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‘Grace,’ Khalis said and it almost sounded like a warning.
But Grace didn’t want warnings. She didn’t want memories or guilt or fear. She just wanted this. ‘Khalis,’ she whispered and his fingers brushed her cheek.
‘I love it when you say my name.’
‘I was amazingly resistant to saying it.’ She turned her head so her lips brushed his fingers. She felt carefree to the point of wantonness, and after four years of being completely buttoned-up it felt good. Khalis let out a little shudder as her tongue darted out and touched his fingers, tasted the salt of his skin. He took her chin in his hand and gazed down at her with a ferocity that would have frightened her if she hadn’t felt it herself.
Then he kissed her hard, so different from the gentle caresses of this afternoon, and yet so right. The very air seemed to ignite around them, the stars exploded in the sky as Grace kissed him back and Khalis pulled her even closer, his mouth moving from her lips to her jaw to her throat and she heard the primal sound of her own desperate moan of longing.
He pressed another kiss in the curve of her neck and she tilted her head back, allowing him access. The feel of his lips against her skin gave her a plunging sensation deep inside, turned her mind into a whirlpool of need.
‘This dress is going to get very sandy,’ Khalis murmured against her throat and Grace gave a shaky laugh.
‘I don’t care. Although I suppose you might.’ She had to find the words from somewhere deep inside her, for thought of any kind was proving virtually impossible. Khalis had undone the halter top of the dress and was slowly peeling it away from her, just as he’d promised.
‘I find,’ he murmured as he slid the gown down her body, ‘I don’t care about this dress at all.’
‘It is beautiful,’ Grace gasped as he finished removing it and tossed it onto the sand. ‘Was,’ she amended, and Khalis let out a hoarse laugh as his gaze roved over her.
‘Grace, you are beautiful. Utterly and shockingly beautiful.’
She should have felt embarrassed, standing in her knickers in the middle of a beach, but she didn’t. She wasn’t even wearing a bra because she hadn’t brought one that fitted the halter-style top of the dress. The cool breeze puckered her bare skin into gooseflesh.
‘Shockingly?’ she repeated. ‘That sounds rather alarming.’
‘It is alarming,’ Khalis told her. He stepped closer to her, ran his hands lightly over her shoulders before cupping her breasts. His palms were warm and dry and still Grace shivered under his touch. ‘It’s alarming to me, what I feel for you,’ he said in a low voice.
Grace’s heart lurched. Yes, it was alarming to her, too. Terrifying and wonderful at the same time. ‘Kiss me,’ she murmured, and as Khalis brushed his lips against her own she closed her eyes.
He deepened the kiss, but only for a moment, pulling away from her to brush her lids with his fingers. ‘Open your eyes.’
‘Wh-what?’ Her eyes fluttered open and she stared at him, the mobile curve of his mouth hardening just a little bit as he gazed back at her.
‘Don’t turn your mind off, Grace. I’m making love to you, body and mind and soul.’
‘You don’t ask for much, do you?’
‘Just everything.’ And then he claimed her mouth in a kiss that was as hard and unrelenting as she knew the core of him to be, reminding her that no matter how gentle this man was, how tender and even loving, he was still a dangerous proposition. ‘Kiss me back,’ he muttered against her mouth, and she did, returning the demand, answering it.
He pulled her closer, her breasts crushed against his chest as his hands slid down the bare expanse of her back and tugged off her knickers. Then, his gaze still locked on hers, he stepped back and reached for the buttons of his own shirt. Mesmerised, Grace watched as he began to undress, her own nakedness almost forgotten as he slid his shirt off and revealed the lean, muscled chest underneath. His skin was golden with a satiny sheen, a light sprinkling of hair veeing down to his waistband. Her breath hitched. Khalis undid his belt.
Seconds later, they were both naked. Grace tried not to shiver. Khalis’s heated gaze was enough to fire her body, yet she could not shake the feeling of vulnerability that stole over her and made her cold. She’d forgotten how intimate this all was. How revealing. She’d been on her own for so long, buttoned-up and barricaded, protected. Now there was nothing. Now she was bare.
At least physically. Emotionally, Grace knew, she was still as guarded as ever. And now more than ever, as Khalis led her back to the tent and drew her down to the pillows’ opulent softness, she wanted to tell the last of her secrets. She wanted to bare her soul. She wanted, Grace knew, to be understood and accepted. Forgiven. Loved.
Yet she didn’t know how to begin. Her thoughts were a ferment of uncertainty, even as pleasure began to take over.
Khalis trailed kisses from her throat to her tummy and desire dazed her senses, scattering her thoughts. His mouth moved lower, his tongue flicking against her skin, and then, thankfully, she had no more thoughts at all.
Something was missing. Even as he heard Grace’s little gasps and mews, even as his own libido ran rampant, Khalis knew it wasn’t enough. He wanted more from Grace, more than this physical response, overwhelming as it was. He wanted to destroy the defences she’d put around herself. He wanted her completely open to him, body and mind, heart and soul.
You don’t ask for much, do you?
He’d never wanted so much from a woman before, but then he’d never felt so much for a woman before. And yet, even as her body lay naked to him, even as she parted her legs and arched up towards his caress, Khalis knew she was closing off her mind. Her heart.
‘Look at me, Grace.’
Her eyes fluttered open, unfocused and dazed with passion. ‘What—’ He braced himself on his elbows, poised over her as her breath came in little pants. ‘Please—’
He knew what she wanted. God knew he wanted it, too. In one stroke he could be embedded deep inside her and satisfy them both. He stayed still. ‘Say my name.’
Confusion clouded her eyes. Her lips parted. ‘Why—?’
‘Say my name.‘
It wasn’t much, but it was, at least, a beginning. She would acknowledge him, own this connection between them. He wouldn’t let her memories or fears crowd him out. He wouldn’t let her try to banish him along with her ghosts. She didn’t speak and sweat beaded on his brow. He could not hold himself back much longer. ‘Please. ‘
Her expression softened and the sudden tears that shimmered in her eyes nearly broke him. ‘Khalis,’ she whispered, and with a primal groan of satisfaction he drove inside her, felt her welcoming warmth wrap around him. ‘Khalis,’ she said again, her nails digging into his shoulders, her body arching upwards, and triumph tore through him as they surged towards a climax. Grace cried aloud, her head thrown back as her legs wrapped around him. His name sounded like both a supplication and a blessing as her body convulsed around his. ‘Khalis.’
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