CHAPTER SIX

      WITH CHARLEY’S FINGERS linked through his, Raul led her out of the empty room, down the wide landing and up a set of narrow wooden stairs to the top floor.

      As soon as they stepped over the threshold into his bedroom she dropped his hand, kicked her sandals off then marched over to stand in the centre of the room.

      Her eyes fixed on his, she tugged her top up and off.

      No sooner had her top hit the floor than she was undoing the buttons of her shorts and letting them drop to her feet, where she stepped out of them and kicked them away.

      He stood, transfixed at the scenario playing out before him, his eyes drinking in the unexpected striptease his wife was performing for him.

      Her green eyes flashing, she unclasped her white bra, which went the same way as the rest of her clothes, then pinched the sides of her matching knickers, skimming them down her hips from where gravity took care of the rest.

      When all her clothes were lying in a pool beside her, she put her hands on her hips and jutted out her chin.

      He made to step towards her but something held him back.

      Her eyes burned, but it wasn’t with desire. It was with defiance. Her whole body vibrated with it.

      ‘Well?’ she said, the challenge in her voice clear. ‘I’m here. I’m ready. I’m willing. If you want me, then take me.’

      Her figure was exquisite, with her full breasts and succulent nipples, the feminine swell of her abdomen and the rounded hips that topped long, shapely legs. At the juncture of her thighs lay the soft dark brown curls he’d once loved running his fingers over.

      He remembered the first time he’d seen her naked. At the time she’d been platinum blonde. He’d laughed when he’d pulled her knickers off and seen the dark hair there, the only evidence of her natural colouring. He’d especially liked kissing her there, that first time and all the others, feeling her excitement mount as she’d press upwards and into him, her gasps of pleasure seeping through his skin.

      Memories flooded him, vivid and colourful. His wife had always been putty in his hands. It would be so easy to kiss all that defiance away. The sweetest, easiest thing in the world.

      The heat running through his loins had turned the ache inside him into a form of pain.

      He ignored it.

      Folding his arms, he shook his head and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

      She trembled as he walked to her but her chin didn’t drop, not even when he reached an arm round to cup her bottom.

      ‘You want me to take you now, do you?’ he whispered, pulling her flush against him, tracing his fingers up her bare back, then gathering her thick mop of hair together and spearing his fingers through it.

      ‘You can do whatever you like,’ she whispered back, her breaths coming in shallow hitches.

      But when his lips met hers, he found her mouth unyielding.

      ‘You said I could do whatever I like.’

      ‘And you can. But that doesn’t mean I have to participate or enjoy it.’

      He tugged her hair back and stared into her insolent eyes. Anger flooded through him at the confirmation of the game she was playing. But he tempered it.

      She wanted to play?

      Nothing would give him greater pleasure.

      And she would learn that whatever game she played with him, she would never win.

      He released his hold on her and swept his fingers over her shoulders, down over her breasts, lightly pinching those gorgeous nipples, already hard with the arousal she wished to deny, in the way that had always made her moan.

      There were no moans this time, but her lips parted a fraction, her cheeks heightening with colour. The defiance remained.

      ‘Sit on the chair,’ he commanded, indicating the armchair in the corner of the room.

      ‘What?’

      ‘Sit on the chair. You said I could do whatever I like, and what I would like is for you to sit on that chair.’

      She swallowed, looking at the chair as if it might be a trap.

      ‘I can carry you if you’d prefer?’

      Her eyes dilated at his words but her chin rose. She turned and walked to it, her back straight and her head high, goddess-like.

      When she sat down, her eyes met his. You can make me do anything you like but you won’t make me enjoy it, they said.

      Smiling, he stalked towards her and dropped to his knees. Without a word, he gripped her thighs and pulled her towards him so that his face was level with the place he so desperately wanted to taste. Just the thought of it made him want to plunge deep inside her.

      Instead, he mustered all his discipline and spread her thighs, waiting, teasing.

      She didn’t move, her body rigid.

      Whatever fight was occurring between Charley’s mind and body, her body was winning. He rubbed his thumb along the delicate folds, his eyes gleaming as he found her hot and moist. When his tongue finally found her, he gave a growl of appreciation.

      Her body remained unyielding, right until he found the rhythm he knew she loved. The tiniest of moans escaped from her.

      Keeping the pressure light but firm, his hands stroking the soft skin of her thighs and stomach, slowly but surely he felt her relax into his ministrations.

      He felt fit to burst himself, especially when her hands finally gripped his head, her fingers scraping at his scalp. She raised her hips to increase the pressure. Only by the skin of his teeth did he keep himself in check, intent only on her pleasure. Her moans deepened breath by breath until her body went rigid all over again...but this time in ecstasy.

      He kept his mouth and tongue exactly where they were, absorbing the shudders that racked through her right until she dropped her hold on him and lay back.

      His heart thumping painfully, Raul raised his head to look at her.

      She was staring at the ceiling, her chest rising and falling as if she were struggling to get air into her lungs.

      Not until he got to his feet did she deign to look at him. Her eyes were wide and dazed but he could see the defiance