‘I don’t want to sleep.’
He didn’t feel safe. But neither had skiing on the black runs and that had made her stomach swoop and her heart pound. Never knowing what would come round the next bend. This was a little like that, the thrill of anticipation skittering through her belly. It was what she’d been missing, and she craved it like a drug. When had she stopped taking risks? Perhaps she could accept this, for a little while. She’d so wanted him to hold her, kiss her, before it all. The day of her wedding her only chance. She drank the rest of her wine. Rafe took the glass from her hands and set it on a table, before settling her into him again.
He’d wanted her. He’d made it clear. Whynotkiss her on their wedding day when he’d had the perfect excuse? When she couldn’t have said no, not in front of their guests and the millions watching on television. His answer to that question seemed imperative.
‘You could have kissed me in the cathedral, yet you didn’t. Why?’
She felt his lips at her hair. The warm breath of his murmur.
‘You said it wasn’t that kind of marriage.’
He was feigning obedience now? She snorted. ‘I don’t believe that. Your recalcitrance is renowned.’
He chuckled, and the sound ran like a dark river of pleasure running right through her. ‘I wasn’t kissing you in front of all those people.’
She turned to look at him. His face, dark and serious. His eyes intent.
‘Why?’
‘I refused to share what you say would have been our only kiss with the world.’ He cupped her jaw with his hand, so warm, so close. His voice a whisper on her skin. ‘Because I couldn’t kiss you then the way I wanted to.’
His thumb caressed her cheek, the gentle back and forth sprinkling goosebumps over her body. All of her trembling, tight and wanting. How had he wanted to kiss her? Why couldn’t it be done before the cameras? She had to know. Now craving their first and only kiss, more necessary than her next heartbeat.
‘You could do it now, like you wanted to.’
Rafe’s nostrils flared. His thumb stilled for a moment and resumed its slow slide across her skin. ‘You claimed it wasn’t what you wanted.’
‘It’s not.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘But, I mean, I shouldn’t deny you our first and only kiss. It wouldn’t be fair.’
‘You’re asking me to kiss you?’
‘Yes. It’s no big deal. It’s only a kiss.’
The hint of a smile tugged at his lips before his face became serious, intent. Staring deep into her eyes. His, an inky black like Lake Morenberg on a moonlit night. Deep, unreachable, unfathomable. A look that delved into the soul of her. She couldn’t have that. What he’d see. She closed her eyes so that she couldn’t be impaled by that all-knowing gaze.
‘No. If we’re going to kiss, look at me.’
It was the demand of a king, and it shook through her like a tremor, cracking at the foundations of everything Lise believed she wanted. She obeyed, their heated gazes clashing. The firelight sparking in his eyes making him seem otherworldly. Unholy. The moment stretched, as if the evening held its breath.
‘One kiss,’ he murmured, easing closer. Closing the gap between them. His lips soft, with a satisfied curve that screamed to her he believed he’d won. Yet she didn’t care. This was better than standing at the top of a run, waiting for the signal to push off and fly as fast as she could to the finish line. It all overwhelmed her. The crisp, wild smell of him. The tight clench of his jaw and flickering pulse in his throat that hinted he wasn’t unaffected by this as he eased closer. Giving her time to say no, as his mouth was a breath away from hers. She closed the distance till his lips brushed hers, which she met with a sharp inhale. The shock of that first touch. Then he pressed further. Gentle, coaxing her to life with a bright burst of heat deep inside.
She went with him, her stomach swooping as if she’d launched down the steepest of slopes. The flame roaring through her as if he’d ignited a fuse. It was okay. This was just a kiss, one kiss as he teased at her. She wanted more, not this furtive play. She sank her hands into his hair. He deepened the movement. Traced his tongue over the seam of her lips in a flicker. She opened her mouth and he claimed it. The tip of his tongue tempting hers in an intimate invasion. She chased it, gripped by a need that overtook her as Rafe plundered. This wasn’t just one kiss. Thisconsumedher.
He eased her back onto the couch and she offered no resistance, wanting and wanting. Rafe settled between her thighs. The hardness of his body hot between her legs. The heart of her turned molten. Something inside twisting higher and tighter. She rocked against his body. Craving this. Craving him. The voice in the back of her head whisperedno.She didn’t deserve the pleasure. But it was drowned by a deepening of the kiss, the exploration of his tongue, as if he sensed her withdrawal from him. How could she ignore it? This wicked thrill as she raced downhill into the chaos of it all. Pressed underneath Rafe, being kissed by him. Could she come like this alone? She might. She could. To the left, slightly. If she could just... Lise shifted restlessly. She needed him close. Closer.Inside her.
Rafe rocked into her, grinding his body on hers. His mouth claiming. This was no kiss. It destroyed her and she didn’t care. She wanted to destroy Rafe in the process too, as the course he’d set ran out of control. An avalanche of sensations burying her.
She tore her mouth from his. ‘Rafe. I want—’
‘Tell me.’ His voice was all command and the thrill of its mastery shuddered through her.
‘I need you.’ Who was the woman who said those words? The breathless, desperate woman whose voice whispered months of longing, heartbreak and desire. His mouth descended on hers again. She felt the taut curve of a smile against her lips. It could have been one of triumph, or something else. She didn’t care. In this moment she lived for the dissonance of his hard body against hers.
He eased a hand under her top, the warmth of it still a shock even on her overheated flesh. The trace of his fingers across her skin. He moved up, slipping his hand behind to release her from the constraints of her bra, all the while kissing as if his life would end if he didn’t plunder her.
She wrapped her legs around him, unable to control the rock as she moved her body with his. Chasing the liquid heat between her thighs. The feel of him burning through her. Starting low and igniting the fire. His hand slid further, moving the cup of her bra aside, teasing her nipple with a gentle roll between his fingers. She started as if shocked, but he’d trapped her mouth and the low groan from it, as if taking it all for himself. She craved nothing between them, squirming beneath his body, needing more, needing to be close. Her hands under his shirt now, the hard muscles under her palms, the hiss as she curled her nails into the flexing muscles of his back. Hands bunching the shirt at his waist reflexively. He pulled his lips away from her and she whimpered, not wanting any part of him to leave her body.
‘Take it off me.’