Chapter Six
MIA COULDN’T CLEAR the haze from her head as heat enveloped her body. Sante wanted her, but he wasn’t going to do anything because of stupid, sane, perfectly sensible reasons. Reasons she would usually agree with but she was here and now and her need was too strong.
‘I’m not staying,’ she whispered. She never stayed anywhere for long. It was better that way. ‘I’m not a permanent employee and I don’t want to be. I’m only working with you because I promised Adele.’
‘I know.’ His voice was also barely above a whisper yet despite the incessant drumming rain, she heard him with piercing clarity as if silence had suddenly smothered the storm.
‘So it’s not as if there’s really a conflict of interest because my being in Rome is merely a temporary thing to support someone else,’ she added.
He remained rigid but she sensed his soaring energy.
‘I don’t want to want you, either, just so you know,’ she blurted before he could deny her again. ‘The fact is I’d like to end this attraction. It’s not as if…’
‘You’d want to bring me home to your brother.’
That struck hard. Dario would mind—he hated Sante, but increasingly she wondered if Dario didn’t know everything.
‘He has no jurisdiction over my actions,’ she said, fiercely rebelling.
Sometimes her brother had the controlling tendencies of their father—though with far more loving intent.
‘I’m going back to Rome tomorrow so there’s only tonight.
There’s only us. No one else will ever know anything.
’ Her heart pounded as she edged closer to risk. ‘You can keep a secret, right?’
His lips twisted. ‘Yes.’
Oh, she liked hearing that word from him. But she’d screwed up before, and she needed to be sure she wasn’t repeating the worst of her mistakes.
‘You keep a very low profile.’ She moved so close she could feel the heat, the power, thrumming within him.
‘There are no pictures of you online, no info on the company website. I know that’s deliberate and I don’t want to invade your privacy any more than necessary, but I need to be sure you don’t have a girlfriend. ’
He gaped. Then growled. ‘No girlfriend. I wouldn’t be here with you if I did.’
He was clearly miffed but Mia didn’t care about offending his moral code; she just needed certainty. ‘You swear you’re single.’
‘There’s no one in my life.’ Vehemence deepened his admission, making it more desolate than he’d perhaps intended. He cleared his throat. ‘Commitment isn’t for me.’
‘Nor me,’ she muttered.
But she saw scepticism flicker immediately in his eyes. ‘Don’t underestimate me, Sante.’
‘Underestimate you?’ He edged closer, his hand slightly brushing hers. ‘You’re a greater threat to me than anything.’
Yet, that fierce whisper was almost a threat in itself.
‘Oh?’ Her heart thundered as she tilted her head to maintain their searing eye contact.
He stared right into her soul, but his emotion—though fiery—was unreadable. Was it passion, anger, both?
‘You tempt me,’ he breathed raggedly. ‘Terribly.’
An overwhelming wave of pleasure washed through her, causing her raw reply to simply escape. ‘Then take me.’
He was so still it was as if time had stopped. Then he moved infinitely slowly—tormenting her nerves—so very carefully closing the gap and lowering his head to hers.
Excitement rivered through her but the kiss was a feather-light graze of lip against lip—too light, too intense, too little of what she needed.
He lifted, paused, his mouth a millimetre from hers—giving her one last chance to stop this.
She inhaled sharply, jerkily, her lips parting in invitation, and with a full burst of excitement she rose to meet him just as he closed in again.
They slammed together hard. This time their lips clung, hard and hungry; his tongue swept into her mouth and she curled hers to meet it in an immediate, hungry dance.
The sensations shocked her, sending tremors throughout her body and tumbling her towards his.
His growl became a groan and he clamped his arms around her waist like bands of steel.
She barely noticed as he stepped backwards.
She moaned in delight as his grip tightened more and more and he suddenly went down—sprawling backwards onto the large sofa, deftly lifting her in a chaotic sweep, determinedly untangling her limbs until she was across his knee and he was holding her firmly in place.
She sank into his hold and tunnelled her fingers through his hair, teasing the silky mess of loose curls and dishevelment that was so very Sante.
