Modern Romance Books September Books 5-8. Annie West

next to her and flipping her so that they were stomach to stomach, looking at one another in the darkness of the bedroom. ‘I’ll be gentle. When it comes to sex, you’d be surprised. I can have a very slow hand. I’ll take care of you.’

      Now, he guided her hand to touch him and continued talking to her in a low, seductive voice while he showed her how to excite him.

      ‘Not too fast and not too hard.’ He licked her ear and nuzzled against her neck while she squirmed wetly in the panties that had yet to be removed and banked down the urge to push him against her breasts, which ached. Would that be too forward?

      He kept his hand over hers, moving it slowly, firmly, guiding her until she was losing herself in the sensation of feeling his arousal.

      Then he deftly removed her panties, slipping them down and gently inserting his hand between her thighs.

      He rested the palm of his hand over her and it felt so good that she parted her legs, encouraging him to do more, but he didn’t and that stoked the urgent excitement inside her until she wanted to scream with frustration.

      She whimpered when he removed his hand so that he could explore the rest of her body.

      He kissed her, a long, lingering kiss, tongues meshing, breathing into her mouth and filling her with suffocating longing. He nuzzled the side of her neck, sweeping her long hair back and sifting his fingers through its length. He took his time paying attention to her breasts, circling one swollen nipple with his mouth and suckling on it while he toyed with the other with his fingers, gently rubbing and rousing until the whimpers turned into moans of barely contained excitement.

      She squirmed against his mouth and pressed his head so that the caress deepened, deepened until darts of erotic pleasure were shooting through her body, from her toes to the very tips of her fingers. He smoothed his hand over her flat belly, tracing each curve and indent, from the dip of her waist to the soft oval of her belly button. And then this time, when he felt the dampness between her legs, he didn’t just let the flat of his hand cup her. He deftly inserted his finger, instantly finding her sensitive clitoris, and she gasped, eyes opening, as he began stroking.

      It didn’t take long. She’d never come close to this level of sensation and she came fast, unable to contain the rising surge of pleasure as he continued to stroke, his movements firm and rhythmic.

      She arched back with a low shuddering groan and her eyes fluttered shut as she reached her orgasm against his finger.

      She subsided, pink-faced and dismayed.

      ‘I’m sorry.’

      ‘What for?’

      ‘Rafael...’

      ‘Shh...trust me.’ He caressed her lightly, taking his time, and his mouth replaced his fingers. He licked a trail along her breasts down to her belly button and then he took his time, teasing the soft inside of her thighs.

      Having crested one explosive wave of sensation, Sofia didn’t think that it would be possible to do anything more than just flop like a rag doll in the aftermath, but she was wrong.

      Her body slowly awakened. She moved against him, desperate to pleasure him the way he had pleasured her, shyly wondering whether she would be any good.

      She was mystified as to how she could ever have relegated sex to the position of second-rate companion to the bigger thing called love. She’d imagined herself meeting the perfect guy, someone kind and gentle, and her imagination had stopped at the bedroom door.

      Rafael wasn’t the perfect guy, and he didn’t even bother to try and pretend otherwise. He’d entered into a contract with her, and then it had been a case of, ‘oh, by the way, I fancy you so why not?’, but that was where personal involvement had ended, even though in some strange way she didn’t feel used. They talked. Was that it? They laughed together. Okay, so they might not have a romantic connection, and he might scoff at all talk of anything more than sex and lust, but they communicated. She wondered whether that was why she could give herself to him the way she was doing now.

      He’d kicked that bedroom door open and was showing her just how inadequate all her fuzzy daydreams had been—showing her that there was no such thing as black and white when it came to the physical side of a relationship.

      The reality of his strong, lean, naked body against hers was explosive. She wriggled as he nudged his sensuous path downwards and then breathed in sharply as his mouth pressed softly against her womanhood, nuzzling the downy fur between her legs, then inserting his tongue into the slick groove and licking her.

      She couldn’t breathe.

      Time stood still. Little shivers raced through her body, darting here, there and everywhere. She could feel pleasure building, and he could sense it as well, because he drew back, briefly enough for her to want just a little bit more.

      The stop-start teasing was driving her crazy. He took her almost to the brink, only to bring her back down again, and in the end she was the one to tell him that she was ready.

      ‘I want you in me,’ she urged with wicked abandon, tugging him up by the hair and writhing as he wrapped his arm around her.

      She had been apprehensive about the pain but she needn’t have worried. He’d promised to be gentle and he was. He fumbled over the condom, which made her smile, but when he settled back into her she was ready for him, slick and wet, and she felt just the smallest discomfort when he began to thrust more firmly into her.

      ‘Relax, cara,’ he urged. ‘I’m going as slowly as I can but it’s hard. You’re driving me crazy and all I want is to move inside you.’

      ‘I want that too, Rafael.’ It was a struggle to talk because after the discomfort her body began to respond in ways she couldn’t have predicted, soaring and swooping as, encouraged by her, he started thrusting with more force and purpose.

      His bigness filled her up and carried her away until she lost touch with everything around her and the world was reduced to sensation.

      She came with shuddering force, crying out, nails digging into his back, legs drawn up as he plunged deeply to find his own orgasm.

      Sated, they remained locked together for a few minutes, then he rolled off her and stared up at the ceiling.

      She wanted to talk. She felt an intense intimacy and she would have loved nothing more than to curl against him, have him stroke her and chat, laugh and cuddle.

      It was a cool reminder of what this was all about when he slid off the bed and headed straight to the en suite bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

      With the ardour fast draining out of her, Sofia remained where she was. She had just shared the most wonderful and earth-shattering experience of her entire life but had it been the same for him? Dared she hope?

      She should protect herself—should remind herself that, for Rafael, this had been just a physical act. But she was weakly conscious of her thoughts and feelings all over the place, as though she’d been thrown into a tumble dryer and spun at high speed until nothing was quite where it should have been. She wondered whether he was disappointed with her performance and tried hard not to care, instead forcing her way through the drowsy contentment, trying to settle to reach a place where she could, at least, face him with a certain amount of self-control.

      She sat up, drawing the duvet right up to her neck. With the bathroom light on behind him, he was a shadowy figure, hovering, and she watched him for a few moments, not quite knowing where they went from here.

      ‘Are you...finished in there? I thought I might have a shower.’

      Rafael slowly towards her and then sat at the side of the bed, depressing it with his weight.

      Her hands itched to reach out and touch him, pull him back to her, but her natural caution had kicked in and she looked at him warily, wondering what was going through his head.

      ‘That was—’ he began, and she interrupted before he could say