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'Always the lawyer's precison with words,' he mocked 'Okay, I miss you I miss you,' he repeated, slowly and deliberately 'How's that?'
Laura could feel the swirl of uncertainty, and she was afraid that he would see her terrible need, her desire—all the things which made her feel vulnerable around him—and be turned off by them Was she grown-up enough to handle an affair, which was presumably what he was offering?
'I want to be with you,' he continued, and then his face became dark with passion, intent with something else ', and then added, 'I love you '
Laura knew what it meant—everyone who had ever learnt French at school knew what it meant And if someone had asked her what she wanted most in the world, then Xavier had just given it to her in those three words. But she was frightened Terrified, in fact. She was like a unsure skater who had been told it was safe to go on the ice—yet some instinct of self-preservation made her want to test how solid it was.
'How many other women have you said that to?'
'None. Only you'
'We haven't known each other for very long '
'I know that'
'And we've never been together in normal circumstances '
'I know that, too '
'Well, what if it won't work?' she said desperately.
For the first time he touched her—reaching out to brush away a stray lock of hair which had fallen onto her pale cheek. 'What if? What if?' he murmured softly 'Why don't you come to Paris and we'll make sure it works'? Together'
The Laura of a few months ago would have baulked at the suggestion of throwing caution to the wind and taking a step into the unknown. But that had been before Kharastan—an experience which had affected her profoundly and for which, ultimately, she had the cheating Josh to thank. And Xavier too, of course In Kharastan he had wanted her on his terms, but she had resisted going for the easy fix.
She had grown a new self-respect—and was no longer victim or coward.
She stared at him and then pointed to her old clothes, her gesture taking in the sweet little cottage room, which was a million light years away from his sophisticated urban style.
'But this is the real me,' she said 'That expensively clad woman you met doesn't exist'
He laughed softly as he shook his dark head, and his fingertips traced her eyelids, her nose, her lips, and then came to rest at last over her pounding heart.
'No,' he demurred 'This is the real you The woman who has touched my heart and body and soul. The woman who made me look at myself, who made me think things I sometimes cared not to think. The woman who haunts my waking and sleeping hours and the woman I long to kiss once more '
'Then kiss me,' she breathed
He took her into his arms and groaned as he brushed his mouth over hers.
'Where's the bedroom'?' he growled, after a few frantic moments.
'You won't need a route map,' she gasped 'There's only two, and it's upstairs Come with me '
He had to dip his head again to enter the miniature bedroom with a bed which was a little small for his taste, but he laid her down on it, pulling off her underwear, throwing it aside with the rest of his own clothes with none of his usual teasing restraint, uncaring In fact, uncaring of anything other than the urgent need to join with her completely.
It was only a brief interlude of sanity which reminded him to protect himself—and that near-slip dazed him, too, for it was always at the very top of his agenda.
Laura sobbed as he entered her, and he licked her tears away with his tongue as he slicked in and out of her. She whimpered with pleasure, wanting to hold onto it—to cherish the feeling and the movement and the moment—but she was fighting a losing battle.
'Oh, Xavier' she cried, and tightened her arms around him as if she would never let him go.
He had known it was about to happen—had observed it from the rosy flowering at her breasts—and he knew he wanted to be with her, the same journey at the same time, leading to the same place.
He had never had simultaneous orgasm before—the icy control at the very core of his being had never wanted to make himself quite that powerless—but this time he craved it with a hunger which overwhelmed him.
Xavier let go, letting his orgasm take him up, and he followed it—swooping upwards just like the falcon who chased the lure For a moment he felt at one with her—just as the sound of the wind seemed part of the desert itself—which was part of him.
Never had his peak lasted for so long, and never had the sweet spasms taken so long to subside—so that for a moment he felt as though he had wandered into some unknown place of such enchanting beauty that it could not possibly exist A place a little like Kharastan? Yes.
