‘I’m not going to dismiss any of my past lovers to faceless bodies who didn’t leave a single impression on me, because it’s simply not true.’
He stroked his thumb over her lower lip again—a slow-motion stroke that set her mouth buzzing.
‘But with you...it feels like I’m discovering sex for the first time. Feeling things on a different level. A more intense level.’
Artie toyed with the hair at the back of his neck, her lower body tinglingly aware of the growing ridge of his erection. Aware of the potent energy that pulsed and throbbed between them. ‘I couldn’t have asked for a better first lover.’
His mouth came down and sealed hers in a mind-altering kiss that set her pulse racing. His fingers splayed through her hair, his tongue meeting hers in a playful dance with distinctive erotic overtones. Her lower body quaked with longing, her flesh recognising the primal call to connect in the most physically intimate way of all. Her legs tangled with his rougher ones, her breasts crushed against the firm wall of his chest, her nipples already tightening into pert buds.
One of Luca’s hands cradled one of her breasts, his touch light, and yet it sent shockwaves of need coursing through her body. Molten heat was licking along her flesh...lightning-fast zaps and tingles that made her groan in pleasure. She moved closer, pressing her mound to his erection, opening her legs for him, desperate to have him inside her.
‘Not so impatient, cara.’ He gave a light laugh and reached for protection, deftly applying it before coming back to her, his eyes gleaming with the fiery desire she could feel roaring through her own body.
Artie framed his head in her hands, her breathing erratic. ‘I want you so much it’s like pain.’
‘I want you too. Badly.’ He kissed her mouth in a kiss that spoke of his own thrumming desire, his lips firm, insistent, hungry.
He moved down her body, kissing her breasts, her belly, and to the secret heart of her womanhood. He separated her and anointed her with his lips and tongue, making her writhe and gasp with bone-melting pleasure. The wave broke over her in a rush, sending her spinning into a place of sheer physical bliss. The storm in her flesh slowly abated but then he created another one by moving up her body again, entering her with a slow, deep thrust that made every hair on her head tingle and tighten at the roots. Her back arched, her thighs trembled, her breath stalled and then came out in a rush of rapturous delight. Delicious sensations rippled through her as he continued to thrust, his breathing rate increasing along with his pace, his touch like fire where his hand was holding her hip, tilting her to him. The pressure built in her body, the primal need a drumbeat working its way up to a powerful crescendo. Blood pounded through her veins, a hot rush fuelled by the intense sensations activated by the erotic friction of his hard male body.
Artie lifted her hips to get him where she most wanted him but it was still not quite the pressure she needed. ‘I’m so close...so damn close...’
‘Relax, mia piccola. Don’t fight it.’ Luca slipped a hand between their bodies and stroked the swollen heart of her flesh, sending her over the edge into a cataclysmic orgasm that surpassed everything she had enjoyed so far. Starlight burst behind her eyelids, fireworks exploded in her body, heat pouring like liquid flames all through her pelvis and down her legs to curl her toes.
‘Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God,’ she panted, like she had run a marathon, her heart pounding, her flesh tinglingly alive with mind-smashing ecstasy.
Luca’s release followed hers and swept her up in its power and intensity. His entire body seemed to tighten as if he were poised on the edge of a vertiginous cliff. And then he gave an agonised groan and shuddered as if consumed with a rabid fever, his essence spilling, his body finally relaxing against hers.
Artie stroked her hands down his back where his firm flesh was still peppered with goosebumps. The in and out of his breath tickled the side of her neck but she didn’t want to move in case it broke the magical spell washing over her, binding her to him in a way no words could possibly describe. There was a rightness about their union—a sense of belonging together for all time.
But you’ve only got six months, remember?
The prod of her conscience froze her breath and stopped her heart for a moment. It wasn’t long enough. Six months was a joke. She wanted for ever. She wanted to be in his arms like this for the rest of her life. How could she ever move on from her relationship with him? Who would ever measure up? How could she love anyone else when he had stolen her heart from the first time he kissed her?
