Her nipples puckered and her body began to react to the look on his face.
'You need time to recover.'
Her body refuted that but her head knew she needed to take time to regroup. When she nodded, he looked almost disappointed. He returned the towel to the bathroom but left the light on as he came back to bed. Getting into bed, he pulled the covers over their bodies and pulled her into his arms.
She settled her hand over his chest and felt his steady heartbeat beneath her fingers. They lay there in silence until another giggle broke free from her jumbled thoughts.
'I'm beginning to get a complex, anjo.' He brushed his lips over her forehead.
'I believe this is the part where we make small talk after sex but I can't come up with a single subject.'
She felt his smile against her temple. 'Wrong. Normally this would be the part when I either leave or do what I just did to you all over again.'
Her heart caught. 'And?'
'I'm trying to rein in my primal instincts and not flatten you on your back again.'
Feeling bolder than was wise, Inez opened her mouth to tell him that he needn't hold it back for much longer. Instead a wide yawn took her unawares.
It was his turn to laugh. 'I think the decision on small talk has been shelved in favour of sleep.' He turned her face up to his and pressed his mouth to hers. Within seconds the kiss threatened to combust into something else. He pulled back with a groan and tucked her against him. 'Sleep, Inez. Now,' he commanded gruffly.
With a secretly pleased smile, she slid her arm around his waist, already feeling the drowsy lure of sleep encroaching.
* * *
She woke to moonlight streaming through the windows. The bedside lamp glowed and she judged that she'd been asleep for a few hours.
Beside her, Theo lay on his side, tufts of sleep-ruffled hair thrown over his forehead. In the soft lighting he looked younger and peaceful but still so damn sexy her breath caught just looking at him.
She suddenly needed to commit his likeness to paper. Her pad was next door in her suite. Slowly extracting herself from the arm he'd thrown over her, she pulled on his shirt and went to retrieve it.
Returning just as quietly, she settled herself cross-legged at the foot of the bed and began to draw. Every now and then she paused and took a breath, unable to fathom the circumstances she found herself in.
She was in bed with a man who was bent on destroying her family. And yet the overwhelming guilt she expected to feel was missing. Instead she yearned to save him from the demons that she'd glimpsed in his eyes when he spoke of his nightmares.
She swallowed as a well of sadness built inside her. Despite his outward show of invincibility she'd seen his battle. A battle he believed only revenge would win for him …
She froze as Theo made a sound. It was somewhere between a moan of pain and the bark of anger. His hand jerked out and then closed into a tight fist.
His whole body tensed for a breathless second before his chest started to rise and fall in agitated pants.
She dropped the sketchpad. 'Theo?'
'No. No! No! Thee mou, no!' The words were hoarse pleas, soaked with naked fear.
Both hands shot out in a bracing position and his head twisted from side to side.
'Theo!' She rose to her knees, unsure of what to do.
'No. Stop! Arghh!' With a forceful lunge, he jolted upright with a blood-curdling cry. Sweat poured down his face and he sucked in huge gulping breaths.
'Deus, are you okay?' The question was hopelessly inadequate but it was all she could manage at that moment. Because her heart was turning over with pain for what she'd just witnessed him go through.
She reached out and he jerked back away from her. 'Don't touch me!'
'Theo, it's me. Inez.' Tentatively, she reached out and touched his arm.
He shuddered violently and lurched away from her, staring blankly at her for several seconds before his face grew taut and haunted.
'Inez,' he said with a dark snarl. 'I fell asleep?" There was self-loathing in the question, as if he hated himself for having lowered his guard enough to let the demons in.
Her stomach flipped and her fingers curled into her palm. 'Yes. You … you had a nightmare.'
His mouth twisted with a cruel grimace. 'No kidding. What the hell are you doing here?' he snapped, looking around the room with unfocused eyes.
She frowned. 'We … um, we fell asleep together after … ' She stopped as heat rushed up her face.
He turned back to her and his gaze slowly travelled over her. He brushed the hair out of his eyes and gradually the dull green lightened into golden hazel. 'We had sex. I remember now.'
She flinched and watched him with wary eyes.
With sure, predatory moves, he lifted the tangled sheet off his body and prowled to where she was poised on her knees. He stopped a hairsbreadth from her.
'Can I … can I touch you?' she asked, unwilling to have him pull away from her, but a part of her longed to soothe the turbulent blackness in his eyes.
His mouth pinched and he took several steadying breaths before he spoke. 'You want to comfort me?'
'If you'll let me.'
Another deep shudder and he closed his eyes. His head lowered until his forehead rested between her breasts. His arms closed around her and tightened so hard she couldn't move. They stayed like that until his breathing steadied.
'Theo?'
'Hmm?'
'Tell me about your dream.'
He tensed immediately and she bit her lip. He raised his head and stared at her.
'Take my shirt off,' he commanded, his voice hardly above a tortured whisper.
Concern spiked through, despite the heat his words generated. 'Theo, you just had a nightmare-'
'One I want to forget.' His hands were on the back of her thighs, hard and demanding as they caressed up to her bottom. He cupped the globes with more roughness than before but there was no pain in the caress. 'Inez, if you want to help me, do it.'
She drew the shirt over her head and dropped it. His eyes devoured her breasts and his tongue darted out to rest against his bottom lip.
Between her legs, liquid heat dampened her folds and he groaned in dark appreciation as his seeking fingers found her core.
'So ready. So tight,' he rasped. With almost effortless ease, he picked her up, pivoted off the bed and sat on the side. Grabbing a condom, he slipped it on and positioned her legs on either side of him.
'You will make me forget.' The words were almost a plea but with a promise of things to come. 'Yes?'
Before she could do so much as nod, he pressed her down on top of him. She cried out as he filled her with his hot, heavy length. His hard grip on her hips controlled the rhythm, which grew more frantic with each thrust.
'Theo,' she gasped as pleasure scalded her insides and rushed her towards ecstasy.
'Shh, no talking,' he instructed.
Biting her lip, she stared into his face.
Torment, anger, pleasure and more than a dose of anxiety mingled into an oddly fascinating tableau. He was still caught up in the hell of his nightmare and her heart broke over his anguish.
She tried to catch his gaze, to transmit a different sort of comfort from the carnal that he clearly sought but he avoided her eyes. Instead he buried his face between her breasts and mercilessly teased her nipples until she whimpered at the torture.
He increased his thrusts, bouncing her on top of him with almost superhuman strength that had her reeling.
Her orgasm crashed into her, flattening her under its fierce onslaught before proceeding to completely drown her.
Through the thunderous rush in her ears, she heard his guttural roar as he achieved his own ruthless release.
Sweat slicked their skin and their breaths rushed in and out in frantic pants. This time, though, there were no pleasurable caresses and giggling was the last thing she felt like doing.
With lithe grace, he twisted around and deposited her on the bed. Without speaking, he strode into the bathroom.
Inez lay on the bed, grappling with what had just happened. In the last twenty-four hours she'd glimpsed the man tortured by his nightmares, had seen a side to Theo she was certain very few people saw. Instead of guarding her own heart, she wanted to open herself up even more to him, find a way of taking away his pain and torment.
Had she not learnt her lesson with Constantine?
No, Theo was nothing like that man who'd taken delight in humiliating her. The retraction Theo had promised had appeared in the online evening edition of the newspaper and she was sure she'd seen a look of contrition in his eyes when he'd watched her read it.