She was grateful he was standing by her, but it didn’t stop her hoping his concern for her and the baby would grow and develop into lasting love.
* * *
When Sabrina came downstairs, Max had unpacked the car and loaded the fridge with the food he had brought. She was touched by how much effort he had put into making their weekend away so stress-free for her. She hadn’t had to do anything but pack her overnight bag.
He came back into the sitting room with a glass of fresh orange juice and some nibbles on a plate. ‘Here you go. I’ve just got to warm up the dinner.’
Sabrina took the juice and smiled. ‘Who knew you were so domesticated?’
‘Who indeed?’
He sat down beside her and slung his arm along the back of the sofa near her shoulders. His fingers played with the loose strands of her hair, making her scalp tingle and her skin lift in a frisson of delight. ‘Not too tired?’ he asked.
She leaned forward to put her juice on the coffee table in front of the sofa, then sat back to look at him. ‘Not too tired for what?’
His eyes did that sexy glinting thing. ‘No way am I making love to you until you’ve had something to eat, young lady.’
Sabrina shifted so she was straddling his lap, her arms going around his neck. ‘But what if all I want right now is you?’
He ran his hands down the length of her arms, his touch lighting fires along her flesh. ‘Those pregnancy hormones really are going crazy, hey?’
She had a feeling it had nothing to do with her hormones. It had everything to do with him. How he made her feel. ‘Could be.’ She brought her mouth down to his, meeting his lips in a kiss that sent a river of flame straight to her core. She could feel the pulsing ache of her body pressed so close to the burgeoning heat of his. The surge of his male flesh reminding her of the erotic intimacy to come.
He drew in a harsh breath as if the leash on his self-control had snapped. One of his hands going to the back of her head to keep her mouth crushed to his. His tongue thrust between her lips, meeting hers in a hot sexy tangle that sent another shiver racing down her spine.
Sabrina set to work on undoing the buttons on his shirt, peeling it away from his body so she could touch his warm hard flesh. He slid his hands under her top, the glide of his slightly calloused hands on her naked skin making her ache for his possession. He deftly unclipped her bra and brought his hands around the front of her body to cradle her breasts. His thumbs stroked back and forth over her nipples, turning them into achingly hard peaks that sent fiery shivers to her core.
‘God, you’re so damn sexy I can hardly control myself.’ His voice was deep and sounded like it had been dragged over a rough surface.
‘Don’t control yourself, then.’ Sabrina licked his lower lip, relishing in the way he shuddered at her touch. ‘You can do what you want to me if you’ll let me do what I want to you, okay?’
He didn’t answer but drew in a ragged breath and brought his mouth back to hers in a long drugging kiss that involved tongues and teeth and lips and mutual desire so ferocious it threatened to engulf them both.
Sabrina wrenched at his belt fastening, finally getting it undone and tugging it through the lugs of his trousers. She tossed it to the floor over her shoulder and it landed in a snake-like slither on the carpeted floor. She wriggled down off his lap, quickly removing the rest of her clothes, a frisson passing over her flesh when she saw his eyes feasting on her. It amazed her how quickly his body responded to hers and how quickly hers responded to his. Even now she could feel the tight pulses and flickers of need deep in the core of her womanhood, the tender flesh swelling in high arousal, the blood pumping through her veins at breakneck speed.
‘Take your trousers off.’ Sabrina was a little shocked at how forthright she was being. Shocked but thrilled to be discovering her sensual power. For so many years she had doubted herself, felt ashamed and insecure. But with Max she felt powerfully sexy and feminine. There was no room for shame, only room for the celebration of her sensual awakening.
He stood and stepped out of his trousers, his expression a mixture of rampaging desire and caution at what she might do to him. She pushed him back down on the sofa, bending down on her knees in front of his seated form. ‘Now I get to play naughty girl with you.’
Max sucked in another breath and put his hands on her shoulders. ‘You don’t have to do that—’
‘I want to.’
‘Oh, God...’ He groaned as her hands encased him, moving up and down in massaging strokes the way he had taught her. But she wanted more. She wanted to taste him the way he had tasted her.
Sabrina gave him one long stroke with her tongue from base to tip, delighting in the whole-body shudder he gave. It gave her the impetus to keep going, to torture him with her tongue the way he had done to her. She stroked him again with her tongue, back and forth like she was enjoying her favourite ice cream, casting him wicked temptress glances from beneath half-mast lashes. His breathing rate increased, his body grew more and more tense, every muscle and sinew struggling to keep control. Sabrina opened her mouth over him, drawing him in, sucking and stroking until he was groaning in blissful agony.
Max pulled himself away before he came, breathing hard, his eyes glazed with lust. ‘Not all the way, sweetheart.’
‘Why won’t you let me?’
He got to his feet and picked her up in his arms. ‘Because I have other plans for you.’
She linked her arms around his neck and shivered in anticipation. ‘Ooh, that sounds exciting.’
