Page 63 of Bound By Her Shocking Secret

It was exquisite torture as he slowly urged her up and down, lubricating his body with her own, her muscles massaging his length until they were both half crazed. Daniel held her still so that he could dictate the pace, and he surged up into her body over and over again, putting his mouth on her breast and sucking her nipple so hard that she had nowhere to go except hurtling over the edge.

For long moments they stayed in that embrace. Daniel’s head on Mia’s breast, her head buried in his neck, her thighs trembling in the aftermath.

The following morning when Daniel woke he noticed the utter stillness. He felt cold. He’d had dreams...awful dreams. Dreams of being in a large venue, seeing glimpses of Mia, but then she’d disappear again. Round and round he went, searching for her endlessly...

Last night...

The frantic sex came back to him in snatches. Ripping Mia’s dress to her hip. Her breasts falling free of the restrictive leather. The desperation that had fuelled them to that explosive climax.

Eventually she’d extricated herself and gone. Daniel had presumed to change, freshen up. He’d waited for her. But she hadn’t come back. The door to the nursery had been closed and, aware of Lexi, he hadn’t wanted to disturb her.

He’d taken a shower and come into his bedroom, half expecting—hoping—that she might be in his bed. But it had been empty.

He remembered the way she’d looked when she’d said,‘No, damn you, I don’t want you to stop.’As if she’d wanted him but resented it.

Daniel went even colder now. She’d whispered something into his neck before she’d left him sitting on that chair in a stupor. He’d heard it at the time, but he’d ignored it. Now it came back.

She’d said, very clearly, ‘This doesn’t change anything.’

Daniel jack-knifed up to sit in the bed. The stillness in the apartment seemed to permeate his bones.

She was gone.

He got up, pulling on sweats. Lexi’s bedroom door was open. The bed was made. Lexi’s cot empty. No unintelligible chatter signalled her presence.

Paul wasn’t even here. No one was here.

Daniel had a flashback to walking around the chateau where he’d grown up. He’d woken up one day to find the chateau empty. Totally empty. It had been shortly after Delphine’s death. Finally, that evening, his father had returned from Paris to find Daniel curled up in the corner of his bedroom, practically catatonic with fear and bewilderment.

He’d believed he’d been abandoned because he’d been responsible for Delphine’s death.

‘What’s wrong with you, boy?’

Daniel had looked up and known he should be feeling relief that his father was there, but all he’d felt was cold.

‘Where did everyone go?’ he’d asked.

His father had cursed. ‘You were left here today?’

Daniel had nodded.

‘Your mother was supposed to take you with her to the South of France,’ his father had spat out. ‘The staff were given the day off to go to a fête in the village.’

There had been no apology or acknowledgement of the fact that he’d been abandoned. He’d just spent the rest of that week going into thesalonwith his irritated father. And when his mother had returned from the South of France she hadn’t said a thing.

Daniel thought of Lexi and subjecting her to a similar experience. It made him feel physically ill and gave him a wholly new perspective on the cruelty of his parents.

He rubbed at his chest.

He knew one thing above everything else. Mia couldn’t leave him. And he had to tell her that.

He forced himself to be rational. She couldn’t be far. She wouldn’t have just left so suddenly. He needed to talk to her. To try and explain something he couldn’t even explain to himself.

Mia watched Lexi throw morsels of bread to the ducks. She felt numb. She’d made herself feel numb to stop images from last night running in her head. Last night had just proved that she wasn’t strong enough to love Daniel and stay with him.

Lexi started toddling towards the playground. Mia took her hand.

‘Mia!’

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