Chapter 9
Caro kept a tight grip on Noah’s arm until they were out onto the wide flagstoned veranda that overlooked the garden. From there, a broad, shallow staircase led down toward a long reflecting pool. The rectangle of water mirrored the ragged pink and gold clouds of sunset, and the evening s tar high above.
It was incredibly beautiful, but she was unable to appreciate it. Not after meeting Captain Lella. Images of his agony while being tortured had blindsided her.
She leaned against Noah and gazed out at the tranquil garden, trying to loosen the tensio n in her chest.
“You OK?” Noa h asked softly.
“I will be. That poor man. Lella is in such pain. And I mean right now, in real time. I’m not talking about the past. Coul d you feel it?”
“Yes. Something’s way off with that guy,” Noah said. “He spiked my A VP to the max.”
Caro closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them, deliberately filling her mind with the pink, gold, and lavender clouds reflected in the mirror-smooth pool. A soft breeze ruffled the surface and the images ripp led and swayed.
What had happened to Lella was over. It was past and gone. She was here, right now. With Noah. They were safe. She could breathe.
“Morelli seemed like an OK guy,” she commented, changi ng the subject.
Noah made a disgusted sound. “He’s a walk ing oil slick.”
She was startled. “Are you feeling jealo us? Seriously?”
He shrugged.
She smiled at him. “We’re not staying for dinner or dancing. All I want is to see the cross. Then we can blast o n out of here.”
“Thank God. It can’t be too soon. I did not like the feeling I g ot from Lella.”
Caro shivered. “I know what you mean.” She opened up her evening bag and pulled out the red leather ballerina flats she’d st ashed in there.
The quality of the silence tipped her off. She looked up, and caught his intent stare. “Busted,” she said sternl y. “Stop that.”
“Stop what?”
“You don’t have to monitor me.” She grabbed his thickly muscled forearm to steady herself as she unbuckled the beautiful but useless red high-heeled sandals, then tugged the soft flats on. She buckled the sandals through the handle of her evening bag. Her skirt was now a couple of inches too long, but that was a small price to pay for bein g mobile again.
“OK,” she said briskly. “Now we’re talking.” She gathered her skirt up into her hand, and slid an arm through his. “Let’s stroll.”
They walked silently for some minutes on the path that bordered the pool. The air felt charged with intensity. It humme d between them.
A drift of flower petals landed on the shoulder of Noah’s tux jacket. Caro reached up to b rush them away.
Noah grabbed her hand and kissed it. Then hung on to it, as if he were working up to something. “ Caro,” he said.
“What is it?”
He pulled her hand to his lips again. “I want you to have all this.”
She shook her head, baffl ed. “All what?”
He gestured around himself. “Beautiful places. Great experiences. I don’t want your life to be limited by all my tormented Obsidian shit. I also want you to be safe. And I want you always with me. These things just don’t mesh. It’s making me fucking nuts.”
“I know.” She gazed at him for a moment and smiled. “So? Embrace it. Be fucking nuts, then. What other choic e do you have?”
A brief smile came and went on his face. “None, I guess ,” he admitted.
“Right,” she said. “There is no plan B. Get it thro ugh your head.”
“Keep your voice down,” he murmured, his gaze darting around. “We’re being watched.”
Caro was beyond the point of being shushed. “You always act like it’s just you who has to make all the tough choices and the painful sacrifices,” she said. “But it’s not just you. Get over yourself. We’re together now.”
“I hear you,” he said, eyes flicking around them. “The whole Pala zzo hears you.”
“Be warned,” she said. “If you try to pull some bullshit noble sacrifice routine on me, I will kick your modified ass into next week. And I’ll be n oisy about it.”
He looked like he was trying not to grin. “Are you t hreatening me?”
“Hell yes! And I mean every goddamn word!”
He pulled her close and kissed her.
Whatever she meant to say was lost in the wild rush of emotion. A hidden part of her was always shocked awake when he touched her. She felt stronger, wilder. An untamed animal, dangerous and unpredictable. A force to be reckoned with. Fears, restraints, shyness, all of them just…gone. Like they’d never existed.
