Tycoon's Forbidden Cinderella Read online

  ‘Let’s have one together.’

  Audrey hadn’t let anyone see her body naked since she was twelve. Of course, when they made love he would see her naked but at least she could drape herself with the sheet or something. ‘Erm... Do you mind if I have one by myself this time?’

  Lucien came over to her and stroked a finger down the slope of her burning cheek. ‘Are you sure about this, Audrey? Us sleeping together?’

  ‘Of course I’m sure,’ Audrey said, disguising a gulp. ‘It’s just I have some...some body issues and—’

  His fingertip moved from her face to glide in a sensual stroke against her collarbone and then down to the shadow of her cleavage. Her skin was so sensitive to his touch she was convinced she could feel every whorl of his fingerprint. Nerves she hadn’t known she possessed shook and shivered and shuddered. ‘You don’t have to be shy with me.’ His voice had a husky edge to it as if he’d been gargling with gravel. He stroked his finger over the swell of her breast and even through her clothes she could feel her nipples tightening. ‘You’re beautiful. Sexy and beautiful and I want you like crazy.’

  ‘I want you too.’ Was that her voice? That whispery, soft, breathless sound?

  He lowered his head and covered her mouth with his in a searing kiss that made every cell of her body sigh in bliss. His lips moved with heat and passion against hers—a soft, massaging movement that made her mouth open like a flower. His tongue found hers, tangling with it in an erotic dance that made her skin tighten in anticipation. His hands gathered her closer, pulling her against the swelling heat of his body, making her own body weep with intimate moisture. His mouth continued its mesmerising magic on hers and his hands stroked and squeezed her bottom, holding her tight against his growing erection until she was making whimpering and gasping noises.

  He lifted his mouth and began to undo the buttons on her top one by one, his eyes holding hers in a sensually charged lock that made her inner core contract with need. The brush of his fingers on her naked skin as he removed her top made her scalp shiver in a rush of pleasure. He slid her shirt from her body and his hands skated over her breasts still encased in her bra. ‘So beautiful,’ he said, his thumbs moving over her lace-covered nipples in a back and forth motion that sent a tremor of exquisite longing through her body.

  Audrey set to work on his shirt buttons, revealing the tanned, sculptured perfection of his chest—the well-defined pectoral muscles, the flat dark nipples, the light dusting of ink-black hair that felt rough and springy and sexy under her fingertips. She brought her mouth to the strong column of his throat, her tongue licking over the bulge of his Adam’s apple, his stubble grazing her tongue like sandpaper. The citrus-based scent of his aftershave tantalised her senses as if she were inhaling a psychedelic drug. The hint of male perspiration on his skin was just as intoxicating, making her long to taste him—every inch of him—as she had fantasised about doing for so long.

  Lucien reached behind her and unclipped her bra and it fell to the floor. Audrey fought the urge to cover herself and stood and allowed him to feast his eyes on her. He gently cradled her breasts, touching them respectfully, reverently, worshipfully. She had never felt such powerful sensations in her body. No one had ever touched her that way before and the thrill of it snatched her breath away. He bent his head and swept his tongue over each curve—first the right breast, then the left—taking his time until her nerves shivered and danced in a frenzy. He brought his mouth to each of her nipples, sucking on them softly, taking them between his teeth in a gentle bite that made her legs almost go from under her. He circled each nipple with his tongue as if he was marking out a territory, the sexy glide making the base of her spine shiver like fizzing sherbet was trickling down her backbone.

  Audrey was so turned on she could barely stand upright. She tugged at his waistband and popped the silver button on his jeans. The flat plane of his abdomen contracted under her touch and it made her emboldened to go lower. His masculine hair tickled her fingers and he sucked in a harsh-sounding breath, his hands gripping her by the waist. He released his breath in a steady stream as if trying to garner some self-control. He undid the button and zip at the back of her skirt and it, too, fell with a whisper of fabric to the floor, leaving her in nothing but her knickers.

  ‘Do you have any idea how much I want you?’ He spoke the words against her lips, dazzling her senses all over again.

