The rawness in his voice struck deep inside her. ‘Like who?’
He shook his head. ‘No one. We’ve already committed the crime, Perla mou. The guilt will never leave us.’
Sensation bombarded and it was all she could do to keep her thoughts straight. ‘So your solution is to commit the crime again?’
‘If you’d stayed away, that would’ve ended the matter. But you’re here now, front and centre, and I find that I lack the willpower to let you walk away.’
Her shocked laughter scraped her throat. ‘You speak as if I have some sort of power over you—’
‘You enthralled me from the moment I saw you.’ The words were spoken with no pleasure. None. There wasn’t even a hint of a compliment in there.
‘I’m sorry I affect you that way. Let go of me and I’ll remove myself from your presence.’
His laugh was self-deprecatory. ‘I’ve had you wedged against this door for the last twenty minutes. A gentleman would’ve offered you a drink, shown you the spectacular view from the tower deck, then offered to have you chauffeured home.’
‘There’s absolutely nothing stopping you from doing that.’
‘But there is. Perla, I’m not a gentleman. Your panties are shredded at my feet and in the next sixty seconds I intend to be deep inside you.’
The words murmured, hot and urgent, against her neck made her close her eyes against the drugging inevitability that assailed her. Need, ten times more powerful than she’d experienced the first time with him, shot to her sex, leaving her drowning in liquid heat.
Perla barely managed a squeak when he swung her up in his arms and strode purposefully down a hallway. He stopped at the first door on his right and thrust it open to reveal a large white-carpeted bedroom. Black and chrome stood out in sharp contrast to each other, with no warmth or decorative aesthetics to lighten the mood.
He deposited her on the bed and pulled off her skirt, then froze. His mouth worked soundlessly for several seconds before the groan exploded from his chest.
‘I thought I imagined how exquisite you were but I didn’t.’ Again the words were spoken with a starkness that caused a sliver of ice to pierce her pleasure.
‘Arion...’
He rubbed the back of his knuckles across her sex, then stepped back and undressed with swift, jerky movements.
Pulling her thighs wide apart, he muttered something in his native language, his fingers biting into her thighs.
Sucking in a needy breath, she glanced up at him and almost wished she hadn’t.
He looked tortured, his face a hard mask of desire as he surged inside her. He’d already damned himself by sleeping with her the first time.
They were caught in a spell neither seemed capable of breaking, and she watched that knowledge eat him alive as he penetrated deeper inside her.
‘Ari...’ It felt wrong, but it also felt so right, just like it had the first time.
The need to pull him back from his torment, if only for a moment, made her reach for him.
She touched his face and he refocused on her. Hazel eyes stared deep into hers as he increased the tempo of his thrusts. Almost possessed, he took her pleasure to another level. By the time her orgasm tore through her, she believed she’d touched something sacred. With a guttural cry, he followed her into ecstasy. Deep convulsions ripped through him as he collapsed on top of her. Her hand slid from his face to cradle his sweat-slicked neck. She shut her eyes as sensation drifted into calm. She knew it was elusive; that what they’d done was in no way calming or solace-giving.
They’d given in to their animal instincts. Had let that damning temptation run free. And yet...
Before she could complete the thought, he surged upright and swung himself off the bed. Keeping his back turned, he pulled on his boxers and trousers.
‘The bathroom’s through there. Get dressed and come and find me. We need to talk,’ he threw over his shoulder before he left the room.
Dazed and confused, she lay there for several minutes, staring at the beautifully designed chrome ceiling lights. It took several deep breaths and a severe talking-to before she managed to pull herself together.
She returned to the living room to find him at the window, still shirtless and breathtakingly gorgeous.
He turned at her entrance and raked a hand through his hair. ‘Are your in-laws expecting you back tonight?’ he asked, his eyes exhibiting none of the tormented pleasure she’d witnessed minutes ago.
‘Yes,’ she responded warily, wondering where he was going with his enquiry.