Momentum

by Cassandra Carr

  Natalie was wearing a thin tank top with a little pair of cotton shorts. Was she trying to kill him? There was no way in hell to hide the erection poking out of the towel, so he didn’t try. If she saw what she did to him, it shouldn’t surprise her. No man was immune to this sort of exquisite torture.

  Grabbing a pair of sweat shorts, he dropped the towel and stepped into them, not missing the little gasp from Natalie as he did so. He smiled to himself. Marco strode out of the room, dropping the towel on the floor of the bathroom. That task completed, he went back to the bedroom and found Natalie had scooted into bed in his absence. Marco climbed in next to her.

  “Come on, baby, come a little closer. I will not bite unless you want me to.” He tried for a playful grin and it seemed to work as Natalie scooted over, allowing him to put his arm around her and pull her close. They lay there cuddling for a little while before he tipped up her chin with his free hand and gave her just a brush of his lips to hers.

  But then Natalie moaned and turned more fully into his body. He took a chance and pulled her on top of him and was pleased when she didn’t protest. “Well.”

  “Well,” he repeated, smiling. She returned it, though a fine tremor worked its way through her body and he held her a little tighter. Cupping her face, Marco kissed her again, sliding his tongue into her mouth for a brief taste before retreating. Natalie bit his bottom lip and he knew his control was slipping fast. His hands fell from her head and he pulled her more fully into his groin. “Do you feel what you do to me, tesora? I love being with you. Will you make love with me?”

  “Is that what it would be to you? Making love?”

  “Every time an Italian has sex it’s making love.” He knew he was pouring it on a little thick but didn’t know how else to ease her fears. Running his hands up the sides of her body, he moved to her front and pushed his hands between their bodies, cupping her breasts. “You have the most beautiful breasts, just the right size and so soft.”

  Natalie pulled away enough to say, “You’re quite the smooth talker, aren’t you?”

  He grinned lazily up at her. “All Italian men talk during sex.”

  “How about if I give you something better to do?” She lifted her tank top over her head and her pretty tits practically bounced in his face. His dick twitched and she smiled. “Someone’s happy to see them.”

  “Bring them to my mouth. Let me kiss them.”

  She moved up until she was able to lower her breast to his mouth and he took hold, ravenous for her. If she put a stop to things tonight he wasn’t sure he would survive the case of blue balls he’d have. Natalie grabbed his head and moved him to her other breast. He took as much as he could into his mouth and suckled hard. She moved restlessly on top of him as her breath caught.

  “Don’t stop,” she murmured.

  He let go long enough to say, “I’m not stopping.”

  Not until I make you mine.

  A fierce wave of possessiveness roared through him. Italian men were naturally possessive, but this was different. Rolling them both over, he pushed in between her legs and settled his weight, being careful not to put too much on her. Reaching down, he found the waistband of her shorts and pushed underneath it, finding her hot and wet for him.

  “Please, Marco.”

  “What do you want, cara? Tell me.”

  “Make me come.”

  He plunged a finger inside her pussy and groaned. She was tight. Really tight. Marco reared back to look at her, removing his hand from her shorts as a thought occurred to him.

  “Have you been with a man?”

  Her eyebrows drew down and he was afraid he’d offended her, but he didn’t want to hurt her. There were bigger men than him, but if she’d never been with a man before it would be uncomfortable. “Are you asking me if I’m a virgin?”

  “Well, yes. You’re very tight.”

  “And I suppose you have all kinds of experience with women so you’d know, right?”

  “I just don’t want to hurt you.” He leaned down and kissed her before sitting up again. “You can tell me if you are. You can trust me.”

  Natalie let out a huff. “I’m not a virgin. I just haven’t slept with hundreds of guys like you’ve no doubt screwed hundreds of women.”

  “No, cara. I won’t say I haven’t been sexually active, but I am pretty picky. I don’t sleep with women just to get off.”

  “So I should feel special?”

  He chuckled. “I don’t have sex with someone unless I feel a connection.” Licking up her neck to her jaw, he bit down gently. “I feel a connection with you.”

  Natalie’s face softened. “I don’t know why, but I feel one with you too.” She wriggled and he groaned. “Get off me for a minute.”

  Marco wasn’t sure if she was rejecting him, but climbed off and waited to see what she would do next. He didn’t expect her to reach down and pull off her shorts and panties, but she did. “Oh tesora, you are so beautiful.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Now you. It’s only fair.”

  “It’s only fair,” he echoed with a laugh as he disposed of the sweat shorts. His cock was so hard it nearly touched his navel and he watched as her tongue quickly darted out to wet her lips. “The things you do to me…”

  Natalie grabbed him by the waist and pulled him back on top of her. “That’s better. I mean, let’s not kid ourselves. Both of us knew this was coming, it was just a matter of when. I can’t seem to stay away from you.”

  “Speaking of coming, I want to make you come for me, cara.” Easing off a little, he fit his hand in between her spread thighs and pushed one and then two fingers inside her channel. After moving his fingers in and out a few times, he moved down and licked her. Natalie arched and let out a litany of swear words that impressed even him. He looked up at her from his vantage point and she bit her lip.

