underestimate the power of sex, mia cara. It has brought down kingdoms and ruined powerful men.’ As if to emphasise its power, he leaned into her.
‘So far you’ve managed to remain untouched by it,’ she croaked.
His thick arousal registered boldly against her belly at the same time as his mouth settled heavily over hers.
The power of thought instantly deserted her. This kiss was nothing like they’d shared in the car. This was a full, unapologetic assault on her senses, a bold display of Cesare’s power and the firm intent of what he meant to happen between them. His tongue stroked boldly against hers, performing a dangerous dance that had only one destination.
Heat swelled and rocketed straight to her core. The shock of how quickly her body reacted to him made her head spin, but even that reaction was ruthlessly swept aside under the torrent of need building inside her.
Her fingers encountered Cesare’s naked torso. Her nails bit deep and she revelled in the groan that shuddered through him.
He raised his head, his breathing harsh in the darkened room. With a quick dip, he licked her tingling lips. ‘I’m far from untouched, cara. Hasn’t it always been this way between us?’ he demanded thickly. ‘One touch and the whole world burns up?’ As if to demonstrate, he ran a lazy finger down the side of her neck.
‘Yes.’ Her moan brought a satisfied smile to his face.
Bringing his hands onto her shoulders, he eased the robe from her. The gown followed, but she barely felt it slither off her arms to fall to the floor, entranced as she was by the molten heat in his eyes.
With unsteady fingers, he traced a path from her neck, down between her breasts to her belly until he grazed the top of her thong.
Words, murmured in Italian appreciation, tumbled from his lips.
‘English, please. I need to understand what you’re saying.’
He repeated the raw, explicit words. When her face flamed, he laughed and reverted to Italian. Every syllable touched her skin like a kiss, making her limbs lust-heavy until all she could do was sag against the door as his touch drummed a beat of desire through her.
‘Cesare,’ she sighed, unable to form a more coherent sentence past the sweet benediction of his name on her lips. Gathering every last ounce of strength, she pulled back. ‘We...we still need to talk.’
He dropped another hungry kiss at the corner of her mouth. ‘We will. But I need...we both need this before we do. And, whatever happens, Ava, please know this now. I’m very sorry I hurt you.’
Tears gathered in her eyes and clogged her throat. When they spilled onto her cheeks, he wiped them away with his thumbs.
With a sigh, he scooped her in his arms and carried her to the bed.
Sheets warmed by his body immediately engulfed her in his scent. When he stepped back and she saw, really saw him—naked, magnificent and needy—desire dragged through her belly, amplifying the power of her own need, propelling her to reach for him, to make sure he was real and not a figment of her fevered imagination.
‘Come closer.’
He complied. She reached up and traced the sculpted lines of his face, from hollowed cheek, over smooth lips to the rough shadow of his stubble. When she made another pass over his lips, he snagged her fingers in his teeth. Boldly, he sucked on her forefinger.
Fresh fires of desire licked through her. Her nipples, long puckered into nubs of excruciating need, hardened further. Without releasing her fingers, Cesare settled down beside her and placed one hand below her breast. Her temperature shot up another notch.
‘Touch me, please,’ she pleaded. But he just rested his hand there, under the curve of her breast, while he leisurely sucked on her finger.
Liquid heat oozed between her thighs. Her lids grew heavy as the motion of his mouth tugged her closer to the edge of ecstasy.
His hand edged closer to her breast.
Moaning with desperation, she tried to move closer to his touch. With a final, hot lick he released her finger. His gaze blazed down at her, dissecting her every reaction. ‘Not yet.’
Pressure built in her nipples, almost as painful as the relentless heat pulsing between her legs. Just when she thought she couldn’t stand the pressure any longer, his hand traced the underside of her breast. She jerked in protest and moaned as he started to perform slow, excruciating circles on her flesh. With every rotation bringing him close but not close enough to the aching pinnacle, Ava feared she would die from need.
Finally, at the point of begging, he slanted his mouth over hers, and closed his thumb and forefinger over her nipple.
Her cry was swallowed up into his mouth. Her orgasm slammed into her with the force of a tornado, twisting and tossing her high, leaving her no room to breathe.
Firelight exploded behind her lids as ecstasy awakened and tore through her. Through it all, Cesare kept his mouth on hers, lapping up her cries of bliss.
The intensity of his kiss lessened as she slowly floated back to earth. When she could bring herself to open her eyes, he was gazing down at her, his eyes full of heat and something close to wonder.
‘You’re still so responsive, tesoro mio,’ he rasped. ‘I thought my fevered imagination had conjured it up in the hallway two weeks ago, but I know different now. You’ve never lost it.’
‘Does that please you?’ she asked in a husky voice.
‘That sex between us has always been raw and intensely special? I’m a red-blooded Latin man, am I not?’ came the smug response.
Her fingers closed over his rock-hard bicep, renewed need clawing through her. ‘Maybe you should demonstrate, before I die of anticipation?’
A curious expression flitted over his face, gone quickly before she could decipher it. She started to ask him what was wrong, but lost her train of thought when he chose that moment to kiss her again.
By the time he raised his head to rasp, ‘Are you still on the Pill?’ she could barely string coherent words together to answer.
‘Yes,’ she croaked.
He recaptured her mouth, then rolled them over so she was on top of him. The first touch of his bare chest against her breasts sent her fevered pulse rocketing once more. Unable to resist, she rubbed herself against him. His deep groan only fed her hunger.
* * *
Against her thigh, Cesare’s erection pulsed, hot and insistent. She rolled her hips against him, the friction driving her quickly to distraction. His hands clasped her bottom, impatient fingers diving beneath the elastic to brand her flesh.
Another moan filled the room, her heart’s frenzied beats echoing in her ears until she could hear nothing but the promise of bliss, feel nothing but the equally intoxicating pounding of Cesare’s heart.
One hand fisted in her hair and drew her back. Tawny heat-filled eyes caressed her face. ‘Perdono, cara, but I have to do this.’
Before she could ask what he meant, the sound of tearing fabric ripped through the room. ‘God, that is so macho,’ she teased on a pant.
He grinned. ‘I don’t have time to ease it from your hips.’
‘What do you have time for?’
‘This,’ he whispered, raised his head and rolled his tongue over one nipple before sucking it into his mouth.
Her cry was loud, desperate and tinged with pain as pleasure arrowed forcefully through her. Her back arched under the intensity of her delight. Cesare suckled harder, then relented to lick her burning flesh. Before she could draw breath, he repeated the action. Her fingers convulsed in his hair as pleasure consumed her.
Once again bliss beckoned and she rushed blindly towards