sexual frustration.
But Rina had tensed, he could sense her uncertainty, and it would be unfair of him to try and persuade her to take their passion to its ultimate conclusion—even though he was certain that with patience and restraint he could arouse her to a level where she would willingly make love with him. Another moment and he would refasten the jacket and bring them both back down to reality, he told himself. He took a deep breath, nostrils flaring as he fought for control, but he could not resist stroking his hand lightly over her stomach, and then lower.
Her thighs were silky smooth, and he caught her faint gasp when he brushed his fingers through her silky curls. ‘Why do you want to hide yourself from me?’ he murmured huskily. ‘You have a beautiful body, Rina. I’m sure you can be in no doubt that I’m massively turned on by you,’ he added self-derisively, knowing that she could hardly miss the throbbing hardness of his erection pressed against her thigh.
‘Are you?’ her breathy little voice whispered in the silent cave and Nikos stiffened, thinking that she was taunting him. But there was no hint of teasing in the big brown eyes that were focused on him. She reminded him of a timid deer that was poised for flight, and yet, with gentle handling, might stay and allow him closer.
‘What do you think?’ he said quietly as he took her hand and laid it over the bulge beneath his trousers. He watched her eyes widen, her pupils hugely dilated, and could not resist lowering his head and kissing her softly swollen mouth. The feel of her lips parting beneath his threatened to shatter his self-control, and, tempted beyond bearing, he slid his hand between her legs and delicately probed the tightly closed edge of her femininity. Her whole body jerked with reaction, and he thought for a moment that she would reject him, but then she slowly relaxed, and his blood thundered in his veins when he gently parted her and discovered the unmistakable evidence of her arousal.
Kitty’s heart was beating so fast that she was sure it would burst through her chest as she felt Nikos part her, and she caught her breath when he slowly inserted a finger between her silken folds. She could feel the betraying dampness between her legs and was embarrassed that he would know she was aroused, but he gave a low growl of satisfaction and eased deeper inside her while his thumb pad found the tight little nub of her clitoris and tenderly stroked across it with devastating effect.
‘Oh…’ The shock of experiencing her first intimate male caress caused Kitty to cry out. The feel of Nikos’s finger moving inside her was bliss, rapture beyond anything she had ever imagined, and she trembled as intense sensations rippled through her. To her untutored body it seemed impossible that there could be more, that she wasn’t already at the peak, but the ache deep inside her was growing ever more demanding, and following an instinct as old as time she tried clumsily to pull him down on top of her.
‘Wait, agape.’ His voice was hoarse, as if he too was no longer in control of himself and was driven by a deeply ingrained, basic need that could no longer be denied. Kitty did not know how he divested himself of his clothes without her being aware of it, but suddenly he was naked and he spread the edges of his jacket that she was still wearing wide open and came down on her, the rough hairs that covered his thighs and abdomen feeling slightly abrasive against her skin. She felt the jutting length of his penis press into her belly—so shockingly rigid and alien to her that her eyes flew open and she stared up at him as he loomed over her, and swallowed at the hard gleam in his eyes.
What on earth was she doing? Was she really going to allow Nikos—a man she had never met until tonight—to make love to her? A tremor ran through her. She shouldn’t be here, should never have allowed the fiery attraction between them to burst into flame. Nikos was a notorious playboy and she was a princess from the royal house of Karedes—yet even knowing that it was wrong, she acknowledged with searing honesty that she didn’t want Nikos to stop.
‘I bet you’re still a virgin.’ Vasilis’s sneering voice echoed in her head, and rebellion flared in her heart. She was twenty-six, and it was time she became a woman, but out of fairness to Nikos she knew she must confess her inexperience.
‘Nikos,’ she whispered faintly, ‘I think I should tell you…’ But the rest of her words were lost beneath his mouth as he claimed her lips in a searing, soul-shattering kiss that dismantled the last of her doubts and fears.
‘Tell me what?’ he muttered. ‘You’re not on the Pill—is that it? Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.’ The sensual smokiness of his voice wrapped around Kitty like a cocoon, and she was only dimly conscious of him reaching into his jacket pocket and donning protection with a swift efficiency that spoke of plenty of practice. Then he came down on her once more, settled his hard, muscular body between her thighs, and she could feel the pulsing thickness of his shaft press impatiently against her opening.
This was it, the moment she had wondered about all of her adult life, and she still couldn’t quite believe that it was going to happen. Her heart was galloping, her breath coming in short, shallow pants, and suddenly her nerve deserted her and she tried to bring her legs together. But she was too late, Nikos was already surging forwards, and he gently but firmly pushed her thighs apart and entered her with one deep, powerful thrust that brought a shocked cry from Kitty’s lips.
‘Theos!’ He stilled instantly and stared down at her, his brows lowering in a harsh frown. ‘Your first time? How can it be?’ Nikos demanded in stunned incomprehension. He began to withdraw from her, but now that Kitty was over the first shock of penetration her muscles were stretching around him and the brief pain was fading. She loved the new and wondrous sensation of having him fill her completely, and the restless ache inside her was once again clamouring to be assuaged.
‘Don’t stop…please.’ She clung to his shoulders, urging him down again, and, sensing his indecision, she wrapped her legs around him, inviting him to push into her once more. It was an invitation he couldn’t refuse and with a muttered imprecation he surged forward, taking it slower this time, but the power of each ensuing thrust was no less intense and Kitty arched beneath him and gave herself up to the pleasure of feeling him move within her.
Deeper, harder, Nikos was aware that he was losing control, and he slipped his hands under her and cupped her bottom, lifting her so that he could plunge deeper still, setting a rhythm that was fast and frantic as he took them both to the edge.
The burning ache in her pelvis was unbearable now, and Kitty felt as if something inside her were being stretched until it could be stretched no more and it would snap at any second. ‘Please…’ She couldn’t stand it any longer. It had to happen, now. She curled her fingers into the sweat-dampened hair at Nikos’s nape and clung to him while he drove into her again and again, taking her higher and increasing her excitement with every stroke.
And suddenly, when she was trembling and desperate, he gave one more devastating thrust, and the dam burst. A tidal wave of pleasure swept through her as her muscles contracted in pulse after pulse of exquisite sensation, and the ripples radiated out until every inch of her body was suffused in ecstasy. Almost simultaneously she heard the low groan that seemed to be ripped from his throat and felt the great shudders that tore through him as he reached his own release. He slumped on top of her and she felt his heart slamming in his chest.
In a protective gesture as old as womankind she crossed her arms over his back and cradled him on her breasts, holding him tight for those few moments while he was at his most vulnerable. Tears filled her eyes and tenderness swamped her heart. He had just given her the most incredible experience of her life and in the aftermath she felt as though their souls as well as their bodies had been as one. It seemed impossible that he did not feel it too. But too soon he raised himself onto his elbows and stared down at her, the gleam in his eyes no longer caused by passion, but anger, as he demanded, ‘Why the hell didn’t you tell me you were a virgin?’
Kitty took one look at Nikos’s grim expression and swiftly dismissed the idea that the intense passion they had just shared had meant anything more to him than a physical release of lust. This feeling that their souls had meshed and were now inextricably entwined was an illusion brought on by the intensity of her first sexual experience, and the coldness in his eyes warned her he did not share her fantasy.