She trailed a hand softly across her ripening figure.
‘Make the most of it,’ she said, and smiled. ‘Soon I’ll be like a barrage balloon!’
‘Impossible!’
He shook his head and came down beside her, his hand resting on hers, his mouth lowering to graze the rounded surface below which their precious son was growing, paying homage to his unborn child whose mother he loved so, so much.
Then his mouth lifted from her only to dip again, grazing the valley between the ripened breasts that were cresting for him alone. Desire quickened in him and his thigh moved across hers, his palms cupping her sweet, full breasts.
She gave a little moan in her throat at the sensations he was arousing with his thumbs teasing over the hardened coral peaks. He felt her spine arch, felt her thighs part to let his fall between them, felt her revelling in the sensual pressure it created in her body’s core, in the warmth beginning to heat there.
Her hands folded around his back, pressing her to him as her mouth reached for his, wanting more, so much more...
Their kiss was deep, arousing, and he felt his body surge with need, heard her breath quicken and knew his own was quickening too. His kisses deepened, opening her mouth to him even as her body was opening to him as he moved across her fully, one hand sliding to the nape of her neck to lift her head, to arch her body as he slid within.
A gasp of pleasure broke from her as he did so, and one from him as well, as he felt her fullness all around him, felt the delicate tissues of her body engorge, felt the absolute fusion of their two physical beings echoing the absolute fusion of their hearts.
He started to move upon her in the ancient rhythm of the union of male and female, as old as time and as powerful. He felt the passion build within him, within her, between them both, felt her thighs straining against his, her spine arching more. His mouth devoured her urgently, driven by a need so overpowering he could not resist it, could not delay it.
Words broke from him and she heard them through the drumming in her senses, felt the mounting urgency in her own body, flooded now with a supreme need for the fulfilment that she craved. His pace quickened, sending her into vortex after vortex of climbing arousal.
Her hands clutched at his shoulders, nails digging into him, and her body strained against his, moving with hypnotic whorls against him, feeling his possession of her deepen further yet as she lifted to him, took him in more deeply, closed tight around him, clasping him with her whole body, melding their tissues, becoming one single sensual being. One single beating heart.
And then one single tide of ecstasy was flooding across them, making them cry out in unison with a pleasure so intense it was a conflagration of their limbs, their bodies, that went on and on and on...
An eternity later, when time had resumed, and the slow beat of the ceiling fan was marking the seconds yet again, Eloise lay in the cradle of his arms, feeling a peace fill her that was so profound it was as if there had never been anything else in all the world.
Vito smoothed her hair, glorying in the tangled locks spun from finest silk. He smiled at her, his eyes warm with love for her. One arm was around her; the other rested protectively across the swell of their child.
Suddenly his expression in the dim moonlight changed. Became one of wonder.
‘Eloise...’ His voice was a breath.
Her eyes widened. She knew suddenly what he had felt. What she too had felt. A tiny fluttering within.
‘He moved!’ Vito’s voice was husky. ‘I felt him move!’
Her eyes clung to Vito. ‘It’s the first time—the first time I’ve felt him move!’
Her own hand moved to her abdomen, beside Vito’s.
‘Oh, Vito, he’s real! He’s real—he’s real!’ Her voice caught. ‘I knew from the scans that he was there, but this... Oh, this is him making himself known to us!’
She felt tears of joy prickle in her eyes, heard the catch in Vito’s echoing voice.
‘Little Rico—our son. Our child.’
He kissed her, tender and fierce at the same time. How blessed he was! Eloise, his child, and all the other blessings rich upon them. The relief of knowing that his family legacy was safe again, that it was already in the possession of his precious son...
Eloise’s arms wrapped about him, holding him close against her. Happiness enveloped her. Soon now they would be married. United for ever. Vito’s mother would be flying over to start the preparations as soon as she and Vito returned from Ste Cecile.
‘She’s ecstatic!’ Vito had told her. ‘She cannot wait to meet you!’
His expression had softened.
‘All this has brought joy back into her life, and I know that she will make the most welcoming mother-in-law you could ever wish for.’
He’d given a laugh.