Smiling, she scraped her nails across his chest and worked herself to find the tightest fit against him, heart expanding with joy at each pulse of his hard muscle inside her. He dug his hands through silk to snug her tighter and tighter still, causing delicate explosions as the right place was touched again and again.
They kissed, deep, sumptuous kisses, rocking themselves into ownership of each other’s body. Soon their movements exaggerated, pulling away and coming together with more force. She had never ridden a horse, but she rode her husband, using her thigh muscles to rise and fall on exquisite impalement, feeling the strain in him as he balanced on the edge of the mattress, sweaty and strong beneath her, holding himself steady to let her set their pace. His breaths rang with strain and his chest and shoulder muscles bunched with tension. When her stamina began to fail, his hands grasped her hips and kept her rhythm steady so they approached the crisis together.
“Theo! I’m—” Her world was coming apart at the seams.
“Me, too. Now, Jaya. Let me feel you—ah, yes. Like that. Ah, yes, yes!”
She imploded then expanded like a supernova, his pulsing completion within her shooting her into a realm where they were one experience, one person. One.
* * *
Draped naked on her stomach across the bed, she lay acquiescent as her husband kissed and stroked his way around the henna on her feet and lower legs. Every few minutes he ran a playful fingertip down the sole of her foot or nuzzled too softly at her ankle—he almost got a reflexive kick in the eye for that one—but he was enjoying himself so she tried to withstand the tickling.
“Here,” he finally said, kissing hotly inside her calf.
“Are you sure?” She sat up, scooping the edge of the sheet for a shred of modesty, then studied the scrolled T.M. “Should I have it tattooed there permanently?”
“Would you?” he asked. He was so sexy with his rakish stubble and relaxed grin, propped on an elbow and completely at ease in his nudity. He took her breath.
“If you’d like. Unless you have a different favorite spot?” The flirting came naturally after hours of physical contact that bordered on debauchery. They couldn’t seem to get enough of each other, whether they were in the bed, against the shower wall, or on the sideboard. Morning was firmly coming alive outside. Birds sang and the air had gone from crisp to soft. The helicopter would be returning them to Athens by late afternoon, but they were very much still on their one-night honeymoon.
Lazy brown eyes perused her from hairline to toenails. “It’s all my favorite.”
“I never thought I’d be like this,” she admitted. “Naked and comfortable with a man. I thought I’d have hang-ups forever. Thank you for making this so good for me.” She tilted forward to touch her mouth to his.
“I’m not being too demanding? You would tell me if you’re tender, wouldn’t you? I look back on our night in Bali and it was incredible, but damn, I was stiff the next day. You should have told me to back off.”
“Why didn’t you put on the brakes?”
“Because I didn’t want that night to end.”
She smiled, feeling secretive and womanly and desired. “Neither did I.”
“I’ve never had second chances before.” He smoothed her hair behind her ear. The somber gratitude reflected in his eyes warmed her heart. “Don’t let me screw this up. Tell me what I need to do to make this work, okay?”
Love me, she thought, feeling a pinch in her heart, but it wasn’t something either of them could control. It would happen or not. Still, when he took his time caressing and kissing her, when their bodies writhed together in sensual perfection, she felt loved.
Seeking that, she eased onto her back, pulling him with her. “I’m the inexperienced one,” she reminded. “You’re supposed to be the one who knows how to make this work.”
He flashed a grin, brief and endearingly playful. “If this is all I have to do, our marriage will be a cake walk.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
FOR A MAN who had never wanted a wife and children, Theo was surprised how quickly he settled into marital bliss. Not that any of it was easy, but it wasn’t hard in the way he knew life could be hard. It was little blips of leasing his New York apartment—it was too good an investment to sell outright—being away from Jaya and Zephyr because of a crisis in Sydney and managing child-care until the au pair arrived since Jaya was already getting her feet wet in her new job.
The flip side of these minor wrinkles was a smart, warm, stunning woman on his arm and in his life.
He wasn’t a man who’d ever needed to bring the prettiest woman to the dance. Nevertheless, he’d had a roster of style conscious women who hadn’t minded an evening out on short notice. He’d given them a shopping spree and they’d relieved him of the burden of conversation for a few hours.