  Audrey licked the seam of his mouth with her tongue, a part of her shocked at her wanton behaviour but another part relishing in the feminine power she felt to be desired so fiercely by him. The potency of his erection pressed against her belly, so near to where her body ached and pulsed with need. ‘I can feel it.’ She licked his lower lip this time—a slow stroke that made him groan and crush his mouth to hers.

  His hands went to her hips, peeling down her knickers, and he walked her backwards to the nearest wall, pinning her hands either side of her head as he feasted off her mouth. His commanding hold of her called out to something primal in her. When he lifted his mouth for air she bit down on his shoulder playfully, tugging at his flesh and then sweeping her tongue over the bite mark.

  Lucien gave a low grunt of approval and eased back to step out of his jeans and source a condom from his wallet. His movements were rushed, almost feverish, echoing the storm of urgency she could feel barrelling through her body.

  She wanted him now.

  He slipped the condom in place and Audrey drank in the sight of him, marvelling that it was her who had made him feel so aroused. She stroked him with her hand, going on instinct...well, not quite on instinct alone because she’d read plenty of the sealed sections in women’s magazines. But reading about it was nothing compared with doing it in the flesh. Even through the fine membrane of the condom, he felt amazing—like velvet-wrapped steel. He quivered under her touch and made another sound deep at the back of his throat and gently pushed her back against the wall.

  He ran one of his hands from her breast to her belly and then below. She sucked in a breath when he came to her folds, sensations spiralling through her when he inserted one finger. ‘Oh, God...that feels so good...’ She gripped him by the shoulders. ‘Make love to me. Please do it. Do it now.’

  Lucien hitched one of her legs over his hip and entered her with a deep thrust that made her head bump against the wall. ‘Ouch.’

  He stopped and looked at her in concern. ‘Am I rushing you? You were so wet, I thought—’

  Audrey tried to relax her pelvis but the thick presence of him felt strange...as if she was too small for him or something. It wasn’t painful now he had stopped but she knew if he moved again it might tug at her tender flesh, which made it even harder for her to relax. ‘You didn’t rush me at all. It’s just you’re so...so big...’ Could she sound any more clichéd?

  Lucien stroked her hair back off her face in a touch so gentle it felt like the brush of a feather, his dark blue gaze intense and penetrating. ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’

  ‘Of course I’m sure.’ Audrey could feel a blush stealing over her cheeks. ‘I’m just a little out of practice, that’s all.’

  He brushed his thumb over her lower lip. ‘I’ll take things a little more slowly. And maybe a bed instead of up against the wall would be better.’ He began to withdraw and she couldn’t disguise her wince in time. He frowned again. ‘I’m hurting you?’

  Audrey bit down on her lip. ‘Not much...’

  Something flickered over his face as if he was shuffling through his thoughts and not liking what his brain produced. ‘When was the last time you had sex?’

  Audrey swallowed. ‘Erm...not...not recently.’

  ‘When?’ His gaze was so direct she felt like a suspect in front of a very determined detective.

  ‘Does it matter?’ She tried for a casual tone but didn’t quite pull it off. Yep, that acting gene certainly hadn’t come her way.

&nb
sp; Something that looked like horror passed through his gaze and his throat moved up and down over a convulsive swallow. ‘Oh, my God...’ He moved away from her and she had never felt so naked and exposed in her entire life.

  Or so terrifyingly vulnerable.

  ‘You’re a...a virgin?’ He said it like it was an affliction from which there was no known cure.

  Audrey made a paltry attempt to cover her breasts. ‘Not now I’m not. Although... I’m not sure if what we just did counts.’

  He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times but no sound came out other than a strangled noise. He sent one of his hands through his hair, then over his face, rubbing at it as if to erase the last few minutes from his memory. He turned and got rid of the condom and put his jeans back on, his movements as jerky as a string puppet. He turned back to face her and blinked at her like someone exposed to too bright a light. ‘Sorry...’ He searched around for her clothes but ended up picking up his shirt instead and handing it to her.

