Page 75 of Modern Romance July 2025 #4-8

‘It’s too hot to be outside,’ he said as soon as they were in the cool interior of the villa, with the breeze billowing through the windows. ‘Besides, seeing you in some of those outfits was too much of a turn on… I’d rather be in bed with you than swimming in a pool.’

The curiosity was still needling at the back of his mind as he began undressing her, not waiting for the bedroom, too hot for her to take his time.

He buried his mouth against her neck, propelling her back, back against the door and relishing her whimpers of pleasure as he kissed her, nipping her soft skin with his teeth while he pushed his hands up under her tee-shirt.

He could barely bear the brief pause as he yanked the tee-shirt over her head and then he kissed her, long and deep, the rhythm of his tongue against hers matching his movements against her pelvis. The rub of his erection through his shorts against her stomach made him want to groan out loud.

He tugged down the straps of the swimsuit and inched them apart to appreciate the lush swell of her breasts, the big, circular discs of her nipples swollen, the tips stiff and growing stiffer as he rubbed them with the abrasive pad of his thumbs.

‘I have to calm down,’ he said hoarsely, ‘Or else I’m going to do something I’ve never done before.’

‘What?’

‘You know what, Cassie. No man is ever proud to lose control of himself in his clothes. You’re trying hard not to laugh, aren’t you?’ There was shaky amusement in his voice. ‘You have a cruel streak I’ve never noticed before.’

‘How do you plan on calming down, Leo? And what if I don’t want you to?’

Leo gritted his teeth when she reached for the button on his shorts, flicked it open and then shoved her hand underneath, pushing against the zip which smoothly parted, allowing her to circle his throbbing erection with her fingers.

‘No, no, no…’ He groaned.

They did a sideways shuffle from the door against which she was pressed. It was a matter of just a small swivel away from the door and they turned to the six-foot-high wooden-framed mirror that stood in the massive hallway.

‘Much better,’ Leo said in a husky, shaky undertone.

She was standing in front of him now, her back to his stomach. In the long mirror, their eyes met and for Cassie, it couldn’t have been a bigger turn on.

His head was dipped against her neck. The swimsuit had been tugged down to her waist, exposing her breasts, which were flushed and roused.

She’d never seen him so uncontrolled and it fuelled something inside her, a similar wild craving.

Like him, she couldn’t have made it to the bedroom if she’d tried.

He moved against her and she could feel his hardness on her back, big and demanding, and she uttered a loud, guttural moan. She covered his hands on her breasts with hers and then continued to touch herself when he removed his hands, all the better to get rid of her shorts.

She wriggled out of them. It seemed to take for ever, but at last she kicked them aside and looked at them both in the long mirror.

Her body was so pale compared to his, even though she had developed a nice enough glow over the past few days.

Her legs were spread wide and his head was still buried into her neck as he stroked her between her legs.

She watched the plunge of his fingers there with bold fascination.

Very quickly, though, those strokes became too much to withstand.

She closed her eyes and arched back against him.

Her hands dropped to tightly circle his wrists and she came with a long, powerful shudder and a sweet release that made her giddy and euphoric.

She sagged against him, turned round and curved into him so that she could wrap her arms around his neck for a few seconds.

‘Time for a bed.’ He reached to lift her.

‘Don’t even think of sweeping me off my feet,’ she murmured on a contented smile and he ignored her.

He swept her off her feet.

Leo thought that he didn’t have any choice because, instead of banking down his desire, that beautiful little diversion in front of the mirror had stoked it even further. It seemed as though she wasn’t the only one for whom new experiences were to be forged.

He made it to the bedroom with her in his arms but, before he deposited her on the bed, he paused and glanced down at her flushed face.

God, she was beautiful. She took his breath away A couple of days and this would go, this sudden fever inside him; it would disappear from his life for ever. The memory of her would be expunged.

Wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t it…?

Her eyelids were fluttering shut and her cheeks were still flushed from the force of her orgasm. He laid her on the bed, watched her shift for a couple of seconds then found himself some protection. Sex would clear his head.

