Nine Months To Tame The Tycoon by Chantelle Shaw, Annie West
CHAPTER FIVE
‘YOUTAKEMY breath away,’ Takis said huskily. He pulled Lissa closer to him so that her breasts brushed against his chest. ‘Wrap your legs around me,’ he instructed as he waded through the water, carrying her over to the edge of the pool.
He lifted her on to the tiled floor and heaved himself out of the water. Catching hold of her hand, he led her over to a circular daybed and drew her into his arms once more. His eyes gleamed in the darkness and the predatory expression on his face once again reminded Lissa of a wolf. A mixture of excitement and faint apprehension sent a shiver through her.
‘Are you cold?’ He picked up a towel and blotted the moisture from her shoulders, and then ran his finger lightly over her décolletage, down to the edge of her bra. ‘Your wet underwear needs to come off,’ he murmured.
Lissa looked down and saw that her bra had turned see-through, and her nipples were two dark outlines jutting through the material. Her common sense told her that she should wrap the towel around her and return to the penthouse to change into her dress. But her feet refused to obey her brain and she did not move when Takis reached behind her back and unfastened her bra.
As the flimsy underwear fell away from her breasts, she stiffened, remembering the humiliating events that had followed when she’d allowed her first boyfriend to see her naked breasts. She had been unaware that photographs of her had been taken until they had been made public.
But she reminded herself that she had put her trust in Takis in the pool when he had helped her to overcome her fear of drowning. She released her breath slowly, but at the same time her heart rate accelerated when she saw the expression in his eyes.
‘Eísai tóso ómorfos,’he said. ‘You are so beautiful,’ he repeated in English.
A dull flush spread over his angular face. He lifted his hand and touched the pulse thudding at the base of her throat, and then he lowered his head and pressed his mouth to the same place before feathering kisses along her collarbone.
He lifted his face to hers, and Lissa’s lips parted involuntarily as he claimed her mouth in a deeply sensual kiss that lit a fire inside her. The last remnants of her tension eased, and she gave a soft sigh when he slid his hands down from her shoulders and stroked the sides of her breasts.
His fingers drifted over her dainty curves, as if he were learning her shape by touch as well as by sight. She caught her breath when he finally brushed his thumbs across her nipples.
‘Do you like that?’ he murmured as her nipples hardened beneath his caresses.
‘Yes.’ His touch was addictive, and she wanted more. Need and longing were emotions she had never felt for any other man, certainly not to this degree. Her teenage crush on Jason had not prepared her for the sweet flood of desire that pooled between her thighs as Takis gently rolled her nipples between his fingers. ‘Oh,’ she gasped. ‘Yes.’
He made a rough sound in his throat that sent a tremor through her. ‘Do you have any idea what you do to me?’ he rasped. ‘I tried to forget you, but I failed.’ Frustration was evident in his voice.
‘I couldn’t forget you either.’ Lissa whispered the words against his lips as he kissed her again. He tumbled her down on to the daybed and stretched out beside her, trailing kisses down her neck and over the slopes of her breasts.
She felt his warm breath on her nipple and her heart gave a jolt. She’d never permitted a man to put his mouth on her breasts, but now she silently willed Takis to do just that. He flicked his tongue across one tender peak and then the other, and Lissa could not hold back a sob of delight.
She clutched his shoulders and felt the ripple of powerful muscles beneath her fingertips. The pleasure he wrought with his mouth on her breasts was so intense that she moved her hips restlessly, desperate to assuage the insistent throb there at her feminine core.
Takis moved his mouth back up to hers and kissed her with mind-blowing sensuality. He demanded her complete capitulation, and she gave it willingly, sliding one hand into his jet-dark hair, while the other explored the hard line of his jaw, covered with stubble that felt abrasive against her palm.
He took everything she offered and demanded more. His tongue plundered the moist interior of her mouth, eliciting a response that she could not deny him. He draped one heavy thigh across her legs and captured her wrists in his hand, pinning them above her head. And then he put his mouth on her breast and sucked her nipple in a highly erotic caress.
He transferred his attention to her other breast and Lissa was vaguely aware that the thin cries she could hear came from her. But she could not control her reaction, as the pleasure Takis evoked with his hands and mouth on her body drove her mad with longing.
Her breath left her on a shuddering sigh when he tugged her knickers off and pushed her legs apart. She had never been naked with a man before and a tiny voice inside her asked if she was ready to take this next step. The answer had to be, Yes! She was a twenty-three-year-old virgin and she wanted to take charge of her life and finally explore her sensuality with this fascinating man.
Takis traced his fingers along her inner thigh, moving inexorably higher. A quiver of anticipation ran through Lissa when he cupped his hand over her feminine mound.
