Marcello & Grace (Royals of Valleria #2)

by Knightly, Marianne

  Grace drew Marcello to the couch and pulled him down to sit beside her. “What’s wrong, Marcello?”

  He nestled her against his shoulder, and she seemed to fit perfectly there. She just felt right in his arms; there was no other way to say it.

  “I’m going on a mission.”

  “When?”

  “Within the next forty-eight hours.”

  She gasped lightly. It seemed their time together would end sooner than she thought. “I see. I suppose it will be very dangerous.”

  “Yes. Moreso than usual because I can’t trust at least one of the men coming with me.”

  “Can you exclude him?”

  “No, unfortunately not.” His hand absently rubbed along her back, warming her where her damp shirt brought the occasional chill.

  “Do you have to go?”

  “Yes.”

  A simple answer for what she guessed was a very complicated situation. “And you’re leaving tomorrow?” Her hand rested on his chest, against the simple button-down shirt he wore over dark jeans.

  “I’m actually leaving for Valleria tonight to prepare.”

  “What?” she said as she sat up and they faced each other. “You’re leaving tonight?”

  His hands moved to cup her face. “I’ll be back as soon as it’s over, Grace. If you want me, I’ll be back.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him against her. “I do want you,” she whispered against his ear, and realized it was true. She wanted to wake up with him, to spend her days with him, and she wanted, to her great surprise, to spend her nights with him. Was she ready for that?

  She pressed a kiss to his temple, then his forehead and cheek before taking his lips for hers. He fell into the kiss on a moan and she shifted to straddle him. He tore his lips away.

  “Grace, what are you doing?”

  She bit back a self-deprecating reply and said instead, “Loving you.”

  His hands gripped her tighter. “What did you say?”

  “I want to make love to you, Marcello.”

  He looked deep into her eyes before he said, “I didn’t tell you I was leaving so you’d sleep with me.”

  “I know,” she said quickly. “I know you didn’t. This is something I want. I haven’t wanted this since, well, not for a very long time,” she said, refusing to acknowledge the deceased by name. He would not come between her and Marcello, not now. “I want to try with you. If you want to, that is. I might be terrible at it.”

  Marcello kissed the protest off her lips. “I told you not to say stuff like that anymore.”

  “And you told me I didn’t have to listen to you when you ordered me around.”

  Marcello’s lips lifted in a half-smile. “So I did. It’s your choice, Grace.”

  “It’s also yours.”

  “I want you. I want you so much, fair Grace,” he said with an anguished cry and kissed her again. She moaned in response as bursts of heat flooded through her. She broke the kiss to tilt her head back. As he dropped kisses along the line of her throat, his nimble fingers undid her wet braid.

  The rain held a steady tap, tap, tap against the roof but neither of them noticed. Instead, her fingers fumbled for the buttons of his shirt. She was tempted to just rip it apart and the thought made her laugh. Her, Grace Raynott, ripping a man’s clothes away. She felt powerful at just the thought of it.

  “What’s so funny?” Marcello whispered against her damp skin, causing a shiver.

  “I’m not laughing at you,” she said. “I’m just happy.” They locked eyes again. “I’m happy with you.”

  “Grace,” he said as their mouths crashed against each other. His hands roamed underneath her wet t-shirt and they broke apart only so he could lift it away. She used the opportunity to tug his shirt free and pull it over his head, mussing his hair in the process.

  She laughed again at the sight of him and began to smooth back his thick, sexy hair. As his lips fell to the curves of her breasts, her breath caught. In one quick, practiced move, he snapped the clasp on the bra and tugged it free.

  “God, Grace. You’re beautiful.”

  She didn’t think about her scars when he looked at her like that. She didn’t think about the past when his lips and tongue tortured one nipple, then the other. There was only him. Only her. Only them and this moment.

  He shifted her onto the couch and she didn’t feel threatened when he loomed over her for a moment, with concern in his eyes. Even now, with their hormones leading the charge, he had control and concern for her. Her heart tumbled for him, and need bloomed hot and fierce within her.

  She pulled him down to her with a gasp, and reveled in the feel of skin against skin. Never, not even before Daniel, had she felt like this. She tugged at his jeans and, when her fingers fumbled, he shifted onto his knees to help her. She used the opportunity to undo her own jeans and started wiggling them down.

  “Stop,” he said in a husky voice. “Let me.”

  Grace’s hands fell away at the intense lust in his expression. His mouth dropped to her smooth belly, dropping soft kisses, and then started moving lower. He slowly pulled her jeans and panties down as his mouth moved lower as well. He dropped soft kisses to the other scars he hadn’t seen before, and never said a word. She remembered him telling her that she was more than her scars, and she fell a little bit more in love with him.