He gave her a glinting smile and walked up the stairs, carrying her as if she weighed no more than one of the cushions off the sofa. When they got to the master bedroom, he laid her on the bed and came down beside her, his thighs in an erotic tangle with hers. He cupped one of her breasts in his hands, bringing his mouth down to take her tight nipple into his mouth. He swirled his tongue around its pointed tip, then gently drew on her with a light sucking motion that sent arrows of heat to her core. He moved to her other breast, pleasuring her with the gentle scrape of his teeth and the flick and stroke of his tongue.
Sabrina moved restlessly beneath him. ‘Please. I want you so much...’ Her body was throbbing with the need to feel him inside her. The hollow ache between her legs was unbearable, every nerve primed and poised for the erotic friction it craved.
‘I want you too, so damn much, I’m nearly crazy with it.’ He moved down her body, holding her hips with his hands as he kissed her abdomen from her belly button down to the top of her mound. She drew in a sharp breath as his mouth came to the heart of her desire. He separated her with the stroke of his tongue, moving along her sensitive flesh in a series of cat-like licks that made every hair on her head shiver at the roots.
It was too much and it wasn’t quite enough. Her nerves were tight as an over-tuned cello string, vibrating with the need for release. And then she was suddenly there, falling apart under the ministrations of his lips and tongue, shattering into a million pieces as the tumult of sensations swept through her. She cried, she laughed, she bucked and moaned and clutched at his hair, but still he kept at her until the very last aftershock left her body. She flung her head back against the bed, her breathing still hectic. ‘Oh, my God...that was incredible.’
Max placed a hand on her belly, a triumphant smile curving his mouth. ‘But wait. There’s more.’ He moved back over her, careful not to crush her with his weight, and entered her with a smooth, thick thrust, making her gasp all over again.
He set a slow rhythm at first, but then he increased the pace at her urging. She wanted him as undone as she had been. She moved her hands up and down the bunched muscles of his arms, then placed them on his taut buttocks, kneading and stroking the toned flesh as his body moved intimately within hers.
‘You feel so damn good.’ His voice was part moan, part groan as his mouth came back to hers.
>
Sabrina kissed him back, using her lips and tongue and even her teeth at one point. The intensity of his passion for her was thrilling. The movement of his body, the touch and taste of him delighting her senses into an intoxicating stupor. She arched her spine, desperate to get closer, to trigger the orgasm she could feel building in her body.
He slipped a hand underneath her left hip, lifting her pelvis and shifting slightly to change the contact of their hard-pressed bodies. And just like that she was off again in a heart-stopping release that sent shockwaves through every inch of her flesh. It was like fireworks exploding, fizzing and flickering with blinding light and bursts of colour like a shaken kaleidoscope.
Sabrina was conscious of the exact moment he let go. She felt every shudder, every quake, felt the spill of his essence and held him in the aftermath, listening to the sound of his breathing slowly return to normal. There was something almost sacred about the silence that fell between them. The quiet relaxation of their bodies, the synchronisation of their breathing, the mingling of their sensual fragrances and intimate body secretions was so far removed from her first experience of sex it made her love for Max deepen even further.
Max leaned on one elbow and placed his other hand on her thigh. ‘Was that exciting enough for you?’
Sabrina smiled a twisted smile and touched his stubbly jaw in a light caress. ‘You know it was.’
He captured her hand and kissed her fingertips, holding her gaze with his. ‘I’ve never been with a more responsive partner. Every time we make love you surprise me.’
She aimed her gaze at his Adam’s apple, feeling suddenly emotional. ‘I know I’ve said it before, but I wish you’d been my first lover. I can’t believe I let that jerk mess with my head so much and for so long.’
He cradled her close, his hand gently brushed back her hair from her forehead. ‘Sweetie, if I were ever to find myself alone with that creep I would delight in giving him a lesson on how to respect women. What he did to you was disgusting and unforgiveable.’
Sabrina couldn’t help feeling touched by the flare of righteous anger in his eyes. It was wonderful to have someone stand up for her, someone who respected and cared about her welfare. Even if he didn’t love her the way she wanted to be loved, surely it was enough that he would move heaven and earth to take care of her and their baby? ‘You’re such a good man, Max.’
He pressed a soft kiss to her lips and then lifted himself off the bed. ‘Stay here and rest. I’ll bring supper up in few minutes.’
Sabrina propped herself up on the elbows. ‘Are you sure you don’t want some help?’
He pointed a finger at her but there was a smile in his eyes. ‘Stay. That’s an order.’
She gave him a mock-defiant look. ‘You know how obstreperous I get when you issue you with me orders. Are you sure you want to take that risk?’
His eyes ran over her naked form in a lustful rove that made her want him all over again. ‘Are you spoiling for a fight, young lady?’ His voice was a low deep growl that did strange things to the hairs on the back of her neck.
Sabrina got off the bed and sashayed across to him with a sultry smile. She sent her hand from the top of his sternum to the proud bulge of his erection. ‘I was thinking more along the lines of making love, not war. Are you on?’
He shuddered at her touch and pulled her closer. ‘I’m on.’ And his mouth came down on hers.
CHAPTER TEN
AN HOUR OR so later, Max sat across from Sabrina in the cosy kitchen of the cottage and watched as she devoured the supper of soup and fresh bread and fruit he’d brought with him. He wondered if he would ever get tired of looking at her. Her hair was all tousled where his hands had been in it, her lips were swollen from his kisses and her cheeks had a beautiful creamy glow.
