“You must,” he agreed as he tossed the jacket aside. “Don’t worry, we’ll finish the job we started in Monte Carlo.”
The edge in his voice promised vengeance. Her heart lifted at the thought that she could help him in ways he couldn’t even guess yet.
“Celina?”
“Yes?”
Diego kissed her. It was a lingering, thoughtful kiss. “Remind me to buy you some more flattering clothes.”
She laughed with relief. For a moment, she thought he’d guessed what she planned to do. “I’ll buy my own.”
“Ms. Independence?”
“Yes,” she agreed, thinking about the journey ahead of her.
Laying her down on the hay, Diego continued to undress her. The sweet-scented bed was a marked contrast to the stink of the cellar in Monte Carlo, or the tang of disinfectant in the orphanage. She could never understand why visitors didn’t comment on the stench when they came to give gifts to the “poor children” at Christmastime, gifts that were no sooner given than they were taken away. The loss of the books had hurt most. She had never forgotten their shiny new covers or the smell of untouched pages. The library trolley at the orphanage was encouraged, but the books it carried were torn and dirty. It was just another form of cruelty, she thought now. If the matron had known Celina imagined the missing parts of the stories, supplying images in her mind to fill the blanks, she would have confiscated the library trolley too.
“Stop,” Diego warned, dropping a kiss on her naked shoulder. “Stop thinking back. Concentrate on the here and now.”
He was right, and that wasn’t difficult when he was stroking her back to soothe her. Moments of happiness should be treasured.
Tingles of expectation shot down her spine when Diego’s touches became more searching. Her buttocks lifted, seemingly of their own accord, and he stroked them too.
“Beautiful,” he breathed against her neck.
She writhed to encourage him and gasped with pleasure when he responded as she’d hoped.
“There?” he suggested.
“Exactly there,” she breathed excitedly.
“And now?” he whispered.
She worked her hips to gain more contact from his knowing hands.
“Good?”
She sobbed out her approval in rhythmical, satisfied groans.
Unfastening his breeches, Diego freed himself. “Mount me,” he ground out.
She didn’t need any encouragement. Bracing her hands on his shoulders, she lifted herself up and sank slowly down. He was so big, she had to take her time. When he was engaged to the hilt, she worked him, growling with pleasure as she moved. Opening her legs even wider as she straddled him made him flex inside her, which she loved.
“Press down each time like this,” he instructed as her excitement grew. His hands on her buttocks pushed firmly. “It’s better for you this way.”
“And for you?” she guessed when he groaned.
They should glut themselves while they could. Nothing lasted. Carpe diem. Seize the day. Or the hour, if that was all you had.
~~o0o~~
Celina was a madness he couldn’t afford to bring into his dangerous life. It wasn’t fair to her. She’d known nothing but danger. It was time for her to have a different life. For a man used to controlling every aspect of his existence, it was quite an admission to accept that he cared about her to that extent.
“Crazy woman,” he exclaimed as she gripped him like a fiend and rode him like a jockey.
“Crazy good or crazy bad?” she asked, pausing.
A shaft of sunlight illuminated her face as he turned her beneath him. She was flushed and hungry, and so eager to be loved. “You act as if a meteor’s about to strike the earth. You don’t have to prove anything to me. There’s always tomorrow.”