Cinderella's Christmas Secret - Sharon Kendrick Page 0,13

stuck rigidly to the path of convention, because life had felt safer that way. But nothing was ever completely safe and Maximo had been right. For once she wanted to dabble with impulsiveness instead of dependability. She’d never been in love—never wanted to be in love, for that matter—because she’d witnessed the fallout which could result from investing in such an unreliable emotion. She’d never had a boyfriend who had lasted longer than a month and she’d never been turned on enough to get any further than accepting a couple of mechanical fumbles, which had turned her stomach and made her call an instant halt to them.

She’d thought she was one of those women who just didn’t feel physical desire. The kind of woman people used to mock and call frigid. But Maximo Diaz was in the process of demonstrating that there was nothing wrong with her body. Nothing at all. Just so long as she didn’t start entertaining any unrealistic expectations of some kind of future with the Spanish tycoon. Because that wasn’t just impractical—it was stupid.

She closed her eyes as he sank his lips to hers again and moved his hand between her thighs, and Hollie wrapped her arms tightly around his muscular shoulders as if he were her rock and her anchor. How was it possible to feel this good, with a man’s tongue in her mouth and his finger strumming at her bare bud with sweetly accurate intensity? But idle reflection was no longer possible, not when a sudden clench of desire was making her heated body as taut as the string of a newly tuned violin.

‘Maximo!’ she gasped.

He lifted his head, mockery and passion glinting in his eyes. ‘What is it?’ he husked.

She wanted to tell him to stop. She wanted to tell him never to stop. But then it was happening. Her body had started clenching around his finger, with swift and perfect spasms, and she was crying out something which sounded as if it had been torn from somewhere deep inside her, as the world splintered into a kaleidoscope of vivid rainbows.

Consciousness receded and then came back again in a slow and sensual comedown. She was dimly aware of him watching her and waiting for her body to grow still. He kissed each tingling nipple in turn and then reached for something he must have put on the locker, which she assumed must be a condom. Because Hollie knew the rules—even if she’d never had to follow them before now—and sex had to be safe.

But his hands seemed to be unsteady as he unpeeled the foil and she watched like a hungry voyeur as he slid the rubber down over his erect shaft. Part of her was wondering why she wasn’t experiencing a faint wrench of embarrassment, or some element of misgiving at the reality of what was about to happen. But Hollie felt none of those things. Her current state of being was so dreamy and so...complete that she simply opened her arms wide as Maximo came to lie down on top of her, welcoming the warm weight of his body.

He was hard and honed and powerful, yet his skin was silky and warm. She was aware of his rigid hardness pressing against her belly and she could feel her thighs opening for him, as if some inner knowledge was orchestrating her movements, making someone with no experience seem as if she knew exactly what she was doing. He gave a low laugh as he positioned himself over her, his lips brushing over hers as she felt his hard tip seeking entry.

‘Do you want me, mi belleza?’

‘Sí,’ she answered and this made him smile, but as he thrust inside her the smile faded, his eyes briefly closing before he opened them again.

She could feel the sudden tension in his body as he stared at her with a question furrowing his brow.

‘Your first time?’ he verified.

She nodded, wondering if she’d imagined the note of disbelief in his voice, the lump in her throat making words impossible, terrified he wouldn’t want her now he knew that nobody else ever had.

But in that she was wrong.

Very wrong.

Very deliberately, he changed his position, reaching underneath her to cushion her fleshy buttocks with the palms of his hands and bring her thighs up to his hips, so that their bodies seemed even closer than before. He kissed her long and he kissed her hard and just the feel of his mouth on hers was enough to make