by Annie West
He felt his smile as a taut stretch of muscles when he knelt before her and put the condom within reach.
‘What…?’ Her voice petered out as he wrapped his hand round her ankle. So slim, so delicate.
He lowered his mouth to her leg as he unbuckled the tiny strap. Silk stockings and even silkier skin that contracted in shivery ripples as he slid his lips along it. Deftly he slipped off her shoe, taking her foot in his hands as he kissed her calf all the way to her knee. She shifted but he held her, massaging with his thumbs as he kissed back down to her ankle.
Her breathing changed, became deeper. The tension in her muscles eased as his massage relaxed her, made her more aware of physical sensation. He smiled against her instep then moved to her other foot. This time as he progressed with hot kisses up her leg he heard her gasp of pleasure, quickly stifled.
Now both shoes were discarded, he allowed himself access to her thighs. With just a little pressure they fell apart before him and he had to take a moment to focus on his plan. Not to seize immediate gratification but to pleasure her till she relinquished the last of her obstinate self-possession.
Yet it was a moot point who got most pleasure as he trailed caresses up her thigh. His heart pounded so loud it was a miracle she couldn’t hear it. At the top of her stocking he slipped a finger under the elastic and swiped his tongue along the lace mark, pleased at her tiny jump of reaction. She tasted honey-sweet. Her single mew of pleasure urged him on, upwards, till the scent of feminine musk tingled in his nostrils.
Resisting temptation, he pressed only the lightest of kisses against flesh-warmed cotton, before caressing her other thigh with his lips, tongue and fingers.
Her languorous ease vanished. Her muscles grew taut. Smiling, he moved up again, lingering a moment to tease her through the fabric of her panties, before sliding his mouth up over her belly to her navel and higher.
It was heaven here, enfolded by her smooth thighs, right at her centre. He buried his face in her long hair, revelling in its fine texture and fresh scent. It spilled through his fingers, an erotic caress against palms already sensitised by contact with velvet-soft skin.
But beneath it was treasure. He released her bra and pulled it away, nuzzling those long tresses aside to discover her pink and white flesh.
The ruched peak of her nipple was beneath his tongue then in his mouth as he suckled strongly. A rapier blade of need sliced through him. He was lost in pleasure.
The swell of her other breast enticed him. He tugged at her nipple with thumb and forefinger while he bit down gently on the other one and was rewarded with a shiver of response. Did she know she thrust herself higher into his embrace with each lap of his tongue?
‘Do you like that, Alissa?’
Her eyes glittered feverishly as she struggled for breath. Was she ready to admit to this force between them?
‘Yes.’ It was a sob and it was music to his ears. He’d needed to hear her say it and know this was mutual.
Only after he’d drawn sighs of shuddering pleasure from her did he lift himself higher. Her breasts cushioned his chest as he kissed her hair, her closed eyes. He licked the outline of her ear and nipped its sensitive lobe.
Dario hoped she felt half the excruciating pleasure he did from this druggingly slow lovemaking. His body strained to breaking point as he leashed his urgent lust. Never had it been so difficult to restrain himself.
Finally he felt the slide of small fingers at his waist, his back, his shoulders. Triumph and relief warred as he bent again to do homage at her breasts. Her hands tunnelled through his hair, grabbing him close.
Alissa shifted restlessly under him and he arrowed a hand down, beneath the indigo cotton, now satisfyingly damp to the touch. Unerringly he found her sensitive nub of pleasure, teasing it with light strokes till she rose helplessly against his every touch.
Never had a woman’s response been so powerfully erotic. So satisfying. So arousing. She clamped his face to her breast and her body curved up to his in abandon as if all she thought, all she knew was him.
Yes!
Alissa moaned a protest as he dragged himself back, gulping breaths into his air-starved lungs.
She was the most glorious sight, eyes narrowed to gleaming, provocative slits. Her lips were parted and swollen even though he hadn’t yet tasted them. Her hair splayed, a wash of copper and rust streaked with gold, across the dark blue upholstery. And her breasts…
‘Please.’ Even her voice was a throaty invitation.
