The car drove off into the night.
She could hear her own breathing, and his, before he reached for her and dragged her across his lap. She straddled him, her hands gripping his strong shoulders, trying to find purchase as the giddy rush of emotion—that he needed her so much—threatened to overwhelm her.
Her thighs quivered as his strong hands skimmed up her bare legs, lifting the gown to the waist.
‘Release me, Cara,’ he demanded as his fingers found the lace gusset of her panties and sunk beneath to torture the molten spot with his thumb.
She bucked against the delicious torment, fumbling with his fly in the darkness, her hands clumsy with need. Her body was already on the edge of the familiar precipice. At last she found the tab and eased it down, then captured his solid length in her hand.
He moaned, the guttural sound like a benediction. The desire to take him into her mouth—the way she knew he loved—was overwhelming but, as she edged back to give herself room, his hands clamped on her hips, preventing her.
‘No, Cara, not like that, not tonight. Tonight I need to be inside you.’
She nodded, unable to speak, desperate now too.
The shocking sound of ripping lace barely registered as he tore away the last impediment to their joining, then lifted her hips to lower her onto the rampant erection.
His size and girth stretched her as he impaled her, making her shudder. She clung to him, her nails digging into the fabric of his tuxedo jacket as she tried to control the waves already threatening to annihilate her.
It was too much and yet not enough.
Holding her hips, he began to move her on the huge erection, guiding her to ride him in a slow, sensuous, all-consuming rhythm.
Their pants misted the car’s windows, the hum of the engine vibrating through her as the waves of release crashed over her and then receded to build again...
She couldn’t take any more, her body battered and bowed, another orgasm hurtling towards her. Freeing her breast from the satin, his mouth found her engorged nipple and suckled hard.
The strong drawing sensation sent her crashing over again. She collapsed on top of him, a sweaty heap as his roar of completion echoed in her ear.
She came down slowly, spent and exhausted and raw, as she struggled to contain the familiar rush of emotion.
But, just as she attempted to lift herself free, she felt the little dig inside her body of their baby, making its presence felt. She clasped her belly, and his whole body tensed.
‘You are okay?’ he murmured in the darkness, sounding stricken.
‘Yes, it’s... The baby moved, that’s all.’
He lifted her gently off him, carefully pulled up the bodice of her gown to cover her exposed breast. It was only then that she realised the car had stopped moving.
She adjusted her gown, painfully aware of her husband’s sudden withdrawal as the lights of the Castillo Hotel flickered through the misted windows.
He tapped on the partition. ‘We are ready to disembark.’
The driver opened her door seconds later and helped her out, keeping his eyes downcast. Had he guessed what they had been doing? He must have done.
But somehow she didn’t care. Why should they be ashamed of their need?
Maxim got out of his side of the car, then strode round to capture her hand. He led her into the hotel. They travelled in silence in the lift. What had happened? Why did she feel bereft, unable to bridge the gap between them? How could the sex be so intense and yet change nothing?
As they approached the door to the suite, he dropped her hand. ‘I will see you at the estate in a few days’ time.’
She clasped her arms over her bosom, her nipple still raw, the hum of sensation from their frantic lovemaking still there in her sex. ‘You’re not... You’re not coming in?’ she asked.
‘I have my own suite,’ he said.
The news was like a blow. She had assumed, had hoped, that tonight they would be sharing a bedroom... And that Maxim would wake up with her in the morning.
Maxim always left her rooms after their lovemaking, but she knew it had become more and more of a struggle for him. Each night he had held her longer and waited longer to leave. And she had rejoiced at this sign of progress. But why had she deluded herself that tonight would be the first night they would spend the whole night together when he hadn’t even bothered to call in the last seven days?