in his chest while he worked her body with his skilled hands. An orgasm built in her, and he brought her to the edge, then pushed her away from it, his rhythm maddening, enough to turn her on more than she’d ever been in all her life, without giving her the release she craved.
“Alik, now,” she said, her hands gliding down his muscular chest, to the buckle of his belt, undoing it quickly, then his pants.
He pushed them partway down his hips, freeing himself.
She took his heavy length into her hand, squeezing gently. He was a very big man, and without making comparisons, she could honestly say she’d never seen a man quite like him. But she wasn’t nervous. She was too needy for that, too desperate. She knew what she wanted, and she knew he could give it to her.
He reached down and picked his coat back up, digging through the interior pocket and producing his wallet, then a condom. She could have wept with relief. At least one of them could think. She was well beyond it.
“Let me,” she said, taking the packet from his hand and tearing it open, rolling it onto him quickly.
He pushed her panties to the side and put his hand on her thigh, opening her to him, positioning her. He teased her entrance with the head of his erection. The breath hissed through her teeth as he filled her slowly, completely, perfectly.
She arched into him and he slid his hand around to palm her butt, pulling her more tightly against him, pushing inside of her farther. She kissed his mouth, her hands on his back, holding on to him tightly as he thrust into her, driving them both toward completion.
She was so close, had been since he’d first touched her, but now she wanted it to last. Wanted that moment of him being in her to go on. Because it was so delicious, so incredible, far beyond her experience.
It was lust and desire, a perfect storm of physical need being met, of the need being exceeded.
He thrust deep, hard, her body pressed tightly against the wall, Alik, hot and delicious in front of her. She was surrounded by him, lost in him.
And when she reached the peak, as it built, so strong, so fast, she fought it. It was too much, too much too quickly. She was sure she couldn’t survive it. It was too big, too far beyond anything she’d ever known. The sensation, the pressure, felt like too much for her body to contain, too much for her to withstand.
Then it broke over her, like a burst of stars inside, white hot and bright, overpowering, beautiful. It consumed her, burned through her like a flash fire. All she could do was cling to Alik.
She felt the moment he found his release, felt his muscles go tight, his body still, felt the shiver of pleasure that worked its way through him, the pulse of his erection deep inside her setting off a series of aftershocks.
And then she was back on earth. Back in the real world. The music didn’t seem so distant, the background no longer fuzzy.
And she realized what she had done, with who and where.
“Oh no.” She pushed against his chest, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.
“What?” he asked, his voice hushed.
“We just…” She looked around, tried to see if anyone was watching them. She couldn’t see anyone from her position behind the curtain, only the edge of the singers on the stage, and they were completely involved in their performances. “We’re in public, Alik,” she hissed.
And she’d just had sex with another man. A man she didn’t love. It didn’t matter that he was her husband on paper because in truth, he was a stranger. If she was going to be with someone other than the man she’d loved, there had to be a better reason than blinding lust.
It made a mockery of everything she believed in. Of the values she wanted to teach her daughter. Of everything she’d always thought about herself. Of what she’d shared with the man she loved. Only with him.
And she had done it all with an audience below.
For one, terrifying moment, she felt like she was drifting without an anchor. This wasn’t her. It wasn’t how she was. She was sensible, she was safe. She went to bed by nine every night. She didn’t have sex with strange men in opera boxes.
Tears pricked her eyes. She was horrified. She didn’t want