His hand shaped her breasts, caressed her hip, cradled her buttocks, then long, talented fingers delved into the wet curls at her core.
She bucked, clamped her knees together, the shocking touch almost more than she could bear.
‘Open for me,’ he urged.
Her knees weakened, loosened for him of their own accord. He rubbed, stroked, circled the burning nub. She heard her own broken sobs as his fingertip skimmed over the heart of her. She cried out as the slick heat built to an impossible crescendo. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, but as she clung to that desperate edge, her senses screaming, she knew this wasn’t how she wanted it. Not this time.
She closed her legs, shivered against him. ‘Please… I want you inside me.’ She choked out the bold request.
He rolled onto his back, pulling her with him, forcing her to spread her legs and bracket his hips. ‘Then I want you on top,’ he demanded.
Large hands cupped her buttocks, directing her to his shaft and then he drew her down. She shuddered, the shock of penetration too much as she took him in to the hilt. But then he began to move, bumping a place deep inside. The pleasure intensified as she moved with him, taking him deeper still in a wild, unstoppable ride to oblivion.
The orgasm hit hard, in a wave that went on and on until it crested with the speed and force of a tsunami. Slamming into her, robbing her of breath, it powered through from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. She heard his shout of completion, the sound a million miles away as her body shattered into glittery shards of ecstasy.
She collapsed on top of him, his sweat-slicked body slippery against her own.
His hands stroked he
r buttocks, roamed up her back. ‘I never thought I’d say this, but that was actually worth the wait.’
An exhausted grin formed on her lips as she settled beside him, and he tucked her under his arm. She rested her hand on his chest, stroked down the elegant line of hair, and her fingertips touched the raised edge of the scar that slashed across his abdomen. The grin died as tenderness engulfed her, and her heart careered into her ribcage.
Foolish tears prickled the backs of her eyelids. She blinked furiously, struggling to find something witty and clever to say to push the emotion back where it belonged.
Their love-making had been wild and uncontrolled. It had felt like more than just sex. But how much more? And why did the thought suddenly terrify her?
He tipped her face up to his. ‘You okay? I was a little rough.’
‘No, you weren’t, I enjoyed it,’ she said, her cheeks flushing at the smile that curved his lips.
Well, it wasn’t exactly witty or clever, but at least it was accurate.
His thumb trailed down her cheek as he studied her face, his golden gaze still dazed with afterglow. ‘So did I.’ The soft words had her heart jumping into her throat again.
She traced the line of the scar and felt him tense. ‘How did you get this scar?’
Sadness overwhelmed her when she watched the haze of arousal clear from his eyes and the familiar caution return.
Taking his arm from around her, he sat up with his back to her. She noticed the stiff set of his shoulders as he dragged his T-shirt over his head, covering the scar.
‘We should head back,’ he said, as if she hadn’t said anything, then grabbed his boxers up and stood to put them on. ‘Before they come looking for us.’
She reached for a bed sheet to cover herself, acutely aware of her own nakedness, and swallowed down the stupid lump of hurt at the way he had ignored her question. What they had wasn’t permanent and her curiosity was just that. Curiosity. If he didn’t feel comfortable talking about his past, he certainly didn’t have to.
‘Do you think the duca will guess what we’ve been doing?’ she asked, concerned about what the old man might make of their behaviour. She doubted he’d be all that impressed.
‘Maybe.’ He shrugged, glancing over his shoulder while fastening the button-fly of his jeans. ‘But who cares? I expect Eduardo will inform him we’re sharing a bedroom before too long.’
She shot upright, clutching the bed sheet to her bosom. ‘We can’t share a bedroom.’
‘Yeah, we can,’ he said easily. ‘And we will.’
‘But… Then everyone will know,’ she said, worrying her bottom lip. ‘Maybe we could just—’
‘Eva, sweetheart,’ he interrupted her panicked reasoning, sitting down on the edge of the bed. ‘As much as I enjoy playing pirate captain to your damsel in distress—’ he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear ‘—no way in hell am I risking my neck on that balcony every night to have you.’
She let out a jerky breath, the tenderness of his touch making the foolish emotion rush back. ‘But you don’t have to. We have the connecting bathroom. You could easily—’