She looked up to see him looking at her and her cheeks went a faint shade of pink. She licked her lips and then, finding a crumb or two, reached for her napkin and dabbed at her mouth. ‘What?’
Max smiled and pushed his untouched bread roll towards her. ‘I like watching you eat. You remind me of a bird.’
‘Yeah? What type? A vulture?’ She picked up the bread roll and tore it into pieces. ‘Seriously, I can’t believe my appetite just now. I’m starving.’
‘Must be the hormones.’
She gave him a sheepish look. ‘Or the exercise.’
His body was still tingling from said exercise. And that was another thing he wondered if he’d ever tire of—making love with her. ‘I should have fed you earlier. It’s almost midnight.’
‘I love midnight feasts.’ She popped another piece of bread in her mouth, chewed and swallowed, and then frowned when she saw his water glass. ‘Hey, didn’t you bring any wine with you? I’m the one who isn’t drinking while I’m pregnant, not you.’
‘That hardly seems fair,’ Max said. ‘I’m not a big drinker in any case.’
‘Oh, Max, that’s so thoughtful of you. But I don’t mind if you have a glass of wine or two.’
‘It’s not a problem.’ He passed her the selection of fruit. ‘Here, have one of these peaches.’
After a while, she finished her peach and sat back with a contented sigh. ‘That was delicious.’
He got up to clear the table. ‘Time for bed?’
She smothered a yawn. ‘Not before I help you clear this away.’ She pushed back her chair and reached for the plates.
‘I’ll sort it out. You go up and get comfortable.’
She was halfway to the door when she turned around to look at him with a small frown wrinkling her forehead. ‘Max?’
‘What’s up, sweetie?’
‘Have you brought anyone else down here? Another woman, I mean?’
‘No. I’ve only just finished the renovations.’ He picked up the plates and cutlery and added, ‘I wasn’t going to share it with anyone, to be perfectly honest. Even my parents don’t know about it.’
‘Why haven’t you told them?’
‘There are some things I like to keep private.’
She chewed at her lip. ‘I’ve been thinking... It must have been hard for Lydia, knowing your parents didn’t think she was right for you.’
Funny, but Max could barely recall what his ex-fiancée looked like now. ‘Yes, it probably was hard for her.’ He frowned and continued. ‘I sometimes wonder if I only got engaged to her to stop them banging on about you.’
Something flickered through her gaze. ‘Not the best reason to get engaged.’
‘No.’
‘Have you seen her since?’
‘No. What would be the point? We’ve both moved on.’
She gave him a thoughtful look. ‘But have you?’
‘Have I what?’
‘Moved on.’
Max turned and loaded the dishwasher. ‘You can rest easy, Sabrina. I have no lingering feelings for Lydia. You’re my priority now.’
‘But in a way, it’s the same, isn’t it?’
He closed the dishwasher with a snap. ‘What’s the same?’
‘The way you felt about her is similar to how you feel about me. You weren’t in love with her and you’re not in love with me.’
Max didn’t like where this conversation was heading. He wasn’t incapable of love. He just chose not to love in that way. It wasn’t called ‘falling in love’ for nothing. You lost all control when you loved someone to that degree. He was worried that if he fell in love he would eventually let the person down. Hadn’t he always done so? His parents? His baby brother? Even Lydia had been short-changed and had gone off looking for someone who could love her the way she wanted.
‘Sabrina.’ He let out a long sigh. ‘Let’s not have this discussion this late at night. You’re tired and—’
‘What are you afraid of?’
He gave a short laugh to lighten the atmosphere. ‘I’m not af
raid of anything. Now, be a good girl and go upstairs and I’ll be up in a second.’
She looked like she was going to argue, but then she let out a sigh and turned and headed upstairs.
Max leaned his hands on the kitchen counter and wondered if this was always going to be a stumbling block in their relationship. But he assured himself that Sabrina wasn’t in love with him so what was the problem? If she had been, wouldn’t she have said so? No, they were two people forced together because of circumstance and they were both committed to making the best of the situation. They had put their enmity aside, they liked each other, desired each other and respected each other. If that wasn’t a positive thing, what was? Their relationship had a lot more going for it than others he’d seen. And it was certainly better than any relationship he’d had in the past.
Way better.
* * *
Sabrina spent the rest of the weekend with her mouth firmly closed on the subject of Max’s feelings for her. She didn’t want to spoil the relaxing time together because she could see how hard he was trying to do everything right by her. Her feelings weren’t the top priority right now. They had a baby on the way and she had to somehow reassure Max he would be a wonderful father. She knew it still troubled him and she ached to ease that painful burden for him.
She consoled herself that in time he might relax the guard around his heart, open himself to loving her once he fell in love with their baby. Didn’t most new parents say the experience of bringing a child into the world was a defining moment? A time when overwhelming love flooded their beings? It was her hope, her dream and unceasing prayer that Max would feel that groundbreaking love for their child and include her in it.
The Venetian One-Night Baby Page 12