She refused to break the kiss. Didn’t care if she never breathed again and never saw another thing. Because this kiss was everything. She trembled with delight, needing it all—everything now. To be naked, to be together, to be sated—but still for this one perfect kiss to never end.
But in the end and far too soon, he broke it.
‘Mia,’ he groaned, breathless and hot. ‘You need to be very, very sure.’
‘We have one night, Sante,’ she pleaded. ‘Make it count.’
Passion flared in his eyes as he gazed into hers. ‘I will.’
More than a determined acceptance of the challenge, his reply was a vow that he immediately backed up with action. He claimed her mouth again with intimate, ruthless determination, making Mia writhe and shudder in his lap. Yes.
They would destroy this. She moaned and restlessly stirred as he plundered her, revelling in the hard strength and fiery heat of his body and the fierce hold of his arms. She rocked against the erection digging into her side. She wanted that. She wanted all of this. Now.
He increased the pressure of his kiss and unleashed his hands to torment her more. He slipped his fingers beneath the soft tee and the track pants and skated over her skin, unerringly finding her most sensitive places.
‘Sante…’
‘Your skin is so soft,’ he muttered. ‘You’re so hot.’
‘Strip me,’ she begged. She needed to be naked, now.
‘Soon.’
She was rendered immobile in his hold, in this unutterable delight as he was deliciously focused on her pleasure.
‘I like watching your eyes. They’re beautiful,’ he said, sounding awed. ‘You’re unbearably beautiful.’
While he was an unbearable tease. She could cry with frustration.
Locked in intimacy, they kissed and kissed—the endless lush kisses sent her higher and higher into the stratosphere and his hands kept her there—hovering in a heavenly tortured sensation of want and need and desire.
He groaned as he lightly stroked her slick core, and with a moan she bucked against his hand, desperately needing more—melting in the heat that burned between them.
He answered, pressing more firmly, invading her in a rhythm that made her moan louder and longer—demanding.
‘I like making you hum, Mia.’ He nipped her lower lip, then licked it. ‘Hum louder.’ He whispered his need into her mouth. ‘I want to hear you scream.’
She circled and rolled her hips as his teasing fingers became both too much and not enough.
‘Sante…’
‘Scream, Mia.’
He kissed her with infinite patience and overwhelming intensity.
Tormented her as he stroked harder, hotter, faster.
She arched, every muscle searingly tight as the sensual tension devastated her.
She tore her lips free, her breath caught until with one stroke more he tipped her into a tumult of sensation that blew her mind.
She screamed, utterly overwrought as pleasure rocked through her in beautiful, violent waves.
She kept her eyes closed, turning her face into his chest, trying to recover her form. But there were orgasms and then there was that. And she wasn’t ever going to be the same.
She felt him move beneath her, gathering her in his arms to lift then gently lower her to the plush carpet. She opened her eyes in time to see him kneel beside her and whip his T-shirt off over his head.
Mia’s post-orgasmic lethargy—and embarrassment—was immediately dispelled.
She stared at him in awe. The candles flickered, casting warm light and secret shadow across his beautiful frame.
He was perfect—utterly perfect. His shoulders were broad, his chest muscled, his skin smooth and tanned and she avidly watched, willing him to remove his trousers.
He didn’t. He sat back and watched her, a slow smile creasing his features.
‘Still hungry, Mia?’
‘You know I am.’ She raked her gaze down his tense frame, taking in the bunch of his muscles. ‘So are you.’
His hands slid beneath the T-shirt she wore and up to cup her breasts and then he whisked the top from her body. He lowered his focus and she watched dusky colour deepen across his cheekbones.
‘Indeed I am,’ he murmured huskily.
He hooked his fingers into the waistband of the tracksuit pants he’d loaned her and slowly tugged them down.
‘You’re magnificent.’ He cocked his head and surveyed what he’d exposed. ‘I’m going to taste every inch of you.’
She wanted that, she really did, but she wanted to see him, too.
