If he said another word, she’d scream. It was akin to panic, the urgency that was upon her. She dragged his mouth back to hers, then gasped. Had that been pain? It was gone too quickly to be sure. But she was filled with heat, deeply filled with it, and . . . and . . .
“Oh, God!”
The crescendo she’d been heading toward peaked again, but it was different! So much more gratifying this way with that heat still moving in her, prolonging the exquisite pleasure. And such a wealth of tenderness filling her, too, for the man who had given her this gift. A luxury, to briefly allow that emotion. She actually wished it could stay. . . .
But the glow stayed. Even after he shared in that beautiful gift and collapsed on her completely, she held him close. But he was mindful of his weight. A soft kiss to her neck, her cheek, then he rolled over to the mattress. But he wasn’t done with her. He drew her close to his side, even pulled her leg across him before he put his arm firmly across her back to keep her there. A hand, gently smoothing the hair back from the cheek that wasn’t pressed to his chest.
She sighed deeply in contentment, so relaxed, sublimely comfortable curled against him. “That was nice,” she said drowsily a moment before she succumbed to the sweet languor and drifted away in it.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
WHAT AN UNBELIEVABLE DAY yesterday had been, Alana thought. Had all of that really occurred in just one day, even . . . ? Alana shied away from that thought.
She had no idea what time it was. Christoph’s bedroom had no windows to indicate whether it was day or night, just a lamp left burning on the mantel. But she felt calmer, completely refreshed, and was wide-awake the moment she realized it wasn’t a pillow her head was on, nor was it a blanket giving such heat to her back and buttocks. He was curled around her! The fireplace had gone cold at some point, but it wasn’t needed. He was a furnace.
“How are you feeling this morning?”
How did he know she was awake to hear that? She hadn’t moved, was barely breathing to keep from rousing him before she could pull her thoughts together.
“I did my best to comfort you last night after that nightmare woke you,” he continued in a reflective tone. “I’m glad you wanted me to. Needing to be close to another human being is a natural urge after a traumatic event.”
She tried to get up, but his arm tightened on her and his voice turned firm. “That was no dream, Alana.”
“I know it wasn’t. I was only teasing last night when I suggested it was. But it shouldn’t have happened.”
“Yet it cannot be erased. Pleasure like that will linger forever—as beautiful memories do.”
She groaned. “Please, can we not discuss it?”
Immediately, she was pushed flat on her back. Christoph was now leaning on one arm looking down at her. Just to see how hot her cheeks had become? No, actually, he was smiling at her, a stunning smile that stole her breath and kept her holding it in anticipation as he slowly leaned forward to kiss her.
But all he did was place a peck on the tip of her nose, grin, and say, “Good morning, or perhaps it is afternoon by now.”
She released her breath in a whoosh. She should be furious, about everything, but mostly about last night. He’d behaved like a barbarian and enjoyed what had been offered to him. But in the back of her mind, she knew that wasn’t so. He’d been sweet and loving to her. She shied away from that thought, uncomfortable with how much she was starting to like him.
“Is it really afternoon?”
He shrugged. “Very likely. I ate some time ago. I was beginning to think you’d never wake, but I suppose you needed the extra sleep.”
An understatement. But—wait, he’d been up? But he’d come back to bed to lie with her while she continued to sleep? She hoped that didn’t mean he wanted to continue where they’d left off last night. She started to get up. Again his arm tightened around her waist.
But this time he said, “Do you really want me to let you up when you are naked? I suppose you could take the sheet with you, but then you’d leave me here naked. Which would you prefer?”
She groaned. “I would prefer to hide under these covers while you leave the room. Can that be arranged?”
He laughed. “No.”
She groused, “Why are you still here if it’s that late? Shouldn’t you be out and about doing your job?”
“No.”
“Because I’m your job?” she guessed.
“I am so delighted to say, yes.”
Oh, good Lord, she had the charmer in bed with her? That boyish grin of his was devastating her senses. And the arm that was keeping her there wasn’t still. His fingers were brushing over her exposed shoulder. So lightly she might not notice? So lightly he might not even be aware he was doing it? She couldn’t count on that.
Desperate to distract him, she asked, “Was that actually one of your men who tried to kill me last night?”
