She made a face. ‘Well, you don’t actually know that.’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘But you were having a nightmare. Do you need to talk about it?’
A look of what could only be described as utter rejection passed over his face. ‘No. I do not need to talk about it. I need you.’
Sofie looked at him, torn between wanting to throw caution to the wind and exercising some control, because she felt sure that by the morning he would be looking at her and wondering what the hell he’d been thinking.
He said, ‘If you’re worried that it’ll be painful, it might be at first, but I’ll be gentle.’
Her insides melted into liquid heat. A heat she couldn’t ignore or deny. She couldn’t speak.
She bent forward and pressed an inexpert kiss against Darius’s mouth. A sense of déjà vu from when she’d done this the first time around hit her. But then he’d been unconscious. Now he was very much conscious.
When she tried to pull back he held her there. Her eyes opened and she looked straight into two dark pools of green. His mouth moved under hers softly, coaxing. Lips firm but soft.
He enticed her to open up to him and she did so instinctively, breathing him in. His tongue touched hers and it was like an electric shock going right down to the pulse between her legs. She moaned softly, eyes closing again, as Darius made it very clear that he was the one with the skills.
He took the kiss from coaxing and gentle to something far more explicit and masterful. Sofie’s head was spinning, and it was only when she opened her eyes again that she realised she was on her back on the bed and Darius was beside her, a hand on her belly, over her robe.
Her mouth felt swollen. Her pulse was racing. It took a second for her eyes to focus. Darius was above her, hair messy, cheeks slashed with colour. Chest huge. Eyes burning. He looked...magnificent.
He moved his hand under the hem of her vest and then he was touching her. Hand to skin. She breathed in, little fires racing all over her.
He said, ‘Okay?’
Something about his consideration made her feel emotional. To block it out she nodded her head vigorously.
His hand moved up to the underside of her breast, and then he was cupping the plump flesh. He looked down. Her vest was ruched up. She could only imagine what he saw. A very average body. Breasts that were too big.
Then his thumb moved back and forth over her nipple and Sofie promptly stopped thinking about anything. The sensation was incredible. Like a wire pulling straight from the centre of her breast to between her legs.
And then he put his mouth on her, and her back arched almost off the bed. She didn’t even realise that her hands were gripping Darius’s hair. Her entire consciousness was consumed by the blazing sensation of wet heat surrounding her nipple and the tugging of Darius’s mouth on her flesh.
He lifted his head and Sofie opened her eyes.
He said, ‘You’re so responsive.’
‘Is that a good thing?’
He nodded. ‘Very.’
He undid her robe and pulled it off, throwing it somewhere to the side of the bed. Then he was pulling Sofie’s vest all the way up and off. She was too full of growing, aching need to be embarrassed that she was now naked from the waist up.
Darius threw back the sheet and Sofie looked down, her eyes widening as she took in the sleek, taut muscles of Darius’s body. And one in particular. Thick and hard. Before she knew what she was doing she’d reached out and touched him. He sucked in a breath.
She snatched her hand back and looked up. ‘Sorry, does it hurt?’
He smiled tightly. ‘Yes, but not because you touched me.’
A wave of heat pulsed through her body as his meaning sank in. He hurt for her. The thought that she had this much of an effect on him was almost impossible to comprehend.
‘Touch me again.’
He lay back. Sofie’s gaze drifted down and she reached out again, encircling him with her hand. She was fascinated by the steely strength encased in silken skin. He was hot. She had an urge to bend down and put her mouth to him but she didn’t have the nerve.
Darius sat up. ‘Lie down.’
Sofie was happy to comply. This was all so overwhelming. Amazing. She couldn’t quite believe what was happening, but she didn’t want it to stop.
He tugged her shorts down over her hips and off. Now she was naked. She’d never been naked with a man before—with anyone!—and yet she felt completely at ease with him.
He looked at her for a long moment, his eyes devouring her entire body with such blatant appreciation that she didn’t have time to feel self-conscious. Then his hands followed his eyes. Cupping her breasts, trapping her nipples between his fingers before surrounding them in the sucking wet heat of his mouth.
A tension was building at Sofie’s core, making her feel restless, making her hips twitch. Darius put a hand on her belly and then slid it down slowly. Almost of their own volition, Sofie’s legs parted.
He explored her there, his fingers sliding into the soft folds hiding her sex. Sofie’s back arched again. Her hands gripped the sheet and she bit her lip as Darius’s fingers slid inside her, causing a spike of acute pleasure.
His fingers moved in and out, and Sofie could feel how ready she was. Impossible to hide. His thumb moved against her too, in a circling motion, and then he bent his head and took her mouth in a deep, drugging kiss.
When the building tension peaked and broke over her she cried out into Darius’s mouth. And then, while the waves of pleasure were still ebbing through her body, he moved over her, his hips forcing her legs apart even more.
She looked up, dizzy. He took himself in his hand and said, ‘This might hurt a little, but I promise it’ll get better.’
Sofie was incapable of speech. She just nodded.
Darius breached her body with his, and then in one cataclysmic movement seated himself deep inside her.
Sofie sucked in a breath. It wasn’t painful...it was amazing. She felt so full. She wanted to move to alleviate the pressure. But Darius was withdrawing, and instinctively she moved with him, as if loath to let him go.
He huffed out a short laugh and took her hand. He laced his fingers with hers and raised them over her head. That brought her breasts into contact with his chest. Sensitised nipples scraping against his chest. And slowly and inexorably he continued to move in and out.
She could feel her body adapting to his. Inner muscles tight around him. The tension built again, like a storm gathering deep inside her, until it could no longer be contained. Darius thrust deep and Sofie shattered into pieces, crying out, legs wrapped tight around his waist as if that would help contain more pleasure than she’d ever known was possible.
Darius thrust again, one more time, and then went still, his entire body locked in its own paroxysm of pleasure. She felt his release pump inside her and her legs gripped him even tighter. She was filled with a very primal urge to take his seed in as deep as she could.
When Sofie woke it was dawn outside, the sky streaked with pink. She was alone and completely disorientated for a long moment. Then it all came back.
Darius having the nightmare, waking up...telling her he wanted her. Her acquiescence. Making love. It felt like a dream, but she knew it wasn’t because she was naked in his bed and her body was feeling totally alien and yet still hers. She was no longer a virgin.
She’d never felt such intense pleasure. She’d never known it could be like that. She’d not even hesitated to acquiesce. But the speed with which Sofie had capitulated to Darius’s seduction made her cringe now, in the morning light.
Where was he?