She was all power, all hunge r. All for him.
He smelled so good. Her clutching fingers could barely grip the thick hard muscles of his big shoulders. She loved his huge appetite. The vital force blasting out at her. Loved his skillful, demanding kisses that were worshipful and wildly erotic all at once, and the hard, hot bulge below his belt, pre ssing into her.
She wanted him right here. On the grass. Deep and strong and now.
The only ques tion was where.
They both looked around, but nothing suggested itself. The meticulously trimmed hedges and rosebushes that bordered the paths were too low to offer privacy. The trees didn’t help either. And as they looked, a group of people in evening dress came around a hedge of shrubs, laughi ng and talking.
“Damn,” Noah muttered. “I want to make you come. I w ant it so bad.”
“Yes, please,” she whispered back. “I approve of that, as a cop ing mechanism.”
That grin transformed his face, but she didn’t have time to enjoy it because he was kissing her again and his mouth was hot and tender. Demand ing, delicious.
“Noah,” she whispered against his lips. “All those people. Stop.”
“Fuck ‘em.”
Her protests dissolved against that kiss, but the intensity kept building, and she finally drew back. “I mean it. Stop. Or it’ll ju st get harder.”
“Too late.” His voice was strangled. “Oh man. It can’t get any har der than this.”
“Save it for tonight,” she told him, nipping his earlobe hard enough to make him gasp.
“You’re on,” he muttered. “Shock me. Subdue m e. Can’t wait.”
She dug her fingers into his arms. “You’ve got a long night ahead of you,” she told him. “Save your strength.”
The group of people smirked shamelessly as they passed. Noah gave them a glance, dismissed them, and turned his attention back to her. “We need to get inside,” he said. “Where I can chill down to socially acceptabl e proportions.”
Caro studied the fit of his tux pants, which strained over his erection. “Nice, ” she murmured.
“Stop giving me the pure sex look,” he complained. “It keeps me hard.”
“So I’ll ignore you.” She turned her back on him, and soon felt his hot lips pressing sensually against her bare shoulder, which made her shiver w ith excitement.
“Forget it,” he murmured, kissing her neck. “The back view tu rns me on too.”
She cast a seductive smile over her shoulder. “It’s still too early to go inside, right?”
“Nope,” he said. “Let’s go inside anyway. I want to take you to the Sala dell’Annunziata by another way through the Palazzo. I have an idea.”
“Oh, really?” Caro crossed her arms. “Another last minute change of plans? Ca re to explain?”
Noah sighed. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but nothing gets past you. Come on, Caro. Indulge me, for once.”
“I’m not in the mood for surprises.”
“Fine,” he said in a longsuffering voice. “There’s something in the Palazzo that I want you to see. It’s on our way. If we take my spec ial route. OK?”
She waited for more, fingers tapping on her crossed arms. “What is this thing you want me to see? Something secret? Something private? Somet hing…personal?”
“For starters, I want privacy to finish that kiss,” he said, pressing his lips against her bare shoulder. “I liked where it was going.”
This was interesting. He was being almost, well…playful. Good sign. And the look in his eyes made her tingle with eroti c anticipation.
She slid her arm through his again. “OK, Noah. Lead the way. Amaze me.”
“Th at’s the plan.”
They started by strolling down a long allée of tall trees toward the Palazzo. After a while, they veered off at an angle and took a winding path through thick shrubbery, which led them past occasional burbling fountains, blooming roses, and timeworn marble statues. From there, he led her through a thick grove of ornamental trees. Noah’s eyes were faraway as he guided them carefully through a mental maze, the walls of which were visib le only to him.
At one point, Noah stopped, leaning toward a thick, leafy bush, lis tening closely.
A car went by on the other side. The sound was discordant and out of place, but it was clearly the sound Noah had been waiting for. He pushed the leafy branches aside and looked through them. “Yes,” he said. “L ike I thought.”
“Where are we n ow?” she asked.
“Close to the road that leads into the kitchen courtyard. I was hoping they’d leave the gate open, but no problem. It’s a busy day. We’ll just wait for another car to go in.”
