The Best Of The Year - Modern Romance. Annie West

pull her to him, to feel the soft suppleness of her body against his, to hear her breathe his name.

      ‘Thank you for hiring the lawyer for me.’

      ‘It was nothing less than you deserve. I’ll always look out for you.’

      Her eyes widened. ‘What are you saying, Bastien?’

      ‘Do you know where I’ve been these past few days?’

      She shook her head.

      ‘I went to see my parents,’ he said. ‘I drove through the night to Gstaad. We had a long talk.’

      A wave of pain darted over her face as she gazed up at him. He forced his free hand into his pocket to stop himself caressing the shadows from her face. Deep inside him something twisted, because he knew her pain was for him.

      ‘How...how did it go?’

      Bastien tried to will away the pain of that confrontation, tried not to remember the emotion that had clogged in his chest at his father’s remorse—‘My weakness destroyed this family...you practically had to raise yourself...forgive me...’

      ‘It was difficult. There’s been so much blame, so much bitterness. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but the time was long overdue to deal with the past. To make things right with my father. To make things right with you.’ And with the mother he’d discovered cared deeply for him after all.

      Ana thrust her glass on to a nearby surface and came closer, her eyes imploring. ‘Bastien, please believe me. I had no idea what sort of pills they were or I’d have never—’ Her voice broke.

      Unable to stop himself, he reached for her. ‘You have to stop blaming yourself, Ana. I don’t blame you for that. Neither do my parents. You need to get past that and forgive yourself or we can’t move on.’

      Tears glistened in her eyes. Her hand fluttered up, almost touched his, but then veered away to rest against her throat. ‘Move on? What are you saying?’

      ‘I’m saying the past has overshadowed our lives for long enough. My father has his faults, but he’s more than made up for them these last sixteen years. I didn’t want to see it because I’ve been locked away in that cold gazebo all this time. It took your daring me to break me free. As for my mother...’ He sighed. ‘She knew the pills you gave her weren’t headache pills.’

      Her eyes widened. ‘She knew?’

      He gave a grim nod. ‘She didn’t go to Verbier with the intention of taking her own life. And she called my father within minutes of taking the pills. So there’s really nothing to forgive you for. Sometimes in the midst of deep trauma you forget the important things. I forgot that for a long time she shielded me from my father’s behaviour. I think that’s why it didn’t make sense that she would try and take her own life. I lost sight of that, but spending time with her reminded me. I think we’ve all paid enough, don’t you?’

      Her nod was shaky. Almost as shaky as he felt, standing there, so close to her, every nerve screeching at him to reach for her.

      In the end he decided not to fight it.

      ‘I missed you,’ he said simply. ‘Did you miss me?’

      ‘I— Yes!’

      He gathered her close, kissed her. And everything fell away.

      As conversation-stoppers went it was extremely effective. Ana fell into the kiss with the reckless abandon of a skydiver jumping out of a plane.

      Except for her there was no parachute. But right at that moment she didn’t care. She had Bastien in her arms, his fierce heart beating underneath her fingertips. The fall would come later. Without Bastien’s love it would hurt. But for now she would glory in the flight.

      By the time he’d carried her from the tower room down the stairs to his suite and kicked the door shut, Ana felt delirious with need. Frantically, she tore at his clothes.

      ‘Patience, cherie,’ he husked in her ear, before nipping her earlobe.

      A deep shudder raked through her. ‘I...I can’t. I need you,’ she gasped.

      He stilled her frantic hands, kissing them before bringing them to her sides. ‘And you will have me,’ he vowed heatedly. ‘But first let me undress you.’

      His eyes on hers, he released the catch in her belt and dropped it. Then he sank onto his knees. His hands traced her hips, her delicate pelvic bones, squeezed her bottom. Ana moaned, reaching out to steady herself on his broad shoulders as his fingers explored the bare flesh of her thighs. Her whole body hid a morass of sensitive nerve-endings she’d never known existed.

      Take the skin above the back of her knees, for instance. Who knew Bastien’s hand lingering there could cause her to cry out in pleasure? Or the mid point between her calf and her ankle? He seemed to know her body better than she did.

      By the time he eased her feet from her heels she could barely stand. Her dress came off in a rustle of silk. She stood before him in a thong and matching bra.

      Eyes the colour of molten steel raked over her. ‘I was a fool to say I only wanted one night with you,’ he rasped, one hand moving around her to snap the catch of her bra. It tumbled to the ground, unheeded.

      ‘Why?’ she croaked.

      ‘Because one night would never be enough, ma belle Ana.’ He rose and caught her in his arms, locking one hand in her hair to tilt her face to his. ‘Never enough.’

      He rained kisses all over her face, his mouth almost worshipful. Nonetheless those kisses lit fires wherever they touched, making her senses whirl with desire and, yes, love. What had happened before she’d discovered her feelings had been sex.

      This, for her, was making love.

      She touched him, revelled in his growl of pleasure when she encountered bare skin. It took a moment for her to realise he was naked; that she was lying on top of him in his bed. The heavy throb of his erection against her belly sent a surge of need through her. She wanted him to fill her body, to fill her heart.

      But first she wanted to explore him the way she’d never had the chance to before. Freeing herself from his kiss, Ana kissed along his jaw, nipped the tight flesh. His breath exploded from his lungs, his hands tightening on her back as she kissed her way down his throat, his deep chest. His flat, washboard stomach clenched as her lips and hands worshipped him.

      Finally, heart thumping in her throat, Ana felt him against her cheek. She glanced up. Bastien’s gaze seared her, an untamed desperation in its depths that caused her blood to surge faster through her veins. Unable to deny herself, she closed her hand over him. His whole body jerked as she stroked him, a deep groan rumbling through his chest and filling the room with arousing sound.

      ‘Ana...’ Her name was part plea, part warning.

      Daringly, and because she knew the alpha male in Bastien wouldn’t let her have this freedom for long, she closed her mouth over him. Ana wasn’t sure whether the moan was hers or his. But the feel of him in her mouth, on her tongue, sent her to another level of pleasure so intense she felt her clitoris throb with renewed force.

      His gaze broke from hers, his head rearing back as he sucked in a long, harsh breath. Blindly, he reached out and plucked a condom off the bedside table. Strong hands reached for her, pulled her up and flipped her underneath him. His mouth smashed down on hers, tinged with a desperation that bordered on cruel.

      He surged inside her with one long stroke, his arm under her hip to hold her still for his complete possession.

      Tears gathered behind her closed lids as pleasure rode higher and higher.

      When the gathering force of her climax drew closer Ana opened her eyes. Bastien stared down at her, his eyes darker than they’d ever been. Emotion swirled through them, but none she could fathom through the sensational rollercoaster she rode.

      It gripped her, surged higher,