  Audrey slipped her arms into the sleeves and closed it over her front without doing up the buttons because she knew her fingers wouldn’t be up to the task. ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Audrey...’ His voice sounded as if it had been scraped over concrete. ‘Why on earth didn’t you tell me?’

  ‘Because I knew if I did you wouldn’t want to make love to me. You’d get all preachy and stuffy about it.’

  And think I’m a freak.

  ‘Did you not think it might be appropriate to tell me I was about to make love to a virgin? I hurt you, damn it.’

  ‘No you didn’t.’ She couldn’t hold his piercing look. ‘Well, only a little.’

  He let out a muttered curse and paced the floor as if he were intent on thinning the pile of the carpet down a few centimetres. He stopped and came back to stand in front of her and touched her gently on her upper arms. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t tell you how sorry I am.’

  ‘Don’t be,’ Audrey said. ‘I wanted you to make love to me. I wouldn’t have let things go that far if I hadn’t... I just didn’t want you to think there’s something wrong with me for being twenty-five years old and still a virgin.’

  He stroked his hands up and down her arms in a soothing fashion, his gaze tender. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

  She exhaled on a sigh. ‘Not sure where to start... I was sixteen when I went on my first date with a guy I had a huge crush on. Halfway through the date he asked to meet my mother. Turns out he was a wannabe actor and thought by dating me he might land himself a leg up to the big time of soapy television. He humiliated me. He talked to all his mates about what a disappointment I was in bed and I hadn’t even been to bed with him. We had only kissed the once. And he wasn’t such a great kisser anyway.’ Nothing like Lucien.

  Lucien frowned. ‘What a jerk. That must have been so upsetting for you. Did you talk to anyone about it? Your mother? A teacher or a friend?’

  Audrey made a wry movement of her lips. ‘I felt too embarrassed talking to my mother about it. Men fall at her feet if she so much as looks at them. How could I ever compete with that?’

  ‘Oh, sweetheart.’ Lucien gave her arms a gentle squeeze. ‘You don’t have to compete. You’re in a league of your own. You have so much going for you. You’re funny and smart and so cute I can barely keep my hands off you.’

  ‘Cute.’ Audrey sighed. ‘Puppies and kittens and little kids are cute.’

  He brought up her chin with his finger and meshed his gaze with hers. ‘I’m not talking puppy and kitten and kid cute. I’m talking I want to carry you to the nearest bed and make love to you cute.’

  She looked into his eyes and something unfurled in her belly. ‘Do you mean that?’

  Indecision flitted over his features as if he was weighing up the pros and cons. ‘Of course I do. But I’m concerned that you might want something different out of a relationship with me. Something permanent. I wouldn’t want you to get the wrong idea.’

  ‘But I don’t want anything permanent,’ Audrey said. ‘The last thing I want is to get married. My mother’s multiple marriages has turned me off the whole notion of in sickness and in health and till death....erm...and all that.’ She stumbled over the phrase ‘death do us part’, thinking of her mother looking after Harlan as he faced a possibly terminal illness. She’d always thought her mother’s ‘love’ of Harlan was an obsessional type of love, a selfish sort of obsession that was all about Sibella and not much about Harlan. But after witnessing her mother’s distress over the prospect of losing him, not through divorce but through death, Audrey realised her mother’s love had matured into something to be admired, to be emulated.

  To aspire to and want for herself.

  Lucien brushed his thumb over her lower lip, his eyes still searching hers. ‘Are you sure?’

  She wasn’t but she wasn’t going to admit it. She stretched up on tiptoe and linked her arms around his neck. ‘I don’t want a wedding ring from you, Lucien. But I do want you to make love to me.’

  His hands cupped her bottom and drew her closer to his hard heat. ‘A couple of days ago I had a long list of reasons why I thought making love to you would be a really bad idea.’

  ‘And now?’