Reluctantly he pulled back. ‘Patience, little one.’
Swiftly he retrieved the foil package, fitting the condom with a speed born of urgency. He tugged down her panties. She shimmied her hips to ease the way and his belly cramped in excitement. Soon…
When he rose again she was naked, a triangle of russet hair hiding her feminine secrets. The scent of her arousal filled his senses. Very soon he’d learn those secrets. Lowering his head, he dragged his tongue over the path his fingers had followed.
She shuddered into desperate life, her legs clamping his head then falling away as if abandoning the effort.
‘Please. Dario.’ She urged him higher. He caressed her again, exulting in her response as her hips tilted and she shivered all around him.
‘Dario!’ It was a low, keening sound but he recognised the desperation in her cry. Didn’t it echo his own need?
He rose, about to tell her to stretch full length on the settee so he could blanket her with his body. But even that would take too long. He needed her now.
Instead he clamped her hips and dragged her to the very edge of the seat. He leaned in, hard against her softness, full and ready against her openness.
Lightly he tilted his hips and she rose to meet him. The slide of her slick flesh against him was almost too much. His eyelids flickered as lightning sparked behind them. No, too soon.
With a smile that must have been more grimace, he slid a hand between them, circling, probing, entering. Her eyes widened and heat flared in their blue depths. Again he stroked and she lifted to meet him, her gaze clinging.
How he wanted…no, how he needed her.
Her face revealed wonder, as if she’d never known such pleasure. An illusion, of course, but a heady one. He was at breaking point when she reached for him.
‘Dario. Now…please.’
His heart gave a huge surge that sent his pulse out of kilter. He dragged her hand up to cup his face and turned to nuzzle it. The scent of Alissa, sweet and salt and absolute temptation, filled him. He licked her palm and her eyes closed.
‘Watch me,’ he whispered.
She opened her eyes as he lifted her legs round his hips and positioned himself at the entrance to paradise.
‘Yes.’ It was a hiss of sensual need.
Slowly, inexorably, he surged forward. His shoulders, his buttocks and thighs, every inch of him strained with tension as he entered that tight, slick space.
Such was the force of will needed to restrain himself he almost missed the tiny sensation of resistance and the breathless grimace that contorted her features.
‘Alissa?’ Did she hear him? For a moment that looked like distress on her face. He paused, shocked at the message his brain sent him, unable to comprehend it. Then she lifted her hips and thought fled as he slid forward.
Instinct took over as he withdrew then pushed again, more strongly this time. She moaned in pleasure and tension spiralled. He stroked her face, her breasts, encouraged her to stretch up so they were flush together, skin against skin. Heat against heat as he filled her and she welcomed him home with tiny answering movements.
She linked her hands round his neck as she stared into his eyes. His heart swelled to bursting point. A second later, with the first rapid spasm of her body round his, he felt the spark flare in his blood. She cried out as if in surprise and her body clenched around his.
He knew a moment’s satisfaction at her climax before he plunged into a vortex of fire. It racked him with ple
asure, sent flame racing along his veins. Light exploded in his numbing brain and filled him with ecstasy.
It seemed forever before he slumped forward, pulling her close. His chest heaved as he buried his face against her but the instinct to hug her to him was so strong he didn’t care whether he breathed freely or not.
He was too spent to think, to do anything other than ride the aftershocks of cataclysmic orgasm and stroke her hair with fingers that shook.
He’d just had the most fulfilling sexual encounter of his life. With his wife.
A wife who had been a virgin until five minutes ago.
CHAPTER TEN
ALISSA woke to a feeling of wellbeing pervading even her bones. She sensed daylight, yet her limbs were weighted, her body relaxed and replete, her mind empty of everything but the recognition of comfort.
Dimly she realised this was different from other mornings. There was no tension, no anxiety gnawing her vitals the instant she woke to a new day.
