‘Oh, yes,’ came the silky contradiction. ‘Yes, Kate.’
She shook her head, but it was too late, and he was pulling her into his arms and bending his head to hers and she supposed that she could have stopped him. Should have stopped him. But no power in the world could have prevented her lips from parting in a sharp little gasp of remembered pleasure as he drove his mouth down like a man who had been starved of kisses.
She swayed within the circle of hands which impatiently drew her in towards the hard cradle of his desire, and felt the immediate flowering of need as his tongue licked its way inside her mouth.
He tried to tell himself that kissing her was the only way to ensure her capitulation, but that was only a part of it because he could not seem to stop himself. Was dazed by it. A kiss that had started out hard and hungry became luxuriant and soft—the erotic brushing together of two tongues intent on some slow, sensual exploration. And it sparked off an inevitable chain of reaction which could have only one conclusion.
Impatiently he pulled at the belt of her robe so that it parted for him, allowing him to reach one hand inside and cup the swollen globe of her breast, and he heard her make some sound midway between a purr and a protest.
‘Look down,’ he instructed softly, and she obeyed the order instantly, watching his fingertips as they began to softly encircle each tight, rosy nipple, and seismic little shocks of pleasure began to ripple over her.
She reached blindly for the belt of his trousers. Then her fingers scrabbled down like those of a woman possessed as she urgently eased the zip down, feeling the great power of him in the palm of her hand as he sprang free. And she curled her fingers possessively around his silky hardness.
‘Matri di Diu!’ he gasped out, and lowered her gently onto the carpet, unable to wait or to risk moving—like a schoolboy on his first ever encounter with a woman. He began to fumble in the pocket of his trousers.
She could feel him sliding a condom on and then pushing his trousers down, but only down, and she knew then with an erotic certainty which aroused her far more than it shocked her, that he wasn’t even going to take them off. That he was going to take her…take her…
Oh, lord—here! Here! Distractedly she turned her head to the side as he lowered himself on top of her. The floor-to-ceiling windows were uncurtained, and it was broad daylight. Someone might see!
‘Giovanni,’ she husked, from a mouth which suddenly felt as dry as sandpaper.
He paused from tugging at her breast with his mouth, teeth nipping and grazing in an action which veered tantalisingly between pain and pleasure. ‘Chi?’ He saw her look of confusion, and realised that he had spoken in Sicilian. ‘What is it?’ he questioned feverishly.
With a finger which was shaking she pointed at the window, through which strolling couples could be seen ambling along the towpath in the golden summer evening. ‘Someone might see us,’ she whispered.
Some madness almost made him cry out that he didn’t care—such was his urgent need to possess her. But he had never approved of voyeurism.
With a groan he eased himself away from the honeyed lure of her body, and used the opportunity to kick his trousers away, his modesty maintained by the silken shirt which skimmed the tops of his thighs. His shoes and socks followed, and Kate sucked in a frantic breath which did nothing to quell the acceleration of her heart.
He moved around the side of the room, so that he could not be seen from the outside, and drew the curtains together, and in the few short steps back to where she lay, her eyes dark with hunger and excitement, he unbuttoned his shirt halfway and pulled it over his head.
She lay watching him, saw how proud and aroused he was. Pale light filtered through the curtains and transformed him into a glorious dark and golden silhouette, and she thought that she might pass out if he didn’t come back to her quickly.
For one moment he towered above her, unsmilingly surveying the beautiful bounty of her body as she stretched out on the backdrop of silver satin.
She thought how cold his face suddenly looked, inappropriately cold considering how much he obviously wanted her, and she felt the skittering fingers of foreboding icing her skin. But she could not stop him. Not now. Certainly not now. She sensed that he still blamed her for seducing him, but none of that seemed to matter. In fact, nothing seemed to matter other than to have him here with her again…
He sank down and edged the robe completely free, easing it off the pale curves of her shoulders, until she was as naked as he was.
He jerked his head arrogantly towards the window. ‘Is that private enough for you, cara?’
Her desire for him made her ignore everything—even the sardonic tone in which he had asked the question. Greedily her hands went up to his shoulders. And where her fingers led her mouth followed as she anointed the soft olive gleam of his skin with eager, tiny kisses.
She was wild! Giovanni was deadly sober, but he felt almost drunk with a cold, hard power as he parted her legs and touched her syrupy warmth, so that she bucked with pleasure beneath his fingers.
‘Oh!’ The single syllable came out in an ecstatic little moan.
He reined in his own needs, wanting to see her even more in his power. His hand stilled. ‘Oh, what?’
Kate very nearly wept with frustration. ‘Please,’ she breathed.
‘Please what?’ he questioned cruelly.
Her pride now vanquished by the clamour of her senses, she whispered, ‘Please do it some more,’ and was rewarded with a sure instinctive touch that took her to the very edge.
He could make her come right now, beneath his fingers like last time, he thought with a grim kind of satisfaction. But pleasure was all the more intense when it was prolonged. He moved his hand away, unbearably excited by the sulky little pout of her lips.
‘Oh!’