He breathed out shakily as she shifted backwards, her eyes dark and hazy, and, reaching out, pulled her to her feet.
‘Take it off,’ he said softly.
He watched, the blood pounding round his body, as she slipped her thin straps off her shoulders and the dress slid over her body, pooling at her feet. She stared at him in silence, and then she pushed her panties down too.
He had been going to take it slowly, but now, gazing at her body, he felt his muscles tighten with the need to be inside her.
She must be thinking the same thing too. Reaching out, she pulled him towards her, her mouth finding his, her nipples brushing against the bare skin of his chest.
His hands captured her waist and, pressing her against him, he kissed her fiercely. She was kissing him back, and his whole body stiffened as he felt her fingers start to stroke the thick length of his erection.
It was too much.
Grunting, he caught her hand. ‘Turn around,’ he said hoarsely.
His breath caught in his throat as he slid his arm around her waist, lifting her onto the bed so that she was on her knees. He found her throat, kissing the smooth skin, pressing his body against the smooth curve of her bottom, and then he gripped her hips and pushed into her, began to move.
His hand captured her breast, squeezing the nipple, and then he reached down and ran his thumb over the swollen bud, his body hardening at the soft moaning noise she was making.
‘Yes...yes...’
She was panting, her hips working in time with his, and their bodies were slick with sweat as, with an arch of her back, he felt her come.
Body shuddering, she cried out. And then she batted his hand away and he felt her hand cupping him. He was jerking against her, his grunt of pleasure mingling with her ragged breathing as he spilled inside her with hot, liquid force.
Neither of them wanted to leave the cabin, so he had a meal brought to them, and they sat up in bed, eating with their fingers.
They made love again, more slowly this time, and then Dora fell asleep in his arms.
He breathed out slowly.
He was calmer now.
Here on the boat it worked—they worked.
She shifted beside him in her sleep and he gazed down at her, feeling his muscles clench.
It wasn’t just the sex.
Earlier at the casino he’d felt on edge, and it had been the same at Archie’s party. Each time it had been the same—that same feeling of being pulled in two directions. But why?
He thought back to what Dora had said earlier. How she hated the idea of lying to his sisters, and in particular having to lie about them being in love.
But she didn’t understand how his family worked.
His sisters knew his father had asked him to do whatever was necessary to bring Archie to Macau. And so, even though they didn’t believe in his engagement at all, they had gone along with it—because maintaining the myth of ‘family’ took priority over everything.
They knew the score. Or they thought they did.
His heart began hammering inside his chest.
Dora had been worried, thinking it would be hard for him having to pretend that he was in love with her. His sisters had known he was simply following his father’s strict mantra of family first.
And maybe it had been like that at first, but now...
He felt something like panic, confusion, and then denial. This couldn’t be happening to him. His life was planned, and he hadn’t planned on feeling anything for Dora.
Only the truth was...he wasn’t pretending to be in love.