‘Relax,’ he murmured as he stroked her moist opening. But it was impossible to relax when everything he did was shockingly new. She gasped when he pressed his thumb over the hidden nub of her clitoris. The sensation was indescribable, and she instinctively arched her hips towards his hand.
Takis gave a husky laugh and slipped a finger into her slick wetness. ‘Tell me how I can give you pleasure, koúkla mou.’
His voice intruded on the sensual spell he had woven around her. The realisation of what she was doing made her heart clatter against her ribs. Takis was kissing her mouth again while he moved his hand in a rhythmic motion. He stretched her a little wider so that he could slip another finger into her molten heat.
It felt so amazingly good when he swirled his fingers inside her. Each movement of his hand drove Lissa higher and her breathing quickened as she felt herself nearing an orgasm. When Takis lifted his head and stared down at her, she could not bring herself to meet his gaze. Not when his fingers were still deep inside her, swirling in an insistent dance that made her quake. She skimmed her hands over his chest, tracing the arrowing of hairs down to his boxer shorts. Through the still-damp material she felt the hard ridge of his arousal push against her hand.
‘I want to make love to you, Lissa. Thinking about you has driven me crazy for weeks.’ He withdrew his fingers from her trembling body and propped himself up on an elbow, slipping his hand beneath her chin and forcing her to look at him.
‘Before we take this any further I need to make something clear.’ The sudden coolness in his voice sent a prickle of warning across her skin. ‘I’m not looking for a relationship. I want you, but for one night only. That’s all I’m offering. One perfect night together.’
She was glad that Takis had been honest, while trying to ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach. She shouldn’t feel hurt because he had set parameters and insisted that sex was all he wanted. Why would he be interested in you as a person or want to get to know you better? taunted a voice inside her that reminded her of her inadequacy.
‘What have you got against relationships?’ she asked him.
He shrugged. ‘My life is my own. I work hard and play hard and I choose not to have personal commitments. I enjoy sex and I’m good at it.’ The heat in his gaze sent a lick of flames down to Lissa’s feminine core. ‘But sexual ecstasy is simply that,’ Takis drawled. ‘It has no higher meaning, and it is not a connection between souls. I know this because I do not have a soul.’
She stared at his hard-boned face and sensual mouth that she found utterly fascinating. There was no rational explanation, no right or wrong. She simply wanted to make love with him.
‘One perfect night,’ she murmured.
His wicked smile stole her breath. ‘Do not doubt it,’ he said softly as he cradled her cheek in his hand and dipped his head towards her, slanting his mouth over hers.
His kiss blazed through her and she parted her lips, eager to respond to his sensual demands. He lay down beside her and roved his hands over her body, exploring every dip and curve. The scrape of his jaw on her breasts was a sensory delight that made her shiver as he skilfully heightened her anticipation.
Takis pulled off his boxers, freeing his erection, and Lissa drew a swift breath when she felt the hard length of his arousal nudge between her thighs. She wanted to explore his male body, but when she ran her fingers along his shaft, he groaned.
‘There’s no time for that. I have to have you now,’ he rasped. His urgency fuelled her own longing for him to assuage the sweet throb of desire between her thighs, but she was confused when he rolled away from her and reached for his jacket, which he’d left on a chair. Understanding dawned when he took a packet of condoms from the pocket and quickly prepared himself.
He knelt over her and slipped a finger inside her, his eyes glinting like molten silver when he discovered how wet she was. ‘You are ready for me, koúkla mou.’
Lissa felt a flutter of anticipation as he positioned himself between her legs and slid his hands beneath her bottom. It was actually happening. Takis was about to make love to her. She was ready. So hot and needy. His wide shoulders blocked out the light of the stars and she could not see the expression on his face.
‘Bend your knees,’ he murmured, and when she obeyed, he eased forward and Lissa felt his swollen tip push between her silken folds. She tried to prepare mentally and physically for him to possess her. But then he made a harsh sound in his throat and thrust into her, and it hurt, and she snatched a sharp breath.
It was not possible, Takis told himself. He must have imagined that Lissa’s body had initially resisted when he’d entered her. He pulled back a little way and stared down at her. An alarm bell rang in his mind when she evaded his gaze, but his eyes were drawn to her lush mouth, reddened from his kisses, and all he could think of was how desperately he wanted to kiss her again.
She was so tight and hot. His brain was sending him a startling message, but he could not comprehend the possibility that she had not done this before. He tried to move and withdraw from her, but it felt like his shaft was being gripped in a velvet glove and he could not fight the tsunami of need that swept through him.
‘Am I hurting you?’ he bit out. He felt dangerously out of control.
‘No...’ she whispered slowly. She moved her hips as if trying to find a more comfortable position. The ripples of her internal muscles squeezing his shaft very nearly made Takis come there and then. ‘It feels better now,’ she said in a small voice that was like a kick in his guts.