She didn’t want to love anyone else. Her heart belonged to him and only him.
Luca must have sensed the subtle change in her mood, and quickly disposed of the condom, and then leaned up on one elbow to look at her, his hand idly brushing her wild hair out of her face. ‘What’s wrong?’ His tone and gaze were gently probing.
Artie painted a smile on her lips. ‘Nothing.’
His eyes moved between each of hers like a powerful searchlight looking for something hidden in the shadows. His thumb began to stroke the pillow of her lower lip in slow movements that sent hot tingles through every corridor of her flesh. ‘I’ve been around long enough to know that “nothing” usually means “something”. Talk to me, cara. Tell me what’s worrying you.’
She aimed her gaze at his Adam’s apple, her heart skipping rope in her chest. How could she be honest with him without relaying how she felt? He might call an end to their physical relationship and go back to the paper marriage he’d first insisted on. ‘I’m just wondering how I will ever find another lover who makes me feel the way you do. I mean, in the future, when we’re done.’
There was a beat or two of thick silence.
Then Luca’s hand fell away from her face and he released a heavy sigh and rolled onto his back, one arm flung over the edge of the bed, the other coming up to cover his eyes. ‘The last thing I want to think about right now is you with someone else.’ There was a rough quality to his voice that hinted at a fine thread of anger running under the surface.
‘But it’s going to happen one day,’ Artie said. ‘We’re both going to move on with our lives. Isn’t that what you planned? What you insisted on?’
He removed his arm from across his face and sat upright, the muscles of his abdomen rippling like coils of steel. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, his hands resting on either side of his thighs, his back towards her, his head and shoulders hunched forward as if he was fighting to control his emotions.
There was another tight silence.
Artie swallowed, wondering if she had pushed him too far. ‘Luca?’ She reached out and stroked her hand down between his tense shoulder blades, and he flinched as if her touch burned him. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’ The word was bitten out. Hard. Blunt. Keep-away curt.
She had a strange desire to smile—her lips twitched as she tried to control it. What was sauce for the goose and all that. ‘You know, someone told me recently that “nothing” usually means “something”.’
Luca let out a gush of air and gave a deep, self-deprecating chuckle. He turned back to face her. ‘Touché.’ He took her nearest hand and brought it up to his mouth, locking his gaze with hers. He bit down gently on the end of her index finger and then drew it into his mouth, sucking on it erotically. She shivered and a wave of heat passed through her body, simmering, smouldering like hot coals in her core.
He released her finger from his mouth and returned to holding her hand in his. ‘Sometimes I wonder if I need my head read for allowing this to go this far between us.’ His thumb stroked over the fleshy part of her thumb, the back-and-forth motion making her stomach do a flip turn. ‘But I can’t seem to stop myself from wanting you.’
Artie leaned closer, placing her free hand on the rock-hard wall of his chest, her mouth just below his. ‘Want me all you like.’ She pressed her lips to his in a barely-the
re kiss, pulling back to gaze into his eyes. ‘We’ve got six months.’
She kept her tone light. I’m-totally-cool-with-having-a-time-limit-on-our-relationship light.
He held her gaze for a long moment, shadows shifting in his eyes like filtered sunlight moving across a forest floor. Then his eyes lowered to her mouth, a muscle in his cheek pulsing as if something wasn’t quite at peace within him. ‘Then let’s make the most of it,’ he said and covered her mouth with his.
* * *
The following evening, after spending some time visiting Nonno, Luca took Artie out for dinner at a restaurant in San Gimignano with a spectacular view over the region. She sat opposite him at a table at the window at the front of the restaurant, feeling both nervous and excited about her first meal out at a restaurant since she was a teenager.
Artie took a sip of the crisp white wine Luca had ordered, and then surveyed the menu. ‘So much to choose from...’
‘Take your time.’ His tone was indulgent, as if he sensed how overawed she was feeling.
