It was appreciation of a lover with a similar level of energy to himself. He’d finally met a woman who could match him.
He would continue to deny love, to deny sentiment, to deny anything other than the detachment and clear thinking that had always served him so well. He would never be that child again, sitting on his suitcase outside school, a slave to emotion, waiting for parents that never came. He would never love again. Love was both a weakness and a complete waste of time.
And Celina?
The strength of his feelings for her didn’t make sense. He couldn’t even be sure of her, and she certainly didn’t hang on his every word. She was her own woman with her own thoughts, and those thoughts had been busy tonight. What was this really about? This was the first time in his adult life that he found himself uncertain where a woman was concerned.
“What are you thinking about?” she whispered.
He was trying to imagine Celina as his compliant, ever-available girlfriend. And failed miserably. She would never fall in with his plans. She would expect compromise and discussion, something he’d sensibly avoided up to now. He would have to adopt an entirely new mindset. No prizes for guessing how well that would go. “I was thinking how much I’ve enjoyed you,” he said dryly.
“Liar,” she said. “You were wondering how to handle me if things developed between us. But we would have to be two very different people for that to happen, wouldn’t we, Diego?”
“Fortunately, we are who we are,” he said dryly.
“Yes. Thank goodness,” she said, matching him barb for barb.
Rolling her onto her back, he took her again, fiercely and possessively, needing to hear her scream out her pleasure. Closing his eyes on a woman he could have stared at forever, he concentrated on Celina and cut out the rest.
“How do you do that?” he asked when they were quiet again.
“How do I cast a spell on you?” she teased softly, glancing at his erection, which refused to subside.
“Yes, that,” he said. Turning, he groaned with pleasure as he plunged deep again, and she gripped his cock with her inner muscles. One thing led to another, and it turned out they weren’t nearly done.
Much later, they turned to face each other. As she ran her fingertips down his arms, the look on her face said she wanted to remember every inch of him. Swinging her on top of him, he laughed against her mouth and then he kissed her again, stroking her tongue with his. Sex could not only be fun, but this much fun? “This is perfect,” he said as he stoked her plump butt cheeks with appreciation.
“Too soft, too big,” she argued.
“Perfect,” he insisted as he mapped her curves. “And anyone who says anything different has to answer to me.”
“No one else will ever get to see—”
She stopped talking so suddenly, he was instantly suspicious. “What’s wrong, Celina? Can’t you tell me?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” she protested, but with far too much force, he thought. He felt certain now that somethingwaswrong. How else could she turn from contentment to this in a matter of moments? Was she frightened to think how close they’d been? He was as guilty as she was where that was concerned. He’d gone as far as thinking about moving her in, when changing his domestic arrangements had never occurred to him before. It was about time he got his head straight. They had enjoyed each other and had been close for a few hours, but that would soon be over.
“I’m going for a swim.” Keen to break the suddenly serious mood, he sprang to his feet.
“I’ll wash down in the stream,” she replied.
She was right. Accepting the gulf between them was the most logical thing to do. As he prepared to enter the water, she made him a mock bow. “It’s been a pleasure knowing you.” She said this as if they might never meet again. When he questioned her with a frown, she added, “We both have other places to be, don’t we, Diego?”
“Yes,” he was forced to agree. “We do.”
~~o0o~~
She would never forget tonight, Celina reflected as she strolled back from the forest with Diego. Neither of them spoke, and a tension had grown between them. She felt it because the start of her plan meant the end of their short-lived relationship. Diego would never forgive her when he found out what she’d done. And rightly so. She could understand that he’d feel deceived. He already knew something was in the air. He just didn’t know what that was.
“You don’t have to take me back to the staff quarters,” she insisted when they drew close to the house. “I can find my way from here.” What had started out a seemingly a feasible plan had ripped a chunk out of her carefully closed heart. She needed space before the pain grew stronger and she changed her mind about leaving.
“I insist on taking you back,” Diego argued quietly with the same concern that made her yearn for things she couldn’t have. “You can’t just wander off on your own, after…”
He let the next words hang, leaving her with nothing more than the hope that he’d pick up the clues she’d left so Diego and his team could finally break up the slavers.
He left her at the door of the staff block where she had a room. No kisses, and a handshake would have been risible under the circumstances.
“Good night,” he said politely, respecting the distance that had grown between them.
