At one in the morning, sitting on the terrace of the villa, sharing a soft-cushioned sofa with Alex and content in the curve of his arm, Lisa sighed blissfully. With the warm night air caressing her skin, the blue-black sky showered with sparkling stars above, and below, in the distance, the brilliantly lit shoreline and the sea beyond, she had rarely felt so relaxed.
‘If you two young ones don’t mind, I will say goodnight. I am so glad you are here, but at my age I need my beauty sleep.’
‘So do we, Mamma.’ Alex grinned and, rising to his feet, took Lisa with him. Without releasing her he bent and kissed his mother’s cheek. ‘Goodnight.’
‘Your mother is a lovely lady; I’m surprised Leo ever left her,’ Lisa murmured as they watched the older woman enter the house.
‘He didn’t; she threw him out,’ Alex said bluntly.
‘Well, I can’t say I blame her from what I’ve heard and seen of Leo. He can’t keep his hands off women.’
‘Life is never that cut and dried, Lisa,’ Alex remarked, and, placing his other arm around her, he linked his hands lightly
at her back. ‘Women have a tendency to jump to conclusions, as you know,’ he mocked her lightly, but the expression in his brown eyes was strangely reflective. ‘I suppose nowadays medical science would have solved my parents’ problem, but on an island like this thirty-five years ago, postnatal depression wasn’t always recognised.’
‘All the more reason for your father to stand by her, if she was ill,’ Lisa argued.
Alex sighed. ‘That is how I thought until a few years ago, when I had a fight with my father about his third divorce, and what it was costing, and he told me his side of the story. I don’t condone his behaviour, but I do feel sorry for him.’
‘I wouldn’t,’ Lisa murmured.
‘No, but then you are not a man, thank God!’ He gave her a quick squeeze that set her heart beating a little faster before continuing. ‘Apparently, for two years after I was born, my mother would not let him anywhere near her. He loved her quite desperately and he was nearly out of his mind. He went to Athens on a construction project and while he was there my mother finally got over her depression. For the first time in her life she travelled to Athens by herself. Unfortunately, when she got to my father’s hotel, he wasn’t in. She waited in the foyer and saw him return, drunk and with a lady in tow. He swears it was the first time he had ever picked up a girl. I am inclined to believe him. My mother wasn’t. She confronted him, threw her wedding ring at him, and got the next boat back to Kos. She has never left this island since.’ Alex let go of her and, turning abruptly, caught her hand in his. ‘End of story. Time for bed.’
She cast a sidelong glance at his harsh face as they walked into the house. ‘And she never forgave him?’ Lisa asked.
‘No. One betrayal was one too many in her book.’
Lisa wondered if the same applied to Alex. In character was he like his mother or his father? She didn’t know. But for her own sake she hoped it was the former.
Walking upstairs with her hand in his, Lisa wondered how Alex had felt as a small boy about the break-up of his parents’ marriage.
They had reached the door of his bedroom suite, and, opening the door, Alex curved an arm around her shoulders and drew her inside, closing the door behind them.
She looked around the comfortable sitting room, and, suddenly nervous, she slipped from under his arms and walked out on to the balcony that ran the length of the building. ‘It’s hot.’
She felt Alex’s hands close around her waist and his breath stir her hair. ‘And it’s going to get a lot hotter,’ he husked. Awareness flared as his hands moved up to cup her breasts. ‘This dress has tormented me all night.’
The breath caught in the back of her throat as he reached for the zip fastening and freed it. Lisa let her head fall back against him and made no protest as with deceptive ease he turned her to face him, the dress falling at her feet. Something vital leapt in his eyes and Lisa responded. Willingly she moved into his arms, and the kiss they shared was like no other. It was passionate, but tender, saying without words promises of hope, happiness, and need. Was it love? Lisa didn’t know about Alex, but on her part it was, so why fight it?
‘Bed, I think,’ Alex opined huskily. His dark eyes gleamed down into hers. ‘And I can guarantee no other woman but you has ever shared this bed.’ Swinging her up in his arms, he carried her the short distance to the bedroom.
With an arm around his neck, her eyes level with his, Lisa’s lips curved in a sympathetic smile. ‘Poor Alex,’ she mocked, ‘would your mummy not let you?’
‘Cheeky! But true.’ And, sliding her slowly down the long length of his hard body, he let his hands drop to her hips, his fingers curling round the top of her briefs, her last remaining garment. He dropped to his knees on the floor, and with slow, delicate deliberation he slid her briefs down over her hips, at the same time covering her navel with his mouth. Lisa jerked and tried to pull back, but his hands would not let her. He pressed a kiss into the hollow of her hipbone She looked down and the trembling started in the pit of her stomach. Never had she seen anything so erotic as Alex’s dark head against her thighs. He flicked a brief upward glance from beneath his thick lashes.
‘I used to think I was a breast man,’ he husked as he trailed his hands down the back of her thighs and followed with his mouth, pressing tiny kisses on her heated flesh. His hands continued their downward journey, curving her calves. ‘But since meeting you, my sweet wife, I’ve decided I am a leg man.’
Lisa almost tumbled over when his hand lifted one foot, the trembling in her limbs was so great.
‘Steady.’ Alex chuckled as he helped her step out of her briefs. Slowly straightening up, a primitive glitter in his dark eyes, he let his hands sweep up her thighs and hips adding throatily, ‘But then again…’ his hands stroked up to her breasts ‘…your breasts are perfection.’ His long fingers teased the sensitive peaks. ‘I am spoilt for choice.’
Lisa groaned deep in her throat and focused on his darkly handsome face. She was shivering with excitement and involuntarily swayed towards him. He stopped her with the flat of his hand across her collarbone.
‘No, Lisa, now it is your turn to undress me,’ Alex declared roughly, but the fire in his dark eyes belied his apparent control.
Her heart thudding in her chest, Lisa raised her hands and slowly unfastened his shirt. She put both hands on his flat stomach and stroked up over his chest, her fingers tangling in his crisp curling body hair and grazing his taut male nipples. She eased the shirt off his broad shoulders, leaning forward to do so, deliberately brushing her breasts against his muscular chest. A secret smile curved her lips as she felt him shiver. It was an empowering feeling, knowing Alex was as susceptible as she was.
She let one hand drop to the fastening of his pants, and unclasped the top. Slipping her hand beneath the material, she was instantly aware of the strength of his arousal. Lisa glanced up at him through lowered lashes; his eyes were half closed, his lips pulled back across his teeth, and she had a daring idea. ‘I’m not very good at this,’ she said quietly, and turned guileless eyes up to his.