* * *
A primal surge of possessiveness tightened in Zain’s chest, the powerful, fundamental response interwoven with tenderness as he struggled with the realisation that he had been Abby’s first, her only lover. Something he hadn’t thought possible.
‘I lost control... I’m sorry.’
The words were heavy with self-recrimination and Abby’s head turned sharply towards him on the pillow, their glances locked.
‘Take that back,’ she hissed furiously. ‘Don’t you dare say you’re sorry.’
‘I assumed...there is a lot of stuff out there about—’ It was no excuse and he felt ashamed for voicing it.
‘My multiple lovers? None of it is true—it was only ever my agency trying to get publicity. I’ve never even met some of the men I’m meant to have been sleeping with—one of them is even gay, though I don’t think he actually knows it yet.’
‘And you don’t mind?’
‘It’s mostly harmless, and Nana and Pops don’t do the internet or read tabloids so there’s no harm done.’
‘If I’d known you had never been with a man before I would have not been so—’
‘You were perfect,’ she cut in, blushing ferociously.
‘I would be flattered except you’ve not really had any other experiences for comparison, have you? Another thing...’ He hesitated.
‘I’m fine. What did I do wrong?’
‘Not you, me... I... I didn’t use protection; are you...?’
She shook her head. ‘No.’
‘Right, that could be a complication.’
She swallowed. ‘It was just one time.’
He reached for her and pulled her down to him, a realisation dawning on him—the possibilities this new development created. ‘It doesn’t have to be one time...eighteen months is a long time to go without...’
* * *
Abby could have pointed out that she had gone twenty-two years without with no ill effects, but she didn’t. Shading her eyes with her lashes, she asked, ‘So does that mean you won’t be...?’ She broke off, arching her back as he ran a hand over the curve of her bottom.
Zain completed the question for her. ‘Sleeping around?’
An image of Zain in bed with faceless and beautiful women floated into her head along with a stab of pain that felt as if a hand had reached into her chest and squeezed hard.
Abby looked away and nodded, hoping nothing in her expression gave away the fact that his reply mattered more than a little to her.
‘I have too much respect for you to do that.’
She didn’t doubt his words but there was a certain uneasiness in his tone.
‘I don’t want your respect, I want... I want...’ Shaking her head, Abby struggled to sit up but was prevented by the weight and tensile strength of the arm that lay across her shoulders.
A long finger on the angle of her jaw brought her face around to his, her lashes lowered before he could read the answer to his question in her eyes. ‘Abby, what do you want?’
‘I want...’ It was as if someone had turned up an invisible volume control and the whisper that had been active in the back of her mind became a loud, deafening and infinitely shocking shout.
Love!
She wanted love!