‘What the...?’ He swallowed a rough Catalan curse at the end of the sentence—a language in which Sienna knew only the basics. His face showed torment, shock. Anger.
‘What—’
‘Tell me you were not a virgin.’
Confusion swamped her, and also something else. Something warm and pleasurable, something that was making her blood boil again. Pain was receding, and now pleasure was picking up right where it had left off, so she shook her head, her nails digging into his shoulder as she dragged him downwards. ‘Later. We’ll talk. But now, please.’
He swore again, this time in Spanish, so she understood it fully, and even if she hadn’t the tone of his voice left her in little doubt that he hadn’t been expecting this. Except he had been. He’d said as much outside.
‘Sienna—’ The word was a warning, and it was also a plea. For what? Reassurance? She caught his face on either side, holding him still.
‘I came in here because I wanted this. Please don’t stop. And please don’t make me beg. Make love to me, Alejandro.’
‘But your first time—’ He swore again. ‘It shouldn’t be with someone like me.’ The words were urgent. ‘It shouldn’t be like this.’
She moved her finger to his lips, pressing it there first, before sliding it into his mouth, removing it, then sliding it into her own mouth. ‘I wanted this. I chose you.’
His eyes closed as he emitted a low, throaty groan. ‘Oh, for God’s sake,’ he muttered, pulling out a little, so she held her breath, before he pushed back in, deeper, gently, but also in a way that reminded her he was in charge—as she suspected Alejandro always would be.
Every movement was like the tightening of a coil, the winding of it around and around, so she could barely think, barely breathe, but when he brought his mouth to her breasts once more and suckled on one nipple first, then the next, she was barely able to hold on to sense, and life. She dug her nails into his shoulders hard, then dragged them down his back, so hard she wondered, in the very back of her mind, if she might have drawn blood, before digging them into his buttocks, clinging on as pleasure exploded through her, tipping her over the edge of sanity and self, so all she could do was cry his name, so loudly that he had no option but to kiss her, hard, to swallow the syllables into his mouth as his own climax tormented his body, racking it in waves, until, like a ship wrecked to shore, he collapsed on top of her. He was no longer sure of a damned thing, knowing only that he’d been wrong: regret would not wait until morning.
‘Wow. Just...wow.’
Alejandro was still riding the wave, his breath burning inside his chest, his whole body feeling as though it had been zapped by an electrical current, every cell reverberating with completion and contentment, so that he would have liked to lie there for a moment, relishing every last sensation, before rousing them both back to fever pitch again, and again. Despite the force of his orgasm, his body wasn’t anywhere near satisfied. He wanted more. He wanted to explore her, to experience her in every way.
Which was a goddamned warning he heeded.
Pulling away from her, he stared down at her innocently flushed face for just long enough to confirm that she was experiencing a sexual awakening, just long enough for guilt and self-recriminations to overtake everything else, so he pushed up completely to standing and turned his back, wishing there were some way to undo what had just happened.
But even as he thought that, he knew himself well enough to doubt—would he really take it back? Chemistry had overwhelmed them both and it had been a long time since Alejandro had been with a woman in such an organic, essential way. Since he’d felt as though he might die if he didn’t sleep with someone. He ground his teeth together as he disposed of the condom and reached for his pants, all without looking at her. He couldn’t. He was furious—with himself mainly, but also with her, and he knew enough to know it would be reprehensible to castigate her right after taking her virginity. He snapped on the light with force, anger reverberating through him, an anger he knew he shouldn’t—couldn’t—express to her.
But damn it, she should have told him. He wasn’t the kind of man who would take advantage of a woman like this. He wasn’t the kind of man to get involved with virgins. All his life, he’d known the importance of proving to himself, with every decision he made, that he was nothing like his father. Nothing like the man who’d seduced an inexperienced, trusting virgin, made her fall in love, then disappeared into thin air when she’d revealed that she’d fallen pregnant. He had never slept with a virgin. Not even close. Until this night, and it was something he would never have chosen for himself. He didn’t have a ‘type’, in terms of looks. Tall, short, brunette, blonde, curvaceous or trim, Alejandro couldn’t explain what features he was attracted to, but he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that sexual experience was a prerequisite. He ordinarily slept with women who were as uninterested in relationships as he was. Women who understood the way he worked. Anxiety tightened in his gut, because even without the proof of her virginity he’d known she wasn’t like that. Sienna was gentle and sweet, and definitely not used to mixing in the kinds of social circles he did.
Even without this discovery, he’d known this was wrong. Luca. Oh, mierda. Luca. Defying Luca had been bad enough when he’d thought Sienna experienced, but knowing what he did now, he understood why Luca had warned Alejandro away. She wasn’t suitable to be one of his one-night stands. Luca had been one hundred per cent right.
He groaned softly, then forced himself to face her, anger and disbelief pummelling his body from the inside out. She was still lying there, wonder on her face, cheeks pink, eyes sparkling, her magnificent breasts round and full, revealed to the full hunger of his gaze, dress ruched around her midsection—Cristo, he hadn’t even taken the time to undress her properly, so great had his hunger been. He’d treated her like any of his usual conquests, like a woman au fait with life and sex. He’d treated her like his equal in this regard, and even after knowing her a short time, he recognised that she’d deserved better.
His lips assumed a grim line. ‘That is not what your first time should have been.’
She tilted her face to the side, eyeing him thoughtfully. ‘Do I look as though I’m complaining?’
Despite his regret, pride swelled in his chest. Childish, arrogant pride. He quelled it. He didn’t deserve any hint of pride, not after what he’d done. Heat flushed his skin as he felt the full weight of his betrayal. Less than an hour after assuring Luca he’d care for Sienna, he’d taken her virginity in the powder room of a restaurant. Self-directed anger made his voice harsher than he intended. ‘You should have told me.’
It seemed to dawn on Sienna that something was wrong. She sat up a little, reaching for the floaty straps of her dress and bending her face forward as she focussed on securing them in place, so his fingertips tingled with a desire to reach out and stop her. He wanted her to stay like this for ever—no, not for ever, he didn’t believe in such a concept, but for a little while longer, until he’d committed her spectacular curves to his permanent memory.
She frowned. ‘You called me innocent outside. I thought you knew.’
He stared at her, perplexed, before recalling that, yes, he had referred to her in this way. He brushed a hand through the air. ‘I meant that you are innocent relative to me, not completely inexperienced. Tell me you do have some experience with men?’
She nodded, just once, her lips pressed together so their outline was a soft white.
‘You are too old to have been a virgin.’ Too old, too beautiful, too sensual, too hypnotic. How was it possible?
Her eyes lifted to his and she stood, uneasily, unsteadily, so he reached out a hand to offer stability but she flinched away, the features of her beautiful face stiff.
‘The facts would beg to differ.’
‘Fine, you were a virgin, but how?’