‘Stop!’ he yelled as she wandered towards the edge of the cliff. He knew this path like the back of his hand. She didn’t. He didn’t need a grudging shaft of moonlight to tell him that was she far too close to the edge. Catching hold of her, he drew her back. His voice gentled. ‘Are you going to swim from here? Seriously, don’t wander off. Not here. It’s too dangerous.’
They had left the party lights a long way behind. There was just the sea in front of them spread out like a glittering cloth touching a star-frosted sky. And one step away from Eva’s feet was a yawning void leading to a boulder-strewn beach.
‘I...’ She turned her face up to him and swallowed awkwardly. She’d clearly had quite a shock. He wanted to kiss her but this time held back.
‘What do you say to someone who just saved your life?’ she asked him.
‘I think we should take it slowly from here?’
Pressing her lips together, she sighed with exasperation, and then said, ‘Agreed.’
‘Don’t sound so worried, Eva. I’ll keep you safe—so long as you don’t wander off again.’
They stood in silence for quite a while. They had both said more than they had intended to, she guessed, and then Roman’s idea of safe was to lead her on towards the palazzo. She had always thought herself in charge of her own fate, but tonight that wasn’t going so well.
‘I do have to thank you for saving me.’
‘However annoying you are, I’m not going to let you fall over a cliff, Eva.’
There was a smile in his voice. She was relieved to hear it. She enjoyed the light banter with Roman, and wanted to tell him that she did trust him, but that she didn’t trust herself not to make a mess of things. Stepping off a cliff was the least of it.
‘Just one more request,’ he said.
She glanced up.
‘Can you stop sighing like that? I can’t tell if those sighs mean you’re excited, reluctant or just plain exhausted.’
‘All that dancing and kissing?’ she mocked lightly. ‘I think I can handle it.’
She knew where this was leading; she’d always known. She could have pulled back at any time. But had she? When they reached the palazzo she’d tell him the truth. It really was that simple. She’d tell Roman frankly that she wasn’t going to have sex with him, and that for all her talk she just wasn’t that type of girl.
So what type of girl was she?
‘Where are you now, Eva?’
‘Right by your side.’ But she knew what he meant, and Roman was a big man who no doubt had an appetite to match. Her stomach tumbled at the thought of what she’d done. He’d taken her at face value—the kiss and her response to it. Eva Skavanga was notoriously passionate, so why wouldn’t she be passionate in every area of her life? Perhaps it would be better to tell him now—
‘Eva—’
Her heart lurched as Roman turned to face her. She took a step back and found her spine pressed up hard against the smooth rock face with Roman’s fists planted either side of her, boxing her in. There was no escape. His stare was keen and all the more compelling lit by moonlight.
‘How about you tell me the truth before we get any further into this?’
‘How did you—?’
‘How did I know? Are you serious? Like I’ve said before, Eva, I can read you. It isn’t that hard. And now I want to know the truth from you—all of it.’
‘The truth?’ Was this really going to be the moment when she explained that she wasn’t the girl everyone thought she was?
Relaxing his arms, Roman stepped back with a shrug. ‘Coming here to the island to see me has everything to do with Skavanga, and nothing to do with our meeting at the wedding?’
‘Nothing at all,’ she said, turning away. ‘Can I go now?’ She sidestepped him with a smile.
‘Be my guest...’
They were only yards from the gates of Roman’s palazzo and the gulf between them had never seemed wider. She’d done it again. She’d messed everything up. She didn’t know what she wanted, or what she didn’t want.
Roman stood back at the gate to let her in. He was so sure of himself, so relaxed. He made no attempt to move aside, which forced her to brush against him. His machismo scorched her. Every nerve in her body fired at once. Her physical self cried out for pleasure, while the old Eva shrank back, already tasting failure.
‘Come on...’ Putting his arm around her shoulder, Roman led her forward. He opened the door and took her inside, across the hall and up the stairs, and along the elegant landing. He backed her into his room, his dark stare holding hers. He leaned past her to shut the door.
Her heart went crazy. ‘I can’t do this.’
‘Can’t do what, Eva?’
‘Whatever it is you expect of me, I can’t do it.’
‘You’re sure of that?’
‘I’m certain.’
‘How do you know what I want you to do?’ The shadow of a smile hovered around his lips. ‘I promise not to tell anyone that Eva Skavanga lost her nerve, if you promise not to tell anyone I had to trick you into kissing me.’
‘You mean...’
‘Do I want to kiss you? What do you think, Eva?’
Dipping his head, Roman kissed her slowly and thoroughly as he backed her towards the bed, and, in spite of all her promises to get herself out of this, her grip on him tightened with every step.
CHAPTER NINE
‘IS THIS WHAT you want?’ Roman whispered, transferring his kisses to her neck. ‘And this?’ He teased her ear lobe as she trembled uncontrollably in his arms.
She couldn’t speak. Her legs were shaking beneath her. Roman was holding her up while she floated in sensation, and when his big hand found her breast and his skilful fingers got to work, the fact that he could be so delicate, so intuitive, and that he could instil such confidence in her, brought the last of her barriers crashing down.