Once their orders were taken by the waiter, Artie glanced up at Luca with a rueful expression. ‘I’m frightened I might use the wrong cutlery or something. It’s been so long since I’ve eaten in public. I’m glad the restaurant isn’t busy tonight.’
He reached for her hand across the table, holding it gently in the cradle of his. ‘I made sure it wasn’t busy. I know the owner. I asked him to keep this part of the restaurant clear for us.’
Artie blinked at him in surprise. ‘Really? But wouldn’t that have incurred a considerable loss of income for him?’
Luca shrugged one broad shoulder. ‘Don’t worry. I’ve more than compensated him.’
She chewed at the side of her mouth, touched that Luca had gone to so much trouble and expense for her comfort. ‘I guess I can hardly call myself a cheap date, now, can I?’
His fingers squeezed hers, a smile playing about his mouth. ‘You’re worth more than you realise, cara. My grandfather certainly thinks so—he was in much better spirits today. Meeting you has done him the power of good. He told me when you were using the bathroom earlier today that he’s decided to go ahead with the chemo for his cancer. I have you to thank for his change in attitude. He wants to live now. You’ve given him a reason to.’
‘I’m so glad,’ Artie said. ‘But I hope the chemo won’t be too gruelling. He’s not a young man.’
‘No, but he’s a tough old guy.’ Luca stroked his thumb over the back of her hand and added in a heavy tone, ‘It’s something I’ve been dreading—losing him. He’s the last link to my father and brother, apart from my mother, of course.’
Artie could sense the deep love he had for his grandfather and it gave her hope that he might one day learn to embrace other forms of love—romantic love. Love-for-a-lifetime love. Her love.
‘Has your mother been to see Nonno recently?’
His mouth twisted, a shadow passing through his gaze. ‘They talk on the phone now and again. My mother hates flying back to Italy. It reminds her too much of our flight back from Argentina with my father’s and brother’s bodies.’ He released her hand and picked up his wine glass, staring at the golden liquid with a frowning expression.
Artie placed her hand on his other forearm where it was resting on the table. ‘I can only imagine how devastated you both were on that trip home. I can relate to it with my own journey home from hospital after the accident. It felt surreal, like I was having a nightmare or something. I kept expecting my mother to be there when I got home, but of course she wasn’t. And my father was a shell of himself. A broken shell. I blamed myself, just as you did and still do.’
Luca leaned forward and took both of her hands in his. ‘We’ve both suffered terrible tragedies. Nothing is going to change the past. It’s done and can’t be undone. But it’s important to live your own life.’
Artie looked down at their joined hands. ‘At least I’m living my life now, thanks to you. I think I was asleep to myself for the last ten years.’ She raised her gaze to his and continued, ‘I didn’t realise how much I’d let my fear control me. It kind of crept up on me until I was completely imprisoned by it. But somehow you got me to change my focus, to shift my thinking. How can I ever thank you for that?’
‘You don’t have to thank me. You did it all by yourself.’ Luca idly stroked her hands with his thumbs. ‘You’re doing so well now. I can’t tell you how shocked and delighted I was to see you appear at the hospital the other day. I thought I was dreaming.’
‘I was sick with nerves,’ Artie confessed. ‘But knowing you were there at the end of my journey really helped. It gave me a clear goal to aim for.’
Luca smiled and released one of her hands, then took a flat rectangular jewellery box out of his jacket pocket. ‘I have something for you.’ He placed the box on the table between them. ‘Open it.’
Artie prised open the lid to find a beautiful diamond and sapphire pendant and matching earrings. ‘Oh, Luca, they’re absolutely gorgeous!’ She picked up one of the dangling earrings. ‘But they’re the same design as your grandmother’s engagement ring. Does that mean they’re—?’
‘Sì, they were Nonna’s. I want you to have the whole collection.’
‘But they’re priceless heirlooms. Why are you giving them to me?’