He should stop. He would stop. But somehow, instead of pulling out, he sank deeper into her and groaned as every nerve ending on his body thrummed with expectation. He was greedy for more, and when he fought his desire and again pulled back, Lissa clutched his shoulders and arched her hips in mute supplication, and Takis was lost.
He supported his weight on one elbow and slipped his hand between their joined bodies, seeking the tight little bud of her femininity. He caressed her with his fingers and simultaneously set a rhythm, slow at first as he pressed deeper. He withdrew and pressed again, quicker now, each thrust harder than the last as the storm inside him built.
It was elemental and fierce and uncontrollable. With a sense of shock, he realised that he was about to be overwhelmed. He clenched his jaw, but he was no longer the master of his body and he gave a savage groan at the moment of release as pleasure ripped through him.
Takis’s chest heaved with the effort of dragging oxygen into his lungs. Deep shudders racked his body and in a distant corner of his mind he acknowledged that he’d just had the most incredible sex of his life. However, he was aware that the same could not necessarily be said for Lissa.
Had it really been her first time? His brain could not process what had happened. He’d never lost control so spectacularly. The questions in his mind demanded answers. If Lissa had been a virgin, as he suspected, what was her agenda? Women always wanted a piece of him. He’d learned that lesson when he was sixteen. Unwanted memories surfaced. Marina’s triumphant smile, and the sickening realisation that she had taken advantage of his tender feelings for her.
He lifted himself off Lissa and rolled on to his back. He had to know the truth. ‘It was your first time, wasn’t it?’
‘Yes.’ Her voice was a thread of sound.
A host of unwelcome emotions churned inside Takis. Guilt, confusion and anger, mainly with himself but also with Lissa. ‘Why didn’t you tell me? If I had realised, I would have been gentler.’
‘I did tell you,’ she said, still in that small voice that made him think he had ruined something that could have been, should have been, beautiful.
He swore silently when he remembered how he had dismissed her claim of sexual innocence. He’d been convinced that she was playing a manipulative game, and perhaps she was, he thought grimly.
‘So, what were you hoping for?’ His eyes had become used to the semi-darkness and he saw her puzzled expression. ‘Did you expect something in return for your virginity?’
‘I had no expectations,’ she said quietly. ‘To be perfectly honest, I found the whole experience underwhelming.’
Underwhelming! Takis’s male pride smarted, but he conceded that Lissa had good reason to feel underwhelmed by his performance.
She got up from the daybed and hurried over to where her dress was a glittering heap next to the pool. Cursing beneath his breath, he pulled his trousers on and strode after her.
‘What are you doing?’
She had stepped into her dress and was struggling with the zip. ‘Leaving, of course. I can’t go back to my room naked. Oh, this wretched zip.’
‘Careful, or you will rip the material.’
‘Like you care!’ She slapped his hand away when he tried to help. The zip was stuck halfway up her dress. She clutched the bodice against her breasts with one hand and picked up her shoes with the other. ‘Goodnight.’ She swung round and promptly tripped over the hem of her skirt, which was too long without her high heels.
Takis caught her before she fell and turned her to face him. The glimmer of tears in her eyes tugged sharply on his conscience.
She had been speaking the truth when she had told him she was a virgin.
And she had been speaking the truth when she’d said she wasn’t expecting anything from him. His instinctive accusation had been wrong.
Which meant that he had behaved appallingly. He released his breath on a ragged sigh as a single tear slipped down her cheek. ‘Don’t go,’ he said gruffly. ‘Stay and talk to me.’
She shook her head, but she did not move away from him, and he felt a faint tremor run through her slender body when he put his hand on her waist. ‘What is there to talk about?’ she whispered. ‘I’m done, Takis.’
But he wasn’t done with her. Nowhere near, in fact. ‘You could start by explaining why the tabloids printed all those stories about your private life, which were patently not true.’
She avoided his gaze. ‘It’s complicated.’
‘That doesn’t surprise me, koúkla mou,’ he said drily. He had thought he knew everything there was to know about Lissa Buchanan, but she confounded him and intrigued him more than any woman ever had.
He threaded his fingers through hers and led her over to a glass door that opened directly into the master bedroom of the penthouse suite. When he switched on the bedside lamp he was struck by how fragile Lissa looked. Her blue eyes were huge and shimmered with tears. She tucked her hair behind her ear, and something moved inside Takis as his gaze lingered on her delicate features with those exquisite cheekbones.
‘I’m sorry your first time was a disappointment.’ Takis felt a need to put his arms around her and simply hold her, but he sensed that her composure was close to breaking. He ran his finger lightly down her cheek. Her skin was as soft as a peach and he liked the soft flush that bloomed on her face. He liked it way too much.
His voice deepened. ‘I regret my crass behaviour. If I had realised...’ He shook his head. ‘I listened to gossip and rumour and did not take your inexperience into account.’