Caro leaned to peek through the opening in the boughs at the road beyond, and across it, a big wrought iron gate. There was a cobblestoned area behind it, full of parked cars and vans.
He tugged her back. “I hear someone coming,” he said. “Let’s look for a place to get through these bushes without shreddi ng your dress.”
He found one quickly. By that time, she could hear the car approaching, too. As soon as she heard the gate opening, Noah bent t he bushes back.
They darted through the hedge and hurried across the narrow blacktop road, slipped inside the gate just as it began to close again, and waited between two parked delivery trucks for some minutes while the chattering workers who had just arrived unloaded their boxes and trays from their van.
When those voices faded, Noah and Caro wound their way through haphazardly parked vehicles and entere d the building.
This much more modest entrance led directly into a large, plain corridor. Many doors on one side of it led to a huge kitchen, a hive of activity. She heard yelling and scolding in Italian, the din of pots and pans and crockery, the constant hum of excited voices.
They hurried past it, down the long corridor to where it ended in a stairwell. Noah led her swiftly up one flight of stairs, then another. She’d studied the plans of the Palazzo all day herself, but it never ceased to amaze her how quickly he found his way. He was always instantly oriented, interfaced with a map, a blueprint, a satellite image. He’d never been in this building before in his life, yet he moved through the place with absol ute confidence.
Noah led her down a third floor corridor, different from those downstairs. Smaller, older, and simpler, with heavy dark beams in the ceilings. The white-plastered walls were covered with colorful painted flowers, vines, ange ls, and cupids.
Noah stopped in front of a paneled wall beneath yet another flight of stairs. He bent down to study the seams in the wood, rattling and tapping. “He re’s the door.”
“It doesn’t look like a do or,” Caro said.
“That’s the point.” Noah kneeled, fished out the tool in his tux jacket, a nd got to work.
Caro crossed her arms over her chest as she waited, glancing uneasily toward the stairwell they had come from. “You sure this i s a good idea?”
Noah glanced up. “Don’t worry. Anybody finds us, we’ll play dumb and say we were looking for the john. Or another few more bars on o ur smartphone.”
“Right. With you on your knees?”
“Shhh,” he murmured absently. “Let me concentrate. Almost got it…”
A click, a rusty squeak…and the low door opened onto a square of om inous darkness.
Caro got a whiff of stale air, dust, and mildew. “Oh, joy,” she muttered. “ Spiders again?”
“Maybe a few, but it’ll be worth it.” Noah leaned in and sniffed the air. “Seems OK to me. Come on.” He disa ppeared inside.
Like she had any other options. Caro followed him into the cramped, airless blackness, waiting while Noah pulled the hidden door closed after them. The narrow passageway was barely tall enough to stand upright. Noah had to stoop. She pulled her smartphone out of her evening bag and held it up, activating the flashlight. Cobwebs fluttered and swayed in the freshly disturbed air.
Noah winced away from the LED glare. “Jesus, Caro,” he said. “A l ittle warning.”
“Sorry,” she murmured, lowering the light. Best not to think about those billowing spiderwebs anyhow. “Ewww. Creepy.”
“The dark part goes on for a while,” he told her. “Keep close to me. And keep your voice down. This passageway runs parallel to a main corridor.”
They moved silently on through the dark passageway. At one point, Noah turned sharply to the left. “We’re alongside a suite of connecting rooms here,” he murmured. “Closed up for decades, from what I re ad last night.”
Caro squeezed his hand, trying not to think about the webs brushing her shoulders.
“And my amazing superpowers inform me that there’s no one around, so we should be able to come out of this passageway…right…abo ut…here. Yeah.”
A rustle, a click, and a square of light opened up. Caro emerged after Noah, blinking, into a vast, high-ceilinged room. It was very hot and smelled of age and dust. The few pieces of furniture were covered with canvas throws.
The air was incredibly still. It wa s eerily quiet.
She turned, fascinated by the faded, peeling paintings. “Where are we?”
“In one of the older parts of the palace. This part hasn’t been renovated, at least not in the past century. Come on, let me show you something.” He took her hand and led her through the rooms. Through a wooden door twice the height of a normal human.