  “Sorry.”

  “No, please. I like it that you get so excited you speak from the heart.”

  “The heart, the trash can…”

  He pushed one leg up with his free hand and took another lick. “You taste good.”

  “I do?” She sounded incredulous and he wondered what these other men she’d slept with had said to her. Then he dispelled those thoughts. He didn’t want to concentrate on anything but making Natalie scream for him.

  “Oh yes. Now lie back and let me make you feel good.” She plopped back onto the bed with what sounded like a snort of disbelief and he smiled. That was his cara. “Hold on to your leg so I can have some fun.” With his now free hand, he pushed through her swollen folds and found her clit. At first he used a gentle touch, but when that didn’t elicit much response he lightly pinched it between his thumb and index finger.

  A gurgling sound emerged from her and Marco had to fight not to chuckle. This woman’s honest reactions to him charmed him more than he cared to admit. Leaning back in, he began to lick her clit with short, fast strokes and a feeling of warmth washed over him as Natalie began to writhe on the bed. “Faster! Don’t stop.”

  “No chance,” he murmured before putting all his energy into making his woman come. His cock was trapped between his body and the sheets and throbbing, but he held back his own desire. “Come for me.”

  He sucked her clit into his mouth and took a long, hard suck and she exploded, clamping down on his head with her thighs as she came. Marco swore he’d never heard anything so beautiful. After a couple of minutes she must’ve realized what she was doing because she loosened her grip on his head. “Oh my God, Marco! I’m sorry. Did I hurt you? Suffocate you?”

  Marco scoffed. “There are few places I’d rather be than between your thighs.”

  “I want you to get off too. Can I, um, help you with that?”

  He smiled. Marco wasn’t sure exactly what she was offering, but wanted to prove to her he didn’t expect her to reciprocate for every orgasm he gave her. One of his greatest pleasures in life was discovering what made a woman wild and wanton and then giving it to her a
gain and again. “All in good time, amante.” Scooting up, he pushed her long hair away from her face. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

  Natalie slapped at his hand. “Stop that.”

  “Stop what?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You already have me in bed. You can cut the outrageous compliments.”

  “That is who I am, and I will never stop complimenting my lover, in and out of bed. I really love your hair. Italian women mostly have dark hair and dark eyes. Some of my amicos back home would fall all over themselves if they met you.”

  “Okay,” she answered, her face wary, and he wondered what it would take to wipe that expression from her face forever. Probably more than he could give her in one night, but since he had absolutely no intention of this thing between them only lasting one night, he was confident he could help her see what a gorgeous girl she was.

  “I want to make love to you.”

  “Make love?” Her nose wrinkled and he grinned.

  “Yes. Make love.” He smoothed over the wrinkles and said, “Didn’t we go over this?”

  “Well, yeah. But, I mean, we’re not in love.”

  Marco laughed. “No, but to me it’s still making love. I told you that.”

  “Uh-huh…”

  “Can I make love to you, tesora? I want you so much.”

  “I want you too. God help me, I really want this.”

  He reached out to the nightstand for a condom. “Are you ready for me?”

  “As much as I’ll ever be.”

  Marco smiled and rolled on the condom. “Turn on your side.”

  “Why?”

  He gave her thigh a light slap. “Just do it, cara.”

  She rolled so she was facing away from him and he molded himself to her body. They didn’t have a great height difference, which made things easier, and he marveled at how well they fit together. Lifting her top leg, he pushed it forward and then used one hand on his cock to guide it through her pussy folds a couple of times.

  Natalie moaned. “Feels so good. I need you, Marco.”

  “And you have me,” he murmured as he slowly slid inside her tight, hot wetness. His eyes closed of their own volition as nerve endings fired out of control. “Ah, tesora, amante…”

  “What are you saying? You mentioned tesora means treasure, what does amante mean?”

  “Lover,” he whispered in her ear before taking the delicate shell between his teeth and gently tugging. He pulled back to say, “That is what you are to me. My lover.”

  She giggled. “I’m sorry. You just—you talk so much more than most men in bed.”

  “I don’t want to speak about other men who have been in your bed when I am inside you.”

  “Oh, sorry.” Natalie bit her lip.

  “It’s all right,” he told her, dragging open-mouthed kisses down the slim column of her neck. “Right now there is you and there is me. That’s it.”

  “Okay.” She reached back and grabbed his hair as he sped up the pace and force of his thrusts gradually. “How do you do that?” she asked with a gasp.

  “Do what, cara?”

  “Make me feel so good.”

  “I pay attention. I listen to your sounds and watch your movements.”

  “Is that all there is to it?” She sounded disbelieving and he buried his face in her neck. He was already addicted to her and the beguiling way she responded to him.

  “Yes, love, that’s all there is to it.”

  “Wow. All those other guys—”

  He slapped her ass. “What did I say about other men?”

  “I know. I’m sorry.”

  “Stop apologizing. Concentrate on what you feel. I want you to come again.”

  “But I—”

  “You can come again,” Marco answered, reading her thoughts.

  “I can try.”

  “That’s my girl.” Unable to hold back any longer, he moved between her legs again and pulled her knees up and over his elbows. She moaned and he took that as assent to keep going, now setting up a harder, faster tempo.

