The Savakis Merger

by Annie West

  Callie tried to focus on the fall of fine silk, but her gaze swung back to Damon. His chest was bare: tanned, muscled, perfect. At the sight of his naked torso her stomach coiled tight and hard. She saw the fuzz of dark hair spread across his pectorals and arrow down his belly and remembered the feel of it teasing her nipples as they’d rocked together, moving as one.

  ‘There’s quite a bit of stuff,’ she choked out, looking away, holding herself rigid. ‘I haven’t got a home base yet.’

  She no longer had a home in the US and her uncle had refused to store anything of hers. He was furious that she’d stymied his plans for a Manolis-Savakis marriage.

  ‘That’s OK.’

  Damon stepped closer, his hands at his belt. Callie backed up till she felt a wall against her spine.

  ‘It’s all been put in the bedroom at the far end of the hall. I thought—’

  ‘I said it’s OK. Keep your things there as long as you like. You can use that room as your own.’ He paused. ‘Except that you’ll sleep with me.’

  The flash of fire in his eyes confirmed he wasn’t thinking about sleep.

  His expression made her defences crumble on their foundations.

  Callie had an awful feeling if she let him close now she’d never be able to erect another barrier between them. The force of his personality was too strong.

  ‘Do you want the shower?’ she babbled. ‘Let me just put this towel back then I’ll get out of your way.’

  Callie turned and stumbled to the towel rail, berating herself for her lack of coordination. Her prized composure, even her determination not to show any weakness, had deserted her.

  Blood pounded in her ears as she fumbled to hang the towel over the rail. Finally she managed it then tightened the belt of her robe, assuring herself it was secure.

  She was turning to leave, desperately searching for something, anything to say that would distract Damon from sex, when a sound made her freeze.

  Running water.

  Callie spun, then reached to grope for the rail as shock rippled through her.

  Damon leaned into the massive double shower, adjusting the temperature of the spray. He’d stripped off the last of his clothes. He was completely, breathtakingly naked.

  From this angle Callie saw the long sweep of his back and the heavy weight of his shoulders and muscled biceps as he reached for the taps.

  His thighs were solid, muscled and powerful. His buttocks tightly rounded.

  She stood, rooted to the spot, unable to shift her gaze.

  The solid planes and curves of his body made a magnificent picture.

  She’d forgotten just how breathtaking he was. But her body hadn’t. She felt the telltale softening between her legs, the anticipatory buzz of awareness, the revving heartbeat and knew she had to escape. Fast.

  For, she finally realised, it wasn’t Damon Savakis she feared. It was her own treacherous frailty.

  He made her respond to him in ways she’d never dreamed possible, made her feel—

  ‘Callie.’

  His voice stopped her as she sidled to the door. It was a velvet promise of pleasure that tugged her eyelids to half mast and weighted her unsteady legs.

  Just that one word weakened her resolve!

  He stood before her, naked and unashamed. Fully, gloriously aroused, Damon Savakis was something to behold.

  Callie’s knees trembled as she stared. There was no escape. The faint scent of musk made her nostrils flare in the damp air. From his skin or hers?

  Dark eyes scorched her mouth, her throat, everywhere they roved.

  Her gaze dropped as he reached for something, a packet. He tore the corner and, eyes never leaving hers, fitted a condom, his movements quick and assured.

  There was something incredibly erotic about seeing him, proud and ready for her. A surge of excitement scudded straight to her womb and tingles erupted deep inside.

  His gaze claimed her. The melting warmth of her body was proof that physically she was his. He’d imprinted himself on her, awakening longings and desires she’d shelved long years ago. Now those longings centred on Damon.

  Panic pulsed. Would she always feel this answering tide of hunger when he looked at her?

  It wasn’t the calculating stare that chilled her to the bone. It was the warm, smoky invitation she’d read in his eyes that first time. An invitation to pleasure…and something even more powerful that lured her, heedless of everything but the need to respond.

