‘There?’
He pulled her hips closer till they were so locked together that her breath came out sharp with each measured thrust.
Galen had never been into a woman so much. He was watching her unravel before his eyes and resisting the urge to go faster, which was in such opposition to his own command to go slow. He was trying to hold on, but the intensity was beyond him and he started to thrust harder.
And she clung. And he caved.
His breathless shout as he shot into her was a mix of annoyance with himself and utter release.
To Roula it felt like permission.
She gave in to the place he’d led her, felt the throb of her body and the pulse of him, and so deep was the pleasure that the world lost colour, sound, as if her every sense had been diverted to capture every last beat of this.
They were breathless and still looking at each other as they came down. Still facing each other as she felt him slide onto her thigh. And then Roula found out what floating meant, because her thoughts were up in the air instead of reined in. And although she didn’t want to, she started to cry. Not the squeezed-out tears of her first orgasm, but a cry for something else—her younger and other self.
Galen, who was more used to a smile, and zipping up, or lying in sated leisure before the next round, did not know quite what to do.
‘Are you all right?’ he asked, and hated his own wooden voice and his stupid choice of words after they’d just exploded together.
Even he had been taken aback by the intensity of their union.
‘I’m just...’ She wanted to tell him she’d never come before, never liked sex, hated it... But she was certain her truth would spoil things. ‘It was amazing.’
‘Maybe too good,’ he said, as if he was cross with himself. ‘I should have used something.’
‘Something...?’
‘Roula!’ His eyes were wide. ‘I swear, I always—’
‘I know.’
She believed him, because she had been drowning in him, and actually it was she who was the practical one.
‘I can’t have babies,’ she told him. ‘So that takes care of that.’
‘Good,’ Galen said, and then winced. ‘I mean, I’m sorry...’
‘No, you’re not!’ Roula laughed, her tears receding, and lay there wrapped up in his arms feeling better, just feeling this gorgeous harmony. This was surely what Galen had meant about floating.
‘What are you thinking?’ Roula teased.
But Galen’s mind was back there, hearing again the slight waver and question in her voice as to what he was doing before he’d gone down on her. And Roula’s naivety... He did not like the conclusion he was coming to. Had already been forming the first time they’d danced.
‘Charts,’ Galen said.
Roula laughed.
Oh, God, he thought. How did she feel peaceful in this the worst of times?