To taste him, too. But he overpowered her completely—simply with the sensations of his lips, of his hands, of the weight of his searing focus.
She’d known they had chemistry. She’d been physically attracted to him from the first second she’d seen him in his office restroom.
But she’d not been prepared for how intense it would be when he touched her like this.
She shivered as he skimmed his palms along her arms, pressing kisses here and there—teasing in a pattern that she couldn’t anticipate but that she adored as he moved closer to her more intimate parts.
‘Sante…’
She didn’t hide her need—indeed, she held nothing back. They had only one night and she wanted everything. She would absolutely indulge in her hunger for him.
‘Sante…’
‘One moment…’ He sounded ragged as he rose away from her to pull a square package from his pocket before taking his trousers down and his briefs with them.
Mia’s jaw dropped. He was built. And he was hot. For her.
She reached forward, barely getting the chance to trace over his perfect body before he pulled back.
‘Don’t…don’t look at me like that,’ he muttered. ‘I won’t last.’
‘Sante…’
Expelling a pained sigh, he braced over her.
Mia wriggled in delight, so ready to finally have him.
But Sante, the tease, went back to savouring her.
She’d not known it was possible to be so tortured and so content at the same time.
His mouth was hot and his words sexy. He cupped her breasts, rubbing his thumbs over her tight nipples, rousing her until she rocked her hips towards him over and over.
‘Hungry girl,’ he huffed approvingly and slid lower.
He was the hungry one—lascivious in his attentions, his touches, until Mia thrashed beneath his hold and gripped his hair. She was going to come again and she wanted him with her this time.
‘Sante…’
‘I need you ready.’
‘I am. I want you, Sante…please.’
He lifted his head, his breath blowing hot right where she was most sensitive. ‘You want me?’
‘Now. Please.’ Breathless, she arched again and again.
He moved swiftly, abandoning the attempt to tease her more.
She cupped the side of his face, feeling his flushed skin, reading the desperate tension in his body as he held her hip firm and still.
Their eyes locked and he thrust hard and deep.
Mia crumbled instantly, her cry high and loud as ecstasy unravelled her completely.
He growled, his teeth gritted, lodged firm and still, utterly to the hilt, as she shattered about him.
As her shudders finally eased, she wrapped her legs and arms about him tightly, so entranced.
It was as if eternity was unlocked in that moment.
So stupid, so fanciful, but what she was experiencing was just so good.
He, too, had a look of wonder on his face.
‘Oh, Sante,’ she sighed, so desperately needing more.
He broke.
‘Mia, Mia, Mia…’ He chanted her name fervently as he thrust hard and fast, utterly unleashed. But in his accent, in this moment, it was as if he were murmuring in his first language—mine, mine, mine.
And she was.
* * *
Mia blinked, a trickle of desolation creeping in as Sante peeled away from her body. But he immediately held his hands out to her. She automatically took them.
‘Come on.’ He hauled her to her feet. ‘Let’s get somewhere more comfortable.’
He tucked her hand under his arm and picked up a couple of candles. For a moment Mia could only watch; he definitely looked like he was ready to continue. Thank goodness.
She watched the play of his muscles as he slowly led her up the stairs.
The rain struck the windows like bullets.
The wind howled, rattling the latches and hinges as if seeking a way to break in and tear them apart.
But the wide stone of the house was too solid for the wild weather to breach.
She curled her hand around his biceps, smiling at his strength.
They were safe in this secret sanctuary, in the dancing, warm candlelight.
She saw little of his bedroom, only the vast bed as he set the candles on the small table each side of it, illuminating the vast mattress in the middle.
Mia simply crawled onto the soft sheets, ready for him.
He murmured his appreciation as she posed. ‘You’re an absolute goddess.’
It was such sweet, intoxicating flattery and she tumbled into it with full enthusiasm. ‘Are you going to surrender to me?’ she murmured, desperate to devastate him the way he just had her.
‘Oh, no. Never.’ His lips curved into a half-sorry smile. ‘But I will worship you.’
And Mia never wanted the night to end.