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Desperate for him, she gave a moan of encouragement as she felt his rough palms slide up her bare thighs. Her hand went to the button of his trousers and she felt the hard ridge of his arousal straining against her fingers.
His mouth was hot and demanding on hers, and Alekos bunched the silk dress as he shifted it out of the way impatiently. Kelly’s arms locked around his neck and he lifted her where she stood, his dark eyes burning into hers as he gripped her hips.
‘Kelly…’
‘Yes, now,’ she groaned. There was a brief pause and then he lowered her to the ground, his breathing a harsh rasp.
‘Wait—we shouldn’t.’
On fire and just desperate, Kelly clutched at the front of his dress shirt. ‘Why?’ She was breathless. ‘I thought—’
‘No.’ His voice vibrating with tension, Alekos closed his hands over her arms and put her away from him. ‘Not here. Not like this. That isn’t what I meant.’
‘No?’
‘Later.’ Smoothing her dress over her trembling body, Alekos took her face in his hands and kissed her. ‘I don’t want a few crazy minutes with you,’ he said huskily. ‘I want more than that.’
She wanted more than that too.
She wanted for ever, and when Alekos put his hand inside his jacket Kelly felt her heart stop.
‘Alekos?’
‘I have something for you.’ His tone husky, Alekos withdrew a long, midnight-blue velvet box from his pocket. Kelly stared at it blankly, her brain refusing to compute the information that her eyes were transmitting. A long box: that was the wrong shape, wasn’t it?
‘What’s that?’ Her mind tried to explain away the anomaly. Maybe they’d run out of small boxes in the jewellers, or maybe he’d thought it would be more fun to disguise the gift as something different.
She was on the verge of telling him that he honestly hadn’t needed to buy her another ring when he flipped open the box and watched her face in anticipation.
Kelly stared down at the glittering necklace, unable to pretend any longer.
‘It’s a necklace.’
Not a ring. A necklace.
‘It will look perfect with your dress.’ Alekos slid his fingers under the diamonds. ‘I wanted to give you a present.’
He was giving her a present, Kelly thought wildly, not a future.
A necklace.
Not a ring.
Not a proposal.
Staring at the diamonds dangling from his fingers, Kelly felt the same way she’d felt when fallen flat on her face on the tiled floor. She was winded. Breathless. Slightly removed from reality.
Shocked and feeling quite ridiculously foolish, she didn’t have a clue what to say, but she knew she had to say something because he was staring at her expectantly.
‘I—’ Nothing came out of her mouth. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘You looked stunned.’
‘Yes.’ Her voice was flat; monotone. ‘I am.’
‘Diamonds do have that effect on people.’
Kelly forced herself to say something. ‘It’s very pretty. Thank you.’ Her voice was stilted and polite, like a child thanking someone for a gift because a strict parent was looking at her expectantly.
