She was out of her seat and Alexio was leading her towards the back of the plane, guided by the man who had come to fetch him. The back door was open just for them, with the frosty stewardess saying goodbye, sending Sidonie daggers on seeing her hand clasped tightly in Alexio’s.
Hating herself for how much she liked the way her hand felt in his, Sidonie followed him down the steps to where another official and a car were waiting. She heard Alexio give her name to the person and instruct him that her luggage should be brought to meet them on the other side. A VIP customs official inspected her Irish passport.
And then they were in a chauffeur-driven car and speeding towards the terminal Sidonie needed to get to for her connecting flight.
CHAPTER THREE
ALEXIO WAS LOOKING at his smartphone but not seeing anything. He was incandescent with rage...and lust. Angry with himself that he’d not taken the opportunity to kiss Sidonie when he’d wanted to. But something had held him back—something that had whispered to him that she wasn’t like the women he knew. That the strength of what he was feeling was off the charts.
He prided himself on being a civilised man. With very select tastes. Not a man given to random outbursts or to passionately kissing a woman an hour after meeting her. And yet he’d come within seconds of doing just that.
Yet still...had he let her go? No. He’d all but hauled her off the plane. Sidonie was a tense figure beside him now, her bag on her lap, her hands clasping it.
Unable to help himself, Alexio reached out and touched a finger to her jaw, trailing it over the delicate line. Even that made his body scream with hunger. She tensed even more, but she turned to look at him. Alexio marvelled to himself. One wayward curling strand of hair had come loose and coiled over her shoulder like a burst of silken sunrise. Her cheeks were flushed. No make-up, and those ridiculous black-framed glasses. Her shapeless sweatshirt and those worn jeans. He shouldn’t want her. But he did.
He couldn’t explain it, but in that moment she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life. And suddenly that need was back, even more urgent than before. The realisation hit him: he might never see her again.
Rationality dissolved to be replaced by raw hunger and need. Sidonie obviously saw something on his face, in his eyes, and her own eyes widened, her cheeks getting pinker. Alexio couldn’t have stopped himself now if a thousand men had tried to hold him back.
He pulled her into him and slanted his mouth over hers.
That first sweet taste of her soft lips crushed under his made his brain go white with heat. She fell against him, hands pressed to his chest, and Alexio hauled her even closer, his mouth moving over hers, coaxing her to open up to him...
One of his hands moved up her arm to her neck, his thumb angling her chin, cupping her head...and then, after an infinitesimal moment, she opened her mouth on a sigh. He deepened the kiss and all that hunger he’d been holding in exploded in a dizzying rush of desire.
* * *
Sidonie was still in shock. Alexio’s mouth was on hers, his tongue seeking, thrusting, tasting... She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. And didn’t want to. All she knew was that as soon as he’d looked at her so hungrily and then reached for her she’d been ready to throw herself into his arms. The evidence that he did want her was like balm to her ravaged spirit.
There was nothing gentle about his kiss, and she wanted it with every fibre of her being. It was passionate, hotter than anything she’d experienced before. He was tasting and plundering, both hands on her head now, his fingers in her hair, making it loose. Sidonie felt as if she was breaking apart into a million tiny pieces, but it was so delicious...so drugging...that she never wanted it to stop.