  By the time he pulled her jeans and shoes all the way off, she was a quivering mass of nerves and need. He shifted off the couch, taking a long moment to devour each inch of her with his eyes. She wanted to fidget, to cover herself up, but only the love she saw in his gaze stayed her movements.

  He wouldn’t judge her. He just loved her.

  “I want to spend days learning your body, Grace,” he said. “I’m sorry we don’t have the time for it now.”

  “We’ll have time enough later,” she said as she held out a hand to him. They both didn’t add that if his mission weren’t successful, this would be the only time they had together.

  Marcello toed off his shoes, then pushed down his jeans and boxers in one swift motion. At the sight of his erection, standing tall and proud against his stomach, Grace had the fleeting thought that she had never seen a more virile man in her life.

  “It’s been a while for me,” she said, knowing he would understand her.

  “Then we’ll take it slow,” he said and situated himself over her on the couch. She moaned at just the sight of him over her.

  His fingers shifted to her folds below and she gasped. No man had ever used his hands there. She could feel the tension building within her, with just a few strokes of his nimble fingers.

  “Marcello,” she said in agony. He pushed his fingers inside and she groaned. “Please.”

  “What do you need, fair Grace? Tell me.” His thumb moved to her nub and circled it in slow steady movements.

  “You,” she said as she gripped his shoulders. “Please. Please.”

  “Not yet,” he said, though she could tell it cost him to do it. He gave her a desperate kiss before his mouth once again shifted down her body. When he sucked and licked her nipple, her body tensed, her back arched, and she exploded. Marcello shifted up and swallowed her cry of release.

  As her body pulsed, his fingers continued to move within her for a few moments before he pulled them out, causing her to shudder. She watched as he licked his fingers, then kissed her.

  “You taste fucking amazing,” he said. “Can you see how wonderful you are?”

  “Yes,” she said. It was, perhaps, the first time in her life she felt truly beautiful. His cock teased her entrance and she gasped again.

  “Relax,” he said and kissed her soft and slow until she was putty in his arms. He slowly inched his way inside, every movement a delicious agony for Grace, who had never felt things so acutely before.

  “Shit,” Marcello said and pulled out.

  “What is it?” Had she done something wrong?

  “Condom. I don’
t have one. I wasn’t expecting this, Grace.”

  This time, she kissed the protest off his lips. “I’m on the pill. It helped me after, well, anyway, the doctor recommended it.” She had been about to mention the baby, but stopped herself. There just wasn’t room in her head for past experiences at the moment.

  “Are you sure, Grace?” he said. “I’m clean, just so you know, but you can stop this if you want to.”

  “No,” she said quickly. “Please don’t stop,” she pleaded. “Please.” She had to feel him inside her again, she just had to. This was pleasure as she’d never experienced it before, and she wanted more.

  “Grace,” he groaned as he entered her once more. Her hips moved against his, encouraging him to move faster. When he still moved too slowly, she ran her hands down his back to his ass and pulled him against her.

  “Oh my God,” Marcello said when he was fully inside her. “Are you all right, Grace?”

  “Yes. God, yes,” she said and pleaded with him to move.

  He shifted inside her, the delicious friction of their bodies against each other sending her entire body tingling with anticipation. She felt it coming, and he must have, too. He pressed his whole body against hers, and devoured her mouth again while the orgasm ripped her apart. Her body shifted against his, her nipples, now peaked, rubbed against the wiry hair of his chest and heightened her climax. Never before had she felt so intimate, so connected with another man.

  What the hell had she been missing her whole life?

  He continued to thrust inside her, faster and faster until, a few moments later, his own orgasm tore through him on a cry of his own, and she felt the warmth of his release flood her.

  Afterwards, both of them were gasping for air. Their bodies, hot and sticky against each other, felt like a badge of honor. She had lost control with him but then, he had also lost control because of her. A loss of control like this was beautiful. Who knew sex could be so beautiful?

  When Marcello had somewhat recovered, he dropped a soft kiss against her neck, then cheek, then lips. He pushed her damp hair away from her forehead and asked, “Are you all right?”

  Her heart stuttered at the depth of love and concern in his eyes. She shifted her hand to his cheek. “I’m wonderful.”

  “Are you sure? If I did anything to upset you, you need to let me know.”

  “It was perfect. Honestly. How are you?”

  “How am I? Well, I may never recover but I can live with that,” he said with a smile.

  “It was good for you?” She felt embarrassed for asking, but simply had to know if the experience had meant as much to him.

  “Grace, fair Grace. This was the most explosive experience I’ve ever had. I’ve never felt anything like this before. What I have with you, what I feel for you, I’ve never felt for anyone else before.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.” After a moment’s pause, he asked, “Grace, will you come with me?”

