Chapter Seven
I HAVE MADE sure never to imagine anything more with anyone. Until now.
Alessandro’s words looped through Ann-Sophie’s brain as his mouth pressed against her for an achingly slow kiss. Her heart pounded in her chest, and it felt as if her body was floating. His kisses were both too much and somehow not enough, and desperation tinged her hunger for him.
I could spend forever right here, in this moment. The thought was startling, overwhelming, but before she could process it, she was suddenly in his arms and he was lifting her, belly and all.
“Where are you taking me?”
The intensity of his gaze was dizzying. “The place I’ve wanted you since the day I brought you here.”
He set her down in the middle of an imposing bed of thick dark wood, but instead of following, he got on his knees in front of her. Alessandro was kneeling before her. Slowly, he removed one shoe, then another.
“Thanks. My shoes are hard to reach these days,” she said, trying to lighten the mood and this feeling of enormity of the moment.
Alessandro smiled a little. “I am so happy to be of service, as always.”
This was the man who had seduced her in Nice, and she felt a sudden twist of disappointment as their conversation from just moments ago came together with this moment. For him this was a road to forgetting, not connecting. How did that fit with imagining something more?
She told herself it didn’t have to all make sense right now, not when she wanted him like this.
She had wanted him so many times this week but was afraid of what would happen if she gave in, but now, she had decided to put her fears aside and have him.
That thought disappeared when he began to lift her dress, revealing her body.
Fear broke through the haze of desire. He hadn’t reacted well to the ultrasound of the baby.
What would he do when he saw the full extent of her bare belly? It wasn’t easily overlooked.
“Are you sure you want to see…all of me?”
His dark eyes glittered. “Very sure.”
Then she remembered the way he had looked at her in the pool, with a kind of hunger that suggested that he desired her as she was, right now. But the fear that he would suddenly turn on her, reject her, abandon her—it still lingered, and she didn’t know how to make it go away.
He lifted her sundress again, this time exposing the roundness of her belly, and she stilled as he settled his hands on it.
The baby moved, and she saw him flinch, but he didn’t pull away.
Maybe this was what he needed, she told herself, just a period of getting used to the idea of having a child.
After all, she had had seven months to get used to it, and Alessandro had had little over a week.
She couldn’t expect him to seamlessly blend the idea of a baby into his life so quickly, could she?
Of course, there would be these little bumps in the road.
They could move forward. She wanted to move forward when being with him felt this good. Maybe if she gave all of this a real chance, their little family could be everything she wanted it to be. Right now, everything was possible.
The tight coil of desire was building inside her, spreading languid heat through her limbs.
Alessandro unfastened the top button of his crisp, white shirt, revealing bronze skin and a hint of dark hair.
He unbuttoned another and another, each button revealing more of the flat planes of his chest, then his muscular abs, as Ann-Sophie stood, mesmerized.
He shrugged off his shirt, his biceps flexing, a reminder of the power and strength her body remembered.
He unbuttoned his pants, and her heart thudded relentlessly in her chest as the last of his clothes slid down his body.
Alessandro stood in front of her very naked and very aroused.
This man was a god, with burnished muscles and the infinite complexities of light and darkness. And he could be hers forever.
“I asked the doctor if this was safe when I made the appointment, and she said as long as you are comfortable, we are free to do what we like.” He flashed her a smile. “I intend to aim a bit higher than comfortable.”
He propped pillows on the top of his bed, then gestured for her to lie back on them. The mattress dipped as he climbed between her legs.
“You have no idea how sexy I find you,” he said, his voice a low groan.
She lifted one eyebrow and gestured to her round belly. “Even like this?”
“Especially like this,” he said, and the low rumble of his voice left no doubt in her mind that he was telling the truth. But attraction had always been their connection, not an obstacle that spread the distance between them.
Suddenly, she wanted him with a desperation that took her breath away. Memories of Nice were a montage of sex and laughter and insatiable want, and they flooded through her mind, finally free.
She propped herself up on her elbows and bit her lip.
