Cars tooted as they drove past Central Park and love was in the cold air as they approached the hotel.
Abe led her up the very steps that a few nights ago she had run down, crying.
‘Mr and Mrs Devereux...’ The door was held open and his grip was tight on her hand as they stepped inside.
The foyer was as beautiful as she remembered. More so, for all the roses on the tree had opened and their fragrance was splendid, only this time she didn’t linger.
His hand was in the small of her back and she was terribly conscious of it in the most pleasant of ways.
And he remained the perfect gentleman as the elevator carried them to the top floor.
They stepped into the suite and gold drapes were drawn and the lights were dim and they were finally together, alone.
She was both nervous and shy enough to blush at his seductive gaze but she tried to be bold and reached for him.
‘I’ve got this,’ Abe said.
He kissed her then, but not her mouth. He kissed the eyes that had met him at the door on a night when he’d run out of places to hide.
He kissed plump cheeks that blushed so readily and moved to the shell of an ear that had chosen to listen.
Then he kissed slowly down a neck that enticed and he felt the little tremble she gave when her nerves left and the passion they made arrived.
She was shaking, not visibly, but she tremored inside to his skilful caress, and when he slid down her dress and he stood for a moment, just drinking the sight of her in, she knew why she loved him, for with Abe she never had to try and make herself small.
Not physically, they were way past that.
He adored her before he saw her, she knew that.
And sheadoredall she had not seen too.
‘I love this,’ Naomi said, running her fingers over his flat stomach. His chest she had kissed, and then her hand moved lower.
‘Gently,’ he warned, when she cupped him too tightly, but they had fun working that out and then he took her to near heaven with his mouth.
‘Abe...’ she was pleading, but in a way she never had before. He had teased and cajoled with soft, slow sucks and a probing tongue that made deliciously sure she was ready for him.
He moved up her then, kissed her so deeply and weighted her to the bed.
The first nudge of him had her brave, and the second had her unsure.
Her nails dug into his shoulders and Naomi didn’t feel so brave now, but this was the first and last time he would willingly hurt her. He could hold back no more and tore in and made her his.
She felt every searing inch and there was no space even to draw breath and scream, as for a second it felt as if the lights went out.
Yet darkness never lasted.
With each slow thrust pain peaked, yet her body welcomed him and he drove in until any discomfort dispersed, building toward an intimacy neither had ever known as she released his shoulders and there was no holding back.
They moved beyond pain, and he thrust in deep, and when he felt her tense beneath him, and the grip and throb of her intimate flesh, only then did he give in.
* * *
Abe climbed out of bed and she watched as he moved the champagne bucket by their bed, opened the bottle and poured them both a drink.
‘Are you going to kick me out again?’ he asked, remembering the last bottle of champagne they’d shared in her room.
‘Not this time.’ Naomi smiled.