“So beautiful,” he whispered, reaching out to touch her shoulder. His hand traced down to cup a full breast over the sensuous silk bra. She nearly gasped as she felt the warmth of his hand pressing the smooth fabric against her heavy breast and aching nipple, which hardened beneath his touch.
He drew closer. His palms explored the full curve of her belly, down to her hips, stroking the naked skin along the edge of her silk panties. Reaching around her
, he put his hands over her backside, taking her firmly in his grasp, pulling her hard against his body.
When he lowered his mouth to hers, his kiss was hungry, as he reached beneath the flimsy silk to cup her naked breasts. His thumb stroked her aching nipple. As she gasped with pleasure, he unclasped the sliver of silk and dropped it entirely to the floor.
He cupped both her breasts with his hands, as if marveling at their weight, then lowered his mouth to gently suckle her.
The sensation was so intense she jolted beneath his hot mouth, gripping his shoulders. Pleasure was rising so hard and fast inside her, she wondered if she could climax like this, with only his lips against her breast, his tongue swirling around her nipple, sucking her deeply into his hot, wet mouth.
She gasped, her fingernails digging into his shoulders. She realized with shock that he was still wearing his jacket. Reaching down, she undid his tuxedo tie, then roughly yanked his jacket down from his shoulders.
Rising, he looked down at her intently. Gaze locked with hers, he undid the buttons of his shirt and trousers then dropped them to the floor, along with his silk boxers. He stood naked, his body hard and jutting toward her. She looked down at him in amazement. Reaching out, she took his hard shaft fully in her hands—it took both her hands—and relished the soft, velvety feel of him, so thick and hard as steel.
Now he was the one to gasp.
With a low growl, he pulled her toward the king-sized bed bathed in moonlight, and drew her on top of him. She was shy and uncertain at first, until he pulled her head down into a kiss. Her dark hair tumbled down like a veil, blocking the moonlight, leaving their faces in darkness.
She felt his hands on her hips, moving her until her legs spread wide over his. She felt the hardness of him, insistent between her thighs, demanding entry. That single movement, feeling him pressing against the wet, aching center of her desire, was enough to make her hold her breath. Involuntarily, she swayed against him. With an intake of breath, he tightened his hands on her hips, lifting her off his body, positioning her. Then, with agonizing slowness, he lowered her again, filling her, inch by delicious inch.
She gasped from the pleasure as he slid inside her. Just when she thought her body couldn’t take any more of him, he somehow went even deeper, all the way to the hilt, all the way to the heart.
He was hard and thick inside her as his large hands gripped her backside, spreading her wide. She gasped, tossing back her head.
Then slowly, instinctively, she began to move her body against his, feeling the deliciously exquisite tension rise and build inside her as she slid against his flat, muscular belly. She felt his rough fingertips gripping into her hips as she began to ride him, harder, faster. Her breasts bounced against the swell of her belly as she rode him, soft and slow, then hard and deep. She rode him until her whole body started to tremble and shake.
As she cried out, she heard his low roar join hers, rising to a shout as he filled her so deep she exploded with joyful ecstasy. Her cry became a scream she didn’t even try to contain, and he screamed with her, his body jerking and pulsing as he spilled himself inside her.
Exhausted, she collapsed beside him, and he held her. He cuddled her close, gently kissing her sweaty temple. But as she closed her eyes, she heard his dark whisper, so soft she wondered if she’d imagined it, like a whisper of her heart’s deepest fear.
“You’re mine now.”
CHAPTER FIVE
THE LIGHTS OF New York City were dazzling and bright, but in the deep canyon between skyscrapers, Belle could no longer see the sky.
Sitting beside Santiago in the chauffeured black Escalade, with bodyguards following in another SUV, she’d felt numb as they traveled from the airport in New Jersey through Midtown, passing within blocks of the Broadway and Off-Broadway theaters that had rejected her so thoroughly.
As the saying went, if you could make it in New York, you could make it anywhere. But Belle hadn’t made it here. She’d thought if she could be an actress, if she could earn a living by pretending to be someone else every day, she could be happy. Instead, the city had laughed in her face.
And Santiago expected her, a small-town girl who’d never gone to college, to know how to be a socialite in this wealthy, ruthless city?
All she’d ever done was work as a waitress and raise her brothers. If Santiago had needed her to remember six different dinner orders with special instructions and sauce on the side, and serve it all at once balanced on her arms, no problem. If he’d wanted her to rustle up a double platter of brownies for ten hungry teenage basketball players in no time flat, Belle could have handled it.
But knowing how to blend into high society? Knowing how to swan around being chic while making small talk to the highly educated and fashionable glitterati he mingled with?
It was all Belle could do not to hyperventilate.
She glanced mutinously at Santiago sitting beside her in the SUV. “I’m not going to do it.”
He didn’t even bother to look up from his phone. They’d been having this same argument since before they’d left his Texas ranch that afternoon. “You will.”
“I’d only embarrass you. I don’t know how to talk to rich people!”
This time, Santiago did look up. His dark eyes flashed with amusement. “You talk to them like people.”
She sat back sulkily against the soft black calfskin leather of the luxury SUV. “You know what I mean.”