AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Mon Dieu, I adore your body,’ he muttered gruffly.
‘Say that last bit again, in French,’ she pleaded, the high of having him whisper throatily to her adding to the insanely heady magic unravelling inside her.
He did, repeating a litany she didn’t understand but which, coupled with the expert thrust of his hips, soon sent her over a peak much headier than she’d previously experienced.
‘Merci,’ he murmured in her ear once their breaths had calmed. He gathered her close, tucked her back to his front and pulled a warm sheet over her.
‘I think you’ve got it the wrong way round. I should be thanking you,’ she murmured sleepily.
His lips found her sweaty nape. ‘Your trust means a lot to me.’
A long time after his steady breathing told her he was asleep, Reiko lay awake, gripped with the terrifying feeling that the only reason she’d allowed herself to trust Damion was possibly because she was falling in love with him.
The next two weeks rushed by in a heady, blissful blur. During the day she stood by Damion’s side as he opened the château each morning with a short speech before handing the day’s tour over to Sabine LeBoeuf.
But once everyone had left, Damion dined with his grandfather, if Sylvain felt up to it, or with her on the terrace. Afterwards Damion would take her to the thermal pool. Sometimes he let her wear one of the bikinis he’d insisted on buying her. Most of the time he preferred her naked—a state she still found a little disconcerting.
The day before the ball, he came to find her mid-morning as she was going over last-minute menu details with the head chef.
‘Here—try this.’ She forked a piece of lobster with mango-and-lime-infused sauce and held it out to him. He chewed and nodded in approval. ‘It’ll be the starter, served with a Mersault, then beef or fish for the main. François suggested foie gras, but I’ve convinced him to change his mind.’ She smiled at the French chef, who gave a wry shrug and set out the dessert. ‘Do you want to try the dessert?’
His hands arrived on her hips, his body drawing closer to hers. ‘Whatever you go with is fine. I trust you.’
Her heart gave another lurch, as it had done lately every time Damion made such comments. And he did it with resounding regularity. She wasn’t sure why it frightened her. No. Scratch that. She knew why. She feared she was falling into the trap of believing this thing between them had some sort of healthy shelf life, when deep down she knew it was a fleeting moment in time.
Except with every demonstration of his trust, she felt herself falling deeper into an abyss she feared she might never be able to get herself out of once he learned the whole truth.
She touched François’s arm in thanks and felt Damion stiffen beside her. Even before the chef had disappeared back into the vast kitchens, Damion was turning her to face him. The dark look of displeasure on his face stopped her breath.
‘What’s wrong?’
He pulled her closer until his face was inches from hers. ‘This touching other people. It has to stop,’ he breathed.
Her mouth dropped open. ‘It doesn’t mean anything.’
He shook his head. ‘It does. It’s a coping mechanism—your way of anchoring yourself. The way you did with your father when you were trapped in the crash.’ His voice gentled. ‘I get it, but you have to stop. I can’t handle it.’
‘Does that mean I can’t touch you, either?’ she teased.
The look he gave her scorched her soul.
She sobered. ‘I can’t help it, Damion. My therapist told me to accept the flaw and use it as a crutch if I needed to.’
His hands slid up and down her sides in a soothing caress but his lips firmed. ‘I’m beginning to think your therapist was a quack who should be shot. Reiko, I’ll help you cope. Every time you want to touch someone, touch me.’
‘And if you’re not around?’
He kissed along her jaw and whispered in her ear, ‘Just think of me holding you, touching you. Let that be your anchor.’
Intense feeling rushed through her, making her mouth dry and her heart rate soar as she looked into his eyes. His words, the depth of feeling in his voice, all pointed to the impossible. She refused to believe Damion felt anything more for her than mere transient lust. Because anything else would be unthinkable. And yet …
Just like his steady assault on her resistance to sleeping with him, he seemed to be mounting a steady assault on her emotions—almost as if he cared about her …
Completely rejecting the thought for the ridiculous notion it was, she gave in to the kiss she knew would follow.
When he finally lifted his head, the look in his eyes threatened to send her emotions into freefall once again.
‘Was there a reason you came looking for me?’ she asked, as a way of bringing herself down to earth.
