Chapter Five
The front door closed behind them and relief flooded Sonia, along with welling anticipation.
It had taken fifteen minutes to walk back from the party. Fifteen minutes with Renzo’s arm around her waist, and her wondering how much longer she could survive the exquisite torture of being near but not near enough. Pressed against his hard body, feeling the imprint of his splayed hand hot through the fragile silk of her dress made her eager for more, so much more.
She turned to him. ‘I think...’
Her words died as he bent and swung her up into his arms, close against his chest.
She’d never been held in a man’s arms like this. Never felt that rush of disorientation mixed with heady awareness of his superior strength and the physical differences between them.
Sonia was used to standing on her own two feet, figuratively and literally. The scorching excitement she felt, held against his iron-hard frame, stunned her.
‘I wanted to do that at the party.’ Renzo’s mouth curved in a wry smile. ‘But I figured you wouldn’t appreciate being carried through the streets.’
‘I...’ He expected her to say it would have been outrageous and inappropriate. Yet all Sonia could think of with his arm cradling her legs and another circling her back, his hand on her ribs just below her breast, was that it felt perfect.
‘I like it,’ she said, when she finally found her voice. ‘I like how strong you are.’
Instantly she felt muscles flex around her. The gleam in his eyes brightened. It was as if she looked into molten onyx, burning almost black with passion.
‘And I like how soft you are.’ The hand on her ribs shifted, making her aware that only the thinnest layer of silk separated their flesh. ‘Soft but not weak.’
Then he was walking, no, striding down the corridor and Sonia’s heart kept pace, quickening as he shouldered open a door into a moon-washed bedroom.
She hadn’t been in his room before. Saw it now as a play of silver on black. The vast bed, neatly made. The couple of comfy chairs and what looked like an enormous desk over by the window.
But that was a moment’s impression. For then Renzo changed his hold, putting her down and in the process, letting her slide against that hard, honed body. His belt buckle caught her dress, making it ruck up a little, but it was his solid erection that made her breath stop and her pulse gallop. Sonia swallowed hard as she felt each proud centimetre press against her.
Had she ever wanted a man as desperately as she wanted Renzo?
In her teens there’d been passionate crushes that she hadn’t acted on, too wary of giving any male power over her. So there’d only been Eric. Yet she couldn’t remember desire for him being this sharp, this desperate.
She shuddered as she slid the last little bit to the floor, coming to rest between Renzo’s legs.
‘You’re cold?’
Sonia shook her head. ‘Anything but. I feel like I’m burning up.’ Her hands rose to his shirt, flicking the buttons undone. Her fingers brushed hot skin and grew unsteady.
At her waist Renzo’s hands clamped hard as he tilted his hips against her. Fire shot through her belly to her womb and she heard herself gasp.
‘That feels so good.’ She tugged harder at his shirt and heard it tear. A couple of buttons flew off, pattering against her breasts. ‘Sorry!’
‘Don’t apologise, tesoro.’ Renzo’s voice was rougher than usual, husky and deep. ‘It’s only a shirt. I love that you’re eager too.’
Eager? She was desperate!
Between her legs was a pulsing hollow that radiated desire through her straining body. She wanted to rip his clothes away and—
Maybe he was a mindreader for a second later Renzo released her to shrug off his jacket, then haul the mauled shirt from his trousers and tear it off.
Each movement created a mesmerising play of etched muscles across his torso and powerful arms. He was a symphony of male virility. His chest hair and the dark line that arrowed from it down to his belly fascinated her.
Sonia dragged her fingers across one pectoral muscle, feeling the damp heat, the crisp hair, the thud of his heart. She paused at his flat nipple, scraping her nail across it and watching, enthralled, as it tightened.