The room they entered was a rotunda with a breathtaking domed ceiling, flooded with rosy sunset light from the west-facing windows. All around them, the walls were a chaotic blaze of painted color, all the way up to the gold sunbu rst in the top.
The floor was a masterpiece of intricate mosaic tiles, and halfway up the walls, an intricate wooden balcony ringed the entire room, allowing access to a gallery of statues that were set in deep niches all the way around the dome. A steep wooden staircase led up to the gallery. As far as furniture and décor, there was only an inlaid marble table and an enor mous sculpture.
Caro went over to the sculpture for a closer look.
The magnificent white marble statue seemed to glow, stained gold by the sunset. A glittering chandelier was suspended over it on a chain as thick as Caro’s arm. The prisms that dangled from it refracted the light into a shower of stars that scattered over the carved figures of a naked woman straddling a massive bull.
“Wow,” Caro whispered. “So beautiful.”
“Zeus in action. With the beautiful Europa.” There was a note of triumph in Noah’s voice as he turned around, surv eying the room.
“I know the story,” she murmured. “He turned himself into a bull to seduce her.”
Noah gave her a crooked smile. “A god has to do what a god has to do.”
The dense, crowded images in the wall frescoes started to sink in. The paintings were blatantly eroti c. All of them.
She stared up at them , open-mouthed.
Noah chucked her under the chin, grinning. “Hey, remember the count who built the secret passageway for his mistresses? This room was his idea. His secret fuckpad. And the passageway we just used? That was how he got the m here unseen.”
“Aha.” She gazed around, fascinated. “So you wanted to get me up here before the party just to, ah…k ill some time?”
“Yes. Since you lov e art and all.”
“Very thoughtful of you,” she said, studying the entwined bodies in the paintings and the classical god’s heroic proportions. “Looks like a good time was had by all. Gods, goddesses, demigods, mortals. Quite a crowd.”
Noah put his arms around her. “One breathtaking goddess is enough for me.”
Awww. She went all hot and soft inside, melting against him. He looked so pleased with himself right now, which wasn’t an expression that she saw on his face often.
“You’re sweet,” she told him, stro king his cheek.
“I was hoping y ou’d say sexy.”
“That, too.” She wriggled out of his embrace. “But since we won’t be coming back here, I want to get a close look at these paintings and statues. And tak e some photos.”
That wasn’t all she wanted to do. But she needed to breathe. Until they got around to what she hoped he had in mind.
“Sure. Have at.” Noah ran a hand over one of the bull’s long, curved horns. The bull’s head was lowered aggressively, as if defen ding its prize.
“That’s worth a photo.” She reached into her evening bag for her phone. “He looks like he’s ab out to charge.”
“Nah. Not with Euro pa riding him.”
Click. Click. “You have a point,” she murmured. “She seems to be havin g a good time.”
Noah studied the marble figure of Europa, perched on the bull’s back. The clenched muscles of her thighs, the sensual arch of her back, her heavy-lidded eyes, h er parted lips.
“Yeah,” he said. “She’s do ing just fine.”
In the charged silence that followed, their hands came together, fingers twining. Gazes locking. Her own thighs clenched. H er heart raced.
But this was her one chance to look at this incredible art. Oooh , the conflict.
She towed him along with her as she circled the vast round space, studying each image and taking innumerable photos. When she got to the staircase that led up to the narrow gallery above, she rattled it gently with her hand. “The wood looks fragile and rotten,” she said regretfully. “I bet no one’s done any maintenance on this for centuries.”
“Please tell me I don’t need to talk you out of trying to climb up on th at,” Noah said.
“No, it looks dangerous. But I’d love to see those statues up close.” She gazed wistfully up at the marble figures high above and then made another slow pass to photograph them. Then another, this time to capture the mosaic image s on the floor.
She turned her attention back to Noah, who paced next to her without saying a word.
“You’re not looking at the art,” she said, just to bre ak the silence.
“I prefer l ooking at you.”
Caro felt her face get hot. He was very obviously arous ed. So was she.
“I love it when you and the pictures start vibrating at the same frequency,” Noah told her. “It’s like you tune yourself to them. You almost…glow. Your sig intensifies. It’s so beautiful. It just knocks me out.”