Luxuriously she stretched, wondering what—
She froze. The pillow she’d nuzzled was a cushion of living muscle dusted with masculine hair. Her shin had slid between two solid male thighs and one hand was clamped around the curve of a very solid shoulder.
Dario! She was sprawled across Dario like some…
‘Morning, cara.’ His voice, gravel and satin, evoked delicious memories of pleasure. ‘I trust you slept well?’
He stroked her spine, making her shiver and arch her back so her breasts pushed into his torso. The friction of skin on skin brought her fully awake. She recognised the pulse of arousal quickening her blood, beating in that tender place between her legs.
She sucked in her breath, drawing with it the rich, addictive scent of Dario’s skin. Her bones melted as her body, conditioned after just one night to pleasure at his touch, softened in anticipation.
‘I—’
He swallowed her words in an open-mouthed kiss, lifting her up so she stretched full-length against him. As his tongue stroked hers the taste of bitter chocolate and honey, of Dario, filled her mouth. He kissed with the leisurely expertise of a master.
Last night he’d turned the tables, seducing her so thoroughly her angry energy had transformed into erotic abandon.
He’d been so gentle as he wiped away the tears of release and wonder from her eyes. He’d tucked her close and carried her to his suite. Relying only on the moonlight, he’d bathed her with warm water and gentle hands before depositing her, dazed and exhausted, in his bed. He’d spooned close, wrapping himself round her like a blanket. In the night she’d woken to his coaxing voice and it had seemed natural to turn to him. Allow him access to her body. Allow herself the ecstasy of his lovemaking.
He cupped her face and kissed her, his skin with its morning roughness gently abrasive. The stroke of his tongue, the caress of his mouth, the slide of one restless thigh between hers awoke delicious sensations. She craved again the mindless ecstasy, the tenderness, the feeling of warmth that excluded all cares.
‘Cara.’ His voice dropped to a low note that made her shake with desire. It was enough to make her forget…make her forget…
Donna! The blinding flash of remembrance blasted her. She jerked in his embrace as realisation hit.
How could she have forgotten, even for an instant? Her sister was counting on her. Alissa had only gone through with this because…The skein of thought frayed as he tugged her close and deepened their kiss.
Had she submitted to Dario simply for Donna’s sake? Or had that been an excuse? A voice in her head accused her of hiding behind Donna’s problems so she could reach out for what she’d secretly wanted from the first.
Had she been motivated by altruism or selfishness? And now Dario’s ruthlessness, bargaining with her sister’s life, came crashing into her brain.
Suddenly her night of unexpected joy was a tainted, guilty pleasure.
‘No.’ Breathless, she pushed against his shoulders, levering herself away, till she could look down at him.
That was a mistake. His dark hair was rumpled from her touch, his eyes slumberous, sizzling with the concentration he gave to physical pleasure. His jaw was shadowed, giving him a potently sexy bad-boy look. His lips…Alissa looked at that perfectly sculpted mouth, remembering the bliss of his kisses.
‘Stop!’ Her voice was uneven and her chest heaved against his. She squeezed her eyes shut, torn between self-disgust and delight at the erotic sensation of her nipples against his powerful chest.
‘What is it, cara?’ Dario relaxed his hold and she shuffled away, dragging the sheet across her chest.
Her head bowed as guilt speared her. How could she have forgotten her sole reason for being here? It didn’t matter that last night had been the most wondrous experience of her life. What a few moments ago had seemed a short, blissful respite from care now condemned her as heartless and selfish. And condemned Dario as…she didn’t want to think about it.
Alissa sat up, focusing on the clock beside the bed. She didn’t trust herself to look into the silvery depths of his eyes.
‘You promised to transfer the money this morning.’ She drew in a sustaining breath. ‘The banks are open now.’
Dario couldn’t believe his ears. He reared back as if she’d struck him.
Minutes ticked by as he stared at Alissa. The woman who’d given him more passion, warmth and pleasure than he’d ever had. Who’d made him question everything he’d been so sure of yesterday. Not with clever words, but with the apparent honesty and generosity of her body’s responses. He’d actually believed she couldn’t be the mercenary little go-getter he’d thought her. He’d decided that, despite all the evidence, he’d somehow been mistaken.
