And after the agonising hours spent wondering and guessing she didn’t want to think any more. To question any more. No, she wanted to drown in the way that Sebastian was looking at her. As if she were both his salvation and damnation.
Silently she dared him. Dared him to take what he wanted from her. To do as he willed, for as long as he willed it. She saw the moment he understood, the flare of surprise in his eyes, the sparkle of golden flecks bright against deep, dark, unfathomable eyes. His hand wrapped around her waist, drawing her chest against his. She let her head fall back in surrender, relaxing into his hold, and he feasted on her. Open-mouthed kisses sent shivers radiating across her skin from her neck that she felt in her very core, as if he were already there, consuming her from within.
His hand came up to her hair, his fingers sweeping into the strands and firmly guiding her head back to his, his eyes locked on her lips again for the barest second before he claimed them for his own.
And she relished it, the powerful exploration he made of her, the press of his lips, the way his tongue filled her. She clutched at his shirt, clinging to him, wanting more from him. She felt utterly enthralled by his touch, his kisses, his command.
She was barely conscious that with one free hand Sebastian pulled the chair out from the table and walked them towards it. He positioned them in between the table and chair, pulling her onto his lap as he sat them both down.
Her chest unfurled against him as she sought to press herself deeper into him. Her gasped inhale must have pleased him as she felt his hands fist against her backside, as she drew her knees closer to either side of his hips, ensuring that she brushed up against the length of him, the hard, powerful erection leaving her in no doubt as to his desire for her.
His hands worshipped her body, tracing invisible pathways from her neck, around her breasts, over her taut nipples and down her torso and abdomen to her hips, pulling her once again against him in a way that made her want, need their clothes gone.
As if he sensed her urgency, his hands slipped beneath her dress, came up and over her thighs, his fingers hooking into the elastic band of her panties, his thumb firmly pressing against her clitoris, drawing a moan from her which he consumed with the kiss he still devoured her with. She writhed against his hand, her body shaking with need and urgency. He lifted her slightly, manoeuvring the thin strap of her panties over one leg, then the other, before returning her to his lap and casting them aside.
Her hands swept to the waistband of his trousers, making quick work of the fastening and the zip, pushing aside his boxers to feel the length of him in her hands, hot and velvety. Her thumb danced gently over the tip before positioning him beneath her as she held herself above him.
Her tongue danced with his and she risked a glance, startled to find his eyes staring into hers. She gently drew the kiss to a close, wanting to focus on him, wanting to see what he saw, to feel what he felt when she lowered herself down onto his length.
As she did she watched a hot, heady blush rise to his cheeks, saw the fier
ce control and concentration he was exerting over himself to allow her to take the lead in this. The way his pupils dilated to inky black depths drove her on. She held his gaze, the connection so focused it spurred her on, gave her confidence, made her want to relish the power he had given her.
She felt her muscles flex around him as the torturously slow way he filled her made her gasp again and again the lower she got, the skirts of her dress fanning out to cover where they came together, seemingly both indecent and discreet at the same time, adding a strange heady, wicked pleasure to their joining.
It wasn’t long before she lost control of the devastatingly slow pace she had set, delighting in the way she could no longer tell where she ended. Her eyes drifted closed, finally severing the intense connection between them and her head fell back. Sebastian’s arm came around her, allowing her to bend over it as he placed open-mouthed kisses on her breasts and his thumb swept beneath her skirts and found the apex of her thighs, pressing firm circles around her clitoris, bringing her closer and closer towards the most powerful orgasm she’d ever experienced. She wanted to tell him to wait for just for a minute, just so she could capture this feeling, this moment with him, to hold it to her and—
And then he thrust upwards into her and the stars fell from the sky, through the house, down into the basement and showered them with golden light that she consumed as she gasped air into her lungs and he pulsed within her, his own completion pouring into her making her feel more alive than she remembered ever being. And in that moment Sia knew that she would make the most of it. Whatever ‘it’ was, and for however long it was to last, she would see it through to the end.
CHAPTER TEN
INTERVIEWER ONE: So, instead of making use of your time on his estate in Siena to search for the painting, you went on an art tour?
MS KEATING: It was Florence.
INTERVIEWER TWO: [whispers] Did you see David?
‘SO YOU’RE TRYING to tell me that between the Uffizi and the Galleria dell’Accademia, of all the things we saw, your favourite was the Gates of Paradise on the Baptistery of St John?’ Sebastian demanded, staring at her with all the mock horror he could summon. Secretly he was pleased.
‘Eyes on the road, mister.’
‘That’s Your Grace to you,’ he teased, taking his eyes back to the sweeping road returning to the estate.
He’d been almost sure that she was leaving him the night he had the Gentileschi brought in. But the passion they had shared that night had been like nothing he’d ever known before. She’d surrendered to him and it had awed him—the trust she had placed in him. He wasn’t sure he was worthy of it. But something deep within him had started to hope.
‘Can we go back?’
‘Now? Did you forget something?’ he said, his hands pausing on the wheel and already scanning a turning point.
‘No, I just want to see more of it. And some of it again. And that spaghetti... Sebastian, seriously, that most definitely has to be done again. So tomorrow? Maybe we could...?’ The pleading in her tone was too much to resist.
‘If you want to, I am yours to command.’
‘Okay. But we should get up really early. I want to avoid the tourists.’
Sebastian couldn’t help the belly laugh that erupted from his chest. ‘We are the tourists,’ he chided, and flinched as she slapped him on the arm.
‘You know what I mean,’ she threw at him.