“What’s wrong, Taviano?” She sounded hesitant but determined. “Did I do something wrong? You need to just tell me if I did.”
He forced himself to turn his head toward her, his eyes on her face. If she could be courageous, so could he. She looked beautiful. Flushed. She had obviously washed her face and rinsed out her mouth and brushed her teeth. She’d thrown on his shirt but hadn’t buttoned it up, and he could see the curves of her breasts peeking out at him. Her hair had slipped partially from the topknot and tumbled around her shoulders and down her back, a wild mass of unruly waves framing her face and breasts. The sight moved him.
“No, amore mio, this was all on me. I should have stopped you. I wanted this to be for you. A gift. I didn’t want you to be afraid that I would expect something in return.”
Her hand crept up the back of his neck and then her fingers were in his hair. Her touch sent little sparks of electricity down his spine. She began a slow massage, the pads of her fingers pressing into his scalp, relieving some of the tension that had begun to build just thinking about the mistakes he was making being selfish with her.
“I wasn’t afraid you expected anything from me, Taviano.”
Her voice was soft with love. The emotion was stark and raw and very genuine. She didn’t try to hide it from him. She just laid it out for him to feel. She wrapped him in love and it felt damned good. He’d wanted to give her a gift, and she’d ended up giving him something priceless, something he’d felt he’d never have. He had to turn his head away from her. The lump in his throat was becoming too large to swallow and the burn behind his eyes too enormous to hide.
“I wanted to make you feel the way you made me feel, so we could share such an amazing moment together. It was beautiful and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. I hope you will as well. I wasn’t putting you off. And I wasn’t afraid you’d demand more than I was willing to give.”
He had to say something, but it took a moment to get his emotions under control. “I won’t ever forget this, either, Nicoletta. I’m still shocked that you’re really mine.”
She laughed softly and flung herself down beside him. “Well, I am. It seems you’re stuck with me now. If for no other reason than I love the house. And your mouth. I could be addicted to that. And then there’s your taste.”
He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulled her to him so he could nuzzle her belly with the bristles along his jaw and then press kisses there before laying his head on her. “I want you to be addicted to me, Nicoletta, but you never have to get on your knees or put my cock in your mouth if that’s not what you really want to do.”
“I’m well aware of that,” she whispered.
Her hand dropped back to the top of his head and then her fingers were once again moving in his hair. He could stay there the rest of his life with her, just like this, and be happy.
“Dogs or cats?”
He frowned. “Not sure what you’re going on about, piccola. You’re going to have to spell it out for me.”
“Which do you prefer? Dogs or cats?”
“I never really thought about it. We never had pets growing up. Can you imagine Eloisa with pets? She’d probably sacrifice them every full moon.”
She tapped his head, but he heard her muffled laughter. “That’s not nice. She’s your mother.”
“I’m not altogether certain of that,” Taviano said. “I’ve often fantasized that one of my aunts got in trouble at a very young age and had to give all of us up. Eloisa took us in.”
Nicoletta pretended to mull that over. “That doesn’t sound very reasonable, Taviano. I doubt that Eloisa would have taken in any children.”
“True, and I remember her being pregnant with Ettore. She complained all the time.” He gave an exaggerated sigh. “My last childhood fantasy destroyed.”
“I have the feeling if we had dogs, Eloisa wouldn’t come around very often, and she definitely wouldn’t walk in unannounced if they were big guard dogs,” Nicoletta said.
Taviano tipped his head up at the speculation in her voice. She had a dreamy expression on her face, one he loved. He wanted to etch that image deep into his mind for eternity. She seemed to be concentrating on his hair, her fingers moving on his scalp, sending delicious sensations through him just with those small touches. It was her voice that convinced him she wasn’t just idly making conversation.
“Do you want a dog, Nicoletta?”
Her gaze moved from his hair to his face. Her eyes met his and he felt that familiar jolt. An arrow piercing his heart. Hell. He loved her. There was no getting around that fact. It went deep, and he was so far gone there was never going to be any turning back.