Chapter 2
Noah’s urgent pace had Caro panting by the time they reached the gated archway of their hotel. He kept her hand clasped firmly in his, his gaze constantly sweeping the empty street behind them for the brief time it took to be buzzed in by security.
His unwavering insistence upon both extreme luxury and absolute safety had narrowed their lodging options way down, but she had at long last found one that fit his exacting standards. The cost of the Residence Santa Sofia had left her speechless, but Noah didn’t care about the money. It was a beautiful baroque palace converted into a hotel. Classic columns, stunning statuary, and vaulted ceilings for her, top of the line security for him. Ever yone was happy.
As happy as Noah would permit himself t o be, at least.
She walked faster to keep pace with him through the flowering gardens in the central courtyard, into the lobby, and past the bar. They entered the elevator where they stood side by side, eyeing each other, intensely conscious of the security camera mounted high in the corner of th e elevator cab.
The heat and strength of Noah’s hand said it all. He barely ever kissed her in public, taking his personal mandate of protecting her from danger very seriously, but when they were out sightseeing, wandering through ruins or palaces or museums, the sexual tension kept mounting all day long, until it swelled into something both delicious and excruciating. The constant pull of controlled desire. The fierce glow of his eyes, endlessly fas cinated by her.
Whoosh. The bronze doors opened. Noah kept close by her side as they reached their suite, where he entered the long security code into the keypad. The door lock clicked. The d oor swung open.
Sometimes, the grip of his tension locked him in place for a while even after the door shut and they were finally alone. He’d just stand there, stiff and silent, gazing at her with a smoldering intensity that made her thighs press together. He was so fine. So big and strong, with that hard, massive body. So powerf ul, so focused.
So insatiably hungry for her.
She loved this part. Playing it cool while he burned red-hot. Trying to remember how to breathe as she bent down to unbuckle her high- heeled sandals.
She tugged them off. “Those cobblestones are killers. I’m wearing sneak ers next time.”
“Want me to rub your feet?”
“Maybe after,” she murmured. “Like, after.”
“Before, after, whatever and whenever you want it. I’m your man.”
“Lucky me.” She smiled at him, scooping all her hair up into a loose coil on her head. It wouldn’t stay there long. She didn’t want it to. Caro arched her back and thrust her chest forward.
His smoldering gaze heated her up from the inside. He lifted his phone, tapping the app he’d recently designed that made the black full-protection shield in his contact lenses go suddenly transparent. She loved that moment, when the gorgeous blaze of luminous, back-lit amber in his eyes was fi nally revealed.
Her nipples had his full attention. Ever so lightly, she brushed her fingertips over them. The mesmerized look in his eyes turned her on so much she could barely breathe.
“Do you like to watch me do that?” she whispered.
“Yeah,” he growled. “Ca n’t look away.”
“Good. Don’t.” She released her hair, and let the coil unwind as she came a little closer, enjoying the soothing coolness of the ceramic floor tiles against her bare feet. “I love it that I can’t wear a bra with this dress. The back plunges too low.” She swept her hair to the front and turned, giving him a long look at her ass curves draped in silk. Cock-teasing him was pure delight. “It’s logistically im possible. See?”
“I’ll be damned ,” he muttered.
She waited for more from him, but his words had dried up again.
But all was not lost. A quick glance at the fit of his pants showed that the dress and the nipples had done their appoin ted task. Good.
Time to take pity on him…and herself. Foreplay all day long, whew. A woman could only take s o much of that.
One more delicate nudge ought to b reak his spell.
She turned around again, putting herself just outside his reach. “I’m so…hot,” she said huskily. “Gotta get this off.” She crossed her arms over her chest, hooking her fingers into the shoulder straps, easing them off her shoulders and peeling the stretchy bodice down with seductive slowness. The fabric dragging over her bre asts felt good.
Then she was half-naked. Hands cupping her breasts. Wait ing to breathe.
Your move.
In the dimness and the exquisite, time-stopped silence, she could just barely make out the panther flash of his eyes. His throat worked. He was getting off on this, too. The air was so charged with sex, she felt the weight and heat of it on her skin.
Noah stepped forward and seized her wrists, opening her arms. With one deft move, he pulled both her hands behind her back, letting her arch and strain luxuriously against him, her bare breasts pressed aga inst his shirt.
His mouth flirted with hers, a playful dance that promised wild unbridled kissing. She loved the faint rasp of his end-of-day stubble aga inst her cheek.
