ever encountered on so many levels.
Intense, like the night. Exciting, like a summer storm that made everything electric. Earthy, like a man who knew how to savor every moment like the fine wines his family created.
Her heart thumped at the foot of her throat as he slid his fingers under the straps of her négligée and dropped it to the floor. She closed her eyes as his gaze moved over her naked flesh. She had never been perfect but she was definitely less than that now.
“Dio, Lilly. Come sei bella.”
His raspily intoned observation made her eyes fly open. The look of pure lust on his face made her knees go weak. “I don’t look like I used to,” she whispered.
He slid his hands down her back to her bottom and tugged her forward, until her naked flesh was flush against his still clothed body. “I told you,” he murmured. “I love the curves... If anything, I want you more than I did before.”
Oh. Liquid fire raced through her veins as his fingers tangled in the hair at the nape of her neck and he tipped her head back to receive his kiss. Open-mouthed, and hotter than Hades, it immersed her in a pool of want that threatened to eat her alive.
Her control snapped. The depth of her emotion for this man was frightening, endless, but to have him again like this made her frantic, desperate.
“Ric,” she muttered against his mouth. “Please.”
He abandoned her lips in favor of a fingertips to bare skin exploration of the weight of her breasts. “Do you know how hard it’s been for me to keep my hands off you?” he breathed, brushing his thumbs over the tips of her nipples. “I took down a ninety-foot tree in Westchester, I was so crazed.”
Lilly squeezed her eyes shut as her nipples hardened beneath his touch. “I can’t believe you didn’t kill yourself.”
“Gabe helped. Matteo got in the way.”
She smiled and wriggled against him, trying to get closer, but he closed his hands down hard over her shoulders and held her away.
“Not so fast, tesoro. It’s been a long time since I’ve had you like this.”
She eased back reluctantly. “Did you really go a year without sex?”
“I’m a man, Lilly. I found ways to ease the tension.”
“Oh.”
His soft laughter filled the night air. “Don’t worry—you were still the star attraction.”
The erotic image of him pleasuring himself—stroking that beautiful muscular body of his and thinking about her—sent another hot flash through her body that made her feel vaguely feverish. But then he was kissing his way down her throat toward the sensitive spot at the base of her neck—the spot he knew drove her crazy.
Hot. So hot.
She moved desperately against him.
He slid a hand down over her trembling stomach, over her navel to the juncture of her thighs. “Spread your legs for me, sweetheart.”
Lilly swallowed hard and relaxed her grip, letting him push her legs apart.
“Did you ever touch yourself, thinking about me?” he questioned, sliding his fingers against the most private part of her.
“Ric—”
“The truth,” he insisted.
“Yes,” she murmured. God help her, yes, she had.
He rotated his thumb against the hard, aching center of her. “But it wasn’t as good as the real thing, was it? Because I know it wasn’t for me.”
“No,” she groaned. “It wasn’t.”
He lowered his head and kissed her, made her remember exactly how good he could make her feel. She grabbed a hold of his shirt to steady herself as he slid a finger inside her, his touch so unbearly good she thought she would scream.
“More,” she murmured against his lips.
He withdrew and slid two fingers inside her, filling her deeper, harder. She arched against his hand as the ache inside her became unbearable.
“Please,” she moaned.
He dropped to his knees in front of her. Lilly made a sound of protest, reaching down and grabbing his arms to pull him back up to her. She felt too exposed, too raw to have him do this to her right now.
But he shook her hands off and looked up at her, eyes glittering. “Immersion therapy, Lilly. Relax and enjoy it.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, too hot, too aroused to do anything but obey. And then he was parting her with gentle fingers, his raspy, “Bella...” filling the air before he bent and feasted on her. She held the back of his head as he slid his tongue against her aroused flesh. The rush of pleasure that swirled through her was so incredibly good she felt as if every nerve in her body was concentrated right there.
“Ric—I need—”
“I know,” he murmured against her skin. “Let go, Lilly.”
Her legs started to tremble wildly. He slid his fingers inside her again and shot her into another stratosphere. God. She just needed him to curve his fingers like—that.
“Oh.”
He kept his fingers there and flicked his tongue over the hard bud at the center of her. Her insides contracted as she came in a rush of such sweet, hot pleasure he had to hold her upright. It was white-hot, blinding. All-consuming.
She was floating on a sea of pleasure when he got to his feet, scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the bed. “You are so sexy,” he murmured, leaning down to kiss her. “Your reactions...everything about you turns me on.”
The taste of herself on his lips was unbearably intimate. And she felt her last barrier come tumbling down.
He left her to pull his shirt over his head, his impatient, jerky movements so unlike him she smiled. “Need some help with your pants?”
He stepped closer and brought her hands to his belt.
She took in the hard muscles of his torso, the perfectly defined six-pack, the undeniably hot vee that disappeared beneath his jeans. She had undressed him hundreds of times, but this time her hands were shaking and her throat was dry.
She worked his belt buckle open and fumbled with the button of his jeans.
“Lilly,” he murmured, covering her hand with his. “Are you okay?”
She nodded and bit her lip. With a smothered curse he stepped back and shoved his jeans and boxers off. The masculine beauty of his body made her want like a woman who’d been stranded in the desert far too long. When he sank down on the bed and reached for her she straddled his muscular thighs, wanting to give him as much pleasure as he’d given her.
He was hard, aroused, barely leashed male power beneath her, and she wanted him inside her more than she wanted her next breath.
He buried his lips in her shoulder, a tremor running through his big body. “I can’t play around like this much longer...”
“Who’s playing?” She sat back on her haunches, her eyes riveted to his beautiful toned body. “I’m not,” she assured him, sliding her fingers to the insides of his thighs.
His gaze moved to her hands. “Lilly...”
She curved her fingers around him and reveled in his sharp intake of breath. He was smooth and hard like steel, pulsing underneath her fingers. With a muffled curse he sank his hands into her waist and lifted her over him, the movement bringing her swollen flesh into contact with his engorged length.
Ruddy color dusted his cheekbones. “Maledizione, Lilly...”
She slid the thick head of him inside her, her body so aroused, so wet, she