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The harsh oath cratered her serenity. Her head whipped round, and she froze.
Nick stood less than a handful of steps away, as still as she was. But his eyes, oh, the fire in his eyes threatened to consume her with their barely leashed hunger. Her mouth dropped open, sucking in desperate breaths as his gaze came back to hers.
My libido rages out of control only with you…
Fire licked through her belly. Her hands remained glued to the wall, her eyes riveted on him. For a long, tense moment, the only sound breaking the silence was that of the hot jets spewing from the showerheads. His shirt fell from his hand. Her senses registered the movement, but her eyes remained on his. His nostrils flared as he took another deep breath. One long stride brought him a step closer, and her insides somersaulted.
“What are you still doing up? I told you it wasn’t safe to be around me right now.” His voice was barely recognizable, its cadence thickened with anger and arousal. In his eyes she saw a clear, sizzling flame, which branded her, seared her to the soul.
“I…don’t think I can sleep.” Her words squeezed past a throat clogged with emotion. “Do you…do you want talk?”
“No. I don’t.” The words were succinct, implacable. “I want something else. Something that involves little or no talking. And you have the power to give it.” His head tilted in subtle challenge. “Trouble is…are you woman enough to give it to me?To us? Or will you scurry away again like an aggrieved Victorian maiden the moment things get too hot?” Legs wide apart, his stance was menacing. His gauntlet twitched between them, and his molten eyes scorched her, their quicksilver depths threatening to consume her.
“Don’t challenge me, Nick,” she whispered, her need a living thing, desperate to be assuaged.
“Or what?” he taunted, his whole presence telling her he’d gone past control’s threshold.
Unable to hold his gaze for fear of being burned alive, she lowered her lids, but instead of looking away, seeking a safer outlet, they began a journey of discovery over his body.
With moonlight and the soft lamps on the terrace the only light, he was cast in half shadow, all hard angles and smooth planes. But she witnessed his reaction to her scrutiny. His tongue flicked out to bathe his lower lip. She gasped for more air,her lungs protesting at her brain’s ineptitude at taking life-giving breaths.
Having worn only his trousers after his swim, Nick’s torso was bare, and her eyes ran over his taut, moon-kissed flesh. Perfect male nipples, now puckered to tiny points, made her tongue tingle. God, she wanted to taste them so badly, wanted to feel the hard nubs beneath her lips. Dropping her gaze lower, she took in the tiny droplets clinging to his washboard stomach. She wanted to lick every single drop off, but she held firm. Until her glance dipped below his waist.
And she came undone.
His trousers were zipped but the button unfastened. She watched as the zipper lowered in slow motion, of its own accord, forced down by the power of his growing erection. When his cock sprang free of its constraints and strained toward her, she moaned out loud.
She knew she was lost, but she’d go down fighting.
She raised her eyes to his and met volcanic heat in their grey depths.
“I’m more woman than you’ll ever encounter again in this lifetime. But if you want me, you’re going to have to come and get me.”
The volcano erupted.
With one long stride, he reached her. One arm clamped around her waist and the other angled her head to take the force of his lips as they smashed down on hers. This time there was no dainty savouring or languid exploring. His mouth devastated hers with complete vanquishing in mind.
The salt on his warm skin teased her nostrils. Not breaking the kiss, he turned her around in the shower, and the slide of his hard torso against her back as the water pounded them made her moan as his mouth ravaged hers. When his erection probed the cleft in her ass, her knees quivered, and her hands started to slip.
Tearing his mouth from hers, he commanded roughly, “Keep your hands on the wall.” He paused only to make sure she obeyed him before his teeth grazed over the back of her neck.
His assault was mind-melting in its devastation and went on for eternity. He nipped and licked the skin of her neck, her ear, her shoulder, her cheek. When he stepped back, she felt weak, a pulse throbbing between her thighs that made her want to scream at him to hurry.
He peeled off his wet trousers and kicked them away. She heard the slap of the sodden garment as it hit the wall and slipped to the ground. She didn’t need to look to recall with perfect clarity his powerful thighs and the essence of man that would be displayed prominently between his legs.
Dear Lord. He would be as thick and long, and as glorious she remembered.
“Nick—” She wanted to warn him she was at the edge of her endurance, but she changed her mind. Why give him all the power? Why tell him she was a hair’s breadth from orgasm just at the sight of his body?
“Tinkerbelle,” he responded throatily, and he reached out to reclaim her. “Or should I call you Aphrodite? Do you have any idea how enthralling you look with the water cascading over your hair and body?” His hands slowly traced her braced arms, starting from her fingers, over her wrists, under her arms, tracing the sensitive skin there and setting her alight in ways the water could never douse. At her upper ribcage, he paused, hands resting tortuously on the sides of her breasts. In slow, excruciating circles, he massaged her flesh while with his mouth feasted on the smooth skin of her throat.
“Ahhh,” she moaned, her head rolling back to rest on his shoulder.
His probing tongue charted a path of fire up her throat and flicked over the pulse which hammered there. Her stomachmuscles quivered. Jagged pleasure coursed through her, and her knees sagged again.
The need to make him feel what she was feeling became paramount, but with his command to keep her hands on the wall, she only had her body. Arching, she rubbed against him, her ass cupping his shaft in an eloquent caress. He growled, an involuntary jerk twisting his hips.
“You’re playing with fire, Aphrodite,” he husked in her ear, his firm hands finally coming around to cup and mold her breasts. She gasped, the sensation of his rough palm against her sensitive nipples threatening her very sanity. But she wasn’t beaten yet.