breath as Nik opened his mouth against her neck and started trailing his tongue downwards. She was wearing a strappy sundress and his fingers skimmed lightly over the naked skin of her shoulder in a way that made shivers skitter down her spine. She took a step backwards and found the backs of her legs pressed against one of the balcony chairs.
‘Tomorrow.’ Nik’s breath tickled her skin, making little darts of pleasure tremble through her. ‘I give you my word, we’ll talk properly tomorrow.’
She opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment Nik’s mouth closed over hers. His tongue slipped in through her parted lips and all her thoughts were suddenly forgotten.
He kissed her gently, tenderly exploring the soft recesses of her mouth. It wasn’t the hot, furious conquest of their previous kisses, but a long, slow-burning seduction.
Despite the change of pace she was soon clinging breathlessly to him, her whole body quivering with reawakened sensations, until at last he pulled back and she gazed up at him wordlessly. The setting sun was behind him, casting his handsome face into shadow, but still he looked incredible.
‘I’m going to make love to you,’ he said quietly, looking at her with such intensity that a flurry of excitement started deep in her stomach. ‘Think of this as the wedding night we didn’t have.’
‘You’re making my legs feel weak.’ She’d meant to sound light and breezy, but the words came out as a husky murmur that made his eyes darken with heightened desire.
‘Then you’d better sit down,’ he said, sweeping her off her feet and lowering her onto a chair. ‘Because soon you won’t be able to stand.’
Carrie gasped, and was about to protest when he stopped her words with another long languorous kiss. His tongue slid against hers, unhurried and sensuous in its movements, like a sultry slow dance that was simmering with the promise of a passionate release still to come.
He was kneeling beside her chair. One arm was around her shoulders, locking her to his kiss, and the other hand was skimming her body with a light, teasing touch. At last his fingers came to rest quite deliberately under the hem of her dress, halfway up her inner thigh. He pulled back from the kiss to look at her.
Carrie gazed at him, feeling slightly bemused. Her whole being was humming with sexual readiness and all she could think about was what it would feel like when he touched her intimately.
His hand on her leg started to move inexorably upwards, towards the place in her body that was already throbbing out its need for him. Her legs fell apart and she held her breath, waiting for his fingertips to make contact with her aching flesh.
‘Last time we made love I was negligent,’ he said, finally reaching the very top of her inner thigh. At the last moment, just when she was poised on the edge of glorious anticipation, waiting to feel his masterful touch, his fingers took a diversion upwards towards her left hip. ‘These were the only items of your clothing that I removed.’ He hooked his thumb under the elastic of her panties. ‘I won’t be so rash again. You can rest assured that it will be a long time before I remove these tonight.’
Carrie’s breath came out in a shuddering sigh. She hardly had time to react to his announcement before he pushed her dress upwards and dropped his head to scatter kisses on her naked stomach. Somehow he had manoeuvred himself so that he knelt between her parted thighs, and as he leant forward she felt both exposed and overwhelmingly excited.
Once again he pulled away and sat back on his heels, looking up at her. She gazed down at his face, hardly able to believe what was happening. The most gorgeous man in the world—the only man she had ever felt this way about—was kneeling between her legs, making love to her in the most unexpected, marvellous way.
‘Your skin is glowing in the sunset,’ he murmured, lifting his hands to the front buttons of her dress. ‘I want to see your naked breasts touched by the golden sunlight.’
‘My skin is glowing because of you,’ Carrie breathed, sitting almost mesmerised while he undid her dress and slipped his hands behind her to unfasten the strapless bra she wore.
‘You are like a golden goddess.’ He cupped her breasts tenderly, looking at her with the most open and adoring expression.
‘Normally I’m pale,’ Carrie said, brimming with delight at his extravagant flattery. She wasn’t used to playing sensual word games, and it filled her with a heady excitement. ‘Perhaps you’d prefer a bronzed Greek beauty?’ she asked, and suddenly felt a moment’s insecurity.