LITMIR.BIZ

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stubble. Sensation overload. ‘I can’t stand it,’ she gasped out, thrashing about.

      ‘But you can,’ he said.

      Turning her, he proved this by kissing the back of her knees, where she hadn’t even known she was sensitive, and then he kissed his way up her thighs, and on across her buttocks until she was trembling with anticipation. Next, he kissed the sway of her back until she groaned with contentment. He knew what he was doing. With every passing second she was becoming more sensitive. Her pulse was going crazy and her body craved him like never before.

      ‘Again?’ he suggested.

      She smiled up as he eased her legs apart and moved between them. Grasping his erection, he teased her with the tip.

      ‘Yes! Yes!’ she groaned, arcing her hips instinctively to receive him. ‘Don’t stop now,’ she begged. ‘Don’t you dare stop.’

      And to some extent, he obeyed her, stroking and teasing as before, then entering a little way before pulling back again. It was a game she loved. Their game.

      Grabbing Luc’s shoulders, she drew her knees back and took the chance, brief as it was, to admire the magnificent power of the body looming over her. He was so careful with her, sinking a little deeper each time, until finally he was engaged to the hilt.

      ‘Soon,’ he murmured in reply to her gasping protests when he stopped moving.

      ‘You okay?’ he asked as she gasped with pleasure.

      She couldn’t speak for fear of breaking the spell. They were one, and that was all she cared about.

      Dropping kisses on her lips, he began to move, not back and forth as he had before, but in a circular, massaging movement until her body could do nothing but respond. ‘Oh!’ she cried out in wonder as she drew closer to the abyss. ‘Again…!’

      Luc obliged by slamming into her, so that this time when the waves hit they were stronger and fiercer, and what was almost better than that was when she closed her inner muscles around him and he groaned. Seeing him lost in pleasure of her making made her feel powerful and strong, while the discovery that by tensing and relaxing her inner muscles she could bring him pleasure thrilled her beyond belief.

      They made love in front of the fire for hours, fiercely at first, and then tenderly, which she found almost unbearably poignant. When Lucas brushed her hair back from her glowing face, she knew without question that if nothing good ever happened again she’d cling to tonight and never forget it. What more could she want than this closeness, this oneness as they stared deep into each other’s eyes? It required a special sort of trust to give herself to a man so completely.

      ‘I don’t know if you want to sleep, but I think you will sleep now,’ Luc observed, smiling down. ‘It’s been a long day. You must be exhausted.’

      ‘And a very long night,’ she reminded him, ‘though, surprisingly, I don’t feel tired at all. You, on the other hand, must be exhausted?’

      ‘I’ve never worked so hard,’ he agreed dryly, grinning with pleasure as she tightened her muscles around him. ‘Always a contest with you,’ he added as she enticed him to do more than drop kisses on her lips.

      They breathed in unison, with every part of them in full accord, and every part of their naked bodies touching. She’d never felt so safe, so cared for…so loved?

      No. Don’t kid yourself like that, Stacey’s inner voice recommended. It’s too cruel. You won’t be able to bear it in the morning when you see everything through the lens of a bright new day.

      ‘I’d like to go to bed and sleep in your arms,’ she said honestly.

      ‘Sleep?’ Lucas queried.

      ‘Yes. Sleep,’ she confirmed. ‘For whatever remains of the night.’

      ‘Not much,’ he observed with a glance out of the window to where dawn’s first frail rays were already silvering the mountain peaks.

      ‘Whatever’s left of the night, I’ll take it.’

      Luc’s answer was to lift her into his arms so he could carry her to the bed.

      There was no greater peace, he mused as he watched Stacey sleeping. No greater satisfaction than making love to a woman that he…

       That he what?

       Loved? Cherished? Had used?

      Not used. Never used.

      They’d come together because, short of swearing a vow of chastity, there was no other way for them. It was inevitable, and had always been inevitable since the first moment they met. Stacey had imprinted her unique and infuriating qualities on him in a way he couldn’t have imagined possible, and now could never forget. She’d slept in his arms, giving him the gift of peace for the first time in years. Her breathing, so gentle and even, had soothed his. She looked so innocent and that soothed him too. He needed some uncomplicated goodness in his life, but that was selfish when he had nothing to offer Stacey long-term. It would be disingenuous to say he regretted that his darker side ruled his caring instinct. When she woke, Stacey would surely have come to her senses, and know that what they’d shared was over.

      Even an ice-cold shower failed to subdue his libido. He’d never known another woman like her. Stacey had been wild when she was younger, but in his bed she’d been a revelation. Niahl’s little sister was all grown up. Still cloaked in innocence perhaps, but beneath that cloak her sexual appetite matched his.

      And Niahl? How would he square this with Niahl? This need, this lust inside him blurred the edges of right and wrong, making it hard to move on. The bottom line didn’t include Niahl, he determined as he turned off the water and shook hair out of his eyes. The bottom line was Stacey. He didn’t want to hurt her. Reaching for a towel, he secured it around his waist. He only had to think of her and he was hard.

      Dropping the towel, he glanced out of the window at snow banked up high in drifts. Avoid her if you can, his inner critic challenged. He and Stacey had been thrown together and now they were stranded together. The only sensible answer to that problem was to clear a path in the snow to the black slope and ski her back to the village.

      Donning work clothes, he congratulated himself on the fact that he’d always been able to identify the right moment to part. He’d known with his siblings when it was time for them to leave home, and he knew with Stacey. She needed a man who would have time for her, and dote on her, and provide her with a safe and cosy home. History suggested he could never do that. As soon as his siblings were fledged, he’d cast off, a ship without an anchor. After his parents’ death nothing had remained the same. Life was a river continually moving on. This chalet wasn’t his home. Stacey was right. It was just one of many properties he owned across the world. The next acquisition was always more attractive. And in each there was something vital missing. If he could just put his finger on what it was…he’d buy it, Luc concluded as he headed downstairs.

      Stacey woke in a state of deep contentment, instantly aware of a body well used. It took her a moment longer to realise where she was. Luc’s room! And then the events of the previous night came flooding in. Reaching out to touch him in the big, wide bed, she found the other side empty. Where was he?

      ‘Luc…?’

      The silence that greeted her question had a particular quality that told her she was alone. Slipping out of bed, she grabbed a robe. Putting it on, she belted it. Crossing to the window, she exclaimed softly with relief to see Luc outside, clearing a path through the snow. Turning, she retired to the bathroom, where she took the fastest shower ever. She frowned as she put on the only clothes she had with her. There was a suspicion tugging at the back of her mind.

      She’d examine it later, she decided as she hurried downstairs to put on her jacket and boots. There were all sorts

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