AN UNDENIABLE ATTRACTION

“I want you, only you,” he whispered into her ear, stroking her hair. “How can you think otherwise? I’ve been going mad all this time trying to keep our bargain and stay away from you. I can’t think, I can’t eat, I can’t work––do you know how many sleepless nights I’ve spent on the floor fighting to keep myself out of your bed?”

Bronwen drew back and looked up at Claudius. “I have wanted you in my bed,” she whispered, reaching up to touch his cheek.

He bent his head and kissed her. Bronwen had imagined it so often that she thought reality would pale by companrison with her fantasies, but she was not disappointed. His lips were firm and cool, warming as he drew closer, her mouth opening under his. When his tongue touched hers, his sigh of satisfaction was so heartfelt it was almost a groan, and she realized how much it had cost him to stay away from her.

Bronwen ran her hand down his back, feeling his muscles react to her slightest movement. He kissed her more deeply, tangling his fingers in her long hair and bunching it in his fists. She clung to him fiercely, the only stable object in a spinning world, and when his mouth moved to her cheek, and then her neck, she tilted her head back to allow him easier access to the creamy expanse of velvety skin. He nibbled the soft base of her throat and she moaned softly, holding his head against hers, her eyes shut tightly to concentrate on the delicious sensations he was evoking.

“Why did we wait so long?” he whispered, bending to embrace her. “Why did we allow our pasts to come between us, when we could have had this from the beginning?”