The Greek Bachelors Collection. Rebecca Winters

bordered on pain; his fingers tightened in her hair and his mouth locked on hers as he drove them both higher.

      They were kissing when the explosion took them. Wave after wave engulfed them, crashing down on them, leaving no room for breath or recovery as they were caught in the web of sensation they’d spun for themselves. They kissed through her choked gasps and through his tortured groan, through the contractions that racked both of them and left them shaken.

      His chest was slick against hers, his fingers still digging hard into her bottom as he dragged in air.

      Kelly lay stunned, deliciously aware of the weight of him, the feel of him. If she’d been young and naive, she might have thought that such incredible sex could only happen when there was love, but she wasn’t a naive teenager any more.

      Slowly recovering her powers of thought, she realised with a flash of horror that the ring was round her neck. Panicking, Kelly pushed him away and fastened the few remaining buttons on her shirt with hands that shook.

       Had he noticed?

      No; both of them had been too carried away to notice anything but each other. Even if the ring had bashed him in the face, she doubted he would have seen it.

      And now she had to get him out of here before she made a fool of herself. ‘I’ll get you the ring,’ she croaked, walking to the door without looking over her shoulder. Her legs were shaking and her body was on fire but she knew she didn’t dare think about what they’d just shared. Not yet. Not now. Later—when she was on her own.

      Up in her bedroom, she unfastened the gold chain she wore around her neck and slid the ring into her palm. It glinted and winked at her and she felt a lump build in her throat. It had been next to her skin for four years. It had witnessed her pain and her slow, faltering recovery. Giving it back should feel cathartic—that was the theory.

      The practice was something quite different.

      Hearing a sound from the hall, Kelly quickly wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and walked back down the stairs.

      The front door was wide open.

      ‘Alekos?’ Puzzled, she glanced from the open door to the kitchen and then heard the unmistakeable, throaty growl of an impossibly powerful engine.

      Sprinting to the door, the ring still in her hand, she watched in disbelief as the Ferrari roared away.