Caro was moved. “Ah…I’ll have to get used to that, I guess. I spent my whole life trying to hide this weird thing my mind does from everyone. Especial ly boyfriends.”
“Not me,” he said. “Bring it on.”
“OK. I will.” Caro’s eyes wandered up and down his big, powerful body. He looked amazing in his elegant tux. She glanced up at a painting of Zeus, naked and magnificently erect, poised over a voluptuous nymph on a red -curtained bed.
A rush of lust made her knees weak.
She steadied herself with the edge of the marble table as Noah’s lusty gaze raked her up and down. “So…are you up for some divine misbehav ior?” he asked.
“Ravished by a god,” she whispered. “What a proposition.”
The air between them practically hummed. Noah’s luminous golden eyes lit up the way they did when his augmented senses were fired up.
Not a word passed between them, but she was so tuned to him now. She circled him slowly, lifting the beaded strap of her evening bag off her shoulder and dropping it in the middle of the marble table. She came close to him…and ran her finger down the la pel of his tux.
“Noah Gallagher, you are my hottest fant asy,” she said.
He stood absolutely still, generating a sense of power that made her tremble. “Tell me what you want,” he said . “You got it.”
Caro let her hand drop down, and stroked the stiff, hot bulge of his tux pants ever so lightly. “Well,” she said. “Thi s. Eventually.”
“All yours.”
“We don’t have much time,” sh e reminded him.
“Then we better get to it.” He moved around behind her, sliding his arm around her waist and pulling her back tightly against him as he kissed her neck, her shoulder. His hot mouth nuzzled her while he lifted her dress, slid his hand be tween her legs…
And stopped short, looking up with a grin. “Bar e-assed? Here? ”
She shrugged. “Becaus e panty lines.”
“God forbid.” He continued what he started, stroking skillfully between her legs. “Oh yeah. You’re already wet,” he murmured. “So silky and swe et. I love it.”
She moved against his strong hand, rubbing wantonly. Arousing herself for her own pleasure, fully aware of how intensely that turned him on.
She began to tremble. Something about him just undid her. The way he seemed to read her thoughts, her feeling s. So tuned in.
This forgotten room was a hothouse of erotic imagery. It wa s overwhelming.
She shook with pleasure at the slow, pulsing thrusts of his hand, the sensual skill of his thumb caressing her clit. She melted around him, silken and wet.
Her legs squeezed around his hand as a sudden, startling orgasm unraveled her.
Her head fell back onto his shoulder. He held her up effortlessly, until she could stand on her feet again.
She twisted around to look up at him. “And?” she said brea thlessly. “So?”
“You tell me,” Noah murmured, kissing her neck. “I love making you come. And I’m holding back until you’re complet ely satisfied.”
“You’re on,” she mu rmured. “Here?”
“Anywhere you want. We can go straight back to the hotel right now. I’ll lick your pussy a ll night long.”
Caro was silent for a moment. His slow, coaxing kisses against her nape made her shiver and sigh. “You’re sure no one will walk in on us here?”
“I’m sure,” he said. “I can hear footsteps before anyone else can. I would never let anyone see us. Not in a million ye ars. Trust me.”
“I do,” she said. “I told you.” She flung her head back, moving sinuously against him. “Well, then. You brought me to the ultimate play room. So…play.”
Noah pushed her forward against the round marble table . “Legs apart.”
She did as he asked. Not lifting her dress. Saving that pl easure for him.
Her hair tumbled down across the gleaming dark marble. She bent forward, bracing herself on the table, shaking with anticipation. She couldn’t reach the edges. It was too big, smooth and hard and inlaid with lapis and ivory images of stars, constellations, zodiac signs, and a mother -of-pearl moon.
As usual, he took his time. The cool silk dress he slid up over her bare skin was no protection against his scorching gaze. She couldn’t see it but she could literally feel it. Her bare behind warmed as he looked his fill, and then began caressing h er. Very slowly
The first teasing stroke of his cock against her pussy made her gasp with need, but he still held back, petting her with it, rubbing it tenderly over her clit. Until she pushed back against him with a whimpering moan. “Stop teasing.”
