He startled her by sliding off her and flipping her over, pulling her up on her knees and sinking back into her in an urgent, commanding thrust. As long fingers brushed the bud of her clit, she gasped and the backwash of delight almost swallowed her alive. His ferocious control was elemental and raw and savagely masculine, filling her with sensual energy and enjoyment. His every movement controlled the enervating flow of that sweet pleasure and she ran with that earthy pull of sensation, losing herself in it, yielding control, wanting more and more until she reached the peak her body was unconsciously striving to attain.
A climax engulfed her in a surging rush of feeling and she cried out, her voice breaking in shock as he surged inside her one more time and groaned, attaining his own orgasm. Soon afterwards, she slumped, utterly empty of response but luxuriating in the blissful aftermath of satisfaction.Well, wasn’t exactly prepared for that,was her first coherent thought.
Tore strode into the bathroom but quickly rejoined her. He pulled her close and rolled her over, throwing back the sheet, his keen gaze homing in on the blood stains. ‘You were a virgin. You should’ve warned me. I would’ve gone slower and been more gentle—’
Violet’s eyes flew wide and she sat up. ‘I wasn’t… I couldn’t have been. I had sex when I was seventeen!’ she protested.
Tore tugged her back down to him. ‘Well, it didn’t take,’ he reasoned, closing both arms round her. ‘Let’s not argue about something immaterial to the present.’
Violet wanted to argue but she was remembering back to that night when Damien had lost interest, as it were, and they had drawn back from each other in mutual discomfiture that they had so misjudged their friendship that they had conducted such an experiment. But it had hurt, she recalled, which had convinced her that the deed had been done and she was no longer physically innocent. Now she didn’t know what to think because at the time there had been no embarrassing evidence on the bedding.
‘I hurt you… I wish I hadn’t,’ Tore continued.
‘I’ll recover,’ she muttered drowsily. ‘Well, have you conquered your curiosity?’
Tore laughed softly above her head. ‘It’s a little too early to say but I should admit that I’m already thinking of how much fun it would be to do it again…of course, awaiting your…er recovery.’
Violet tensed. ‘That’s not what I was hoping would happen.’
‘Does it matter right now?’
And just at that moment, warm and secure in his arms, nothing seemed to matter. She postponed any regrets to be dealt with the next day and drifted off to sleep. She only hoped that their new intimacy wouldn’t make it harder for them to endure three long years together. If she was right in her earlier conviction, it would make them more relaxed and comfortable with each other. But was it to only happen once? Hadn’t that been her first assumption? Or would they continue to have sex? She supposed it was more what they both decided on and that she was probably worrying about nothing.
The next morning, while she was in the shower, aware with every tiny movement that she still ached between her thighs, she told herself squarely that she wasn’t going to do any morning-after regrets over what had happened between her and Tore. It would be pointless to regret what couldn’t be changed. Hopefully, now that curiosity had been sated, she and Tore would be less awkward with each other.
Tore, of course, had already vanished from their room to make his usual early start. It wasn’t a promising new beginning but it was a gorgeous day and she chose a spicy red sundress to wear with sliders on her bare feet. Belle was already gone from the nursery and everyone else seemed to be still asleep, so she went downstairs for breakfast as quietly as she could.
Stella was just settling Belle into her high chair when she arrived. Tore was seated with his coffee.
‘You should’ve woken me,’ Violet told him just as Belle squealed at the sight of her and tried to get out of the chair again.
In the ensuing fuss, Violet lifted her daughter to share their usual morning cuddle while Stella fetched the little girl’s breakfast. Tore poured her coffee and she studied him. Heat mushroomed between her slender thighs as brilliant green eyes assailed hers. For a split second, she couldn’t quite credit that the intimacy of the night hours had actually happened. Without warning their whole relationship had gone from distant to much, much closer and she wasn’t quite sure how to handle that.
‘Where do we go from here?’ she heard herself ask uncertainly as Tore surveyed her with his characteristic cool, assessing gaze, and she lowered her head and began to feed Belle to occupy herself.
His lean, hard-boned features tightened. ‘No place different from where we were last night,’ Tore imparted with succinct bite.
Violet felt a little like she had been slapped down because on her terms,everythingwas different. But Tore was evidently telling her thathedidn’t want it any different outside the bedroom door. Obviously, he wasn’t feeling the sense of closer connection that she was experiencing. That physical togetherness had meant nothing to him.
‘I can tell you, though, that today we’re cutting out on our guests and having a day for ourselves,’ Tore continued smoothly, seemingly unaware that he had said anything likely to annoy or distress her.
‘Oh…?’ she said, off balanced by that statement.
‘We deserve an escape and some sightseeing. This is your first trip to Italy yet you have been nowhere and seen nothing. That’s pretty bad for a honeymoon that’s already more than a week old,’ he completed.
So once again, Tore was thinking of appearances, about adding a firmer foundation to the reality that they were newly marrieds and ensuring that they looked and behaved more like the average new couple. It was his birthday tomorrow. She would decorate the cake that evening, she decided numbly.
‘You didn’t want to get married, did you?’ she heard herself comment.
‘No, but neither did you and now we’re simply making the best of difficult circumstances,’ Tore pointed out without expression.
‘That makes me feel like the last resort in the bedroom,’ Violet whispered truthfully.
Shimmering green eyes caught and held hers in reproof. ‘It shouldn’t. We’re stuck in this situation and we’re dealing with it in the most practical way,’ he argued.
Violet totally blamed herself for the hurt he had inflicted as she went upstairs to dress her daughter in something pretty. She had made the decision, thechoice, to be with him the night before but still she contrived to behurt. She had travelled at speed from her raunchy novel to the exciting reality of Tore and had got her fingers burnt. She hadn’t thought far enough ahead. Had it even crossed her mind that once she cancelled those boundaries, putting them back up again would be an impossible challenge?
And why would Tore say no to commitment-free sex when he had no other female outlet? He was a normal guy with a libido and she had handed herself to him on a silver platter, thinking that she was being daring, practical and sensible. But maybe all that she had really been thinking about was that she was hugely attracted to Tore. She had been all too willing to find a good excuse to allow herself to explore that attraction.
