‘See what you do to me?’ He slid a strong hand behind her head, sliding his fingers into the softness of her hair and holding her firmly. ‘You’ve been doing that to me since the first moment I saw you.’
Without giving her a chance to reply, he guided her head towards him and met her halfway, his mouth descending on hers with hot, restless purpose.
Wild, intoxicating excitement exploded inside her and she kissed him back, exchanging bite for bite and lick for lick. He tortured with his mouth and teased with his hands until she realised that somehow they were both naked.
Without stopping to wonder how he’d accomplished that without her noticing, Helen pressed closer to him, shivering at the first touch of his flesh against hers.
She felt warmth and heat and pounding excitement and then he scooped her off her feet and carried her to the rug in front of the fire.
He lowered her gently and then came down on top of her and she sobbed with pleasure as she felt the solid weight of his body on hers, felt his skilled, clever fingers seeking the burning heat of her femininity.
He muttered something into her hair and then slid down her quivering, writhing body and fastened his mouth on her breast. The skilled flick of his tongue over her already hardened nipple made her gasp and arch against him and she dug her nails into the hard muscle of his shoulders, tortured by sensation.
His fingers explored her intimately but it wasn’t enough and she sobbed his name in a plea for more.
He lifted his head, his gaze burning into hers. ‘What?’
‘Please, Oliver…’ Her voice sounded broken and she slid one hand down his body and closed her slender fingers over his pulsing arousal. ‘Please, now…’
His gaze darkened and his breathing became harsh and rapid as he slid an arm under hips. ‘Look at me Helen, I want you to look at me.’
Didn’t he know that she wasn’t capable of anything else? At that precise moment she wanted to spend the rest of her life drowning in Oliver’s blue gaze, feeling the heat of his body on hers.
With a flicker of delicious anticipation she felt the hard throb of his erection touching her intimately and then he entered her with a powerful thrust, driven by the almost intolerable need that consumed both of them.
Her vision blurred and she shuddered as she felt him thrust again, felt his strength and power deep within her. Her muscles tensed and then rippled, drawing him in.
‘Don’t move,’ he pleaded hoarsely, his breathing fractured as he struggled for control. ‘Just stay still for a minute.’
But she couldn’t stay still. She shifted under him, rotating her hips, and he groaned and thrust deep in response to her provocative movements, losing the battle he’d been fighting for control.
And still their gazes held. Held as they moved together, held as their flesh grew slick and damp and held as he drove them both to a climax so intense and all-consuming that Helen forgot about everything except Oliver.
For a single, breathless moment in time she belonged to him.
She was part of him.
And finally he closed his eyes and buried his face in her hair.
‘I love you, Helen.’
His soft words brought a gasp to her throat and tears to her eyes. She opened her mouth to say the words back to him but no sound emerged.
It had felt so special but she couldn’t work out why.
What was the magic ingredient? Why had it felt so different?
‘Oliver…’
He lifted his head and kissed her gently, a wry smile of understanding in his blue eyes. ‘It’s all right—I know it’s all too soon for you.’
So why was she lying underneath him feeling as though she never, ever wanted to move?
Helen nursed a cup of coffee and stared out of the kitchen window towards the mountains, wondering how everything in her life could have changed so much in just three weeks.
Her aching body was a delicious reminder of the night before and she ran a hand from her waist to her hips, as if aware of herself for the first time.
I love you.