Modern Romance December 2015 Books 5-8. Kate Walker

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       CHAPTER ELEVEN

      WAS IT TRULY possible to become addicted to sex?

      The question played happily in Amalie’s mind as she sat beside Talos in his Maserati, making polite noises as he pointed out a pile of stones he assured her had once been a monastery. Because there was no doubt about it—she was in lust. Glorious, incredible, beautifully reciprocated desire. It was basic biology at its finest. And it didn’t frighten her in the slightest.

      He’d taken her out for lunch in Resina, the main town on the island, and now they were driving back to her cottage, taking the scenic route through Agon’s verdant mountains, avoiding wandering sheep and goats who seemingly had no sense of the danger posed by moving vehicles.

      The view on this blue, cloudless day was spectacular, the Mediterranean was gleaming in the distance, and the temperature was sitting comfortably in the mid-twenties. She was mostly oblivious to it, too busy anticipating the moment they’d return to the privacy of the cottage to concentrate on nothing so mundane as scenery.

      In the two weeks since the ball they hadn’t spent a night apart. They’d returned to her cottage on the Sunday, leaving through Talos’s private exit so at least she’d been spared the embarrassment of bumping into his brothers, and had more or less lived there since.

      Amalie would work on the score during the day, while he went to his villa or the palace to do his own work. In the evening he would collect her and take her to the gym, then they would return to the cottage and make love, and would often still be awake when the sun came up.

      She could now play her violin for him with hardly any nerves at all, although she still didn’t feel ready to play his grandmother’s piece. She wanted to be note-perfect for that. Her orchestra would arrive on Agon tomorrow morning; her first scheduled rehearsal with them was in the afternoon. They would know then if she had truly made progress.

      For today, Talos had insisted on taking her out and showing her Agon, arguing that it was a Saturday and that in the three and a half weeks she’d been on his island she’d hardly seen any of it. She would have been happy to stay at the cottage and make love, but he’d brushed her arguments aside with his usual authority, claiming her lips to whisper, ‘We’ll only be gone a few hours.’

      ‘What are you thinking about?’ he asked now, casting a quick sideways glance at her.

      Her gaze drifted to his hands, holding the steering wheel with deft assuredness in much the same manner as he handled her.

      ‘Sex,’ she answered, tingles racing through her at the thought of their imminent return to privacy and all the things they would do...

      He burst into deep laughter. ‘Do you ever think about anything else?’

      She pretended to think about it before shaking her head. ‘No.’

      ‘I am tempted to ask exactly what you’re thinking about in connection to sex, but if I crash the car it will take us longer to get back,’ he said drily. ‘You can tell me in graphic detail exactly what you’re thinking later.’

      ‘I will,’ she murmured, her eyes drifting to his muscular thighs, barely contained in his chinos.

      ‘Can I ask you a personal question?’

      His voice had taken on a serious hue that made her twist on the seat to face him properly. ‘What do you want to know?’

      ‘Why did you wait until you were twenty-five before having sex for the first time?’

      It was the question she’d been waiting a fortnight for him to ask. She was still no more prepared with an answer.

      She pressed her cheek to the back of the seat. If she couldn’t touch him she could at least look at him.

      ‘I never set out to stay a virgin, but I avoided relationships where lust and desire were the driving forces—I’ve seen my mother’s heart broken too many times to have any faith in passionate love. The flame is too bright and burns to ashes too quickly. I didn’t understand it was possible to have a passion for someone that is purely about sex.’

      ‘Is that all this is to you?’ he asked, a surprising edge to his voice. ‘Sex?’

      ‘Isn’t that all it is to you?’ she asked right back, momentarily confused.

      He was quiet for a moment, before laughing. ‘You’re right—what we are sharing is just sex. I admit I find it disconcerting to hear that coming from a woman, and even more disconcerting to actually believe it.’

      ‘Do all your lovers say it’s just sex?’

      ‘I set out the ground rules from the beginning. I make it clear I only want a physical relationship and they all agree.’ He pulled a mocking face. ‘It never takes them long to change their minds and think they can be the one to tame me.’

      ‘I don’t think anyone could tame you,’ she commented idly, and swallowed away the strange acrid taste that had formed in her throat. It was no secret he’d enjoyed numerous lovers before her, and would enjoy more when she returned to Paris in little more than a week. ‘You’re as tameable as a fully grown wolf with territory problems.’

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