Modern Romance Books September Books 5-8. Annie West

cook us something to eat. I wouldn’t mind some comfort food. I don’t want any of that fancy stuff we order in from those restaurants.’

      But she was winding her arms around his neck and stretching up to kiss him.

      He adored her breasts and never stopped telling her.

      She stepped back and kept her eyes locked to his as she slowly removed the shirt and flung it on the kitchen table, then the bra followed, releasing her heavy breasts.

      His nostrils flared and his eyes darkened and a thrill of feminine power soared inside her.

      With deliberate provocation, she held both her breasts in her hands and then, maintaining eye contact, she rotated the pads of her thumbs over the stiffened tips of her big nipples.

      Rafael swore under his breath and when he spoke his voice was shaky.

      ‘It’s going to be a challenge making it up the stairs.’

      ‘Then we’d better stay down here.’

      He smiled slowly and now it was his turn to get undressed, starting with his belt, which he pulled free in one easy move. Then the trousers were down and he stepped out of them, revealing the blatant push of his formidable erection against his boxers.

      Sofia stepped forward, dipped her hands under and took his stiffened member so that she could start teasing it, rolling it the way she knew he liked, slowly and firmly, feeling the steady pulsing beneath her fingers.

      ‘Witch,’ he growled in response, propelling her back until her rear nudged the edge of the kitchen table. And then, in a flurry of discarded clothes, and with an urgency that barely allowed him time to don the necessary protection, he was taking her.

      He had her on the table with her legs around his waist, standing in front of her. When he thrust, pushing her back, the pleasure was so exquisite that she cried out and clutched him. He held her in place and kept thrusting, his bigness filling her up, sending her body into a shrieking, uncontrolled response. The only sounds were their breathing, moaning and grunting and she felt her wetness around him as he rammed harder inside her.

      They came together, bodies slick with perspiration, tensing, stiffening and then, at last, coming down from the peaks of their mutual ecstasy.

      For Sofia, this was love, and she never wanted it to end. Ever.

       CHAPTER EIGHT

      ‘I THINK I’D like to see...the company.’ Sofia was stretched out on the bed, her hair spilling across the pillow, watching as Rafael got dressed to leave for work. She caught his eye in the reflection of the mirror as he adjusted his tie.

      Despite his confidence that the annoying Freddy situation would be sorted within weeks, her father’s stepson was still a thorn in Rafael’s side and it was frustrating the hell out of him.

      His level of incompetence was astounding, as he had confided only days previously, but the way he arrogantly strode through the office made it difficult for anyone to take issue with him.

      Rafael was now involved in the painstaking process of trying to unpick some of the more stupid decisions Freddy had taken and somehow managed to get past the board of directors, primarily because of his process of dispatching the ones who might have stood in his way.

      The whole process was taking Rafael away from his own responsibilities, handling his own sprawling empire, and he was fast losing patience.

      ‘Why?’ He swung round to look at her and she leapt out of bed, scooping up clothes along the way and heading towards the en suite bathroom.

      ‘Do I have to have a reason?’ she paused to ask him and he raised his eyebrows and dealt her a crooked smile.

      ‘You don’t have to,’ he drawled, ‘but I’m curious as to why. I didn’t think you were interested in the company.’

      ‘I wasn’t but...it’s been a few weeks since all that business with my mother emerged and ever since...well... I feel closer to him. We chat on the phone. He texts often. Have I told you that he’s teaching me how to play chess?’ She gazed at Rafael. By now, she could recreate every line on his beautiful face, every ingrained habit he wasn’t even aware he had. ‘And that’s why I’m suddenly interested in seeing what goes on there. Will you wait for me while I have a shower? I won’t be long.’

      ‘Want me to join you?’ His voice deepened and he moved an inch closer to her.

      ‘I think I can manage a shower on my own, Rafael.’ She placed her flattened palm against his chest. The slightest encouragement and he would whip off the hand-made suit, the silk tie and the pristine white shirt with the discreetly embroidered initials on the cuffs, and he would join her in the shower and they would make love again.

      ‘Sure?’ He covered her hand with his and tugged her towards him. ‘You told me that you loved me soaping you...something about the thorough way I did it...’

      ‘Honestly!’ But she laughed, blushing furiously. He was shameless when it came to saying exactly what was on his mind. The things he whispered into her ear when they made love made her ears burn in the light of day.

      ‘I adore the way you blush, cara.’ His eyes were serious and he stroked her hair away from her face. ‘Sweet and innocent, even though you set the sheets alight with your passion.’

      For a second their eyes tangled and she felt that familiar thudding in her heart, as though they had merged, become one in a moment of unity that went far, far beyond the physical.

      He was the first to draw back, frowning as though suddenly perplexed, suddenly at odds with whatever was going through his head.

      ‘I’ll get changed. I’ll be quick. Time is money, as you once said.’

      ‘I hate it when you quote me back to myself.’ But he was smiling, relaxed, back to his usual self.

      Twenty minutes later she emerged from a quick shower to find that he had already left the bedroom, and when she went downstairs there he was, waiting for her in the kitchen. He looked up from whatever he had been doing on his computer when she walked in.

      ‘Sofia the businesswoman,’ he murmured, standing and snapping shut the computer. ‘I like it. Do you think I could be the sort of guy who enjoys a woman in a uniform? Or maybe I’m turned on by the buttoned-up-to-the neck look...’

      She had twisted her long hair into a bun and was wearing a white blouse, a pair of navy trousers and a jacket. Separately, each item was okay. As an ensemble, Rafael was right in that it screamed ‘office’.

      ‘Maybe I’m Sofia the accountant in the making,’ she said lightly, leading the way out of the kitchen and waiting for him by the car.

      ‘I’ve never known an accountant as sexy as you.’ He opened the passenger door for her and then swung around to the driver’s side but, before he started the engine, he turned to look at her. ‘I’m glad you’re coming,’ he said seriously. ‘You’re right. David’s headquarters is a part of him and, yes, a part you should see. He would be delighted.’

      Pleasure bloomed inside her, and for a second she was lost for words, caught up in that side of him that could be incredibly gentle and incredibly perceptive. If she were to say how she felt, though, she knew that he would laugh, teasing her away from a place that could become too serious too fast. She’d learned how to manage him, had learned how to steer clear of places she knew he wouldn’t want to visit.

      ‘I thought I’d surprise him—tell him when I next see him.’

      ‘Nice touch.’

      Sofia looked at his arrogant, beautiful profile and wondered how she had ended up in this mess, wanting what was out of reach, hoping to get it just right so that she could grasp what her heart craved, always wondering whether that would