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CHAPTER EIGHT
KERRY stared after Theo, startled and hurt by what had happened. She knew her stretch marks weren’t attractive, and that she hadn’t completely regained her figure. But she hadn’t thought she was disgusting.
Yet as she pictured Theo’s face before he’d turned away, that was clearly what he thought about the changed appearance of her body.
Dismay welled up inside her, and she felt her cheeks grow red with shame. He’d used to look at her as if he adored her body. She knew how much pleasure he’d found in it—and had given her in return. The knowledge that he found her repulsive now that pregnancy had left its marks on her cut her to the quick.
She started following him back towards the house, feeling her heart thumping miserably.
Then, out of nowhere, a blaze of anger flared up inside her.
How dared he look at her like that and make her feel so horrible about herself? She’d never asked him to bring her here. She’d never asked for any of this. If life had carried on the way she’d planned she would never have laid eyes on Theo Diakos again—and he would never have laid his hateful, judgemental eyes on her.
She stormed up the grand staircase and marched through to the bedroom. The housekeeper was just carrying Lucas out of the room, chattering to him about what a lovely bathtime they would have. She watched them leaving—torn between the desire to call Sara back, so that she could bathe her son herself, and the burning need to have it out with Theo.
The door closed, leaving them completely alone for the first time since they’d come back to Greece, and she turned to face him. He was staring at her in open hostility, his eyes cutting into her like knives. Then, to add insult to injury, he deliberately let his gaze drop to her stomach and linger mercilessly on the red stretch marks.
‘How dare you look at me like that?’ she demanded, planting her hands on her hips and making no attempt to cover herself. ‘How dare you try to make me feel bad over the perfectly natural way pregnancy has marked my body?’
‘Just how vain and self-centred is it possible for you to be?’ Theo threw up his hands in an uncharacteristically dramatic gesture, then shrugged his jacket off and tossed it angrily on the bed.
‘I’m not vain!’ Ke
rry responded hotly. ‘I barely even thought about my stretch marks until you kept staring at them in disgust.’
‘You think I’m disgusted with your body?’ Theo demanded, letting his gaze sear a trail all over her, from top to toe.
‘I Know you are,’ Kerry insisted. ‘I saw the expression of revulsion on your face. Well, I’m pleased—I hope you never touch me again.’
‘Really?’ Theo grated. He grabbed hold of her and pulled her hard up against him. ‘I know that’s what you want me to think—why you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder since we came back to Greece.’
‘It’s true!’ Kerry gasped as he tightened his hold on her, making the breath shudder out of her body. ‘I don’t want you near me.’
‘Let’s put that to the test,’ Theo taunted, suddenly sweeping her up into his arms and dumping her on the bed. ‘I think you want me to touch you. And I don’t believe you’ll try to stop me, however—wherever—I touch you.’
‘No! Let me up!’ she cried, but Theo was already leaning over her, pressing her down with his hard body. His words had caused an explosion of panic inside her, but despite everything they had also started a river of molten desire running through her veins.
Lying on the bed beneath Theo, in the exact place where he had brought her to the point of rapture so many times when they were lovers, had set off a whole realm of remembered responses and feelings rocketing through her mind and body. So far he’d hardly touched her—but just the idea of him touching her was turning her on.
She stared up into his face, and the raw sexual intent she saw blazing in his dark brown eyes started her trembling deep inside. At that moment she knew that whatever common sense her mind was trying to exert, her treacherous body yearned for Theo—just as much as it always had.
‘When I first saw you sitting in the pool I wanted to touch you,’ Theo said. ‘I wanted to slip my hands inside your bikini top and feel your nipples against my palm as I caressed your breasts.’
A hot, delicious wave of anticipation rolled through Kerry’s body—but at the back of her mind warning bells were ringing. He was just playing with her—trying to humiliate her. She’d seen the way he looked at her, and heard the scornful taunts in his voice.
She reared up against him, trying to push him away and swing her legs off the bed at the same time. But Theo was ready for her, and turned her movements to his own advantage. She ended up sitting on the edge of the bed in between his legs, with her back pressed against his chest. His arm was wrapped right around her, circling her from behind, and he was leaning forward over her shoulder, with his head beside hers.
‘Don’t try and tell me you don’t want to feel my hands on you,’ he murmured, feathering the side of her neck with his hot breath.
She looked down and saw his arm around her waist, holding her securely. But his other hand was moving, brushing backwards and forwards across her midriff, getting higher and higher with each sweep. As his fingertips skimmed across her skin she felt herself shaking—awash with conflicting thoughts and emotions.
He was right—so right. She wanted to feel his hands on her. She wanted him to lie over her, possessing her, making love to her like he used to. Her pulse was racing and she was breathing erratically just from the lightest touch of his fingertips. But she didn’t want it to be like this—him taunting her with her desire for him.
‘You feel so good,’ he breathed against her ear, sending renewed shivers quivering through her. Then his fingers slipped under the blue fabric of the bikini top and he held her breast cupped in his hand.
An involuntary sigh of delight escaped her and she arched her back, lifting her breast in subconscious invitation. His fingers moved and he gently massaged her in the way that he knew would bring her exquisite sensual pleasure.
She was hardly aware as he released his tight hold on her waist and laid her back on the bed. She didn’t fight him—her eyes were closed and she was lost on a rising tide of desire. Then, when his mouth closed over her other nipple, she went rocketing into another level of arousal.