“How do we do this now?” she said, gesturing again to her belly.
Alessandro crawled up her body, his torso skimming her belly as he moved, and smug satisfaction was written across his face. “We’ll figure it out.”
Then he brought his mouth to one breast, and all rational thought left her.
Her nipples had become more sensitive as the baby had grown, and the moment he put his mouth on her, she felt a jolt of overwhelming pleasure that was somehow connected to that place between her legs. She cried out and he pulled back.
“Does that not feel good?” he asked, frowning, his gaze focused.
“It does. It’s just…a lot.” She swallowed, then smiled. “I haven’t done this in seven months.”
Some of the humor left his face as he looked at her. “Neither have I.”
Ann-Sophie blinked, registering words that rattled through her.
They were chased with another burst of hope, this one stronger than the last. Everything was possible.
But then his mouth was on her other breast, this time a slow tease, and she was lost in that delicious building pleasure.
She let out a soft gasp, and he moved lower, kissing a trail down her stomach.
He slid off her panties and urged her legs open, and then he kissed a line up one of her legs.
Her breath caught in her throat. Alessandro was kissing her inside her knee, up her thigh, on her stomach, and then finally, finally between her legs.
The sensation exploded through her. It had been so very long, and she trembled under the slow caresses of his mouth.
Her legs fell open, and she whimpered in pleasure, both familiar and new.
Alessandro let out a low groan, then continued his slow, exacting assault on her senses.
She was gasping for air, crying out at the pleasure until ecstasy exploded inside her, too much to hold back.
He caressed her slowly, drawing out her pleasure, as her body sank into bliss.
“I’m so sensitive now,” she whispered with a husky laugh.
She opened her eyes and found Alessandro watching her with what looked like primal satisfaction. “I noticed. I knew I would enjoy these changes to your body.”
He crawled next to her on the bed and lay down behind her, stroking her arms, her waist. He kissed her neck with a tenderness that made her ache inside.
And when he pressed his hips against her, she welcomed his hard, insistent length.
Desire surged inside her again, and in that moment, she wondered if she would ever stop wanting this man.
But then he slid his long, thick length inside her, and she was lost again.
He let out a long, low groan, and she had the urge to turn around, to see the pleasure on his face, to feel the connection, the intimacy that she hadn’t let herself think about.
Because she remembered the way it had felt to look into his eyes when he was inside her.
Every barrier between them had slipped away.
She hadn’t let herself think about this in seven months and yet now, she wanted it desperately.
But he was behind her, and when she turned a little, he gently pressed his hand on her cheek and kissed her neck again.
Maybe it meant nothing, but she couldn’t help but wonder if he was turning her away from him.
But even this thought disappeared when he began to move, his long length stroking the most sensitive parts inside her, and she gasped and cried as he taunted her with pleasure and teased her until she was there at the precipice again.
As he pushed her over, she heard herself cry out his name.
Then with a long, low grown, he came inside of her.
The room was filled with the sound of their breaths as they lay there, connected.
He kept his arm around her, his chest warm and solid against her back, and in that moment, she was happy.
This life Alessandro was showing her was more than most people could ever hope for.
It was pleasure and security for the baby.
It would mean both parents would be a part of the child’s life.
And in exchange, Alessandro wanted marriage.
It was not the marriage she had foreseen for herself. But maybe she should try for the baby.
She shifted, turning on the bed until she was facing him. Alessandro looked lost in less upbeat thoughts, but when she met his gaze, some of the heaviness faded. She leaned forward to kiss him.
“What would it look like if we married?” she asked quietly.
He blinked, as if the question caught him off guard. “What do you want it to look like?”
“I want to raise the child in Stockholm, at least some of the time.”
“You’re not enjoying the luxuries of this life?” He traced the curve of his arm with his fingers.
“I want us to have a more…typical life.”
“The baby is not typical. Nothing about being a Carandini is typical.”
She smiled a little. “I’ve noticed.”
“This is a lovely place to raise a child, part-time. The child will have you and Olivia…”
“And you?”
“When I can get away.”
“I see.”