‘This morning. They love you very much and they are very loyal. If anything, I’m envious,’ Gianni admitted.
‘Where were you staying?’ Jo finally asked. ‘In a hotel?’
‘No. An apartment in Rome. I’ve also been thinking...if you’re in agreement, we will move on from here tomorrow and spend our week elsewhere,’ Gianni continued. ‘Coming to an isolated island wasn’t the best idea. It may have worked for a normal honeymoon couple but a couple like us requires a little more outside stimulation.’
Jo nodded, although she was discomfited by the reminder that they were not a normal newly married couple. But then she couldn’t have it every way, could she? And then she looked at him with a warmer gaze and accepted that she had forgiven him. He had apologised and for the very first time he had made the effort to explain himself. He was changing. He wastrying. Didn’t that mean that she could try to loosen up a little as well?
After eating, they walked down to the beach. Jo kicked off her sandals, lifted her long skirt and skipped along the edge of the surf. Like a child, Gianni thought as he watched her, relishing her lack of self-consciousness with him and her zest for life, not to mention her ability to forgive and forget one of his worst ever errors of judgement. Moonlight glimmered over her lovely face and his gaze centred on the luscious pout of her pink lips, laughter falling from her as the tide forced her to run back up onto the beach.
He closed long fingers round a slender wrist and tugged her to him. For an instant, she remained static and then she shifted closer, lips parting in invitation, eyes luminous. Gianni caught her to him with possessive hands that curved to her hips.
For a timeless moment, Jo was still with anticipation and a growing sense of security. Gianni brought his mouth down on hers with a ravaging sweetness that dialled up the urgency already thrumming through her taut length. Her bra felt too tight for her breasts, the soft peaks firming to hard points and, breathless, she pulled back from him.
‘Let’s go back,’ she muttered unevenly.
Gianni drew in a slow, deep breath and said nothing as they strolled back up the hill. He would not put her under any kind of pressure.
‘Maybe we should consider taking advantage of that full moon Trixie mentioned,’ Jo mumbled in a rush, terrified that she would lose her nerve as they entered the castle.
Without even glancing in Gianni’s direction, Jo clattered upstairs to the bedroom they could have shared that first night. It was too late now for her to wish that they had. Had they consummated their marriage then he might well have appreciated that she could never have had an affair with Ralph behind anyone’s back. Undressing, she lifted the filmy nightdress Sybil had given her, tossed it on the bathroom chair and stepped straight into the shower.
Grains of sand sprinkled the floor of the shower basin, and she suppressed an anxious sigh as insecurity threatened to overwhelm her. How could she possibly hope to meet Gianni’s expectations? She wasn’t the experienced woman he would assume she was. So, she had to be honest, enthusiastic, and quick to learn. That made her feel rather as if she were about to attend an evening class in an unfamiliar subject. Grimacing, she towelled herself dry and donned the nightie, which was rather more glam than her usual shorts and tee.
Running a brush through hair tangled by the sea breeze, she left the bedroom, only to freeze on the threshold at the sight of Gianni already sprawled across her bed, only a towel linked round his lean hips. Being Gianni, he looked even more enthralling half naked. His skin was the colour of bronze. She had not realised how muscular he was.
‘What can I say? I’m keen,’ he confided insouciantly as he watched the colour climb in her cheeks.
‘Evidently,’ Jo agreed, forcing her stiff legs forward and seating herself awkwardly on the edge of the bed.
‘Why are you so serious?’ Gianni chided, rising up on his knees to send his passionate mouth travelling very briefly over hers.
‘Because this is serious for me,’ Jo admitted as he closed his hands to her hips and pulled her up onto the mattress beside him. ‘I haven’t got naked with a guy before.’
His mobile black brows lifted. ‘You can’t mean that you’re a virgin?’
Jo shrugged a stiff shoulder, her face burning. ‘I didn’t plan it this way. It just happened.’
‘How did it just happen?’ Gianni queried in surprise. ‘You were at university. You must have had boyfriends?’
‘A few, but nobody who made me want more from them. I just didn’t meet the right guy and I wasn’t interested in having sex purely for the sake of it.’
Gianni sighed. ‘If only I had been as discriminating. I lost my virginity at fifteen to a girl a couple of years older. It was meaningless. I don’t deserve to be your first lover—’
‘Oh, shall I go out and look for a more deserving man?’ Jo cut in playfully.
Gianni laughed. ‘If I thought you meant that—’
‘Well, if you make me discuss this any more I will,’ she threatened.
‘I’ve never been with a virgin before,’ he confessed.
‘Don’t you think it’s fortunate that at leastoneof us knows the score?’
Amusement lightened the darkness in his frowning gaze and he tumbled her into the pillows, smiling down at her with sudden warmth. ‘You always surprise me, Jojo. I never know what you’re likely to do or say next.’
He kissed her until the blood was drumming in her veins and her heart was racing. His tongue twinned with hers and skimmed the sensitive interior of her mouth. A knot of excitement unlocked deep in her pelvis and her hips rose to his in an uncontrollable wave. He was teaching her what wanting more entailed, and she was grateful that she had waited because she was convinced that, whatever else, Gianni would not give her a mediocre experience.
He reached beneath her to peel off the nightdress and as it caught there was a slight ripping sound that made him suppress a curse. ‘I’ll buy you another one,’ he promised. ‘Although you won’t be wearing it much.’