The Helen Bianchin Collection. HELEN BIANCHINЧитать онлайн книгу.
broke, and it almost undid him.
‘You hold me to blame for using the terms of Kevin’s will?’ he demanded quietly. ‘Taking the opportunity to repair what Georgia had torn apart?’ He waited a few seconds, then pursued her, saying, ‘Proving to you that what we shared was too special to cast aside?’ He released her arm and thrust hands into his trouser pockets so as not to catch hold of her shoulders and shake her.
‘I needed for you to see, to feel you’re the only woman in my life. Each time we came together, you had to know it was an act of love. Not just physical sex to scratch an itch.’
Dear God, she had known. Deep down in a subconscious level, there had been recognition. She should have listened to her instincts, instead of allowing Georgia’s vicious innuendo to take root.
‘Except once,’ Nicos revealed darkly. ‘When I hauled you back from the hotel.’ He smote a fist into the palm of his hand, and the explosive sound echoed starkly round the room. ‘I was so angry at yet another legal delay; then to arrive home and discover you gone… I was so close, yet still not close enough to a resolution. To have you openly defy me attacked the barriers of my control.’ He lifted a hand and pushed fingers through his hair. ‘I lost it. And shocked you.’
‘No, you overwhelmed me,’ Katrina corrected. ‘You were always the one in control of your emotions. To have you display such a degree of unleashed passion was exciting. Mind-blowing,’ she added. There was nothing left. Not even pride. ‘I loved you so much.’ It was all she had. Words. Yet they came from the depths of her soul.
Something moved in his eyes, fleetingly, then it was gone. He lifted a hand and brushed his knuckles over her cheek. ‘And now?’
‘It never changed,’ she admitted simply.
‘Thank you.’ He knew what it cost her to say it.
He touched the tip of his thumb to her lips, felt them quiver, and offered a faint smile. ‘Was that so hard?’
‘Yes.’
Such honesty, so hard-won. His fingers slid down her throat, caressed the hollow there, then slipped to cup her nape.
Her mouth was soft, tremulous beneath his own, and he savoured it gently, then took her deep, with such passionate intensity there could be no room for doubt.
He felt the breath sigh from her throat, caught it, and pulled her in against him until the softness of her body melded to the hardness of his own.
His hand slid down her back, shaped the firm buttocks, then paused on her thigh, aware of its line, before shifting beneath her skirt.
The heat of her flesh drove him almost to the edge, and he had no other thought but to divest her clothes, his own, and ravish her here, now, uncaring of time or place.
He explored the moistness, sent her up and over, then caressed with an expertise that drove her wild.
It was almost more than she could bear, and her fingers tore at the buttons on his shirt, found the skin she so desperately sought, and moved lower in a feverish craving to touch him as he was stroking her. Until he was past need, beyond hunger.
Dear heaven, it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.
His mouth left hers, trailed the slim column of her neck, then grazed her throat, nibbling the swollen softness of her lower lip before plundering at will.
Katrina became lost, so caught up with him, she was hardly aware he had dragged his mouth from hers until she registered the insistent buzz of the in-house phone.
‘Kasoulis.’ His voice was hard, inflexible, and she swayed slightly, then moved back a step.
Only to have him circle her wrist and hold her still.
His eyes never left hers, and she felt her own widen as she took in his dishevelled clothes, the state of her usually immaculate business suit.
‘Reschedule, please. Tomorrow afternoon.’
Katrina could imagine his secretary’s response.
‘I don’t give a damn what excuse you offer.’
Nicos listened, then cut in, ‘The deal is more important to them than it is to me. They’ll concede.’ He cut the connection.
Katrina tried for calm, and failed miserably. ‘I should go.’
‘We are.’ He brushed light fingers over her breasts, lingered, then reluctantly tended to the buttons on her blouse.
With deft movements he redid his own buttons, tucked his shirt back into his trousers, and straightened his tie.
His mouth curved into a lazy smile. ‘Somewhere with no interruptions.’
‘But you have an important meeting—’
‘I just cancelled.’
A witching glimmer of humour danced in her eyes. ‘So you did.’
He kissed her briefly, a swift, evocative gesture that didn’t begin to satisfy.
Katrina watched as Nicos negotiated the traffic, aware of him to a heightened degree. His male scent, the faint tang of his cologne.
He possessed an elemental sexuality that stirred her senses to fever pitch. Primitive, raw, and wholly mesmeric, it had the power to turn her into a willing wanton woman, shameless, libidinous, and totally his.
‘A hotel?’
‘You want to shock Sofia and Andre?’
She shot him a mischievous smile. ‘I guess not.’
Katrina slid from the passenger seat as Nicos handed the car over to a porter, and she entered the spacious lobby, admired a magnificent floral arrangement as Nicos checked in, then entered the lift at his side.
Could the other occupants sense the shimmering passion? It was all she could do not to reach out and touch him.
There were words she longed to say, but they could wait. What they wanted, needed, from each other, could not.
Nicos drew her into the suite, fixed the do-not-disturb sign, locked the door, then drew her into his arms.
His mouth closed over hers with a hunger she met and matched, their hands busy as they discarded each layer of clothing, until there was the warmth and intimacy of skin on skin.
Heat and passion, desire and hunger. Wild ravaging need.
Now.
It was a silent language two lovers shared, and a groan escaped her throat as he lifted her high, then slid into her with one powerful thrust, his hands caging her hips.
Katrina flung back her head, exultant in his possession, and she simply held on as he captured her breast, teasing the tender peak until she cried out for mercy. Only to have him ravish its twin.
Her hands slid to his shoulders, then moved up to hold fast his head as she brought it to her own in a kiss that mirrored the sexual act itself.
It was a turbulent coupling, and she gasped as he took her deep, only to withdraw and take her again, long slow movements to maximise her pleasure.
She sensed the moment he was at the brink of losing control, and she joined him as they tipped over the edge, his husky groan mingling with her own in a climax that left them both shuddering their release.
He held her close, nuzzling the sensitive skin at the edge of her neck until the raggedness of their breathing slowed and evened out.
Then he carried her into the bathroom, filled the spa-bath, and lifted her into the pulsating water before retreating to the bar fridge for champagne.
Katrina sipped the chilled contents of her flute as he stepped in to sit facing her.
‘Salute.’ He touched the rim of her flute with his own, and her lips parted in a winsome smile.
She