Chapter Eight #3
He started with her shoulders, which were slender but sinewy from all the sport she played and the outdoor life she lived. When he circled her rosy nipples with his fingers, ending on the stiffened bud at the centre of each, she sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Her responses were so open, so transparent and so undisguised and every small utterance ratcheted up his libido until he had to clear his head for seconds at a time or risk rushing into needing to be satisfied immediately.
He licked and nibbled his way down her body, starting with her breasts and devoting attention to them. He could cover one completely in the palm of his hand and he loved the way she moved and squirmed when he did that.
She was so slight that he felt like a giant lying in bed with her. Her stomach was firm and flat and when he held her waist he could feel the slight jut of her hip bones.
‘You’re like a doll.’ He looked up at her and she stared down at him and smiled.
‘I used to be so envious of my sisters. They’re all boobs and legs and dark hair.’
‘Trust me, envy shouldn’t be in your repertoire.’
He returned to what he was doing, dipped his tongue into the tiny indent of her belly button and she sighed and sifted his hair through her fingers.
He was desperate to go slow but he’d never been so turned on in his life before.
He took his time with the sweetly prim cotton knickers.
He placed his hand over the crotch, felt the wetness against his palm and groaned.
Then he slid his hand underneath and stroked her until neither of them could take it any longer, at which point he pulled off the underwear and tossed it over his shoulder.
He almost came at the first sweet taste of the nectar between her legs. He flicked his tongue along the groove sheathing her clitoris and then took his time getting to the throbbing bud.
Her groan was low and guttural when he began to tease it with the tip of his tongue and she began to move against his mouth, pushing herself against him, urging him to do more than just tease, wanting to orgasm because holding off was agony.
He did. He wanted to feel her come against his mouth, wanted to be at the very heart of the moment of absolute yielding and vulnerability.
He had to fumble around for protection. It was in his wallet, which was somewhere in the bedroom.
He groaned at the thought of having to break the connection between them, which was hot and intense, and in the end he didn’t have to because his wallet was on the table by the bed, although his hands weren’t as steady as they usually were when he ripped it open.
He thrust into her, a deep, plunging thrust, and the tightness of her around him was exquisite.
Her body arched and then relaxed as they moved as one, finding a steady rhythm and then syncing as though they had been put on earth to find one another and do just what they were doing now.
Alessandro came with explosive, mind-blowing satisfaction, satisfaction that settled in the pit of his stomach, making him languorous and deeply, pleasurably content.
He swivelled so that they were facing one another, their bodies knitted together, and gently stroked her hair from her face.
‘I’m sorry, cara…’
‘For what?’
‘For rushing, but I couldn’t help myself.’ He slid his hand over her thigh. ‘But no rush this time… Now, where was I before I rudely hastened proceedings?’
Georgie sighed with pleasure. Her body had never felt so alive, so complete, and the fact that he hadn’t rolled over and called it a day because he had satisfied himself felt like a timeless gift of absolute thoughtfulness.
True to his word, he took his time.
He followed the slow stirrings of her body as it came to life all over again. He teased her nipples with his tongue, which drove her insane. He guided her hand to touch him, told her what felt good, asked her what felt good.
He was a lover who considered his woman and she felt as if, in this moment, there were no one else in the world but the two of them and their languorous touching of one another.
His arms were solid with muscle under her fingers. She stroked him and opened her legs so that he could cup between them as he settled to rouse her with tiny nibbles on her neck.
They built each other up and, this time, the tempo between them was in perfect rhythm when they came, bodies fusing into one. Her short nails dug into his back as a shudder ripped through her and she arched against him.
‘I enjoyed that,’ he murmured huskily.
‘Ditto,’ Georgie agreed drowsily.
‘Would you believe that normally after making love the first thing I want to do is hit the bathroom, get dressed and see what work I have to get through? But look at me now. Talking.’
‘Just look at you.’ Georgie slid her fingers through his hair and cupped his beautiful face. ‘Why would you want to skip the bit where you lie in bed gazing into your lover’s eyes and whisper sweet nothings?’
She was teasing but suddenly there was a sharp pang for something she really wanted that felt impossibly out of reach.
She smiled to clear her head. ‘No, don’t answer that, you’re not a sweet nothings kind of person.’
‘Never have been.’
‘I understand.’
‘Do you?’
‘You grew up to be so independent that sometimes it becomes impossible to do anything but pull away in moments of intimacy.’
Alessandro grinned and raised his eyebrows and kissed the tip of her nose.
This would be over in a matter of days, at the end of which reality would await and he would return to it refreshed, recharged and with a closer and more relaxed relationship with his daughter.
‘What pearls of wisdom,’ he murmured.
‘Passing observation.’ Georgie shrugged and nestled against him. ‘Feel free to ignore because, like you’ve said, this is just a bit of fun.’
Alessandro realised that he loathed having his words thrown back at him.
‘Never a truer word spoken,’ he agreed silkily but, even in the intimacy of what they were sharing, there was a sudden cool remoteness in his voice and Georgie could instantly recognise the sound of someone backing away.
She immediately changed the subject. Just in case the lines were getting blurry, he was subtly reminding her of their existence.
He’d crossed a few himself. Was he also reminding himself of their existence? Or was that optimism on her part that he was sensing something between them that was deeper than simply a physical connection?
He was a lot more experienced than her and primed to protect himself from emotional involvement.
The feathery unease of danger made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. He represented everything logic warned her against when it came to her heart.
She’d given him a long speech about just how unsuitable he was, just how safe he could feel with her because she wasn’t interested in him as a life partner.
There would be no awkward business about her falling for him because he wasn’t on her radar when it came to those types of emotions.
But how much chance did logic stand when her heart decided to go its own way?
Alessandro was powerfully attractive, extremely sexual and stupendously clever and with all those attributes came a level of self-assurance rarely encountered.
What chance did her heart stand against all that?
She buried her head against him to hide her inner confusion from his sharp gaze.
Was she falling in love with him?
How could that be possible? After the debacle with Hans, she had set strict guidelines when it came to falling for a guy.
Surely she couldn’t have been thrown so off course after, literally, five minutes by a little good looks and charm?
Except, a voice in her head murmured, this man was so much more than that, wasn’t he?
She took a deep breath and when she angled herself to meet his eyes, she was back in control, at least on the surface, even if underneath the turmoil continued unabated.
‘So where do we go from here?’ she asked bluntly. ‘I mean, here we are, having a bit of fun, and the reason I ask is because last time I looked at the date on my phone, we still have a few days left here.’
Alessandro burst out laughing and looked at her for a few seconds with a slow, hot burn in his eyes that set her nerves tingling.
‘You don’t beat around the bush, do you? Well, we definitely won’t be playing the let’s-pretend-this-never-happened game.’
‘No.’ She reddened. ‘I don’t think it’s going to be possible to pretend that this never happened. Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m not asking about what happens when we leave here in a few days’ time. I’m asking what happens for the remainder of our stay here.’
‘What would you like to happen? I know what I’m in favour of. I want to keep this going while we’re here, Georgie.’
He swept his hand between her thighs.
‘Let’s enjoy one another before we get back to reality. What do you say…?’
‘Only,’ Georgie returned, heart flipping over, ‘if you can guarantee that you won’t do anything stupid like fall in love with me.’
Which made him laugh again.
‘You have my word.’