Free Third Time Lucky by Pippa Croft Page A

– ever again.’
    ‘Hey, I’m glad you have your priorities right.’
    Kneeling right beside him, I bend low and close my mouth around him, loving the taste of him. His groan of ecstasy as I suck on him drives me half crazy. My scalp tingles as he tangles his fingers in my hair, gently pushing me a little further down on to him. It only takes a little pressure from my mouth to make him whimper in pleasure again. I love bringing Alexander to his knees like this; it makes me feel powerful and in control. I lick him and then blow softly on the moist skin. He arches his pelvis upwards as I tighten my lips around him again.
    ‘No,wait …’
    I lift my head to look at him and his eyes burn into me. ‘Why?’
    ‘Because … I want to be inside you. I want you to
feel
me coming.’
    I stand up and gently push him further back on the bed, then move to straddle him, my eyes never straying from his gaze. I ease myself on to him – it’s a little awkward as I’m trying so hard to avoid hurting his arm, but oh Lord, is it worth it when I feel him inside me. He struggles to move and thrust up inside me but I stop him gently, push him back on to the bed and wallow in the waves of pleasure as I continue to move over him. It’s frantic, fast sex, and I relish the control I have over Alexander.
    Finally, we’re both lying flat on our backs, sheened in perspiration, and by the look of Alexander, he’s done in. His eyes are closed and I wonder if he’s fallen asleep; which would be no bad thing after the nightmare he’s just had. He was ordered to rest. I’m not sure his doctor would count what we just did as rest, although it must count as recuperation. Then I feel a hand creep over mine.
    ‘You know, when I was stuck in that hole of a place, not knowing if I’d ever get out again, I promised myself I’d have sex at least three times a day if I saw you again,’ he says.
    ‘I hope this isn’t an extreme form of emotional blackmail.’
    We look at each other. He may be exhausted andsore but there’s a wicked glint back in his eyes. ‘I don’t care if it is. What the past few months have taught me – losing my father and my recent adventures – is that we can’t know what the future has in store for us.’
    ‘I don’t need to have lost my parents or been half killed to know that,’ I say quietly.
    ‘No … Of course not …’
    There’s a pause, a moment when he seems to be considering what to say next and, just like on our final night in Rome, I have the feeling he’s about to ask me a question that I won’t have an answer to.
    ‘I know it was wrong to expect you not to go back to Washington but I’m glad you decided to stay.’
    ‘Purely for therapeutic purposes, of course.’
    ‘Of course. I know you’re only here for the sake of my health.’
    ‘I was worried you might relapse if I left,’ I tease. Inside, I feel shaky with excitement, apprehension … a fizzy cocktail of emotions that’s both lethal and irresistible.
    His brief smile melts away. ‘The next few months are bound to be interesting, you know. I have no idea what’s going to happen.’ He rests his hand on my bare stomach.
    ‘Maybe that’s why I’m really here, because I don’t know what’ll happen either. If I’d wanted safe and predictable, I’d have got the hell away from you the moment you turned your back on me in the cloisters at the start of term.’
    ‘Really?I seem to remember you throwing yourself at me.’
    ‘I tripped and fell on top of you. It was an accident.’
    ‘Yet you
did
call after me, even when I was walking away.’
    ‘The biggest mistake I’ve ever made.’
    He walks his fingers, almost idly, between my thighs. ‘And you keep on making it. Will you keep on making it, Lauren?’
    ‘I don’t know. Perhaps one day soon I’ll come to my senses.’
    ‘And until then?’
    I get up until I’m sitting astride him, and lean down close to his face, ready to steal a kiss. ‘I guess we’ll just have to