A sigh shivered out of her as his hand found a warm home between her legs. The shock of Roman touching her intimately was so extreme her mind blanked and she acted instinctively, pressing against his hand in the hunt for more sensation.
Kicking off her sandals, she stumbled in her haste, but Roman was there to steady her, and when her hands were shaking he helped her with her belt and top too.
Everything that had seemed so wrong, so fearful, so utterly beyond her reach, suddenly seemed the most natural thing in the world. She stood watching as Roman undid his belt and left it hanging as he tugged his shirt over his head.
She was in awe of his body. Muscled and hard and tanned, he was magnificent. She wondered then about the simple gold chain he wore around his neck. Roman was such an understated man. Even his wristwatch was plain steel without any of the dials and gizmos she’d noticed other men appeared to need. And the chain was delicate, while Roman Quisvada was most definitely not.
His muscles flexed in the moonlight, which shimmered around him as if even the light was drawn to such a magnificent form.
Her heart leapt when he snapped his belt free from its loops and tossed it aside. Kicking off his shoes, he slid his chinos down deeply tanned, hard-muscled thighs. Naked now apart from a pair of black silk boxers, with his thick black hair in wild disarray, he looked more the barbarian than ever. He was so much taller than she was—so much bigger in every way. She liked the sense of feeling small and protected, and being wanted by a warrior such as this. The width of his shoulders, the washboard stomach, the narrow waist, the legs that seemed banded by steel—he was more than impressive, though she quickly looked away from other contours, lovingly defined beneath the finest silk.
‘You’re beautiful, Eva.’ Reaching out, he touched her hair with such tenderness.
She held her breath as tension sizzled round them. She hadn’t stood in front of many men wearing a see-through b
ra and a thong, if any, and drank in Roman’s frank approval. But could she match up to his expectations? She glanced at the bed, wondering about all the impossibly glamorous and sophisticated women he must have known. She drew in a shaking breath. This was crazy. But what would life be without a little crazy in it?
Roman’s lazy gaze had a touch of warmth and humour, and it was that that relaxed her. It also made her shiver uncontrollably with lust. She wanted to be close to him. She wanted him to touch her and to draw her into his arms. She wanted to nestle there, rest there...belong there.
Maybe he sensed this, or maybe he wanted it too. She huffed a laugh inwardly. As if. And then asked herself impatiently, why could Eva Skavanga be so bold in every area of her life except this?
Taking hold of her hand, he drew her towards him. What he did next surprised her. He guided her sensitive thumb pad across the kiss-swollen swell of her bottom lip.
‘Do you feel that, Eva?’
She felt it in her core.
The corner of Roman’s mouth had kicked up as if he felt her responses as if they were his own.
‘And what about this?’ he prompted.
He took her hand on another sensual journey, and the intensity of sensation made her gasp as he moved the flat of her palm slowly across her nipples. And all the time he held her stare firmly in his, so he could watch her reaction, while her own arousal was heightened by the approval in his eyes. At one time this would have seemed so wicked and wrong, but with Roman, no. He was making her do this to help her accept that she could feel and that she could respond without fear. The sensation was indescribably good, and had a direct link to other places, prompting her to squeeze her thighs together, which produced a pulse of pleasure that drew a shaking moan from her throat.
Roman smiled when he heard this. ‘I think you like that,’ he said.
Like could not describe that feeling. She only knew she wanted more.
Sensing this, he took her hand on another journey, this time over the sweep of her belly and down the smooth, warm length of her thighs.
‘I think you like that too,’ he whispered, smiling against her mouth.
‘You know I do,’ she breathed.
And while she was growing bolder on this journey of exploration, Roman was stroking her buttocks, cupping and moulding them and caressing them in a way that made her arch her back and ask for more. There was no fear this time. He was introducing her to possibility, and the promise of a lot more to come. His easy, relaxed manner reassured her that there was no hurry, no test at the end of this, but just an endless capacity for pleasure within her.
‘What do you want most, Eva?’
She exhaled shakily at the sound of Roman’s voice and had to bring herself back to a reality that had expanded beyond her wildest imaginings. ‘I hardly know what I want,’ she admitted honestly. ‘I don’t even know what I can have.’
‘Try to tell me,’ Roman coaxed. ‘Search your deepest fantasies and tell me what you’d like me to do.’
‘Can’t you?’
‘No,’ he whispered, bringing her into the circle of his arms. They were standing by the bed. Roman was holding her with his chin resting lightly on her head.
‘You can’t keep passing the buck and avoiding the issue. You have to spell it out, Eva.’
‘You like to hear it?’ she guessed.
‘Maybe,’ he admitted.
‘You’re merciless, while I’m a shivering wreck?’
‘Shivering with desire,’ Roman murmured, nuzzling her neck.
‘You know me so well.’
‘I can read you, remember?’
‘Touch me,’ she whispered.
‘I am touching you, Eva.’
Yes, and her bones were melting, but it wasn’t enough. Roman knew that, just as she knew there was more—if she could only bring herself to ask. But for once in her headstrong, outspoken life, she couldn’t find the words.
