Page 32 of Modern Romance September 2026 Books 1-4

‘We’ll take it slow, hm?’

Hope nodded, feeling a sliver of trepidation. He was so much bigger than her. And yet she knew instinctively that they’d fit. He came down closer, and the head of his erection pushed against the folds of her sex.

She said, ‘It’s OK, Axel, you can— Oh.’

He’d thrust into her as she’d said those words and Hope’s whole body went still as she felt the discomfort, bordering on pain.

Axel was looking down at her, eyes glittering, cheeks flushed, sweat on his brow. Incredulous. ‘Hope, are you…a virgin?’

She bit her lip, and then said in a rush, ‘I didn’t want you not to make love to me… I thought maybe you wouldn’t notice.’

She felt Axel tensing, about to draw back, and in spite of the discomfort she put her hands on his hips and said, ‘No, please…keep going, Axel, it’s OK. I know it doesn’t mean anything.’ Except the words felt like dirt in her mouth because it all felt like something very much indeed. But if he stopped now and pulled away and turned his back on her it would be the worst kind of rejection. ‘Please,’ she begged. ‘Don’t stop.’

Chapter Six

She’s a virgin. The words blasted through Axel’s head like a klaxon. He was in hell. The hell of being so close to heaven and knowing that what he should do was deny himself heaven. Because she was innocent and he did not initiate innocents. But her hands were on his hips and he’d never wanted someone so badly. Everything about her called to him and demanded a response and, for the first time in his life, he couldn’t override his base desire.

Tensing his jaw, he thrust deeper and saw how Hope’s eyes widened and her cheeks flared. She was tight. He could feel her contracting around him.

‘Just breathe, Hope…’

She did, and her breasts lifted, distracting Axel. He bent his head and sucked one peak into his mouth and she trembled all around him and when he lifted his head he was seated so deep inside her, it felt as if time had stopped for a moment. And then he started to move and he had never known such exquisite torture as he called on every atom of his being not to explode into a million pieces.

The tension in Hope’s expression was gone. Now she was flushed, gaze glazed, mouth parted, breaths coming short and fast. He knew she was close and he shamelessly used his experience to help her along, but only because he knew he wouldn’t last.

He put his hand between them and found her clitoris, pressing and circling the flesh, and she tensed under him, before she broke apart, muscles contracting around his body with such force that he couldn’t hold back any more and came in a blinding rush of ecstasy, the like of which he’d never felt before.

* * *

It took long moments for Hope to return to her body. Axel was crushing her to the bed but she loved it. She felt a sense of bone-deep satisfaction and something else. Peace.

And then he moved, levering himself off her, disconnecting their bodies. She winced a little. He got off the bed without looking at her and disappeared into the bathroom. Hope lay there, splayed.

Axel was gone for a minute and then he came back, naked. She noted somewhere dimly that even at rest his body was impressive. He scooped her up from the bed as if she weighed nothing at all and brought her into the bathroom, which was already filling with steam from the running shower.

She was still too dazed after what had just happened to do more than let Axel bring them both into the shower, under the spray. He put her down and she had to lock her knees to stay upright, but Axel held her.

Without saying anything he washed her all over and shampooed her hair. Hope had never been tended to like this in her life and the magnitude of who was doing it and after what they’d just done was too much to parse out so she didn’t try.

Axel shut off the water and towel-dried Hope, rubbing her hair. She didn’t even want to think about how it looked, all sticking up. Then he fed her arms into a thick towelling robe and, after tying a towel around his hips, he brought her back into the bedroom.

Hope sat down on the side of the bed. Axel stood before her, bare-chested, hair damp and slicked back. He was distractingly gorgeous enough for her not to really take much notice of how he’d just put his hands on his hips. She couldn’t believe they’d just—

‘Hope, why didn’t you tell me you were a virgin?’

* * *

Axel was doing his damnedest not to notice Hope’s scrubbed-clean pink skin. Or the way her hair was so adorably dishevelled from the shower. She looked tiny in the voluminous robe and yet they’d fitted together like two missing jigsaw pieces.

He couldn’t think of that now. He had to hang onto his righteous anger and make sure she didn’t get the wrong idea.

She looked up at him and he saw her tongue flick out to moisten her mouth. His cock stirred. He cursed his helpless reaction.

‘Hope?’

She looked sheepish. She opened her mouth. ‘I’m sorry, I should have told you. But I didn’t think that it would be noticeable.’

That only brought back the incendiary memory of how it had felt to thrust into Hope’s hot, tight sheath. Skata.