  ‘Callie.’ The word whispered through her, tugging at her senses. He reached out and took her tie belt in his hand, yanking so the material fell away.

  A hiss of breath sighed in her ears as he watched her robe swing loose.

  He stood as if frozen.

  Callie experienced a surge of impatience. Why didn’t he follow through?

  Touch her? Claim her?

  Callie tried to summon indignation, outrage at being made to give herself to him. But nothing came. Only a buzz of excitement at the prospect of intimacy with Damon. It was just as it had been the first time.

  Magical.

  ‘Do you want this?’

  It took long seconds before she made sense of his words.

  ‘Callie. Do you want me?’

  He was asking her? No hint of force. Just the compulsive pressure of her own desire.

  Damon was handing her the power to say no. Making it her decision!

  Callie swallowed a sob as contradictory, unexpected feelings overcame her.

  Tomorrow she’d regret this. But right now the honest truth was she wanted this as much as he. It felt as if she’d always wanted this, wanted him.

  ‘Callie!’

  He stepped back, his face paling as his hands clenched at his sides. She almost cried aloud at his retreat.

  With difficulty she swallowed a knot of welling emotion.

  ‘Please.’ Her voice was a mere croak of sound. ‘Yes.’

  That was enough. Instantly he stepped close, palming the heavy robe from her shoulders so it puddled at her feet.

  His eyes blazed, fever-bright, as he raked her from head to toe.

  Instinctively Callie crossed an arm across her breasts and another down over the juncture of her thighs.

  But she no longer felt modest. No longer felt like the person she’d known for the last twenty-five years.

  Damon had changed her irrevocably.

  His knee nudged her thighs as he backed her into the warm shower, his hands sliding to her wrists then skimming up to her shoulders.

  Excitement sparked where he touched, exploding with an intensity that snatched her breath.

  This felt so right.

  ‘Damon.’ Even under the steady thrum of water, her hair plastered to her ears, the word sounded like a plea. Needy and bewildered. Callie reached out and clasped his slippery shoulders, needing support. More, needing to touch him with a desperation stronger than anything she’d known.

  She craved his strength, his power, his ability to satisfy the hunger that devoured her so completely.

  There was no thought now of compulsion or blackmail. This was as simple, as elemental as desire between a man and a woman could be.

  ‘Glikia mou.’ Damon nuzzled her neck, her collarbone, and shock waves tore through her, making her body jerk and tremble beneath his touch.

  ‘I want you.’ There was freedom in the words. A freedom she’d never expected.

  Callie slipped her hands across his shoulders to his slick hair, clamping her fingers against his skull and drawing him down towards her.

  Bliss as he opened his mouth to her. His lips moved sensuously. His tongue laved the inside of her mouth, caressing and teasing and satisfying with slow, erotic strokes. Long, hard fingers bracketed her cheeks and jaw, holding her still as he tilted her face for better access.

  Callie’s eyes closed. In the rich darkness colours exploded as their kiss grew from languorous to hungry. From hungry to desperate. Damon’s chest crushed her so exquisitely she rubbed again
st him, revelling in the slippery friction.

  Deep in his throat Damon growled and slid his arms round her, holding her still. His tight embrace was perfection.

  She felt him everywhere, from his tongue, warm and seductive against hers, to his hand clasping her bottom, drawing her higher so her soft belly pressed against his steel-hard erection.

  Heat coiled and she melted, butter-soft and ready for him. Her fingers slid through his wet hair, seeking purchase as she pressed close.

  ‘Damon, please.’

  She needed him.

  Water sluicing on her breasts and belly made her eyes snap open.

  Damon still held her but he’d stepped away, allowing the spray to cover her. Callie reached to pull him close, beyond caring that it was her doing the begging.

  Obsidian eyes met hers and she dragged in a breath as shock ripped through her. She barely recognised the man before her. His face was stripped bare of softness. The stark angles of his bones, the rigid line of his jaw and the inky black slash of his brows painted a portrait of raw hunger. Of a need that matched her own.

  Callie’s heart squeezed for the pain mixed with pleasure she read there.

