All that mattered was that she wanted him. That she loved him. When they'd married she'd wanted every part of him. Now she was so desperate she'd take whatever she could get. For as long as it was available. No matter that she'd spent the whole of the past year learning to live without him. No matter that with one taste she'd fallen straight back into the habit, like the worst of addicts.
She wanted him and if the price to pay for that need was going to be high then she was still willing to pay it.
Without shifting his mouth from hers, he rose to his feet, taking her with him. and lifted her into his arms as if she weighed nothing.
'It's fortunate that our bedroom is close, cara mia," he groaned as he negotiated the door and kicked it shut behind them. He lowered her on to the bed and came down on top of her, one hand locked in her hair, the other tracing a path up her thigh and taking her skirt with it. 'You feel like silk—'
'I want you—' She clawed at his back, tugged at his shirt. 'I want you so much.' The throbbing, pounding ache of desire built and built until she was almost begging. 'Rico—'
'I know—' his tone was teasing '—you want me—' Finishing her sentence before she could repeat the words yet again, he jerked her skirt higher still, exposing her trembling, excited flesh to his hungry gaze. 'You don't need to tell me that. You say I don't know you, but there are some things that I know very well.'
She gave a sob and writhed beneath him. 'I don't want to wait—not even for a moment.'
His hands undid the tiny buttons of her top and underneath she was braless. 'Dio, you are enough to drive a sane man crazy—so beautiful—-'
'Now—now—' She was clawing at his back, clutching, just desperate. Then she moved her hands to his trousers, trying to strip him but shaking too much to coordinate her movements. 'Rico, now—'
His mouth captured hers again in a hot, sexy kiss and his hands completed the job she'd been unable to perform.
Immediately her hand closed over him and her breath left her body in a rush. 'You're so big—'
'Because I am about to explode,' he muttered, trailing kisses down her neck and trying to move away from her seeking fingers. 'Give me a moment—'
'No—' The evidence that he wanted her so badly simply fuelled her desperation. 'Now. Now.'
'If you say "now" one more time I won't be responsible for my actions,' he groaned, lifting his mouth back to hers and silencing her in the most effective way he knew.
She fell into the darkness of his kiss, floated on the excitement and the promise and finally felt the throb of his arousal against her most intimate place.
Her level of need
and desperation was so great that when he finally entered her with a primitive thrust she cried out his name and immediately exploded into an orgasm so intense that she couldn't catch her breath—
Her body pulsed around the thickness of his shaft, drawing him in, her legs wrapped around him, locking him in place.
Her man.
He'd always been her man.
'Stasia—' His throaty acknowledgement of the violence of her response was followed by an increase in masculine thrust that intensified her never-ending orgasm.
It was as if her body was making up for the long, lonely months when she hadn't had this man. And for the long, lonely months when she might not have him again.
The excitement was so shockingly good that she wanted to scream, but he kept his mouth clamped on hers, deepening the intimacy and keeping her silent.
But he couldn't last.
It was all too intense. Too hot. Too basic.
Her uncontrolled, electrified response sent him over the edge and she felt his shudders, felt the power in his tight buttocks as he pumped harder, spilling his essence deep inside her.
And still her body held on to his. Even when he rolled on to his back and took her with him they remained joined, their bodies slick with sweat, their hearts thumping in unison.
Stasia kept her eyes tightly closed, shattered by what had happened.
Did she really think that she was ever going to find that with another man?
It happened with Rico because he was the one.