In answer, Alice slid her hand around into his thick, short dark hair, surprised at its softness. She rose on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his.
For a moment he didn’t move and she cringed inside. This was a mistake. Hadn’t she known he couldn’t really be interested?
Then his mouth moved on hers, gently persuading her lips apart. His warm tongue slicked her lips then delved within and everything inside her melted and swayed at the eroticism of that sweet invasion. Her belly liquefied, her knees loosened and it was only the firm loop of his arm around her waist that kept her high against him.
His other hand eased the hair back from her face in a gesture so tender her heart rolled over.
Alice slipped her other hand up over his chest. The feel of hard, lean muscle sent a sizzle of excitement through her. She leaned closer, a willing pupil as he delved deeper, drawing out the kiss into something that sent shivery hot darts of flame through her blood.
She didn’t know which was better—the way Adoni kissed, making her feel treasured, or the feel of their bodies locked tight. The arm at her waist slid lower, drawing her hips against him.
Her breath stilled as she came in contact with a hard length against her belly.
Instantly he lifted his mouth and Alice almost wailed with disappointment at her loss, her face instantly tilting higher as if to tempt him back. Instead he pressed his lips to her forehead.
A shudder racked his tall frame and it hit her that she wasn’t the only one swept away in the moment. Surprise and satisfaction filled her. Even if this had started as a one-sided favour it had become something else.
‘Adoni?’ Her voice was husky and uneven.
He drew back just far enough to meet her eyes. What did he see? She felt flushed and wanton, not like herself.
‘This is your chance to change your mind.’ Gone was the slightly teasing gleam she’d seen in his face when he’d talked of kissing her. Now he looked solemn to the point of grimness.
‘About kissing you?’
‘And the rest of what you wanted.’
The rest? Her brow furrowed as she tried to recall their earlier conversation but her foggy memory couldn’t compete with the heady sensations bombarding her. That delicious spicy scent of his skin, the rich flavour of him still on her tongue. The heat of his large body surrounding her and that strange mix of vulnerability and power she felt at the differences in their closely aligned bodies.
‘You wanted an orgasm.’
Fire flooded her face as she met his steady scrutiny.
‘Please, tell me I didn’t say that.’
One corner of that thin mouth tipped up and fire trailed through her middle right down to her womb.
‘Apparently the men you’ve known haven’t been very obliging.’
Alice closed her eyes and dropped her forehead against his collarbone. Maybe if she wished hard enough she’d wake up in her own bed and discover this was a dream.
An intense, remarkably erotic dream. One large palm circled her lower back and instinctively her pelvis tilted forward, right to that hard column of masculine arousal.
Should she tell him there’d been no men in her life, not the way he thought? Admit that her previous experience of kissing had been once in her early teens and once again a couple of years ago, neither of them memorable except for her disappointment. Clearly her expectations had been too high.
But this man blasted those expectations to smithereens. She’d never thought a kiss could make her feel so...
‘Alice?’
She lifted her head. ‘I’d like to kiss you again.’ Her voice was rough, unrecognisable, and she swiped her tongue over her bottom lip. A shudder ripped through her at the way his eyes narrowed on the movement.
‘Is that all you want?’
She opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say. She’d never had a conversation like this. She’d assumed that when the time was right and she’d finally found a man with whom she wanted to lose her virginity, it would just...happen.
Stupid to be shy now when she’d apparently already propositioned the guy. But now she was sober. Her head as clear as it was possible to be when wrapped in the arms of an impossibly gorgeous Greek God of a man.
‘Couldn’t we just kiss and see what happens?’
Again that tiny uptilt to the corner of his mouth, only this time Alice read tension there as much as humour. ‘I already know what will happen. We’ll have sex and we won’t stop till we’re both utterly sated.’
Her heart gave a wild flutter and something tugged hard inside her. She felt moisture at her core and wriggled, hyper-aware that the ribbon of fabric between her legs was damp.
‘You need to decide.’
He gave her the choice to step away and behave like sensible, sane Alice Trehearn.
Yet how could she when the tips of his fingers traced a pattern of temptation across her back? They roved from one hip to the other, dipping and swirling and making desire course through her.
‘I...’ She closed her eyes, trying to gather her wits. But all she could summon was the realisation she wanted this man as she’d never wanted before. It didn’t matter that she’d always imagined sex as part of a loving, committed relationship. Life had taught her that you never knew what was around the corner and happiness had to be grabbed with both hands.
Maybe it was partly the champagne but she sensed it was Adoni himself who tempted her to take a step she’d never taken before.
Surely he was the perfect man to initiate her into sexual pleasure?
What did she have to lose except her inexperience?
And wouldn’t a night in his bed be the perfect antidote to loneliness? Loneliness had compounded the sharp ache of grief since she’d been forced to leave David’s estate and all the people she cared for.
Firm hands gripped her shoulders and he stepped back, shocking Alice with the sudden, urgent distress she felt.
‘No! Don’t!’ She looked up into those dazzling eyes and knew there was only one answer she could give if she was to be true to herself. ‘I can’t guarantee orgasms but I’d like to stay with you.’ The words came out in a breathless tumble.
A warm hand cupped her chin, his thumb stroking rhythmically over her mouth till her bottom lip dropped open and Adoni traced her mouth. Alice shivered at the heavy weight of desire filling her belly and the decadent promise of pleasure in his remarkable eyes.
‘I’d like you to stay too, Alice.’ The way he said her name, with the slightest of accents, sent a shiver of pleasure through her. ‘As for the orgasms—’ he smiled, a slow, sexy smile ‘—let me worry about those.’
ADONI ROLLED ONTO his back, his blood thundering, aftershocks of rapture echoing through him. Light flashed in the blackness of his closed eyes and he struggled for breath, his chest rising mightily as he sucked in air.
Finally he found the strength to open his eyes and stare at the ceiling of his bedroom. It looked unfamiliar, as if the events of the evening had changed his perspective, even on something as mundane as cream paint.
Certainly he felt different. Not just sated but as if he’d tapped into an energy source that both drained and renewed him at the same time.
‘They didn’t do it right,’ he said finally, his voice raw.