  “I thought I just did.”

  “Funny. I meant will you come with me to Valleria? I want to see you before I leave for the mission, and I want to see you when I get back.”

  “I don’t know, Marcello. Won’t I just be a distraction? You need to focus or you could get hurt.”

  “You’ll be a distraction whether you come with me or not. Listen,” he said as he rested his forehead against hers. “I’m not trying to pressure you, and you don’t need to give me an answer now. I don’t leave for another few hours anyway.”

  Only a few hours to decide her life. She laughed. Only he could make her laugh at a moment like this. “I don’t know. I want to be with you, Marcello, do you believe that?”

  “Yes, of course I do. After what we just shared, how could I not?”

  “Then give me some more time. I want to see you again, but there’s just too much going on with the estate and I still need to speak to the police about what happened last night.”

  “Then come later. Just come, if you want to.”

  “I do want to.” I love you, she thought but didn’t quite have the courage to say.

  “Good,” he said as he kissed her sweetly. “Are you ready to get up?”

  “I think we need a shower before we head back,” she said as an idea formed in her mind.

  “Does this place have a shower?”

  “No, but it does have a rainstorm at the moment.”

  His brows lifted high on his face. “You want to go out naked in the rain?”

  “That’s half of it,” she said as she wove her fingers through his damp hair. “After we’re out there, I want to make love to you again.”

  He groaned. “You’re going to kill me, I just know it.”

  She giggled. “Does that mean you don’t want to?”

  With a quirk of his brow, he sat up, keeping their bodies joined together. “Wrap your legs around me, sweetheart,” he said as he carefully stood up.

  “Use the back door. It’s more private.” She wasn’t sure what she had just gotten herself into, but she needed more of him before he left; that much was certain.

  Chapter 12

  Marcello deftly made it to the backdoor, and the movement of their bodies caused both of them to bloom with fresh arousal. God, he wanted her, as he had wanted no other before. There was no one else for him now, he knew. Even if he waited years for her, he would do it, because she was absolutely worth it.

  She was so strong. That she could even want him like this, or any man, was a testament to her strength. He’d been terrified that something he had said or done during their lovemaking would cause her to remember something painful, but nothing had. It was a miracle. She was a miracle.

  As they stepped outside, Grace tilted her head back and let the rain flow down her lithe body. She had a light smile on her face, and he knew in that moment he would do anything to make her smile.

  He spotted a plush, outdoor chair and went towards it, carefully navigating the slim, stone path. Making love in the rain was a great idea, until you had to think about the mechanics of it all.

  As he sat down, she straddled him and he somehow pushed even deeper inside her. They both groaned.

  “Grace,” he said, his voice a pleading whisper as his erection became almost painful.

  Grace rolled her hips slowly, drawing out each moment of pleasure between them. Wanting her, needing her to hurry, his mouth descended on her breast. Though it may have seemed small to some, it was perfect for his hands and his lips.

  He sucked, drinking in her unique flavor and the crisp, clean rainwater that covered her body. Thunder boomed overhead as she let out a moan and began to shift against him faster. Unable to hold back, Marcello thrust against her, claiming her the only way he could.

  Her small breasts jiggled with the movements they made and the sight had him gripping her hips and thrusting harder. More, was all he could think. More of this, more of her, more of everything.

  “Now, Grace,” he said through clenched teeth, holding back for her. “Now.”

  As another round of thunder boomed overhead, her cry of release was drowned out by the storm. Her back arched, thrusting her peaked nipples close to his lips, and he took advantage of the feast before him.

  He nipped and licked them through her orgasm, which went on, and on, and on. With a gasp, she collapsed against him, burying her head against his neck, her hair creating a curtain around them.

  With a final few thrusts, he roared out his own release against another round of booming thunder. Spurts of his hot seed filled her and he had never felt so much like a man in his life. Filling her, pleasing her, holding her. Nothing had ever compared to this. Nothing.

  The rain continued to coat every inch of their bodies, except where they remained joined. After a few minutes, Marcello lifted her head and drew her swollen lips to his for a long, slow kiss.

  “I didn’t think we could top the first time, but it looks like we did,” he said.

  “It was amazing.”

  “To say
the least. Are you all right?”

  She nodded. “You don’t need to ask every time.”

  “Yes, I do. I’ll always want to make sure you’re all right, in bed or out of it.”

  “Well, we’re certainly not in bed right now.”

  He smiled broadly then kissed her cheek. He took a moment to easily lift her away from his body. She gasped when he pulled out and the sound had him hardening all over again. Christ, was he ever going to be erection-free near her again?

  As he set her down, his eyes narrowed on her hips, where his hands had left a mark. “Jesus, Grace, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”