  Instinctively she reached to cup his face, to offer the comfort of a kiss, but he moved too fast.

  One moment he was there, staring down with the eyes of a tortured man. The next he’d dropped to his knees, hands spanning her waist as he suckled her left breast.

  Her moan of ecstasy shuddered through the cubicle as he drew out pleasure so sharp she thought she’d faint. She cradled him, arching forward to meet his lips, his tongue, his teeth. Delight speared her and she shook, grateful for the wall at her back, hands propping her up.

  Then he moved once more, nipping tiny erotic bites at her waist and belly that sent flashes of electricity jagging through her. Callie’s head thudded against the tiles as weakness invaded her very bones.

  Too late she realised his intentions. Broad hands pushed her thighs apart. Her eyes widened as she felt his hot breath between her legs.

  ‘No!’ Her head jerked forward and she met his arrested gaze. ‘Don’t.’

  For a moment her brain seized, absorbing the sight of him there, kneeling like a supplicant before her. Heat twisted in her chest and her heart thundered.

  ‘No?’

  She shook her head, her hands pushing at his shoulders. Her reaction was purely instinctive.

  ‘I don’t…’ Her words petered out under his unwavering stare. How gauche she must seem in her inexperience. ‘I haven’t ever…’

  His gaze seared hers as the water cascaded around them, drumming on the tiles. His expression was unreadable.

  ‘Then allow me.’ He waited only a second for her response but it stuck to the roof of her mouth, like her tongue.

  Then it was too late. Damon leaned in and nuzzled her in that most secret place. Sensations assailed her: sharper, more acute than she’d ever experienced.

  Callie’s fingers curled into claws as his tongue flicked out and traced a fiery path of ecstasy right at her core. She shuddered and clung to him, dazzled by the intensity of what he made her feel. Again and again. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Could only sag back against the tiles as rivulets of fire burned through her, igniting the most exquisite reactions.

  She’d never dreamed…

  ‘Damon. Please…’ Her keening cry choked into silence as, like a red-hot lava flow, the momentum of pleasure built to an unstoppable surge.

  Her knees gave way as sensation exploded, racking her body with wave upon wave of delight.

  She shuddered and collapsed, sated and trembling as aftershocks of pleasure reverberated again and again. Her mind was a dazed whirl at this stunning new experience. At the gift he’d given her.

  Hazily she was aware of Damon moving, holding her close, his solid body warm against hers. She sank against him, boneless in his embrace.

  ‘Thank you,’ she whispered against his broad shoulder as another aftershock hit her. Her words were slurred.

  ‘It was my pleasure.’ His voice was a deep rumble she felt through her chest as he held her to him.

  But he didn’t let her sink into oblivion. A moment later the suck of his mouth on her nipple shot exquisite pleasure through her, echoing the pulse of her fading climax. She jerked in his arms, zapped by a jolt of electrical current.

  ‘And it’s not over yet,’ he said as his hands circled her waist and lifted her off her feet.

  Callie’s eyes snapped open as she felt slippery tiles at her back again.

  She looked down into fever-bright eyes, a furrowed brow and a mouth drawn in a tight line of concentration. She barely had time to register that she was no longer standing when he stepped close, under her.

  ‘Lift your legs,’ Damon ordered in a hoarse, unrecognisable voice.

  Gripping his shoulders, Callie complied, her knees encircling his hips as he lowered her, with excruciating slowness, till they joined.

  Her breath stopped on a gasp of astonished delight.

  She’d thought herself sated. Yet even that lightning bolt of ecstasy hadn’t satisfied her as this did—the two of them together as one, inextricably whole.

  Callie leaned in, wrapping him closer. She was open to him and part of him so completely. Emotion welled, filling the hollow place where fear and defiance and loneliness had resided so long. She wanted to please him as he had her. She wanted to give him—

  The abrupt, urgent rocking of his body against hers blasted thought from her brain. Instinctively she clung tight, curving herself round him to counter and enhance each hard thrust. His hands slid down to clamp her hips and he sank his teeth against her neck in a tender bite that sent rockets of heat corkscrewing into her veins.

