When Christakos Meets His Match(19)

                A ravenous beast she’d never known before woke inside her and she felt herself matching the passion of Alexio’s kiss. Matching it and seeking for more. Now she was the one who wanted to taste, nipping at his lower lip with her teeth, feeling the hard resilience of that sensual contour...her tongue automatically soothing where she’d nipped.

                She heard a faint sound coming from a long way away. And then Alexio was stopping, pulling back. Sidonie went with him, loath to release him even for a second.

                Some sliver of sanity intruded and Sidonie realised that she was clinging to Alexio. And that he’d just been kissing her to distraction in the back of his car. She found the strength to pull herself out of the whirlpool and broke free, breathing harshly. Dazed. Eyes unfocused for a second.

                She realised two things at once: the car had come to a halt outside the terminal and it must have been the driver who had made the noise to get their attention.

                Alexio’s hands were still on her arms, as if she needed support, and his face was still close, those eyes looking heavy-lidded and glittering with all sorts of decadent promises. All she wanted to do was pull him back to her and kiss him again and never stop.

                Almost violently she pulled free completely. Her cheeks burned. Her hair was loose and coming down. Quickly she scrabbled with trembling hands to put it back up.

                She couldn’t look at him. What the hell had just happened? Mutual combustion? And she’d leapt into the fire without a second’s hesitation. As much as she’d been a willing participant in what had just happened, it scared Sidonie how quickly she’d lost control.

                * * *

                ‘We’re here,’ Alexio said, somewhat redundantly. He was trying to control the clamour of his blood. He felt altered after that kiss. Disorientated.

                Sidonie was avoiding his eye, breathing fast. He saw her throat work. She opened her mouth and already he wanted to cover it with his, taste that sweetness again. There was something so unexpected about her—something that pierced him right through to where he’d never been touched, smashing aside his cynical jaded shell. If he could think for a moment he might even feel suspicious, but right now he was too hot for her to feel anything but carnal hunger.

                She glanced at him and all he could see were the swirling blue and green depths of those luminous eyes. She was still wearing those glasses. Then he saw her hand reaching for the door handle, and everything in him rejected the notion that she was going to leave. But before he could stop her she’d looked away, opened the door and was stepping out.

                Alexio moved so fast that she was only just straightening up when he reached her side of the car. Her eyes were huge and wary. Someone rushed up with her bag on a trolley and Alexio took it, only just restraining himself from snarling at the completely innocent staff member to leave them alone.

                Alexio looked at Sidonie for a long moment, feeling as if he was tipping over a precipice he’d never let himself near before.

                ‘Are you sure I can’t change your mind?’

                For a second he thought she was about to capitulate, and the blood thundered in his head, but then she bit her lip and shook her head. ‘I can’t. I need to get back.’

                Alexio didn’t want to move. ‘You have a job?’

                She avoided his eye. ‘I did... But the restaurant closed down.’

                Alexio’s body grew tight. ‘So there’s nothing to rush home for...?’ Something very unpalatable occurred to him and he bit out, ‘Unless you have a boyfriend?’