Free Solace in Scandal by Kimberly Dean Page A

off a flurry of sensation and her feet arched, her toes pointing hard.
    ‘Alex,’ she gasped.
    He began pumping deeper and then deeper still until with one surge, he embedded himself all the way.
    Elena cried out, her body bowing. Oh, God. He was right. It was good. Better than good. He was perfect.
    He held himself still again, and she pressed her face against his neck. ‘More,’ she begged. ‘More.’
    The words set him loose and they both began moving desperately. She stroked his back and kissed the line of his collarbone. He thrust into her harder and faster. The tight fit had them both groaning and shifting.
    ‘Damn you,’ he grunted.
    ‘I didn’t want this either.’ She’d tried to stay away, too, but that magnetic pull she’d felt that first evening had been indomitable.
    They fell into a hard, driving rhythm, and words turned into cries and groans. The mat hissed and squeaked as it cushioned their lovemaking. Elena’s senses were on overload. It was all so fast, so overwhelming.
    And so carnal.
    She craned her neck when he licked at her ear and she spotted their reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirrors. She’d never seen anything so erotic. Their bodies were connecting, moving in the most intimate way, and to feel it as she watched …
    She closed her eyes as her body began to spiral upwards.
    She clung to the stranger who’d just become her lover. He was plunging faster and harder, and her hips rose to accept him. The slap of their bodies sounded naughty and wonderful in the empty room. That energy that always circled around them was now crackling inside them. The voltage was cranking higher and higher.
    She cried out when it zapped inside her like a bolt of lightning. ‘Ah, Alex!’
    He bucked into her and his neck arched as the charge ran through him too.
    She felt his wet warmth spurt into her, and an aftershock hit her. They stayed that way, locked together, energy shimmering. It was chemical, magical and out of control. The surge couldn’t last. After long moments, the energy ebbed and then dipped.
    Elena collapsed back against the blue mat and struggled to catch her breath. Alex relaxed upon her, his body heavy and warm.
    ‘Holy hell,’ he murmured. He brushed her hair away from her face. He looked as stunned as she felt. She stared into his grey eyes, happy that the wildness was gone. The panic and anxiety that had choked the room when she’d first entered had disappeared.
    Only new feelings were starting to niggle at her.
    Feelings of doubt …
    Regret …
    And, finally, dismay.
    She looked up at the virile man she’d just made love to – the man she was still making love to. Their bodies were connected intimately, and she’d played a part in that. A big part, and why not? He was beautiful. Male perfection. She responded to him like she’d never responded to anyone else.
    But this was Alex Wolfe.
    Oh, dear God. What was wrong with her?
    She pushed at his shoulder and tried to worm out from under him. ‘I … I have to go.’
    His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t budge.
    ‘I can’t be here,’ she said tightly. She couldn’t do
this
.
    She wiggled her hips, and his hands latched down tight.
    ‘Hold still,’ he said sharply. The lines on his forehead deepened as he looked at her, and that muscle in his jaw bulged. ‘Let me.’
    Heat flared in her cheeks as he disconnected their bodies. Slowly. Almost as if emphasising it. Inside, she felt the flutter of desire and her anger bubbled up all over again. That would be his way, wouldn’t it? To lord it over her.
    She felt wetness on the mat underneath her, and she bit her lip when his softened erection brushed against her thigh. Horror built up inside her.
    She’d always been torn when it came to this man. He epitomised so many things for her … wealth, corruption, excess, greed … sex, physical attraction and lust … She knew both sides of the equation, yet rational thought had gone out the window when he’d touched her.
    What