yearning for him to say no.
When he shook his head, her heart soared.
‘No, it’s not. The taste of you is intoxicating. I want to drown in you.’ He captured her face in his hands and kissed her some more, murmuring phrases in Greek she had no hope of understanding. When he released her, he was breathing hard. Pulling her close, he rested his forehead against hers. ‘Theos...this is madness, but I can’t let you go. Not yet.’ He pulled back and tilted her face to his, his hazel eyes swirling with the same potent need that twisted inside her. ‘Stay with me tonight, Pearl.’
Her decision was instant; so frighteningly committed that she forced herself to remain silent when she wanted to blurt it out. Her fingers moved again over his soft, sensual lips. He captured them and kissed her knuckle. It occurred to her that she held his phone in her other hand. One small movement of her thumb and this would be over—decision made.
Or she could give the answer she wanted, no, needed to give. Take back a small piece of herself before she had to face the world again.
‘I don’t even know your name,’ she ventured.
‘My name is Arion. If it pleases you, you can call me Ari.’
She shook her head. ‘It pleases me to call you Arion.’
She loved the way her lips curled around his name. So much so, she said it again. ‘Arion...’
His eyes darkened. ‘You like my name?’ he rasped.
‘I love your name. I’ve never heard it before... Arion.’ She couldn’t resist the temptation to try it out one more time.
He caught her up to him and banded one arm around her waist. His laser-like gaze scoured her face as if he was trying to read her innermost thoughts. ‘The way you say my name... You are dangerous, Pearl mou.’
Laughter, long suppressed under the pain of just existing, scratched from her throat. ‘Wow...I’m dangerous? That’s a first.’
‘What have other men called you?’
The question sobered her up. Familiar humiliation threatened to crawl over her but she determinedly pushed it away. Tonight was her night, her choice. She refused to let thoughts of past failures intrude.
‘What do you think they’ve called me?’
‘Breathtaking. Stunning. A beauty Aphrodite herself would be jealous of,’ he breathed against her neck as his lips caressed her skin. ‘Your hair is incredible, the colour of a Greek sunset.’
Perla’s breath hitched in her lungs. Unbidden, tears sprang into her eyes. Blinking wildly before he spotted them, she forced herself not to be drawn in by the seductive words.
‘Am I close?’ He lifted his head and rubbed his stubble—as rough as she’d imagined it would be—against her cheek.
Liquid heat melted her insides.
‘Not even a little. But don’t let that stop you.’
‘Beautiful Pearl, I want to see your hair spread over my pillow. I want to bury myself in it, strangle myself with it.’ The hoarse litany made her draw back and stare at him. Once again, his face was stamped in pain. But, alongside it, desire, strong and unmistakable, burned right into her soul. ‘Does that frighten you?’
‘I want to say no, but I am a little frightened, yes. I’ve never done this before but I want to. Very much.’ So badly she couldn’t think straight. The need to forget, just for a short while, what faced her in the next few days, was so strong she couldn’t breathe for the need of it. ‘Right now, I’m so desperate for you I don’t know how long I can stand it.’
‘Then stay. I will give you everything you desire.’ About to kiss her again, he suddenly froze. ‘Unless you’re not free to be with me?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Is there a lover or a husband?’ came the tight, throaty demand.
The arrow of guilt that lanced through her made her freeze too.
This is your night. Yours! Tomorrow will come soon enough.
‘I’m free to be with you, Arion. I’ll stay with you tonight if you want me to.’
His suite was probably the last word in luxury; the fixtures and fittings ones she’d probably have ogled if she’d had a chance to take even a single note.
But with Arion’s mouth on hers, his fingers in her hair and his body pressed close and hot against hers, Perla didn’t notice one single thing about the third-floor suite, except that the RS button he’d pressed in the lift stood for Royal Suite.
She did notice the large red velvet sofa he laid her down on the minute they entered his suite’s pitch-sized living room. Although the memory of it disappeared once he’d shrugged off his jacket and tie and freed his shirt from his trousers.
His chest once he unbuttoned his shirt instantly made her mouth dry, then flood with longing as she stared at hard contours and smooth bronzed muscles. Hairless and divine, his stunning beauty made need she’d never known pulse through her.
But that was a fraction of what she felt when he dropped his trousers and stepped out of his cotton boxers. His erection stood strong and proud...and big.
Just then, the enormity of what she was doing hit her between the eyes.
She was about to lose her virginity to a complete stranger.
CHAPTER TWO
A DEEP SHUDDER ripped through Perla and she barely stopped her teeth from chattering like a wooden marionette in a child’s hand.
The sound she made as Arion, the man she had no knowledge of a mere hour ago, came towards her made him pause and frown.
‘Are you cold?’ he asked.
She was anything but. She shook her head, forcing a laugh. ‘No. I’m a little nervous. I haven’t—’ She stopped. What was the use of telling him of her inexperience? Whether she pleased or disappointed him, she’d never set eyes on this gorgeous man again. They were using each other to forget their pain, to hold the darkness at bay. This wasn’t the time to spill innermost secrets. It was the time to forget they existed. ‘It’s nothing.’
He nodded as if he understood. Then he took a single step forward, and angled himself over her. ‘I’ll make it good. I promise,’ he vowed, and she forgot everything else.
The kiss was hotter, deeper than the one he’d delivered at the car. This time his tongue probed her mouth with a sensual force that spoke of his need. Fists clamped in her hair, he went even deeper, his groan of satisfaction echoing her own as her fingers sought and found firm, heated, naked shoulders.
His skin felt like pure heaven. Velvety smooth and oh so gloriously luxuriant, she explored him from shoulder to back, then lower. When she moulded her hands over his bare bottom, then dug her nails into his taut flesh, he wrenched his lips from hers with a tortured groan. His breath came out in pants as he stared down at her, eyes dark with lust.
‘Promise me you’ll do that when I’m deep inside you.’
Heat drenched her from head to toe. From somewhere she summoned the strength to speak. ‘I promise.’
He licked the corner of her mouth in a move so simple and yet so powerfully erotic, she felt as if her insides would combust. She gave a heartfelt groan when he pushed himself off her. ‘For that to happen, glikia mou, you need to be as naked as I am.’
Perla stared down at herself, stunned that the power of his lust hadn’t melted the clothes off her. When he grabbed her arms and pulled her up, she went willingly. The slide of her zip was loud and intrusive in the silent room. Unwanted thoughts once again threatened to ruin the moment. What the hell are you doing? Leave. Leave now!
As if he could tell,