He took it slow. It was the opposite of what had gone before. He touched her everywhere until her body reawakened and she touched him everywhere in return until, when he eventually entered her, his whole body was on fire.

He came in a shameless hurry. She knew just how to excite him to fever-pitch and he wondered whether that was just natural for them or whether some weird bond that had stretched through the years made him feel more comfortable with her than he ever had with any other woman.

Maybe it was the freedom. There were limits and a timeline on what was going on between them, so there was no danger of crossed signals, coy hints or leading questions to get him to a place he wasn’t interested in visiting. They already knew exactly where they stood with one another.

Leo flopped back and stared up at the ceiling.

‘Well…’ He turned to her, propping himself up on one elbow and staring at her. ‘That was a tidy end to the afternoon.’

How…? Why…? Why had it all crashed and burned?

He’d walked away, and he’d kept on walking, and he’d shoved those questions down so deep that they hadn’t resurfaced until now, until she’d come back into his life. Or maybe those questions had always been there, just waiting for the right opportunity to present themselves.

Leo shook his head to clear the nagging urge to delve back into the past, which he had emphatically promised himself, and told her, he had no intention of doing.

‘Very tidy.’

‘We should think about leaving shortly… Now I’ve made a dinner reservation, I almost wish I hadn’t. You could have got into that floaty little number you chose today and I would have been an appreciative audience of one.’

‘I’m looking forward to going out!’ Cassie laughed. She slid her long legs off the side of the bed and resisted the insistent tug on her arm to climb back in. ‘A girl needs to show off now and again, especially when there’s a new dress involved, and an audience of at least one who’s appreciative.’

Leo grunted. He could have stayed put for the next twenty-four hours.

He realised he didn’t want to show her off—he wanted her all to himself.

It was a disturbing thought, but one that wouldn’t go away, even when they were back in the buggy and heading off to the beach bar that served amazing local delicacies.

She was wearing a floaty, silk wraparound dress in apricot and green that worked well with her colouring.

Her long, dark hair tumbled over her shoulders and down her back and she wore strappy, tan flat sandals.

She looked completely natural. In that regard, he was pretty sure she would stand out, given where they were heading.

When Leo thought of the other men who might be there, looking at her, he had to clench the steering wheel hard to focus himself.

‘This is amazing.’

Cassie looked around her as they arrived at the bar. It was very informal, with a massive wooden deck perched over the water on which tables and chairs were arranged in little clusters.

She couldn’t give it her full attention, though, because Leo was on her mind. He was in a weird mood and she couldn’t quite work out what that was all about.

There had been something fierce, urgent and desperate when he had caressed her in the hallway of the villa, and then afterwards in bed… It had been lingering and languorous, which in itself had carried a different kind of urgency.

She wondered whether he was tiring of her. Her body said no , but in the absence of any other explanation her mind said yes.

She would be careful to keep it light. Light was what made him comfortable…and if light was getting to be a strain for her that was something she would keep to herself.

She blinked her way back to the here and now. In the background there was the soft sound of steel drums being played. The fairy lights strung from the beams were intimate and subdued, and flickered on the dark water, illuminating it with streaks of silver here and there.

‘Fantastic music, and I just love how open it is, and rustic!’ There was a buzzy vibe, waiters coming and going, couples sitting at the tables laughing, talking in low voices, and gazing out at the dark, dark sea which ebbed and flowed softly against the wooden decking.

‘At lunchtime, the birds come to pick up whatever scraps they can find. That I do remember from the last time I was here, which was a while ago, but I doubt anything’s changed on that front. All looks the same here.’

‘Have you ever brought anyone here, Leo?’

‘Not counting my fussy old man?’

Cassie laughed and their eyes met over the flickering candle between them as they sat at the wooden table to which they had been ushered.

She flushed because she could see the perceptiveness in his dark eyes as he understood what question she’d really been asking. Jealousy raced through her, unsettling and unwanted.

It was a relief when a charming and chatty waiter came to take their drinks order. She could still feel Leo’s lazy, piercing dark eyes on her, working out what she was saying, processing what she might be feeling.