When she left this home, her ghost would not haunt it. He would have exorcised it.
The time for exorcism was getting closer and closer. He could feel it. He could taste it. Anticipation laced the air and it tasted sweeter than the purest honey.
She tucked her hair behind her ear and cleared her throat. ‘So...where are we going tonight?’
‘To the palace for a champagne reception, followed by a concert at the royal amphitheatre.’
Her eyes widened. ‘You’re joking.’
This was a reaction he liked. Helena had a fascination with the palace. It was the place they had met. She’d been wide-eyed with wonder when Theo had shown her their hand-delivered invitation to attend King Helios’s wedding. But, of course, she’d left before the wedding had occurred.
He stepped closer to her. ‘It is all arranged. A stylist will be here in an hour to assist you.’
Her mouth opened and closed. ‘But I have nothing...’
‘To wear?’ he supplied. He took another step towards her and lowered his head to whisper in her ear. ‘Look in your dressing room, agapi mou.’
If he wasn’t so attuned to her he’d have missed the tiny tremor that ran through her as his words brushed against her skin. It barely distracted from the tremor that ran through his own body as his senses soaked in her fragrance.
Moving like a sleepwalker, Helena went to the dressing room and stared in at a space that was larger than the bedroom in her flat. It was like looking into a hall of mirrors.
And then she saw it, at the far end, hanging beside a beautiful, feminine, antique dressing table.
The dress from the boutique.
‘How...?’ But that was all she could croak. Theo was standing right behind her. Not a part of him touched her but she felt him as acutely as if he’d wound his arms about her...
The air around her shifted. Warm breath threaded through her hair, seeping through the roots. The hair on the nape of her neck lifted.
She couldn’t move. She didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to fight the feelings thrumming through her a moment longer.
A hard body pressed against her. A muscular arm hooked around her waist. Theo’s breath grew hotter against her scalp. Flames flickered to feel his arousal press into the small of her back. Every nerve and every cell in her body throbbed a dance.
There was no resistance when he slowly twisted her round. Only more thrills.
Trying to breathe, she looked up into eyes that had turned a deeper shade of blue. It was a shade she recognised and, as she saw it, the flames inside her grew. The burn they gave was agony. Delicious, terrifying, exhilarating agony.
Breathing deeply, his nostrils flaring, he put his hands to her face and removed her glasses.
The world became a blur, yet somehow Theo remained solid.
As desperately as she had tried to forget him, he’d always remained solid in her mind. In her dreams.
This was her last chance to back away and put a stop to this madness...
But there was no turning back. Not for her. Theo was a devil built of fire and passion. Broken dreams lay smashed between them, but this was one dream she didn’t need or want to deny.
She placed a hand to his chest. The strong thud of his heart pounded against her palm. Helena filled her lungs with the woody scent that had always delighted her senses so much.
Placing her other hand against his strong neck, she closed her eyes and stepped into Theo’s fire.
Later, she would forget whose lips claimed whose first. She would forget everything but the shock of heat that crashed through her to find their lips locked together, because at that first kiss she dissolved.
Her senses went into full-blown overload. Her mouth filled with Theo’s dark taste, her airways filled with his scent, her ears soaked in every swipe of their ravenous tongues and every crackle of fabric from their groping hands as they tore at each other’s clothes.
Buttons popped, buckles snapped, zips purred...every sound filled her as much as the furnace of heat firing through her veins and bones.
His mouth broke from her lips, swept over her cheeks and down to her neck, sending sensation dancing over her skin. He tugged her trousers and underwear down, then lowered himself to his knees. Catching the hem of her cami-top, he raised it over her breasts and slid a hand round her back to unclasp her bra. Helena took care of the rest, throwing the top over her head and impatiently shrugging the bra off, then almost lost control of her limbs when he greedily covered one of her breasts with his mouth. She gasped his name and cradled his head tightly, savouring every lick and every suck of attention to her sensitised flesh.
When he abandoned her aching breasts and moved lower to kiss her belly, memories flooded her of all the times he’d pleasured her with his mouth. He’d brought her to orgasm so many times...but never in the way she’d craved. She’d wanted Theo inside her. She’d wanted it more than she’d ever wanted anything.
Digging her fingers into his cheeks, she stopped him just as his mouth reached the top of her pubis, and sank to her knees.
Questions rang from his pulsating eyes. She answered by covering his mouth and kissing him hard, fusing their torsos together again so her naked breasts were crushed against his chest...
He still had his top on.
This time, Helena broke the kiss and pulled at his polo shirt. She wanted to see him naked. She wanted to feel the hardness of his body beneath her fingertips and mouth. He raised his arms, enabling her to pull the shirt off.
The wildness that had become such an intrinsic part of her when they’d been in love scratched beneath her skin for release. Too far gone for caution, she set it free.
In a tumble of arms, they fell onto the thick, soft carpet, mouths fused, both