His mouth tightened as he fought down rising bile. His bed reeked with the musky scent of sex. Of her deviousness and his gullibility.
When he’d discovered her to be a virgin he’d felt guilt at pressuring her into his bed. He’d felt like the lowest slime ball that had ever slunk out of a gutter. Until his senses overrode his conscience. After that he hadn’t been able to stop himself, for the ecstasy surpassed everything he’d known.
Afterwards he’d believed his view of her character flawed. She couldn’t be all he’d thought her. Yet his guilt hadn’t stopped him reaching for her again. His scruples were no match for his need.
He’d told himself that this morning, in the clear light of day, he’d discover the truth.
But the truth was, despite her virginity, she’d played him all along. There’d been no connection between them, no melding of souls that went beyond the boundaries of physical pleasure. He’d imagined that as he’d reeled from the most erotic, satisfying experience of his life.
Shame flooded him that he’d let himself imagine there was anything more between them. She’d laugh if she knew.
‘I said the banks are open now.’ Her chin jutted up, her mouth settling in a firm line.
His hands clenched as he surveyed her. She looked like a queen refusing to acknowledge a dirty peasant, despite the fact they were in bed together.
Was she trying to put him in his place? After last night’s intimacies?
Ingrained memories of condescending looks and arrogant words rose instantly. For years he’d endured the stigma of not fitting in, not being good enough. He’d been too independent to please prospective foster parents. They’d wanted him to forget his past and his family and pretend to be theirs. When he hadn’t he’d been labelled difficult, a kid who’d never amount to anything.
He thought he’d obliterated any sensitivity to such things. He had done. Until Alissa played havoc with his libido and his judgement. Until she’d awakened emotions long forgotten. That was what he couldn’t forgive.
‘Probably not the best way to greet your lover,’ he drawled, trying not to react to the seductive picture she made, her hair a sensuous curtain around pale, perfect shoulders. The sunlight outlined her sweet curves through the linen.
‘Why not?’ Her voice was
sharp. So different from last night’s throaty purrs and moans of delight. He wished he could have her now as she’d been then. Pliant, eager and so responsive. ‘It’s the only reason we’re in bed.’
Fury surged, stirring an unfamiliar turmoil of emotions. How could he be disappointed that she was motivated by money? That last night had been about hot sex and mercenary gain?
‘You’ll need to improve your bedside manner, cara, or your next lover mightn’t be so generous.’
‘Generous?’ It was a squawk of outrage. ‘You’ve got a hide.’ Her eyes flashed fire that scorched his bare skin. ‘There’s nothing generous about you, Dario. You’d sell your grandmother if you thought you could turn a profit.’
A shaft of anger pierced him at her accusation. She couldn’t know how much family meant to him.
‘I earned every penny of the money you owe me.’ He watched her swallow hard. Her eyes flicked away as if the sight of him offended her sensibilities. ‘No doubt you’ll make sure you get your money’s worth over the next months.’
A chill descended with her words. Part of him cringed at the truth of what she said. Even now, nothing would keep him from taking her to his bed again and again. Despite his lacerated pride, one night with her wasn’t enough. The realisation made him lash out.
‘Then it’s as well you have a natural talent for pleasure, isn’t it, Alissa?’
Satisfaction was an inner glow as he watched a blush rise in her throat. Surely at least some of her responses had been genuine. He recalled her wide-eyed wonder as he’d brought her to the brink of climax again and again. The sweet pulse of need in her body, the clumsy yet entrancing way she’d taken her turn at pleasuring him.
Hell! He was hard just remembering.
‘Why were you a virgin?’ He’d blurted the words without thinking, still shocked by the discovery.
Her brows arched. Energy sizzled between them at the intensity of her glare.
‘Because I don’t like men,’ she snarled.
Stunned, he registered a plunging sensation in the pit of his belly. She couldn’t be…No, not when she’d responded to him the way she had.