‘Don’t you think you’re worth it?’
She put the earring back in the box, and ran her fingertip over the fine gold chain of the pendant. ‘It’s not that so much...’ She glanced up at him. ‘It’s more that I feel uncomfortable with you being so generous to me when we’re only going to be together for six months. I mean, I seem to be the biggest winner in this arrangement of ours. I get to keep the castello and all this amazing jewellery, and what do you get?’
His eyes held hers in a strange little lock that made the hairs on the back of her neck tingle. ‘I get some wonderful memories of our time together. Plus, my grandfather will hopefully recover now he’s agreed to go ahead with the treatment.’
Artie frowned. ‘But don’t you want more than that?’
A screen came up in his gaze. ‘What more could I want?’
Me. You could want me, for ever.
Artie couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud but she wondered if he could hear her hopes in the ringing silence. ‘Don’t you want to keep your grandmother’s jewellery in case one day you change your mind about marrying someone else?’
‘Not going to happen.’ He sat back in his chair, lifted his wine glass from the table and took a measured sip. ‘I have no plans of that nature.’
Not going to happen.
The words taunted her for the rest of the meal.
Not going to happen.
He was so adamant about never falling in love.
Not going to happen.
How could he be so confident it wouldn’t happen?
And how could she be so hopeful it would? That he would fall in love with her?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ONCE DINNER WAS OVER, Luca led the way back to his car past a wine bar where live music was being played. The sweet strains of a well-known Italian love song filled the night air. He glanced down at Artie’s wistful expression, and stopped in front of the entrance. ‘Do you fancy going in for a bit?’
She shifted from foot to foot, looking like she was torn between running away and going in and letting her hair down. ‘I haven’t heard live music before. And I’ve never been to a wine bar. Or danced with anyone before.’
He took her hand and looped it through his arm. ‘Come on, then. Let’s dance.’
A short time later, Luca held Artie in his arms as they slow-waltzed to another old love song. Her head was resting against his chest, her hair tickling his chin, her flowery fragrance teasing his nostrils. Her body moved in perfect time with his, as if they had been dancing together for ever. The naturalness
of their motion reminded him of the natural rhythm of their lovemaking. It was as if their bodies were in tune with each other, recognising the other as the perfect partner.
Perfect partner? You’re hardly that.
The sharp prod of his conscience made him miss a step and he had to gather Artie closer to stop her from bumping into another couple on the small dance floor. ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘I lost my concentration.’ Or maybe he’d momentarily lost his mind, thinking about the possibility of a future with her.
A future he couldn’t offer her.
When he’d first offered her a six-month marriage it had seemed an inordinately long time to be tied to someone, and yet now it didn’t seem long enough. He avoided thinking about their inevitable divorce. Avoided thinking about a time when she wouldn’t be in his life. Avoided thinking about her with someone else. He felt sick to his guts at the thought of her making love with some other man. He’d never considered himself the jealous type but he couldn’t stomach the thought of her with someone else. What if they didn’t treat her with respect? What if they weren’t patient with her struggles in public? What if they didn’t understand how sensitive and caring she was?
Artie looked up at him with luminous eyes, her face wreathed in smiles. ‘This is so much fun. Can we do this another night soon?’
Luca smiled and bent his head to kiss her. ‘I can think of nothing I’d like more.’
* * *
The next couple of weeks passed in a whirlwind of activity where Artie’s feet barely touched the ground. There were visits to the hospital to see Luca’s grandfather, who was making good progress after his hip surgery. Then there were trips to various sightseeing spots, and picnics in the countryside overlooking the hills and valleys of the region. Luca taught her about the skill of wine-making and olive production and showed her the vines and groves on his estate. He took her for romantic dinners in award-winning restaurants as well as less famous ones, where the food was just as fabulous and the atmosphere intimate and cosy. Luca took her shopping and spoilt her with a completely new wardrobe of clothes, including a collection of swimsuits and gorgeous lingerie.
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