Finally, his lips met hers all the way. Warm and soft and searching…making her wait, straining for more contact, on tiptoes, gasping with breath less eagerness.
The first flick of his tongue against hers made he r control snap.
She yanked her hands free to seize him, fingers sliding in frustration over the shirt. She unbuttoned it fast, dragging it out of his pants. Heard his shoes rolling as he k icked them off.
His wordless growl of excitement vibrated against her throat as he scooped her up against his chest. The shadowy room tipped and spun…and then she was draped over a stack of fat satin pillows piled on a long couch. Head thrown back, hair spread around, spilling everywhere. Offering her breasts to him. Moaning with pleasure at the deep pull as he suckled one nipple, then the other. Her taut body rose eagerly against his skillful mouth as Noah teased and coaxed and insisted, tender and relentless.
Erotic sensations crashed and throbbed through her, dee p and rhythmic.
After, she lay there on the pillows, floating on air. Boneless, shimmering. Her head fell to the side, cradled on cool satin.
Noah was nuzzling her breasts and caressing her pussy through her lace panties. Light circular strokes, promising more to come. There was no hurry. They had all night.
He looked pleased with himself. Still wearing his shirt, even though she’d managed to tear it open. But his belt was still holding up his pants. And that just woul dn’t do at all.
She grabbed the buckle. Tugged imperiously until Noah rose up to his feet, his ripped-steel torso blasting heat at her. Blatantly disp laying himself.
“Get those clothes off,” she commanded. “Double quick.”
He shrugged the shirt off and dropped it. “Fast enough?”
She was about to reply when they heard the muted buzz. They both froze at the sound. They looked around for the source. A text alert. The phone in h er evening bag.
In any other universe, she would never have interrupted anything this excellent to check a phone, but recent events in her life had left their mark. Danger stalked them and everyone they cared about. Any news cou ld be bad news.
Noah always checked texts as soon as he got them. So did she. They didn’t even apologize to each other for doing it any longer. It was understood.
Noah retrieved the phone from the bag and handed it to her as she pulled up the top hal f of her dress.
Caro peered at the glowing screen. “It’s Asa,” she said, startled.
“Huh? Asa?” Noah’s brows drew together. “ What the hell?”
She tapped the screen. Weird. She and Noah’s brother Asa knew each other, but they’d only met a few times, under wild and stressful circumstances. Apart from the wedding, of course, which had been wild and stressful in its own right.
“What does he want?”
Caro scrolled through the texts. “Hang on. There’s a bunch of them. Five, actu ally. No, six.”
“Why is he texting you?” He ignored her reproving look. “Never mi nd. Read them.”
“So he asks, what do you give a couple who has everything,” she read, frowning at the phone. “And asks if I remember what we talked about at the reception.”
“I don’t remember you talking to him,” Noah said. “Was that before or after we fed each other double chocolate fudge cake and pledged our undying love?”
“After,” she said absently, though she’d noticed the edge in Noah’s tone. Something about his younger brother always g ot his back up.
“Uh-huh. And he needs to discuss it again, like right fucking now because…?”
“I don’t know why now. You’d ha ve to ask him.”
Noah made a move for the phone, but Caro held on to it. “I didn’t mean that literally. Anyway, he’s referring to an article we both read. About the excavation of the Cross of Oraz io di Coronna.”
“What’s that?”
“A legendary five-hundred-year-old cross, twelve feet high, decorated with carved religious scenes and covered with priceless gold and gems,” Caro explained, still reading. “Lost to the world for centuries, until recently. It was found, and the art wo rld went nuts.”
“Really. And when exactly did Asa become an art lover?”
She shrugged off the pointed question. “He’s just sharing the update, Noah. He knows I love that legend, and it turns out to be real. It w as so awesome.”
“Uh-huh.”
“OK, next-to-last text. Oh, wow. This is incredible.” Her eyes were fixed on the phone’s screen. “They’re unveiling it! At a conference on global econom ic innovation.”
“Woohoo. We weren’t invited and we’re not going to gate-crash.”
Caro ignored his noticeable lack of enthusiasm. “There’s a big ceremony at the Palazzo Bellocchio, right outside of Rome. Politicians and celebrities and God knows who else. And Asa knows a guy who can get us in!”
She looked up at Noah’s face, and was taken aback by the fu ry in his eyes.
“The fuc k? ” he growled.