  Callie’s eyes were closing as a shadow of movement across the room caught her eye. In the far mirror wall she saw Damon, all superb male power, his buttocks clenching with each upward surge. His biceps huge and solid as he held her. Pale legs encircled his dark skin, pale fingers grasped his wide shoulders.

  Together they looked…they looked…

  One final potent thrust and the conflagration engulfed them both.

  A roar of triumph rent the air. Damon pulsed urgently within and her muscles contracted hard, welcoming and encouraging.

  Sensation erupted as she rode the powerful wave of pleasure with her lover.

  She clasped him close, their hearts thundering together, completion shuddering through them, binding them as one. Callie knew moment after moment of purest joy, then awareness began to slide and she slumped against him.

  Eventually, dimly she became aware of the drumming sound ceasing, of the pounding water ending. Still she clung to him, not wanting to dispel the magic encompassing them.

  Gentle hands, strong hands moved against her. Plush, warm towelling enveloped her. A voice murmured in her ear, drawing her back to reality.

  ‘Relax your legs, Callie.’ Firm pressure forced her to unlock her ankles and let her legs slip down. Taut muscles groaned at the release of pressure and she trembled.

  Her feet touched the ground but she couldn’t stand. She was sinking out of his hold when powerful arms scooped her high against a chest that still thundered, like her own.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘I can’t seem to—’

  ‘It’s all right, Callie mou.’

  She lifted weighted lids to see Damon watching. He wore an expression she barely recognized: tenderness mixed with puzzlement. And more that she was too weary to comprehend.

  Her lips curved as rare peace filled her. She turned her face into him.

  Her palm rose to the slick warmth of his chest.

  Then the world slipped away and all Callie’s cares with it.

  CHAPTER TEN

  CALLIE woke alone.

  It was early morning, judging by the light rimming the curtains. She swept the bed with her hand. It was warm from Damon’s body. His spicy scent mingled with the musky fragrance of sex, making her weak,
remembering.

  Emotion catapulted through her, feelings so potent yet so jumbled they barely made sense. Through the long night they’d been lovers. To her overwrought senses, her befuddled brain, it seemed lovers was the right word. That they’d shared more than mere sex.

  There’d been tenderness, a generous warmth that had transported her back to that magical afternoon on the island, when the whole world had seemed brighter because of Damon. When for the first time everything had seemed right.

  Was she fooling herself again?

  Callie forced drooping eyelids open, as if morning light could oust the fantasies lingering after a night of bliss.

  She ached in places she’d never before ached. Her body was replete, her limbs heavy. Yet energy zinged in her veins as never before. She wanted to leap out of bed and dance, to climb a mountain top and shout her joy.

  In Damon’s arms she’d felt…cherished.

  Callie stared at the indentation on the empty pillow beside hers. What did it signify?

  Her burgeoning happiness fizzled as if doused in cold water.

  It didn’t take a genius to work it out. It meant he’d had what he wanted and now he was getting ready for the day ahead. A day in which again she had no part.

  All that had changed was this time, instead of making do with an embrace that left them both unsatisfied and on edge, Damon had enjoyed her body to the full. Several times.

  She meant nothing to him but carnal pleasure. And of course, an added twist to his revenge on the Manolis family.

  She satisfied his ego.

  She’d spent years satisfying her husband’s ego.

  Yet Damon was infinitely more dangerous than Alkis. Damon got closer to her long-buried emotions. He’d stripped away the façade behind which she hid, the veneer of cool sophistication that concealed the needy, vulnerable woman.

  It was just imagination, hormones, forbidden fantasies that made last night seem special. She couldn’t let that cloud her determination to remain aloof and preserve herself from the devastation he’d inflict if she let him close.

  She had to do what Damon did so well—separate sex and emotion.

  Compartmentalise her life and keep her feelings locked away. He’d never suffer romantic daydreams about her.