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Maddeningly arousing.
Everything about this woman I’d married was temptation personified, urging the unschooled man closer. But I was well schooled in the sort of temptation she offered. And, as I’d accurately guessed, granting her wishes had in turn given me what I wanted.
Like Anneka and every woman I’d known, all that mattered to her was getting what she wanted in the end. I didn’t doubt that if I was minded to strike another bargain she would accede to my wish to see her clad in white morning, noon and night.
Or perhaps even nothing at all?
The erection straining behind my fly cursed me for agreeing to the no sex rule. Why had I? Because in that moment, binding her to me in any way at all had been paramount?
My dealings with women after my failed engagement and the betrayal that followed had taught me one thing. Sex was only complicated when the parameters weren’t set out explicitly. Sadie had proved herself a good negotiator. So why not negotiate on this too?
The thought of experiencing her again, of having her beneath me, that breathtaking face turned up to receive my kisses and that body between my hands, mine to pleasure and take pleasure in, powered me several steps after her before I caught myself. Stopped to stare down at the unusual weight of the band circling my finger.
The symbolism wasn’t as easy to dismiss as I thought. I had a wife. One whom I suddenly felt a desperate need to bed.
No, not a sudden need. The lust I thought I’d dulled after that first time in my office had been building since she’d turned up in Athens. Since that potent realisation that she could be carrying my child.
Call me primitive, but the thought that I’d sowed a seed in her womb, against all the odds my doctors were still examining after new tests undertook last week, filled me with a sense of...possession I hadn’t been able to shake.
I twisted the band around my finger. Would it be so unthinkable to strike another bargain, stake my true claim?
Yes, it would. Because that was the kind of bargain that came with a steep price. The Anneka-shaped kind that left only bitterness and regret in its wake.
I turned, heading away from the direction she’d taken.
Three hours later I was still pacing my suite, the tablet laid out with marketing reports and projections to be analysed abandoned in favour of fighting temptation. Fighting the invasion of Sadie Preston...no, Sadie Xenakis...in my brain.
And failing.
With an impatient grunt, I slid open the French doors, stepped onto the private terrace. The breeze cooled my skin but did nothing to alleviate the pressure in my groin demanding relief.
A full moon was reflected on a smooth, serene sea, a picture of calm in direct opposition to the sensations roiling inside me.
Not only were Sadie’s words echoing in my head, other observations about her kept intruding, grating like tiny pebbles on my otherwise smooth and solid belief system. Her reluctance to leave that dingy little flat. Her resistance to the lavishness and extravagance of the wedding planning, when most brides would have been rapturous at having an unlimited budget.
Most of all, her complete lack of concern that she’d be walking away with less than one percent of my wealth when I ended this marriage. That clause in the prenup had been deliberate. A ruthless little test she’d batted away without so much as a quibble.
And her bemusement when I brought it up... It had been so...different.
But was I seeing what I wanted to see? Repeating the same misjudgement I’d shown when I’d
dismissed Anneka’s obvious signs of infidelity and shameless avarice in favour of claiming the child she’d sworn was mine?
Restless feet propelled me towards the sound of water. To the pool Sadie had dipped her dainty feet in earlier, triggering awareness of yet another part of her body I found enthralling.
Thoughts of her feet evaporated when I was confronted by the more erotic vision rising from the moonlit pool.
Her back was to me, the tips of her fingers trailing through the water, and her gaze on the view as she moved towards the shallow end. She’d obviously been submerged moments before, because her hair was wet and pearlescent drops of water clung to her flawless skin.
Another few steps and the water dropped below her heart-shaped behind, revealed the bottom half of a white bikini moulding her curves and stopping my breath.
Thee mou, but I loved her in white...
The sizzling thought froze in my mind when she turned fully to face the view, presenting me with her magnificent profile. If she’d looked spectacular before, now she was a bewitching goddess. At just over three months pregnant her shape hadn’t altered profoundly, but signs of her state were visible in specific areas.
Her belly held the slightest curve and her breasts, lush and mouth-watering before, were fuller, more ripe. My palms burned with the need to cup them, to taste them.
A growl broke free from my throat before I could stop it.
