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She whispered into his damp neck, ‘What are we doing?’
She felt Arkim’s chest swell underneath hers, making her sensitive breasts ache. His voice rumbled around her.
‘We’re doing that again...as soon as I can move...’
* * *
Much later, when it was dark outside, Sylvie woke alone in a massive bed. She was disorientated for a moment, and then the pleasurable aches and tingles in her body and the tenderness between her legs helped her to remember the last few cataclysmic hours.
Arkim had been true to his word. As soon as he’d been able to move he’d carried Sylvie into the bedroom, stripped, and proceeded to make love to her all over again. Then they’d taken a shower...and barely made it back to the bed before making love again.
Sylvie groaned and rolled over, mashing her face into a soft pillow. What was she doing?
She flipped back again and looked up at the exquisitely corniced ceiling, her mind racing with the implications of what it all meant. Arkim knew now. He knew everything. Everything she hadn’t been able to tell him out of loyalty to her sister.
Feeling curious, and wondering where he was, Sylvie sat up, wincing as tender muscles protested. She saw a robe at the end of the bed and reached for it, sitting up to pull it on. It dwarfed her slim frame but she belted it tightly around her, blushing when she thought of her clothes, which must still be strewn in that elegant reception room.
She padded barefoot out of the bedroom and back towards the main part of the apartment. As she was passing a door that was slightly ajar she noticed a dim golden light and heard a suspicious-sounding yap.
She pushed open the door to find a study, three walls lined with bookshelves and books. A huge desk was in front of the window, its surface covered with a computer, laptop and papers... But her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw Arkim sitting on the ground, his back against the only bare wall in the room, wearing only a pair of sweats and cradling a familiar-looking puppy in his arms.
They both looked up at the same time, and it would have been comical if Sylvie hadn’t been so shocked. The little dog shot out of Arkim’s arms and raced over to Sylvie, yapping excitedly, its stubby little tail waggling furiously. She crouched down and was almost bowled over by his enthusiasm, his tongue licking wherever he could reach.
When she was over her shock she looked at Arkim, who was still sitting there, looking for all the world as if nothing untoward was going on. ‘What on earth...? How did you get him here?’
And why? Sylvie wanted to ask, but was afraid.
Arkim shrugged one shoulder negligently. ‘I brought him back to the castle with me that day...and then I just ended up bringing him to Europe.’
Sylvie’s breath felt choppy all of a sudden, and her heart was thumping hard. In a flight of fancy in her head she was imagining all sorts of reasons that were all very, very dangerous.
She buried her nose in his fur. When she looked up again she said, ‘He’s all cleaned up...what is he?’
Arkim’s mouth quirked. ‘A Highland Westie mixed with something indeterminate.’
‘Have you got a name for him yet?’
He shook his head. ‘I couldn’t think of one. But I want to give him to you...so you choose a name.’
Sylvie’s mouth fell open and the dog squirmed to be free, so she let him out of her arms to go sniffing at something exciting nearby. ‘But...but I can’t take him. My apartment is tiny, and Giselle is allergic to animal hair.’
Arkim frowned. ‘Giselle?’
Sylvie waved a hand. ‘My flatmate. Arkim...why are you doing this?’
He rose lithely from his seat on the floor, his chest dark under its smattering of hair in the golden light. He came over to her and held out a hand. Sylvie took it and he pulled her up. He led her over to a seat and sat down, pulling her into his lap. He smoothed her trailing hair over one shoulder.
She felt extremely unsure of her footing, and vulnerable. ‘Arkim—’
‘That day...’ he interjected.
She nodded.
‘I regretted sending you away like that.’
Sylvie’s heart palpitations were back. ‘You did?’
He nodded, his black eyes on hers, not letting her look away. ‘I was a coward. You were getting too close... I asked you if you’d thought we were going to stay there for ever, but the truth is I think that’s exactly what I wanted. Never to leave. And it just hit me: I had a life to get back to and I’d almost forgotten it existed. That I existed outside of that place. I honestly haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. We’re not done, Sylvie... I need more time with you.’