‘Why don’t you show me, if you find that easier?’ Roman suggested.
‘Ramp up the pressure?’
‘Why not?’ he murmured.
He was testing her. But she could do this. She certainly wanted it enough. Finding his hand, she guided him, only to be rewarded by the most fleeting and frustrating brush of his fingertips.
‘That isn’t fair.’
‘Who says so?’ Leaning back, he stared down at her, his voice husky and amused.
‘Then I’ll take you on a journey.’
‘Please.’ His stare was dark and not a bit concerned.
She gasped noisily when he cupped her.
‘Dio, Eva. Do you know how hot you are, how ready, how responsive? Let me pleasure you—’
‘Standing up?’
‘Why not?’
It seemed so wicked, that was why not. And would her legs even hold her?
‘Make it easy for me, Eva...’
Roman’s urgent whisper told her what to do. She put her feet wider, easing her legs apart. She felt shy suddenly. Eva Skavanga, shy. In the short time she’d been on Roman’s island, he had reduced her to a trembling body of need with only one thought in mind, which was relief from the frustration he had provoked.
This was incredible. Resting her head against the firm wall of his chest, she parted her lips to drag in air. And still he was stroking her everywhere except that one place she needed him. ‘You will kill me—’
‘I very much doubt that, Eva.’
A shuddering breath gushed noisily out of her as Roman explored her sensitive flesh with his long, lean fingers, always denying her that final contact she so desperately craved.
‘You’re too eager, Eva. You’re in too much of a hurry to reach the end.’ Dipping his head, Roman stared into her eyes. ‘And I’m going to teach you the benefit of restraint.’
‘I don’t want to—’
His laugh cut her off. ‘Do you have any idea of how ready you are? How hot? How moist? How swollen? But if you want anything more from me, you’ll have to tell me exactly what that is.’
‘Everything...I want it all.’
‘Specifics?’ he pressed, showing her no mercy.
Her answer was to shift position in the hope that Roman might not move his hand and she could trick him into touching her.
He laughed softly. ‘Naughty.’ He had easily anticipated what she was going to do. ‘My rules, Eva.’
‘So touch me again,’ she insisted, turning from penitent and accepting into the old Eva.
Angling his chin, Roman murmured, ‘What a relief.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, rumours that the firebrand Eva Skavanga has vanished have proved to be wildly exaggerated.’
‘You’re glad to say?’ she queried wryly.
‘I’m very happy to say,’ Roman confirmed.
‘Then get on with it.’
Breath shot out of her as he touched her. The ache was unsustainable. It was beating in her head, behind her eyes and in her ears, drowning out her heartbeat. It was drowning out everything. But this still wasn’t enough—
‘Touch me, Roman. You know what I need. Don’t torture me any longer.’
He laughed soft and deep as he stared down at her. ‘You know I love nothing more than to see you burning up with lust.’
‘I’ll burn if you do as I ask. I’ll go out like a damp squib if you don’t. You started this and now you must finish it.’
‘Finish you, don’t you mean?’ His firm lips curved in the dark, taunting smile that could always send shock waves of lust racing through her.
‘Lie on the bed Eva.’
Her throat closed. Her heart stopped. She was clumsy with desire. Roman had to steady her and help her onto the bed.
‘Don’t stop this time,�
�� she warned on a shaking breath.
‘I’ll do everything I can to help you, Eva.’
‘Like an interesting project?’
‘Like a woman I want to please—the only woman I want to please. Like a woman I want to see come apart with pleasure in my arms.’
‘So you enjoy administering and observing pleasure?’ she said, making herself comfortable on the bank of cushions.
‘I’m going to enjoy administering and observing your pleasure.’
How far had she come? How far had Roman brought her? This was deliciously bad, very bad indeed, but she wanted him to watch.
Grabbing the sheet with her inside it, Roman tightened it around her and brought her against his chest. His kiss was hard and urgent. His intention was all too clear. Cupping the back of her head, imprisoning her in a way that made her warm all over, he caressed her cheek with his other hand and stared deep into her eyes as he predicted with amusement, ‘It’s going to be a long night, Eva.’
It could never be long enough for her. But could she please him without going the whole way? Could she soothe her own frustration? Time was running out. Roman eased onto the bed beside her. She had to decide now, either to speak or to remain silent. She chose silence. Every part of her might be tingling with fear, but her excitement overrode that, and all it took to forget her fear was the thought of what he might do next.
‘Come to me, Eva.’
Roman’s gaze was steady and commanding. She reached for him and he drew her into his arms. He made her feel so safe. This felt so right. And perhaps because Roman was so relaxed and unhurried, she was able to relax too. He stroked and kissed her anxieties away and she was more than ready when he moved down the bed. First he suckled her nipples, one and then the other, until she was panting with excitement and pleasure, and when his hand slipped between her thighs while he was still doing this she wondered if it was possible to pass out with pleasure.
‘Do you want something more, Eva?’
‘You know I do.’
‘Then you must tell me what it is you want.’
But that seemed so bad. ‘No...’ Her voice was shaking with frustration.
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