  “Oh my God, I can feel it!”

  “Let it out, amante.”

  “Oh my God!” She began to tense around him and he was a goner. With a grunt that morphed into a long, drawn-out groan, his orgasm took him over. He saw stars behind his closed lids as the sensations racked his entire body. Natalie continued to contract around him and his release went on and on until he was afraid his balls would turn inside out. Finally the waves of feeling slowed and he collapsed onto his forearms, not wanting Natalie to bear the full weight of his body.

  “Oh, cara, you are amazing,” he told her, leaning down to lightly brush his lips over hers before withdrawing to take care of the condom. Coming back to bed, he tucked both of them under the covers. “Sleep now.”

  She stretched like a cat and snuggled into the pillow. “Okay.”

  With a smile he kissed her forehead and then gathered her body to his, surrendering to sleep not long after.

  Chapter Four

  What is that noise? Her brain was sluggish in getting with the program, so she forced herself to sit up. She saw instantly Marco was not in bed. His side was still warm so he couldn’t have left long ago. She heard the noise again. It was Marco’s voice, pitched low but obviously furious. Who was he talking to? Whoever it was, there was no doubt he was angry about the conversation.

  Natalie needed to relieve herself, so she snuck out of bed, and on her way to the attached bathroom she saw Marco, completely naked and with his back turned to her, on his cell phone. He kept repeating one word, non, punctuating it with slashes through the air with his free hand. As she stood rooted to her spot, she heard him say padre and surmised he was on the phone with his father. What were they arguing about?

  After using the bathroom, she crept back to bed and pulled the covers up. Now Marco was pacing, going in and out of her sightline as he continued to argue with the person Natalie assumed was his father. She knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, but really, she couldn’t understand the conversation anyway, so what difference did it make?

  She knew she was trying to justify unacceptable behavior, but she was fascinated by Marco and his family. Never before had she been around anyone to whom money was no object. Marco did well on the rodeo circuit, but not enough to afford the lavish lifestyle he and his brother kept up.

  Marco came back into her sightline and glanced into the bedroom. Then he turned away again and spoke with more rapid-fire Italian, his words short and clipped. In theory, she’d known that Italians talked with their hands, but until this conversation she’d never seen how true that statement was. Marco was shrugging, pointing at himself, and a bunch of other things. It looked exhausting and she was glad she wasn’t within striking distance of his wild gesturing.

  He said non a couple more times and clicked the phone off, throwing it across the room. Luckily, it landed on one of the couches. She had no idea if that was his intent or not but he was damn lucky the stupid thing hadn’t splintered into a million pieces like hers had when she’d dropped it a couple months ago.

  Marco turned toward the bar area and she heard the sounds of bottles rattling and then coffee brewing. After waiting a few minutes, she came out, tying a robe around her as she walked.

  “Marco?”

  He was turned away from her, his head down and his shoulders slumped. “How much did you hear?”

  “I’m not sure, but I didn’t understand any of it.”

  “I apologize if I woke you. That was my father. He wants me to come home.”

  “Is anything wrong?”

  “Besides that he’s a stubborn bastardo that can’t understand why I won’t come home when he orders me to? No.” He picked up the whiskey he was drinking straight from the small bottle and took another drink.

  As she watched him, she weighed how much she wanted to push him. “You guys were really going at it.”

  Marco made a dismissive noise. “I’m tired of telling hi
m I’m not coming home and him ordering me to.”

  “Does he not approve of your bull riding?”

  “He thinks it’s just a way to play until I accept my responsibility to my family and take over the business.” She guessed those were the exact words his father had just used on the phone. He ran a hand through his hair and it stood up even more haphazardly than it was. It was obvious he was still angry, but Natalie didn’t understand what would be so bad about being in control of a family business that was practically an empire unto itself.

  “Why don’t you want to run the business? You said it’s been in your family for years.”

  “Because it’s not mine! I want to be my own man. Have my own dreams. And he’s too much of a pezza de merda to understand.”

  Natalie’s mouth fell open. “Did you just call your father a piece of shit?”

  “He’s acting like one.”

  She turned on her heel and went back into the bedroom, feeling an overwhelming need to get away from him as quickly as possible. “No, Marco, you are.” Slamming the door, she grabbed her suitcase and began to throw things in it.

  Marco stormed in. “Where are you going?”

  “I just lost my father because of my own selfishness, because I didn’t look beyond my own nose enough to see he wasn’t as quick as he used to be. I sent him out to look for a stray calf with just our seventy-year-old foreman and he died out there. Now I’m here watching you do the same thing. I loved,” her voice cracked and she cleared her throat, “I loved my father even during our times of disagreement. And now he’s gone and everything I knew and loved went with him.”

  “Cara—”

  She rounded on him. “Do you know how lucky you are to have so much family around you? So many people who care? I have no one, Marco, no one. No family at all, well, besides my drunk of a mother who hasn’t been a parent to me in years, no money, no job, no place to live. Nothing and no one. If you want to behave like a spoiled brat, that’s your problem, but I sure as hell won’t stay around to witness it.”