  His eyes glinted and his mouth came down to just above hers. ‘Can’t think of a single one of them.’ And then his mouth covered hers.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  AUDREY SIGHED AS his mouth came down and covered hers in a kiss that communicated not just lust and longing but also something else...something she couldn’t quite describe. There was passion in his kiss but also gentleness—a slow exploration of her mouth that made her senses sing like they were in a choral symphony. His hands cradled her face, angling it so he could deepen the kiss with strokes and glides of his tongue that made her insides quake and quiver and quicken with need. She made breathless sounds of approval and her fingers delved into the thickness of his hair, wanting him so badly it was like a firestorm rampaging through her flesh. Her breasts prickled and tingled where they were crushed against his chest, her thighs heavy with desire as they rubbed against his.

  Lucien dragged his mouth off hers and began to scoop her up in his arms. Audrey tried to stop him. ‘No. Wait. I’m too heavy. You’ll do yourself an injury.’

  ‘Don’t be silly.’ He lifted her effortlessly as if she were a feather bolster instead of an adult woman who had a sweet tooth. A whole set of sweet teeth.

  He carried her to the master bedroom of the villa, and, lowering her to the floor, he slid her down the length of his body, sending shockwaves of delight through her.

  He brushed back her hair from her face and stood with her in the circle of his arms, his pelvis tight and aroused against hers. ‘Still sure about this?’

  Audrey stroked his jaw from just below his ear to the base of his chin. ‘I don’t think I’ve wanted anything more than this.’

  He peeled his shirt away from her shoulders and gently cradled her breasts, his thumbs rolling over her tight nipples like a slow-moving metronome. His touch was achingly light, so light the sensations were like exquisite torture. But then his mouth came down and he laved each nipple with his tongue. She’d had no idea her breasts were that sensitive. No idea they would trigger other sensations deeper in her body as the network of her nerves transmitted pulses of pleasure from one place to another. He continued his assault on her senses by taking her nipple into his mouth and gently sucking on it. The warm moisture of his mouth and the slight graze of his stubble against her flesh made her whimper with wanton need. There was a smouldering fire between her legs and a hollow ache spreading across her thighs and belly.

  Lucien laid her down on the bed and stepped back, and for a stomach-dropping moment Audrey wondered if he was going to call a stop to their lovemaking. ‘What’s wrong?’ she said, instinctively drawing her knees up and covering her breasts.

  He leaned down an
d placed his hands either side of her head and pressed a hot kiss to her mouth. ‘Wait for me. I need to get another condom.’

  Relief coursed through her. ‘Oh... I thought you might have changed your mind.’

  He gently stroked her cheek with the tip of his finger. ‘If I was a better man then maybe I would.’

  ‘You are a good man, Lucien.’ Audrey’s voice came out husky. ‘I wouldn’t allow you to make love to me if you weren’t.’

  He gave her one more kiss and left the room to get the condom. She couldn’t keep her eyes off his aroused male form as he came back in and her body gave a tremor of anticipation. He joined her on the bed and sent his hand down the side of her body in a slow stroke that made every nerve pirouette. He kissed his way down from her breasts to her stomach, dipping his tongue into the shallow cave of her belly button before going lower.

  Audrey tensed and clutched his arms. ‘I’m not sure I—’

  ‘Relax, sweetheart,’ he said. ‘This is the best way for me to give you pleasure without hurting you.’

  ‘But don’t you want to—?’

  He placed a hand just above her pubic bone. ‘I want to pleasure you and I want you to be comfortable. That’s my priority right now.’ He paused for a moment and added, ‘As long as you’re okay with me touching you like this?’

  Audrey couldn’t imagine ever wanting anyone else to touch her so intimately. Her body was feverishly excited about his touch, so excited she could feel the intense moisture gathering. ‘I’m okay with it.’

  ‘I’ll make it good for you but you have to tell me if anything I do isn’t working for you,’ he said. ‘Promise?’

  ‘Promise.’

  He stroked his fingers down over the seam of her body, his touch so gentle it was almost a tickle. He parted her folds and stroked her again, his touch feather-light, allowing her time to get used to it. She quivered under the caress, shocked at how wonderful it felt to be touched by someone other than herself. He continued exploring her, moving his fingers at varying speeds, and the pleasure grew—tight pleasure, straining pleasure, pleasure that needed just a little more of a push.