Emma Darcy - The Master Player

He went deeper. Her chest tightened up. She panted for breath. Her head felt as though it was splitting apart. Her eyes glazed over, losing their focus. And still he moved further inside her, deeper than she’d ever experienced, and it was so achingly sweet to be filled with him, so…Her head arched back and a cry tore from her throat as everything inside her seemed to erupt in an ecstatic fountain of exquisite pleasure. Her head swam into a blissfully dreamy state and she looked at Max, who had done this amazing thing, her eyes filled with awed wonder.

He smiled a slow benevolent smile, his dark brilliant eyes tenderly caressing her as he leaned down and filled her mouth with his in a long, delicious kiss that heightened the lovely sensations floating through her.

‘Thank you,’ she whispered as he drew back.

He shook his head, his eyes still smiling. ‘It’s not over.’

He started rocking back and forth inside her with a gentle rhythm, watching her face, and to Chloe’s astonishment the floating sea of pleasure he had taken her to gathered waves that rolled through her, building up to one ecstatic peak after another, not as explosive as the first, but just as glorious in the intensity of feeling. And her heart swelled with love for him and what he was doing to her.

She watched his face as the surges inside her became more powerful, the rhythm faster, the smile swallowed up by tension, the need for release turning his eyes an opaque black. He threw his head back, too, and cried out as the shuddering spasms of climax sent their flood of pleasure through him.

His chest was heaving for breath as he collapsed forward, arms burrowing under her, rolling onto his back and carrying her with him, holding her in a fiercely possessive embrace. She lay with her head tucked under his chin, her hand spread over his thundering heart, her legs limply sprawled over his, and felt a strange wave of tenderness, wanting to soothe him into the same lovely sense of contentment he’d given her. Was it over now, she wondered, or was this the beginning of an intimacy that would move her life to a place she had never imagined?

Her mind drifted to the image she had once had of him-Maximilian Hart, the powerful, ruthless, intimidating mover and shaker who always got what he wanted. The master player. He’d moved her, shaken the whole foundations of her world, but what, in the end, did he want with her?

Right now, Chloe couldn’t bring herself to care.

She loved being with him like this.

And she was going to revel in it as long as it lasted.

MAX let himself bask in her soft ministrations, his mind still revelling in how she had responded to him-the excitement rippling through her body, the look of incredulous wonder on her face, the unequivocal seizures of intense pleasure. He had no doubt she’d never felt anything quite so climactic before, which gave him an enormous sense of satisfaction. Her rotten husband had obviously been a selfish lover-selfish in everything. It elated him that this sexual experience had been a revelation to her, that he had given her what she should have been given.

He wove his fingers through the silky tresses of her hair, loving the feel of it-soft like a baby’s. Which reminded him. It had been totally reckless to go ahead without using a condom. The dog had brought him here. He hadn’t come prepared for sex. But when he’d seen desire shining in Chloe’s incredibly eloquent eyes, he hadn’t cared about anything else, not even when it had flitted through his mind that she could fall pregnant. That cautionary bit of sanity had been crowded out by wild thoughts of taking care of her and the child, marrying her if need be-anything but putting her off having what he wanted, too.

He should check if there was any danger of pregnancy. He didn’t really want that complication. It forced issues that shouldn’t be forced. He didn’t know how far he wanted to go with Chloe, but he knew the journey was better travelled free and clear of having to consider the life of an innocent child.

‘Chloe…’ His voice came out in a gravelly tone. He swallowed to clear his throat.

‘Mmmh?’ It was a contented hum, nothing fretting at her mind.

Which was good, Max told himself. ‘I didn’t plan this and I had no protection with me,’ he said, unable to wipe all concern from his mind.

‘S’okay,’ she assured him dreamily.

‘It’s safe?’ he persisted, needing that fact nailed down.

‘Mmmh.’ She sucked in a deep breath and explained, ‘I’m in the middle of a month of contraceptive pills. Didn’t think I should go off them until the end of the prescription. Just as well,’ she added on a carefree sigh.

‘Yes. Just as well,’ he agreed, smiling wryly at his own lack of care.

Chloe wasn’t the only one experiencing a first today. His lapse into physical violence, followed by this reckless plunge into intimacy…he’d never been so beyond normal control that he’d bypassed elementary protection from unwelcome consequences. The feelings she stirred kept pushing him to perform acts above and beyond the usual highly guarded parameters of his life. But now that she’d given herself to him, these aberrations should pass.

Her hand was gently fondling his penis as though she was fascinated with its size and shape and Max felt excitement rising in him again. ‘You’re playing with fire,’ he warned.

‘Good!’ She lifted her head and threw him a wicked grin. ‘I want to watch it grow.’

He laughed, surprised by her uninhibited comment. ‘It can’t be a mystery to you.’

She cocked her head on one side, eyeing him consideringly. ‘I don’t think women are a mystery to you, Max, but you wanted to watch me, so why wouldn’t I want to watch you?’

Only with her had he felt compelled to see everything she was feeling with him. Whenever he’d had sex with other women he’d simply accepted they were both reaching for mutual satisfaction which invariably eventuated. The extraordinary circumstances had made this more important, he told himself. And the fascinating ability Chloe had to project so much emotion in her eyes, on her beautiful face…how could he not want to see?

‘You’re a very special woman, Chloe,’ he said seriously. ‘I didn’t want to fail you in any way.’

It turned her serious. ‘You don’t. All the time you give me what I need, what I want. You never fail. And it’s wonderful in one sense…’ She paused, frowning slightly.

‘But…?’ he prompted.

She grimaced. ‘It’s like I’m being passive in all this and I don’t want to be passive anymore.’

His mouth twitched with amusement. ‘Believe me. You weren’t passive. I wouldn’t have completely lost my head if your response had not been so actively exciting.’

She eyed him curiously. ‘You don’t usually lose your head?’

‘No.’

‘Does that mean it was especially good for you?’

‘Yes.’

She looked enormously pleased, her sky-blue eyes sparkling with joy, her smile so wide the dimples in her cheeks deepened in tantalising provocation and he reached out and placed a teasing finger in one of them. She laughed at his bemusement in her. ‘Well, I’m glad I wasn’t a failure to you. I would have shrivelled up and died. As it is, I don’t feel at all bad about this, even though I should.’

‘Why should you?’ Surely she couldn’t feel guilty about being unfaithful to a marriage that was dead and gone.

She winced. ‘In a way, I’ve just acted like Laura Farrell, though at least you’re not married to Shannah Lian.’ Her eyes searched his worriedly. ‘Did you forget about her, Max?’

It obviously troubled her that he might be in the same unfaithful class as her husband. She didn’t owe loyalty to anyone, but he…there was empathy for Shannah’s situation on her face. ‘It’s over between Shannah and me,’ he quickly assured her. ‘We parted friends. You haven’t taken anything from her, Chloe. Nor have I cheated on her.’