His Suitable Bride(160)

She had barely time to snatch a breath, to gather herself, before he had thrust inwards, deep and hard, taking her high into delight, almost splintering her into ecstasy in the very first moment of their coming together.

‘Santos!’ His name was a cry of wonder, of shocked disbelief, as she clung to him, her heart thudding, her eyes wide, her breath shuddering in her lungs.

‘Easy, belleza,’ Santos soothed, his voice sounding as if it was fraying at the edges, coming unravelled just as she was.

And just that sound deprived her of any hope of taking anything ‘easy’. Just the thought that she had had such an effect on this darkly devastating man had her moving sharply, catching his gasp of reaction in her mouth as she took him with her.

‘Alexa …’

Her name was the last thing he managed as she took control from him, using the sensual power of his body, the mind-blowing impact of his kisses to take her hard and fast, driving her unerringly towards oblivion with almost terrifying concentration.

Their bodies clashed and shuddered, gasping breaths tangling together, heartbeats racing, thundering, pounding as one. Together they came to the edge and together they stayed there for one agonising moment before a single final thrust took them over, spinning them out into the whirling haze of ecstasy that seemed to turn Alexa’s soul inside out and back again and again until she finally came back down to earth with a stunned and shaken sigh.

Exhausted, replete, she just wanted to lie there, to feel Santos’s arms come round her again. Perhaps his kiss against her face. So the change when it came was so sudden, so shocking, so unbelievable, that it stunned her rigid, keeping her lying there with her eyes closed as Santos moved away from her. Not just to the side of the bed, not to hold her or cuddle close in any way, but up and away from her, the sound of the thud of his feet on the floor telling their own story. The cold shiver of air over her skin chilled her heated flesh, stopped her racing pulse and left her feeling lost and bereft, totally alone.

And then his stillness was so complete, so lengthy, that after a few moments his silence got through to her where she hid behind the security of her closed eyelids.

‘Santos?’

It was a whisper that got as far as her lips but then she didn’t dare to let it go. She was afraid to let him hear in her voice how shaken she was at what he was doing—or, rather, not doing. She didn’t want him to see her shock and distress, or realise how horrified she was.

But when Santos moved at last, the faint rustle of material telling her that he had snatched up some clothing, she couldn’t hold back any longer.

‘What is it?’

Her eyes flew open, staring straight into Santos’s cold, gleaming stare, and what she saw there chilled her right through to the bone. He had not only picked up his clothes, but had also shrugged on his shirt, pulling it closed at the front and buttoning it up with fingers that were shockingly steady and disturbingly fast. It was as if he couldn’t wait to cover up, to be away from her.

‘Santos—what …?’

For the space of a couple of shocked, unsteady heartbeats, he held her stunned gaze without moving, without any hint of emotion. And then his eyes dropped, surveying her exposed, half-naked body with such total disdain that she could almost feel the burn of his gaze searing off a much needed protective layer, leaving her raw and vulnerable.

‘I think that will do,’ he said at last, his tone as icy as his eyes.

‘Do?’

Alexa couldn’t believe what she was hearing, what was happening. How had the ardent, urgent lover of just moments before been suddenly transformed into this cold-eyed, hard-faced, hard-voiced stranger?

‘Do in what way?’

‘In every way.’

To her horror he flashed an on-off smile, barely there then gone again, into her appalled face, no trace of light reaching his eyes so that it was only a movement of his mouth with no effect anywhere else. He finished fastening his shirt, reached for his trousers and pulled them on before smoothing his palms over the shining black hair that her clutching fingers had disordered, restoring it to order. He might as well have put on a suit of armour, closing it up around his chest and throat, carefully keeping her at bay, so deliberate were his actions, distancing himself from her and practically putting up a warning sign that declared loudly, ‘Go away, keep out! Trespassers will be prosecuted.’ Even his stunning eyes were hidden under heavy, hooded lids, so that she could barely see them.

‘I think I’ve made my point. In one way at least, there is someone out there for each of us. I’ve never known anything like that. Never.’

‘And is that meant to be a compliment?’