The Greek Billionaire's Innocent Princess (18 page)

Her heartbeat quickened when he slid his hand into her hair, and when he exerted gentle pressure

she lifted her face to him and felt his breath warm her skin before his lips claimed hers in a deep, slow kiss—a sensual tasting that she was powerless to resist.

The other guests on the dance floor faded away and the music of the band seemed distant.

Nothing existed but Nikos: the strength of his arms holding her close against his chest, and the

languorous drift of his mouth moving over hers in a drugging kiss that seemed to last a lifetime.

Kitty responded to him helplessly, her wariness and insecurities forgotten as the fire inside her

flamed into urgent life, and she murmured her protest when at last he lifted his head.

‘Time to go home,’ he growled as he whisked her off the dance floor and headed determinedly

in the direction of their host.

It was on the tip of Kitty’s tongue to tell him that it would be impolite to leave halfway through

the party, but her brain seemed to have stopped functioning, and her body was burning up. In the

car on the way back across town she tried to remind herself of the reasons why she had held out

against making love with Nikos—but he no longer seemed the remote stranger he had been on

their wedding day. He had been a kind and charming companion for the past few days when he

had shown her around Athens, and she had found herself falling under his spell. As for her

worries that he could not really be attracted to her when he had previously dated beautiful blonde

models—he had only had eyes for her tonight, and his self-confessed jealousy when she had

chatted to the university lecturer had made her feel like a desirable woman.

She was a mass of confused emotions when the lift whisked them up to the apartment and she

dared not look at Nikos even though she knew he was staring at her with his dark, brooding gaze.

The tension between them was tangible, and she gasped when the lift doors opened and he

suddenly scooped her into his arms as if she weighed nothing.

‘What are you doing?’ She clutched his shoulders and looked into his face, her heart pounding

when she saw the determined glint in his eyes.

‘What I wanted to do when we first arrived here on our wedding day,’ he told her as he strode

down the hall and into the master bedroom, where the blinds were drawn and the room was

bathed in a soft apricot glow from the bedside lamps. ‘And what we both want now,’ he added as

he set her on her feet. ‘Your body has been sending out signals all night,
agape
.’ And for the past few days if she had but known it, Nikos brooded, recalling every shy smile she had given him,

the way she often moistened her lips with the tip of her pink tongue in an unconscious invitation

and the way she stared at him with her big brown eyes when she thought he wouldn’t notice. For

the past few nights he had lain awake aching with frustration, fighting the temptation to walk

through the connecting door and snatch her into his arms.

‘I want you to be my wife in every sense, Kitty,’ he said deeply, running his finger lightly down

her cheek and noting how her pupils had dilated so that her eyes seemed too big for her delicate

face. ‘I want to recapture the passion we once shared, and I dare you to deny that you want that

too.

‘Your body has already given you away,
agape
,’ he growled when she made no reply.

Following his gaze, she looked down and saw the stiff peaks of her nipples straining against her

silk dress, and she caught her breath when he cupped her breasts and caressed them, brushing his

fingers across their swollen crests so that sensation pierced her. Her dress was an intolerable

barrier. She was desperate to feel his hands on her naked flesh, and suddenly nothing else

mattered except that he should appease the desire that was flooding through her in an

unstoppable torrent.

But she did not know what to say—how to tell him that she was ready to be his wife. Actions

seemed easier than words. Her heart was thudding painfully beneath her ribs as, eyes locked with

his, she reached behind her and drew the zip of her dress down from her neck to her waist. For a

second he did not react, and tension screamed between them before he brought his mouth down

on hers in a kiss of utter possession that told her clearer than any words that she had made her

decision and there would be no going back.

The bodice of Kitty’s dress was boned, meaning that she hadn’t needed to wear a bra. As Nikos

drew the red silk down lower and lower her breasts emerged like plump peaches and spilled into

his hands. Instantly he felt his body stir, and for a second he was tempted to rip the dress from

her body, throw her down on the bed and take her hard and fast. But with formidable will power

he curbed his impatience. He could sense her lingering uncertainty, and he knew he must take it

slow and arouse her fully until she ached as he ached with hot sexual frustration that clamoured

for release.

He pushed her dress down over her hips and tugged it down her thighs until it slithered to the

floor. Through the lacy panel of her knickers he could see the dark shadow of silky hair that

shielded her femininity, and he heard her swift indrawn breath when he hooked his fingers into

the waistband and stripped her completely.

When he had made love to her that first and only time in the cave she had been half hidden in

shadow. But now her body was exposed in all its voluptuous glory and he feasted his eyes on

her, gently moving her hands down when she tried to cover her breasts. ‘Why do you want to

hide yourself from me?’ he queried softly. ‘You are beautiful, Kitty, and I have never wanted

any woman the way I want you.’

Kitty trembled at his words, and watched, wide eyed, as he deftly removed his own clothes,

dropping his shirt and trousers carelessly to the floor to reveal his hard, muscular chest and

thighs. His silk boxers could not disguise the jutting length of his erection, and she snatched a

sharp little breath when he stepped out of them and stood before her, his awesome arousal

sending a flicker of trepidation through her.

But then he caught her to him and crushed her soft, pliant body against the hardness of his as he

slanted his mouth over hers and kissed her until she could think of nothing but him and her

desperate need for him to touch her between her legs and soothe the throbbing ache that began

low in her stomach. His tongue delved between her lips, taking the kiss to a deeper level, and she

responded mindlessly, matching his fierce passion until he groaned and lifted her onto the bed,

coming down beside her with one thigh across her hip to anchor her to the sheets.

