Page 16 of Billion-Dollar Baby Shock

Tacitly she opened her legs, giving him permission, and he explored her there with long fingers, finding where she was hot and achy. Wet for him. He stroked into her and Tara broke the kiss, back arching as he found the centre of her body.

He brought his mouth to her breasts, finding those stinging points and biting, licking, sucking them into even tighter peaks of need. Tara bucked against his hand and those wicked, clever fingers and within seconds she was shattering against him in a climax that winded her with its force.

When she could breathe again she opened her eyes. Dion was looking down at her, eyes glittering. ‘You are unbelievably responsive. It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever encountered.’

Tara opened her mouth to say something but she couldn’t speak.

He’d rendered her speechless. She watched as he reached for protection and rolled it onto his erection, her eyes widening.

She’d forgotten how majestic he was. And only for the fact that they’d already slept together, she didn’t feel intimidated.

He came up over her and, with one smooth thrust, seated himself in her body. Tara sucked in a deep breath at the way he stretched her, to the point of almost pain, but not quite.

‘Okay?’

She nodded and shifted a little under him, and the pressure eased. He started to move in and out and Tara kept her eyes glued to his, as if somehow that could keep her anchored when, with every slide of his body in and out of hers, she was being wound higher and higher.

She put her hands on his shoulders. They were so wide.

As the tension built, she wrapped her legs around his hips and he went even deeper.

He cursed a little and Tara felt a spurt of momentary delight that she had some power over him.

But it faded quickly when he took control again, and touched her so deep that she gasped.

An urgency gripped them both as they strained to reach the pinnacle. Skin slick with perspiration, desperation mounting.

‘Come for me, Tara… I need you…’ Dion said brokenly.

He put his hand between them and touched her where their bodies were joined in this age-old dance and before she knew what was happening she was flying over the edge with nothing to hang onto, her body convulsing in waves of pleasure, over and over again, barely aware of Dion’s muffled shout as his body went still and then jerked against her as he found his own release.

He collapsed on top of her and Tara bound her arms and legs around him. After a few minutes he lifted his head and said, ‘I’m sorry… I had planned to take more time…’

A wave of tenderness washed through Tara before she could stop it. She shook her head and brought up a hand to push back a lock of hair that had fallen over his forehead. He looked so much younger right now.

‘Don’t be sorry, it was…amazing.’ Then, feeling shy, she asked, ‘Is it always like this?’

She felt a tension come into Dion’s body and then he gently extricated himself from her embrace.

He got up and disappeared into the bathroom for a few seconds and then re-emerged, lying back down on the bed, unselfconscious in his nakedness.

Tara pulled the sheet up over her chest, suddenly a little cold.

She thought he wasn’t going to answer her question but then he said, ‘It would be easy to lie and say, yes, it’s always like this, but the truth is no, it’s not. It’s usually something far less…intense. Pleasurable, yes, if you’re doing it right, and hopefully for both partners, but not like this.’

He turned then to face her and came up on one elbow. ‘It won’t last, Tara, it never does. It’ll burn out…’

He touched her hot cheek with a knuckle and dragged it down to her jaw. Her skin tingled. He continued, ‘But what I propose is that we make the most of it while it lasts.’

Tara forced herself to say, ‘Aren’t things complicated enough?’ As if she were somehow the sane adult in the room.

Dion smiled. His hand went down and found the sheet she’d pulled up. He dragged it back down again, exposing her chest. He looked at her and she saw how his eyes flared and his cheeks darkened with colour. Her insides went on fire, again.

He dragged his gaze back up and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be so much more complicated to try and ignore this?’

Weakly she said nothing. Not even when he bent towards her and touched his mouth to hers.

Softly. In a question. The only answer Tara could give was to press her mouth against his and move closer until her chest was touching his.

Dion whipped the sheet aside and he pushed a thigh between her legs and Tara gave herself over to Dion’s very persuasive brand of logic.

* * *

When Dion woke it was dawn. It took him a minute to orient himself, which was disconcerting because he always woke with absolute clarity and knew exactly where he was.

Tara. Hearts pounding in unison, straining to reach a higher pinnacle of pleasure than he’d thought was possible.

He lifted his head but he already knew he was alone.

For a crazy second he wondered if it had all been a dream but when he put an arm out to the other side of the bed he could feel faint lingering warmth.

And her scent tickled his nostrils, along with something much earthier. Sex.

Then he heard a sound. Screeching. Splashing?

Niko. Awake. Dion got out of bed and had a rapid shower, pulling on jeans and a polo shirt.

He followed the sounds of his son to find Tara in the bathroom with him, giving him a bath.

She was supporting him in the water and he was splashing with enthusiasm, spraying everything within a large radius.

Including Dion. And including Tara, Dion noticed when she looked up and saw him.

She’d got dressed into shorts and a loose white shirt, which was pretty transparent by now, showing a white bra.

Dion looked away quickly because he could already feel his body responding.

She said, ‘I thought he could do with a bath when he woke up a while ago.’

Dion realised that he didn’t like not being the one who generally knew everything about everything. He had no idea how often babies should be bathed.

Tara grabbed a towel from nearby and stood up, lifting Niko out of the water and wrapping him in the towel.

‘Can I do anything?’ Dion heard himself asking before he’d even intended saying anything.

Tara looked at him. ‘Sure, you could put him down on his playmat and dry him off, let him kick his legs and arms a bit before we dress him again. I can clean up in here.’

‘Thea’s staff can do that.’

Tara smiled at him in a way that Dion felt was a kind of reproach. She said, ‘I’m sure Thea and her staff have enough to do. It’ll only take me a minute.’

She handed Niko over to Dion and he took him, for the first time not feeling as though he were handling an explosive object. Niko looked up at Dion and then he smiled and tapped Dion on the cheek with his pudgy hand. A swooping sensation caught at Dion in the gut.