Panic subsided and she felt her taut muscles soften. There was no pain. Simply surprise, a sensation that was neither good nor bad.
Alexei moved, beginning to pull back, and despite her reaction a moment before, Mina couldn’t bear the thought of him leaving her. This might feel strange but she craved more. She tightened her legs around him, digging her fingers into his shoulders.
‘Don’t go.’
He shook his head, his wavy black hair flopping endearingly over his brow, making him appear younger, despite the lines of tension etching his features. ‘Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’m not going far.’ Holding her gaze, he withdrew, then, at the last moment thrust forward.
‘Oh.’ Mina blinked, stunned at the fizz of appreciation his movement stirred.
His smile looked close to a grimace. ‘Exactly.’ He repeated the movement, this time with a little more force, and the fizz became of zap of arousal.
With each tilt of his hips, each surge towards her, Alexei kept his attention on her, reading her reaction in her expression. As she’d guessed, her body knew what to do, even if she didn’t. Already she’d learned to tilt her pelvis to accommodate him. Yet Mina wanted to do more. She wanted to be as generous as he’d been. She wanted to see him lost to the world, floating in rapture.
‘What can I do to make it better for you?’
His laugh was a harsh, grating sound. ‘Nothing. It’s already too good.’
Mina frowned, fighting the urge to acquiesce and simply enjoy the wonderful new sensations. Her knowledge was all theoretical but it gave her a few ideas.
The next time Alexei thrust, she didn’t just grip him with her thighs, but clenched her inner muscles too. She was rewarded with a hoarse gasp that bordered on a groan. Beads of sweat broke out on his brow and he shuddered.
Delighted, Mina tugged at his right hand, lifting it from the bed and clamping it over her breast. It stayed there, moulding and plucking and adding to her pleasure.
Another thrust, another squeeze and this time Mina had to swallow a gasp of delight. Her tactic worked, she could see it in Alexei’s febrile, almost vacant stare and the way his fluid movements grew suddenly jerky.
Then he seemed to gather himself. His eyes focused on hers and his mouth opened. ‘Car—’
No! Not another woman’s name now.
In a flash she reached up and drew his head down, kissing him with all the desperate yearning he’d awakened. Mina sucked his tongue deep into her mouth, palming the back of his head, drawing him closer with her whole body.
Suddenly Alexei’s control broke. Hard fingers dug into her buttock as he angled her body higher. He took over the kiss, driving into her mouth as he drove into her body, with a shocking, wonderful synchronicity that pushed her straight over the edge into spasms of ecstasy.
His body was steely hard, his movements convulsive, and the moan of release she swallowed sounded as if it had been drawn from the depths of his soul. Through it all they stayed locked together as one. Each explosion of sensation in one echoed in the other.
Finally, when the last shudders subsided to tiny tremors, Alexei broke their kiss and rolled onto his side, pulling her with him.
Struggling, Mina opened weighted eyelids. That sea of green engulfed her again and this time she didn’t mind. She felt weightless and languorous and so very, very good.
No, it was more than that. It felt as if they were one. It was remarkable, far more fantastic than she’d believed possible. Surely there was some magic involved that made this more than a mere physical act. It felt...momentous.
Slowly she smiled, though even that took too much energy. ‘You were right. There’s definitely chemistry.’