Page 115

He divested me of my underwear in one fluid motion, and I whimpered when his fingers found me. He teased me with the tip of his middle finger, tickling lightly on the head of my clitoris. My thighs trembled and I gripped his biceps, desperate for him to stop, desperate for him to never stop.
“Are you still considering being separated from me?” he asked, his voice teasing, coaxing.
“Alfie…” I groaned, writhing helplessly on the table.
“What, baby? Do you really think you could go a day without this?” He plunged three fingers inside me. I gasped, grinding myself down against their welcome pressure.
“Say you’ll come.”
“You’re manipulating me.”
“Shamelessly.”
I felt like I was being driven mad, and from the wicked gleam in his eye I knew that was his intention. Blind me withpleasure until I was too lost to refuse him anything. But this was important, I had to hold onto my wits. With a herculean effort, I gripped his wrist, halting the movements of his treacherous fingers. With my gaze I pleaded with him to stop, to take pity on me, but of course he never would.
Calmly, he shook my hand away as if it were no more than a nuisance and resumed toying with me.
“Say you’ll come with me.”
I shook my head, unable to trust myself to speak and he let out a low growl at my refusal. His hand left me and I groaned in frustration. He reared over me, undoing his trousers and releasing himself. His gaze was heated and wrought with desire. I felt pinned by it, powerless to do anything but squirm on the table and wait for him to sate my lust. He loomed over me and, just when I thought he was going to tease me, he plunged inside, stretching me so suddenly I let out a loud gasp.
He took me hard and without mercy, till I was panting and half-crying with pleasure. I almost hated him for the power he had over me. Almost.
“Say it, Lola.”
I felt a thin sheen of sweat burst over me as he pushed me higher and higher towards his goal.
“Alfie!” I cried out and he smiled.
“I’m taking that as a yes.”
I should argue, I should fight. “You’re insane, Alfie. You’re a madman,” I gasped as he rode me to my peak.
“Then I’m ecstatic in my madness.”
Forty
Iwoke to a trail of soft kisses being planted up my spine. They tip toed along the blades of my shoulders and up to my neck, where sharp teeth gripped my earlobe and gave it a gentle tug, causing me to shiver and writhe.
This was the best way to wake up.
My love sank into my body in one smooth thrust and made lazy morning love to me. His body cocooned mine, his skin warm and soft, his strong, muscular arms forming a protective shield around me. I nestled into him as he took his pleasure. His smooth chest bore down on my back, pressing me into the soft sheets. His pace quickened and I moaned my approval.
He rode my body, plunging through my sensitive tissues until he had me moaning my release around a mouthful of Egyptian cotton sheets. His own release came hard and I felt his warmth spread inside me, filling me up like syrup.
I turned my mouth up to be kissed and he didn’t disappoint, claiming my mouth with the ease of a man who knew he owned a woman, body and soul.
He smelt of the morning, of spring on the cusp of summer, of Egyptian cotton and sex.
He turned me so we were nose to nose, our bodies intertwined like tree roots. His fingers led a light dance over my thigh, his touch affectionate. We lay there for an age, absorbing each other. I counted the silver flecks in his eyes, watched as the sternness, usually heavy in his brow, gave way to a tentative happiness. I reached up and touched a finger to the thin scar that ran through his brow.
“How did this happen?” I asked, not for the first time.
“I fell out of a tree when I was a child.”
I tilted my head at him as if he were a trick image, the kind where if you can look at it just right, you’ll be able to see the real picture inside.
“Truly?”