His strong fingers dug into her hips as his whole body pushed forward.
That slow penetration was delicious. His arm slid down to protect her from the hard edge of the table, his fingers reaching down to caress her clit while he fucked her. Deep, sliding, heavy thrusts. Filling her up. Rocking strongly, all the way in. And out. The sensual thrust inside again. An erotic, relentless rhythm that made her wild with need.
“You’re so hot,” he muttered. “You take all of me. Like you wer e made for me.”
She never wanted it to stop. The momentum was beyond their control. Each stroke of his cock made her wildly eager fo r the next one.
More. And more. Right on the edge of ultimate erotic bliss….
And over it. They came simultaneously, hitting the ultimate high together.
Her eyes fluttered open. She became conscious of the hard inlaid tabletop, her own hair st rewn across it.
They were both still panting. Hearts thudding. His arm wound tight around her waist. His cock still deep inside her. Motionless. Both unwilling to break the connection.
But the total silence that had enfolded them before was gone. The distant hum of a party in progress on the lower floors ha d grown louder.
“Damn,” he muttered. “I didn’t mean to co me inside you.”
She rose up halfway, resting on her forearms. “I let you,” sh e informed him.
“Ah. Guess you’re t he boss, then.”
“We can take turns, ” she conceded.
“OK.” He pulled out of her with a groan. And whipped a gentleman’s handkerchief between her legs, which made her smile. A timely gestur e, considering.
“Thanks,” she murmured, swiftly cleaning up before she let her dress tumble down again. She straightened up, trying to fix the ratio of breasts to bodice as she admired his body. “Shame to put that big gorgeous cock away so soon, ” she murmured.
He gripped it in one hand, taking the handkerchief from her and using it on himself. “You’re so beautiful right now, I’d fuck you again this instant.”
She’d be up for that.
Except that minutes from now they would be formally arriving at a major event for international glitterati. Sporting that radiant, unmistakable we-just-had-sex glow on their faces.
“I need to wash up better before we face the world, ” she told him.
“There should be a bathroom off the next room.”
She was grateful for his arm as he swept her along. The bathroom door was creaky with age, but one good yank from Noah got it open. It was gloriously antique, complete with painted cherubs sporting ribbons, and an ancient tub that was just about big eno ugh to swim in.
Noah ran the faucet and tugged the pull chain dangling from the tank over the toilet. Water gurgled. “It’s functional.” He washed his hands swiftly, wiping them on a fossilized towel that hung near the sink. “I’ll wait for you right outside.”
Caro cleaned up as best she could and fixed her makeup. Not much she could do about the high color in her cheeks or the dazzled gleam in her eyes, except hope it would mellow out. Even her hair looked sexually excited. She tossed it back, letting it swing. She felt like a wild woman. Might as well look like one, too.
Her eye makeup had melted to a smoky, smudgy look, somewhere between glamorous and feral. Every time her thighs brushed together, sexual awareness pumped right to her toes. Yes oh yes. She lov ed the feeling.
A fresh slick of red lipstick, a final tug to keep her boobs in the low-cut bodice, and that would have to do. She scrabbled in her evening bag and pulled out the teensiest thong ever. Continuing to go au naturel was not in the cards tonight. Not after that interlude.
Final detail. The stiletto heels. The flats went back into the bag. She perched on the edge of the bathtub and buckled her s andals back on.
There. Bes t she could do.
Noah looked her up and down when she came out the bathroom door. He offered her his arm. “You look great,” he said. “Like I never touched you. Makes me want to do it all again. Let’s skip the party. We’ll stay here and fuck madl y all evening.”
“No, I don’t think so. But thanks, it’s a l ovely thought.”
“Later then. Is it a date?”
She batted him gently with her evening bag. “You have to be single to date,” she told him. “We’re married. That ship has sailed, buddy.”
“Right.” Noah opened the door onto a long hall that ended in yet another marble staircase. The party suddenly sounde d a lot louder.
Caro felt the exact moment that the battle tension seized him. “Rea dy?” she asked.
“I have no idea,” he muttered, as they started down the echoing stairs.