Chapter 24
Cosimo was burning from the inside out. The dragon in him, all his pent-up desire that had been eating him alive since he first saw Marcella, was flooding from him, and he couldn't stop.
He could barely breathe when he looked at her bare, soft olive skin. Her taste on his tongue had driven him to the point of no return. There was no gentleness in him for a soft seduction. He had to have her. All of her.
Cosimo laid Marcella out on the bed, her hair like spilled ink on the white sheets. Her dark eyes were glittering with secrets and magic, and he wanted her to always look at him like that.
Cosimo took off his shoes and undid his belt. His skin was oversensitive, and it was a relief to free himself of his constricting clothes. Marcella studied him, eyes widening, and bit her lip.
"Mio Dio, the girls were right about dragons," she said with a surprised little gasp.
"Do I want to know what you have been gossiping about with my daughters?" Cosimo replied, cocking a brow.
Marcella grinned. "Probably not."
He lifted Marcella's leg and kissed the tattoo on her ankle of the roses and small skulls, like he had been fantasizing every time he saw it.
The man in him suddenly came to the forefront, and he paused. "I just realized I don't have any condoms. That's no problem. I will just go back to licking you until you pass out."
Marcella's cheeks turned pink, the blush spreading between her gorgeous, large breasts. "Cosimo, I can't have children, and I am clean. I haven't had sex in... Well, let's just say an embarrassingly long time."
"That's nothing to be embarrassed about. I haven't either," Cosimo admitted, lowering her leg as he moved his hands over her thighs. She was so curved and soft everywhere, it was maddening.
"Then I don't see a problem," Marcella said, her legs tightening around his hips. "Except that you aren't in me already."
Cosimo leaned down to kiss her soft belly, up between her breasts, before giving both of them the attention they deserved. He left small suck marks in his wake, loving the thought of her seeing them for the next few days and remembering how they got there.
"Please, you're killing me," Marcella gasped.
Cosimo hummed against her skin, brushing his lips over her collarbone to the fluttering pulse of her neck. "I'm just enjoying myself too much. I don't know if you will ever let me touch you again after tonight, so I have to make the most of it."
"Don't hurt me, and I'll let you touch me as much as you like," she replied.
Cosimo heard the hitch in her voice, the flash of uncertainty. He lifted his head so he could look into her bewitching eyes.
"I will always do everything in my power to make sure you are never hurt again, tesoro.
I know you can't trust that I mean it right now, but give me a chance to prove it.
Don't shut me out because you're scared.
" He kissed her as tenderly as his dragon side would allow.
"I'm scared of this too. I just can't pretend I don't want you anymore.
The fear will just have to find a way to live with the want. "
Marcella's hands slid into his hair, her eyes flashing with lust and power. "Show me how much you want me, Cosimo. I want you to fuck the fear straight out of my body."
Cosimo would never be able to deny her a thing. He stroked the precum over his cock, loving how her eyes watched him touch himself. He had been leaking steadily since he first kissed her, and he could still see how wet and ready she was for him.
"You are intimidatingly big," she said with a slight grin that made him even harder.
"A good thing I've prepared you to take me. You only need to say the word, and I'll go back to preparing you some more," he said, voice dropping to a promising growl. "I love watching you writhe and gasp every time I hit just the right place. You are so fucking responsive, it's addicting."
It was further proof that her fuckwit ex had been lying about her being cold in bed.
Not that Cosimo had believed him. He always found that when insecure men claimed such things about a woman, it was because they hadn't bothered to learn what she liked and how to give it to her.
Every time men complained about it, it was a neon sign declaring that they were the ones who were shit in bed.
Marcella's hand went to Cosimo's dick, and the feel of her fingers around him made him groan. "I need you to stop playing and fuck me like you promised."
He needed to be inside of her, but he could have come right then, all over her perfect breasts. He wanted to mark her up on every way, get his scent so deep in her skin, everyone would know she was his.
"Show me where you want me then," he couldn't resist teasing.
Marcella guided him to her wet pussy and rubbed the head of his dick over her clit, covering him with her slippery arousal before pressing him to her hole.
Cosimo's dominant side kicked in, and he grabbed her hands and held them down on either side of her face. She stared up at him, the intensity of her gaze tearing him open. Cosimo slid the tip inside of her in a gentle thrust. Marcella's eyes fluttered closed, and he nipped her bottom lip.
"No," he growled. "Eyes open and on me."
Marcella whimpered but obeyed. He didn't want to frighten her with the dragon shining through, but he couldn't stop. She needed to see that all of him wanted her. Every part of her. And he would have it.
Cosimo was sweating, trying not to come as her tight pussy gripped him hard. "Dark gods, you feel so good."
"More. You won't break me," she urged, her thighs tightening as she tried to thrust up on him.
"You don't know that. I'm trying my best not to hurt you, tesoro. The dragon wants to just take and take and take," Cosimo replied through gritted teeth.
He pressed in further, kissing her little moans.
She was going to drive him insane with every sound she made.
He loosened his grip on her hands for a moment, and she broke free, grabbed his hips, and pulled him into her in one mind-breaking thrust. They both cried out as they collided, and Cosimo fought to catch his breath.
"You naughty little thing," he said, dragging his teeth down her throat. Her long red nails dug into his ass, holding him inside of her.
"See? I told you I wouldn't break," she replied with a triumphant gleam in her eyes.
"Not yet, but you will by the time the night is through," he vowed, pulling free of her choking grip and slamming back into her until he hit his limit. The groan she made had her small victory slipping from her reach.
Cosimo grabbed a pillow, lifted her hips up, and stuck it under her ass to make up for their height difference. She was splayed out, just for him, and could do nothing except take everything he was going to give her.
