He didn’t speak to her. He said nothing, but there was no need for words. Pleasure was a fierce, saturating beast. Another wave of it caught hold, dragging her and she pulled at her hands, needing to touch him or do something, but he held her still, and that was even more exciting, more exhilarating. She writhed beneath him, his name an incantation on her lips as she tumbled over the edge of sanity once more, and this time, she wasn’t alone. He came with her, releasing her wrists so he could wrap an arm beneath her and lift her to him, kissing her then, kissing her as he spilled himself into her completely, a guttural oath lost in the cavern of her mouth and soul, so that a part of him was now a part of her and always would be.
“That,”he said on a rough exhalation, “should not have happened.”
Beneath him, Ella’s face blanched visibly, her eyes closing at his harshly delivered summation. He grimaced, regretting the tone of his words as soon as he’d uttered them. But nothing made sense, and even less so because he was still riding a wave of euphoria, his body delighting in her incredible tightness and responsiveness, in the way she’d welcomed him and answered his passion so perfectly.
“I – I’m sorry,” she whispered. He wanted to tell her not to apologise, he wanted to tell her it wasn’t her fault, but sense was returning and every question he had now left him with the impression that she’d lied to him. A lie of omission, certainly, but that didn’t change the fact she’d been a virgin and hadn’t told him. She knew what he – and the world – thought of her. He’d literally said the words to her, so why hadn’t she confessed the truth? And how the hell was it even possible?
“I don’t understand.” He tried to keep anger from his voice, particularly when that anger was directed at himself. The more he thought about it, the more he realised that the error had also been his. Hadn’t he noticed her responsiveness? Hell, he’d mocked her for acting like a ‘shy little virgin’, without stopping to wonder why a woman with Ella’s alleged experience would quiver at the mere sight of his naked chest.
“I know that.”
He pulled away from her with regret, a regret that intensified when he realised his other glaring oversight. He hadn’t used, nor had it even occurred to him to use, protection. It was a mistake he had never made before, and something gripped him now at what the consequences of that error could be. He stood, pacing away from her a little, needing some physical distance between them.
“How is this possible?” He wrenched on his boxer shorts, angry with himself now.
She was reaching for something – the bed covers, pulling them loose so she could shield her nakedness from his view.
“You mean, how is it possible someone like me has never had sex?”
“Yes.”
“Especially when I’m such a world-renowned hussy, right?”
The hurt in her voice pulled at something deep in his gut. “If I didn’t know better, I would say you have gone out of your way to create that misperception of yourself, Ella. Why?”
She didn’t meet his eyes. “Everyone thinks that just because I go to clubs and have a heap of friends – male friends – I must be sleeping with them. Who was I to correct them?”
He frowned. “It’s more than that.”
“Evidently not,” she reminded him with an uneven laugh.
She was lying to him – and she wasn’t very good at it, but he let it go, for now.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Honestly?”
His eyes narrowed. “Always.”
Her throat moved as she swallowed. He wished she’d allow her eyes to meet his, but she was staring at the blanket with determination. “I wasn’t thinking straight.” Now she dared a glance in his direction, embarrassment heating her cheeks. But why? Didn’t she realise what an aphrodisiac her passion was? “It’s not like I was saving myself or anything.”
Curiosity sparked. “So why?”
She shook her head. “Lots of reasons, I suppose.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Something like heat flashed in her gaze. “So what is?”
He moved back to the bed, staring down at her as his fingers tweaked one of her nipples with indolent possession. She squawked in surprise, but that only lasted a second, then she moaned, tilting her head back, as pleasure usurped any other feeling.
“You are a very sensual woman, Ella. It is a part of your nature you have denied yourself. This cannot have been an accident.”
“Maybe I’m not like this with other men,” she said, then seemed to regret it, clamping her lips shut.
“You are saying you’ve never been made to feel like this?”
She stared mutinously straight ahead.