He smiled—a wry curve of his sensual lips. ‘My pleasure.’ Well, not quite. He intended it to be. But he didn’t make the crack that hovered on his tongue. She reminded him of the girl he had first met—so innocent, her face flushed with pleasure …
He led her below deck to the diving lab, where any finds were examined and placed in a locker.
Ten minutes later Selina looked in awe at the coin Rion held in the palm of his hand. ‘What do you think? Is it Egyptian? Greek? Or maybe Spanish?’ she asked excitedly.
‘It is definitely Greek—and now I want my reward for cleaning it,’ Rion said huskily. Watching her jump up and down with pleasure in her white bikini was killing him.
‘Can I hold it? Is it really ancient?’
Unaware of Rion’s problem, Selina felt excitement fizzing through her as she glanced from the coin in his hand up into Rion’s dark face. Only then did she see the banked-down desire and something else … an echo from the past in his expression … that made her excitement level rise even further.
‘I’ll look it up later,’ he said, and dropped the coin on the steel table. His dark eyes holding hers, he curved an arm around her waist to pull her close. ‘Right now I have a more pressing problem I need to deal with. The vision of you in this bikini has been haunting me for a week,’ he breathed against Selina’s lips, tempting but not touching, running a long finger beneath the fine strap of her top.
Selina’s breath caught at the feel of his hard, hot body against her, stirring her blood and melting her bones, and she couldn’t speak, could only stare as Rion stepped back and pulled off his khaki shorts. She gasped at the sheer strength of his arousal.
‘I can’t wait,’ he murmured, and he flicked the clasp between her breasts and peeled the scrap of material over her shoulders and down her arms to fall to the floor.
She let him, excitement riding her. His hands clasped her waist and he bent his head to brush her lips with his, moving lower to draw one pouting nipple into his mouth, suckling then delivering the same treatment to the other. While his hands stroked over her hips his fingers deftly unfastened the two tiny ribbons that held the fabric that protected her modesty. He pulled the slip of material between her legs and dropped it on the table.
Selina saw his face, a taut mask of raw passion, and shuddered in eager response as in one deft movement his strong hands lifted her onto the table, wrapped her legs around his waist and thrust into her already moist, waiting body. She grasped his arms, his shoulders, her fingernails digging into his flesh as he possessed her with an uncontrollable driven hunger, and she convulsed around him, shuddering violently as he climaxed with her.
He folded his arms round her and rested his head against hers for long minutes, until finally the lingering waves of release faded away and they could breathe again.
‘I didn’t—’
‘Don’t say a word. Just lift me off here,’ Selina said huskily.
Rion lifted her up and slowly lowered her to the ground. ‘Are you okay?’
She looked at him naked, and then at herself, a wobbly rueful smile curving her swollen lips. ‘I’m not complaining, and I’ll be fine if I can find my bikini.’
Selina glanced around the room, her eyes scanning the tabletop and spotting the lower half of her bikini. She picked it up and tied it back on.
Wordlessly Rion retrieved her top and his shorts from the floor and pulled his shorts on. What could he say after ravishing her on a metal tabletop? That he never lost control? Well, that was a lie. He had—quite spectacularly. He handed her the top …
Selina took it and slipped it on. Feeling better dressed, she looked around again, her smooth brow creasing in a frown as she scanned the long table a second time. Eventually she turned back to Rion and placed her hands on her hips, indignant amber eyes clashing with his.
‘I will kill you, Rion Moralis, if you have lost my coin. You put it on the table and I can’t see it anywhere now.’
Rion couldn’t help it. He burst out laughing …
‘It is not funny. The coin might be a valuable find—very ancient. You said it was Greek.’
‘It is. But it is not gold and not very old,’ he said, grinning down at her. ‘It is a fifty-drachma coin from nineteen-ninety, and no longer any use because the Greek currency changed to the euro in two thousand and one.’
Selina was crushed ‘Really?’ She looked up into Rion’s laughing eyes. ‘You knew before we—’
‘Sorry. Yes. But you were so excited I didn’t want to disillusion you.’
‘You mean until you had your wicked way with me?’ She grinned up at him.
Rion swept her up in his arms. ‘What can I say? A man needs to do what a man needs to do.’ He buried his head in her glorious hair and, biting his lip to stop laughing, carried her to her cabin and lowered her gently to her feet. ‘Take a rest before dinner, Selina, you have had a strenuous day.’ And, planting a swift kiss on the tip of her nose, he walked out, still grinning broadly.
‘You look happy,’ Dimitri said as he strolled into the main salon and poured himself a whisky from the bar.
‘I am,’ he said, glancing at his old friend who was sitting having his usual whisky and soda. He realised he actually was. He hadn’t felt this good in ages. Raising his glass, he took a swig of whisky. ‘It was a great dive and Selina really surprised me. She is very good.’
‘What happened with the gold lump she recovered from the seabed?’
Rion grinned and told him.
Dimitri started to chuckle, then laughed out loud. ‘I bet Selina was disappointed it wasn’t the treasure she thought she had found.’
‘No, she took it quite well—she saw the funny side,’ Rion corrected him.
‘Yes, she would,’ Dimitri said, more seriously. ‘Selina is an incredible girl—just the sort you should marry. If I was single and twenty years younger I’d marry her myself.’
A sharp stab of anger twisted Rion’s gut at the mention of marriage. Selina was hot in bed but he would never forget she had betrayed him.
‘That’s never going to happen. She is my ex-wife.’
Dimitri choked on his whisky.
Selina awoke to a loud whirring noise and turned her head. The impression of Rion’s head on the pillow was the only sign he had been in the bed, but stretching her body reminded her. At dinner last night Dimitri and Ted had delighted in teasing her about the coin she had found, and finally Rion had decided they needed an early night. They had retired to bed, where they had indulged their sexual appetite to the full, and now he had gone—not that Selina was complaining. She had been with him all the way and was exhausted. Glancing at the bedside clock, she groaned.
It was only five in the morning. As the noise got louder she rolled over onto her stomach and pulled a pillow over her head to block out the sound. She needed her sleep. It would be nice to wake up in her own bed for a change—she never had so far …
The next time she opened her eyes she saw Rion, dressed in his usual khaki shorts and a white open-necked shirt, his hair still wet from the shower. He looked disgustingly fit and devilishly attractive. ‘What time is it?’ she asked. And, not waiting for an answer, said, ‘A terrible noise woke me up at five this morning. You had gone. What was it?’ She assumed he had gone to investigate.
‘Nothing to worry about and it is now ten.’ Handing her a cup of coffee, he added, ‘Drink this and then get dressed. I have a surprise for you.’
He put his hand in his shorts’ pocket and handed