‘No. You felt, and I love how much you feel.’ His voice was like a purr, rolling over her skin. ‘But I will never lose control in that way, querida,no matter how aroused I am.’
‘Well, wild horses couldn’t have stopped me, so I’m glad you have so much self-control.’
He laughed, unexpectedly. ‘That’s my job.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I have more experience with this.’
She considered that. ‘So even when I feel as though I’m on the brink of losing my mind, you’re still able to function as a rational human?’
His eyes narrowed, and something shifted between them. She couldn’t say what, only she sensed a change in him, a tension that made little sense. ‘Very slightly rational.’
‘That doesn’t make me feel any better.’
He kissed her softly. ‘It should.’ His thumb dragged across her lower lip. ‘It just means I respect you enough to take care of you. Neither of us wants an ongoing complication from this.’
He stood up, his body still taut, extending a hand to her, offering her help to stand. She looked up at him, considering that for a moment, but instead she knelt. Her heart was thumping against her ribs so hard she was sure he must be able to hear it, or see it, but his eyes were on her face as she moved closer, her intention obvious to both of them. But would she have the courage to go through with it?
‘I’ve never done this before, so pointers are welcome.’ She defused the tension she felt with a joke, then dropped her eyes to his arousal, regarding it for the briefest second before she moved her tongue over his tip, slowly at first, then down his entire length, tasting him before she took him deep in her mouth, relishing the feeling of him there, and even more so when he let out a loud, primal groan that seemed to reverberate against the gym’s walls. His body trembled as she moved her mouth, and his hands on her shoulders were gentle, as if he needed her support.
Fierce heat travelled her body, the strength of his desire was an aphrodisiac she hadn’t expected, so she found she never wanted this to end, she never wanted to stop. Power exploded through her, and when he lost himself, she felt a part of herself go right along with him, as though they were bound together in an inexplicable, undeniable way.
Was it any wonder Alejandro couldn’t concentrate? Whenever he got five minutes to himself, he found his mind replaying, over and over, their morning, and a flood of desire ravaged his body, making it impossible to think, to work, to do anything but pace, his blood as hot as lava.
He’d woken so angry! Furious, in fact. The dark emotions had pounded through him in a way he hadn’t experienced since childhood. As a little boy, he’d always felt that anger, his impotence, his inability to fix his mother’s life. He’d felt defensive and protective, and yet there’d been nothing he could do for her, nothing he could do to save her. Every time a strange man had come to their tiny apartment and she’d taken him into her room, Alejandro had worried. He’d seen her hurt enough times, seen her with black eyes and bloody noses, and he’d been terrified that she would die. Then one day she did, and instead of feeling guilty he’d felt numb, because he’d always known her life would end that way.
Why, after so many years of detachment, had those protective instincts kicked in all over again, and for Sienna Thornton-Rose?
Because of her eyes.
He closed his own, pressing his hands to his hips as his body faced towards the windows of his office.
Her eyes told him so much, and when she’d spoken of her adolescence, casually referring to the way her mother had treated her, insulted and belittled her, and her unpleasant experiences with flirtation and sex in the past, he’d seen the pain in her features, he’d seen the insecurities that still dogged her, and he’d wanted to stop the world from spinning and fundamentally reshape it. How a vibrant, funny, beautiful young woman like Sienna could ever think she wasn’t enough of anything was practically a criminal offence.
It wasn’t just the things she’d said, though. He’d felt the same kick of protectiveness when he’d seen her at the wedding in Rome, when he’d heard the way her mother had spoken to her about her hair, when he’d seen her look of compliance and acceptance, he’d felt a powerful rush of anger, a need to replace all that hurt with something else, something warm and pleasurable. He’d wanted her, but he’d also wanted to fix things for her.
He’d woken angry this morning, and sought refuge in his gym, with a workout that had been so intense he could feel each and every muscle screaming now, but he barely even noticed that. He could think only of Sienna as she’d been in the gym, how she’d looked at him, how she’d taken control and ridden him as though her life depended on it. But most of all, he thought about how goddamned hard he’d found it to stop what they were doing, how tempted he’d been to lose himself in her regardless of the consequences. It was a temptation he’d never known before, not with any other woman. ‘Control’ might as well have been his middle name. He didn’t lose his head, he didn’t lose his mind, and he never lost sight of his rules. But with Sienna, everything had an urgency that was new. He’d wanted her to the point that he could hardly even care what would happen if she fell pregnant.
And that had scared the living hell out of him.
It still did, if he was honest.
What he needed was to change gears, just until he could rediscover his equilibrium with her, to regain control. In his home, all he could think of was stripping her naked and exploring her body, and for the first time in his life he could appreciate the difficulty separating sex from emotions. He didn’t feel, because he had trained himself not to, but with Sienna, he saw risk—not only for himself, but for her too, and he intended to avoid those risks at all costs.
The problem was, everything with her was different.The way they’d met: she was the first woman he’d ever been asked to spend time with. The first woman he’d ever been prohibited from sleeping with. The first virgin he’d had sex with. She was also the first woman who’d propositioned him in such a cavalier manner, and the first woman he’d invited into his home. What he needed was to make things between them more normal. To make her like any of the women he usually slept with, to make their relationship more familiar, and less unique. Familiar equated to forgettable and at the end of all this, he needed to be able to forget Sienna. He suspected a lot in his life depended on that—including his friendship with Luca and, likely, his equilibrium.
Let’s eat out tonight.
Sienna couldn’t believe that even a simple four-word text message from Alejandro could stir her blood to fever pitch, but the sight of his name on her screen sparked an instant reaction within her.
She let herself imagine what that would be like, but reality was right there, wrapping around her, even if he’d momentarily forgotten a major part of their agreement.
Tempting, but not possible.
Why not?
Because this is supposed to be our little secret, and you’re Alejandro Corderó. You get noticed wherever you go.