‘You have magnificent breasts, Kitty
mou
.’ There was no hint of teasing in his low tone, just raw, feral need that sent an answering shaft of desire through her and made her arch her back

when he traced his mouth down from her lips to the deep valley of her cleavage. The flick of his

tongue across one dusky, swollen nipple and then its twin was so exquisite that she cried out and

dug her fingers into his thick black hair to hold him to her breasts. His soft laughter feathered her skin, and when he took each stiff crest in turn into his mouth and sucked hard she twisted her

hips restlessly and felt damp heat flood between her legs.

‘Nikos…’ The last shadows in her mind were blown away when he slid his hand over her

stomach to her thighs and rested there, tantalisingly close to where she longed for him to touch

her. She held her breath when he gently parted her, and when he slid his finger into her and

caressed her with rhythmic strokes she spread her legs a little wider so that he could continue his

erotic foreplay.

She could feel the solid length of his erection pushing against her thigh, and a tremor of shock

ran through her when he took her hand and placed it on his arousal. He was so hard and

powerful, and any second now she was going to have to take him inside her. She had done so

once before, she reminded herself as panic fluttered in her stomach. But then he moved over her,

slid his hand beneath her bottom to lift her slightly, and there was no time for doubt because he

eased forwards and entered her with one sure thrust that made her gasp as he filled her.

For a moment he stilled and stared down at her, his dark eyes burning into hers. Then he began

to move; firm, steady strokes as he drove into her, setting a pagan rhythm that echoed the

drumbeat of her heart and sent her blood thundering through her veins. She could feel the tension

inside her spiral with each exquisite thrust, and now he moved faster, harder, taking them

inexorably towards the edge. Kitty felt as though she was losing her grip on reality, lost to

sensation and the pleasure that was building and building. She clung to his shoulders and

anchored there while the storm raged. Little ripples were starting deep inside her and radiating

out as her climax hovered tantalisingly close. Desperation made her sob his name, and she

pleaded with him to never, ever stop. And suddenly she was there, suspended for timeless

seconds while he withdrew almost fully, and then with his next powerful thrust the dam broke

and she was racked by spasm after spasm of intense sensation that dragged a sharp, animal cry

from her throat.

Still he continued to move, each thrust more forceful and urgent than the last. But the feel of her

vaginal muscles tightening around him, squeezing him, shattered his formidable control, and

with a harsh groan Nikos spilled his seed inside her, his big body shuddering with the power of

his release and his chest heaving as he dragged oxygen into his lungs.

In the aftermath Kitty lay still, and stared dazedly at the ceiling. His head lay on her breasts and she crossed her arms around his back, swamped by the same feeling she’d had in the cave when

she had lost her virginity to him: that their souls were inextricably linked. It was an illusion of

course, she told herself firmly, brought about by the intensity of the passion they had just shared.

For Nikos it was simply good sex—a fact that he emphasised when he rolled off her and

stretched his lean body out on the silk sheets, tucking his arms behind his head as if he were a

sultan who had just enjoyed the services of his favourite concubine.

‘You see,
agape
,’ he murmured lazily. ‘Our sexual compatibility is not in doubt.’ He drew a ragged breath, waiting for his heartbeat to slow and wondering why he had felt so reluctant to

withdraw from her. He would have liked to pillow his head on her breasts and simply lie with

her. But the curious feeling of closeness that had swamped him in the aftermath of their

lovemaking wasn’t real, he assured himself. It was just good sex that he hadn’t wanted to end.

Fantastic sex; the best he’d had in a long time. Perhaps ever, his mind taunted him. It didn’t

mean anything. He had married Kitty because he wanted his child, and the fact that sex with her

was dynamite was an added bonus that left his body satisfied and his heart untouched.

Kitty’s skin had quickly cooled without the heat and welcome weight of Nikos’s body pressing

down on her, and she longed to curl up against him and lay her head on his chest. But now that

he no longer filled her she sensed a distance between them far greater than the width of the bed.

For her own self-protection it was vital she rebuilt her defences against him. She did not know

what he expected now that he had made love to her. He seemed suddenly remote, lost in his

thoughts, and she wanted to escape to the privacy of her own room, but when she sat up and

swung her legs over the side of the bed he reached out and curled his arm around her waist.

‘Where are you going?’

‘I thought I would sleep in my room.’

His eyes narrowed on her flushed face and he sensed the tension that once more gripped her.

‘It’s too late to run away now,
agape
. You are mine, and from now on you will sleep with me.

Besides,’ he murmured as he drew her back down and moved over her, ‘I intend to make love to

you several times during the night and it would be most inconvenient if I had to trek backwards

and forwards to fetch you.’

Beneath his teasing tone was a wealth of sensual promise that caused a tugging sensation low in

Kitty’s stomach. ‘Several times?’ she murmured faintly.

‘Certainly,
agape
,’ he assured her, ‘starting now.’

Kitty watched their reflection in the wall of mirrors; Nikos’s dark head bent to her breast, and

she inhaled sharply when he painted moist circles around one areola with his tongue and then

drew her nipple into his mouth. She ran her fingers through his hair, and then paused when she

noticed for the first time the tattoo of a scorpion on his shoulder.

‘What is this?’ she asked, remembering how Vasilis had said that Nikos had once been part of

the criminal underworld.

He followed her gaze to his reflection in the mirror, and his face hardened. ‘A reminder of my

past—it is the mark of the street gang I used to belong to when I was a youth. Stavros and Sotiri

were members of the same gang, and we used to make money from illegal bare-knuckle boxing

in back-street clubs.’

‘Dear God!’ She could not keep the shock from her voice. ‘How old were you?’

He shrugged. ‘Fifteen—but as I was bigger than most of my opponents, none of the sharks who