His grip on her hips was so virile, so encompassing, so hot, that it emboldened her and she initiated a deep kiss. He responded as an eager, ardent, and wild partner. She found herself trapped between two muscular thighs with a hand on her butt pressing her firmly toward his erection.

Sophia felt a power rush through her body when Alistair’s hand gripped her shirt raising it over her breasts. She knew she should stop him. The maze was no place for this. But she couldn’t.

This power she had over him: intoxicating, terrifying, and glorious.

Instead of stopping him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and moved her breasts toward the scorching heat of his chest. She rubbed against him to quench a wild thirst she had never acknowledged before. She felt caught in the middle of a storm she couldn’t control.

Alistair’s deep groan transmitted the longing he felt. Longing for her body, longing for her soul.

I want her as I’ve never wanted anyone. God forgive me for promises unkept, but she’s gotten under my skin. His hands clenched and unclenched on her Pucci tank top.

“Is that a yes?” His voice, now hoarse from the exhilarating feeling of possessiveness coursing through his veins. She was kissing and licking him, wanting to explore every inch of his body. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. He inhaled sharply as her hands wandered under his sweater, her fingers outlining his sculpted abs, lowering to the seam of his jeans. Yes, please.

Her lips and tongue tasted the line of his jaw, fascinated and drugged by her power to undo this intense man. She inhaled his sweet, male scent, letting it fill her lungs. “No. This is a no. For now.”

Alistair froze and lifted his head to glare at her. “You’re playing with fire, Sophia.” His hands clenched behind her back, his arms narrowing his embrace around her lean and beautiful body, pulling her flush to his hard frame. He warned, “You’re going to get burned.”

She bit his neck and smirked at him, “So are you, Alistair Connor, so are you.”

Chapter 18

Scotland, Glasgow Airport.

Monday, March 8th, 2010.

8 a.m.

“Until Thursday.” Alistair’s hair glittered a bluish-black in the frigid morning sunlight as he held her face in the warmth of his hands, drowning her in his emerald green eyes.

Sophia suddenly regretted not having stayed with him in his room at Craigdale Castle, as the thought of not seeing him for four days hit her hard. She wound her arms around his waist not wanting to let go.

Alistair watched in pleased disbelief as Sophia almost curled into his chest, her cheek resting on him, her arms hugging him under the jacket of his black three-piece suit as if she wished to stay. She felt so small, fragile, and feminine against him. He gently stroked her back with his left hand as he held her jaw with the right, lifting it to look at her.

“Hey,” he murmured, “what is it?” He placed his arm around her, wreathed loosely around her waist.

He wanted her physically, and he’d never pretended otherwise. However, he’d just entered in contact with a visceral reaction, an overwhelming tenderness that filled his chest.

She stood on her tiptoes and murmured in his ear, “I’ll miss you, Alistair Connor.” Gently, she brushed his hair behind his ear, tracing its contour, “More than you could ever imagine.”

Alistair felt an unfamiliar itch to do something stupid. To ignore what was right or wrong and whisk her away to a desert island until all this maddening lust and the insane unnamed emotion he felt for her slackened. Faded.

He gave himself a brisk mental shake. “I’ll miss you, too.” He kissed her ardently and hard, leaving her breathless. “Now, go! I have a meeting in thirty minutes and you have to go to London. Kiss my Fairy for me. Tell her she’s the most beautiful Sleeping Beauty of all.”

“I will,” she brushed her lips over his and left his arms. “Good-bye,” she whispered.

She stepped away, head down, feeling lonely and despondent.

Suddenly his arms shot forward and he hauled her, airborne, back into his arms, face to face with him. “Sophia, Sophia,” he breathed on her lips before smashing them with a scorching kiss, branding her, tattooing her. With his smell, his mouth, his hands and his body. Marking her as his.

She threw her arms around his neck and entangled her hands into his glorious hair, returning the kiss with all her might.

He broke the kiss and put her on her feet again. “Only four days. Not even,” he murmured. “Three and a half days.”

“I know,” his jacket muffled her voice, “it’s just… It seems a long time. I miss you already.”

He kissed the top of her head and hugged her fiercely, before pushing her tenderly off him. “Go. We can’t hold air traffic.”

He stood there, careless of the frigid wind blowing his long hair. He watched Sophia walk to his plane, turn, wave, and disappear inside it. When the door closed, an unrecognizable sensation spread and consumed his chest, leaving him dazzled by the powerful intensity of it.

He shook his head and thinned his lips. Come now, Alistair Connor. This is just a passing infatuation. Once you have her, it’ll disappear.

Turning his back to the aircraft, he resolutely marched to the marine BMW 760Li, entering it without looking back.


Atwood House.

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010.

9.30 p.m.

Sophia emerged from the bathroom toweling her wet hair. She flung herself on the bed and picked up her iPhone. Oh, my! The man is freaking out. Eight WhatsApp messages and three calls. All unanswered.

She quickly scanned the messages Alistair had sent over the last three hours and texted back.

09:31. Sophia: Sorry, I was with G.

09:32. I’m-so-handsome-and-I-know-it: It’s too late for her to go to sleep.

09:32. I’m-so-handsome-and-I-know-it: I wanted to talk to you. I just entered a meeting.

09:32. Sophia: She slept 1.5 hours ago. I ate something and just got out of the shower.

09:33. I’m-so-handsome-and-I-know-it:

Sophia could almost see his devilish green eyes flashing. A malicious smile spread over her face as she texted back.

09:34. Sophia: Yes, please. I’m quite wet!

She grinned, imagining his body’s reaction to the text. Hmm.

09:34. I’m-so-handsome-and-I-know-it: Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!

09:34. Sophia:

09:35. I’m-so-handsome-and-I-know-it:

09:35. Sophia: xxx