"Fuck, look at you," he said, staring in wonder at her flushed skin, her kiss-bitten lips, the marks down her body left from his stubble and teeth. "You are so fucking beautiful, and I am going to make sure you know it every day."
He thrust back into her, mesmerized by the sight of her swollen pussy sucking him in.
He gripped her hips hard and fucked her with all the pent-up lust and desire he had in him.
He poured all his obsession into making her cry out with every stroke and thrust. He put his fingers to her lips, moaning her name when she sucked them into her mouth.
She gripped his forearm and dragged his hand down to her clit.
"Touch me. I need more. I..." she begged, her eyes shining.
"You read my mind. Your grip on me is fucking killing me, but I need you to come on my dick first. I need to feel it," he panted, circling her clit with his soaked fingers. Her hands went up to hang onto the bars of the headboard, her large breasts bouncing.
Cosimo wasn't going to last much longer. She was too fucking gorgeous. Lost in her pleasure, she was even more stunning.
"That's it, tesoro. Let it out. Come for me," he purred, adding pressure on either side of clit. He pushed himself to her limit again before grinding against her in a slow circle. Her head went back, leashed magic sizzled in her aura, and she came with a strangled sob that shook her whole body.
Cosimo swore and held still as her inner walls squeezed and fluttered around him so quickly, he had to grip the base of his dick not to come with her. This one had to be about her. Only her. She needed to know what it was like to have her pleasure be a priority.
Marcella was whispering a litany in Italian under her breath as she dropped her arms. Cosimo grinned and rubbed the tip of his nose against hers.
"I got you good, didn't I?" he teased.
Marcella huffed out a little laugh. "Don't look so pleased with yourself."
"Oh, I don't look half as pleased as you, my strega," Cosimo said and kissed her. Her arms wound around his neck, deepening the kiss. She dragged her long nails down his back, making him hiss and his dick jump.
"Don't stop now when you are doing so well, magician." Marcella's mouth moved to his ear, her sharp teeth digging into his ear lobe. The last polite tether he had remaining snapped.
Cosimo pulled out of her and caught a flash of surprise on her pretty face before he flipped her over, gripped her gorgeous, full ass, and thrust back into her wet heat.
Marcella's cries were smothered by the mattress as Cosimo gave his dragon full rein. He grabbed her tangled mass of hair and held her pinned and submissive under him as he thrust harder and harder into her.
Magic was dancing through him, begging to be released, and it took every ounce of his control not to give in. The dragon was roaring something, but Cosimo was too lost in his own burning need to listen to it. He came with a shout of her name, his body and mind shattering.
Cosimo couldn't get enough air into his lungs, his heart beating so hard, he thought it would give out. He realized he was still pinning her roughly, and he quickly let her go, stroking her hair back from her face. Tears were leaking down her red cheeks. Fuck.
"Shit, are... I didn't mean to..." he stammered, dipping his head down to kiss her tears away.
"Didn't mean to what? Give me the hardest orgasm of my life?" she asked, and the knot of worry in him eased.
"There are tears," he said, kissing her cheek, her damp forehead.
"Of pleasure. I'll be okay. I just need a moment to come back to my body," she assured him.
Cosimo slid out of her, making them both hiss. "I'll be right back."
In the bathroom mirror, he looked like he had just fought with a hellcat.
Marcella's nail marks were all over him, and he couldn't stop the smile of satisfaction on his face.
He cleaned himself up, before he grabbed a hand towel, wet it with hot water, and walked back to the bed.
He needed to make sure she was okay, that he hadn't hurt her.
Cosimo detoured to get some water out of the minibar and set the bottles down on the bedside table.
"My poor little strega is all fucked out," he teased softly, rolling her over.
Marcella pushed the hair back from her face and stared up at him. "What are you doing?"
"Helping," he said and spread her thighs wider. The sight of her leaking his come made his dick try to rally. "Fuck."
The dragon part of him couldn't resist pushing some of it back into her, making her moan. He wanted part of him to be in her as long as possible. He shook himself out of it.
What the fuck was the matter with him?
Cosimo pressed the warm towel over her mound and held it there.
Marcella whimpered. "You are killing me right now."
"Shhh, let me. I want to take care of you," Cosimo said, gently wiping her clean before passing her a bottle of water. "Drink that."
Marcella accepted the water and drank it down. Cosimo stroked her cheek, unable to stop touching her.
"Do you want me to leave?" he asked, hating to say the words at all.
Marcella shook her head, eyes going vulnerable. "Not unless you want to go."
"I don't want to go anywhere," he promised her. Cosimo lay down beside her and dragged her close, breathing in the scent of her hair.
"Big, tough magician is a cuddler after sex, hmm?" Marcella teased in a whisper. She pushed herself against him, her ass rubbing against his cock.
"Don't start, or I'll have to fuck you again," he grumbled, throwing a leg over hers to stop her wriggling.
Marcella's laugh was soft and exhausted. "Maybe in the morning."
Cosimo was drifting off to sleep when his dragon finally pushed past the mental barrier he put up. His voice growled in a content echo, Mate.
Cosimo's eyes snapped open, his heart racing at the word. It wasn't the first time it had said it, but a part of Cosimo had still been fighting to truly believe it.
Marcella gently hugged his arm around her, and the vulnerable panic in him eased a little. She felt so right and good in his arms. He looked down at her sleeping face. Despite never believing it possible, he had a second chance at having a mate.
"Fuck," he whispered in the darkness, trying to think of how he was going to explain it to Marcella. Exhaustion won out, and as the sun's first rays lighted the sky, he finally drifted to sleep.