Chapter Eight
Nothing had prepared Stella for the sheer thrill of being carried up the wide staircase in Gio’s arms.
She’d never swooned at good-looking men. Had never wanted to be swept off her feet. In fact, she preferred to have her feet firmly on the ground.
So she’d thought.
Her heart rapped an unfamiliar tattoo and her breath came in short bursts, while Gio seemed unaffected by her weight as he strode upstairs.
But not unaffected by her. His muscles were tense, his jaw hard and his eyes whenever they rested on her held a molten heat that should surely have incinerated her.
Instead she thrived on the blaze of desire that burned ever stronger between them.
She’d never felt so strong or so sure about anything.
Instead of feeling disempowered, held aloft in his arms, Stella felt resilient and feisty. Desirable as never before.
He reached the next floor and marched down the hall.
Despite the tensile strength of his arms there was gentleness in the way he cradled her, as if she were precious.
Yet that angular jaw, now dusted with evening shadow, made him look like the marauder, a man who took what he wanted, ready to hold what he’d taken against all comers.
Stella’s breath escaped in a shuddery sigh of delight and she clasped her hands tighter around his neck. She might be used to fighting her own corner but she revelled in Gio’s strength and determination. In his hunger for her.
They entered a bedroom, unlit but for the bright moonlight spilling through the windows, and her pulse quickened. Then he lowered her to the bed.
Her grip on his neck stopped him pulling back. In the shadow his smile looked strained. ‘I just want to get out of my shirt, cara mia.’
Such a simple endearment, yet it pierced her in a way none of the extravagant compliments she’d occasionally received before ever had.
Because he looked like a man on the edge. Because of her. His hard features were taut, as if made from stone instead of flesh. His nostrils flared and his jaw set hard.
Stella slid her hands from his neck, letting him straighten to heave off his shirt. She watched the play of muscles across his torso and upper arms and her throat dried.
He was magnificent. Gloriously proportioned like an athlete. And he was all hers, for tonight at least.
Her hands went to the tie at the side of her coverup. One tug and it opened. She shrugged her arms free of the fabric, leaning on one elbow to untie her bikini top too.
Gio paused in the act of reaching for the bedside table. His pewter gaze scraped her breasts as she pulled the top free and dropped it to the floor.
A hoarse rush of words reached her ears. Part praise, part curses, as if the sight of her body undid him. One large hand reached for her, only to pause and hover just above her breast.
He didn’t touch her yet Stella could swear she felt his hard palm on her nipple, his hand cupping her breast. Sensation zapped from breast to pelvis, a searing thread of fire. She wanted more, needed more. She arched her back, seeking contact, but Gio shook his head and jerked his hand back.
Stunned, she watched him turn away and yank open a drawer, scrabbling at its contents. ‘Gio?’
‘Just a second.’
He grabbed something and prised it open. Stella watched, fascinated, as he tore a small packet open with his teeth. Belatedly, understanding dawned. She’d been so caught up she hadn’t given a thought to protection.
Who was this unfamiliar woman, taking such risks, driven only by feelings?
A second later he’d shoved his swim shorts off and rolled on a condom. All the while his eyes ate her up.
She told herself it was impossible to die of excitement. But the sight of him, naked, virile and impressively aroused transfixed her.
She’d never fully understood the compulsion for sex, but if something happened now to stop their joining she thought she might die.
‘I want you, Gio.’
Her voice was unrecognisable but she was past caring about what she revealed. Her whole being was focused on satisfying this desperate craving. She lifted her arms to him, relief in the powerful thump of her heart as he moved to lie over her.
She thought she was ready. She was ready, desperate for their joining. Even so, she had time to marvel at these new sensations.
The incredible reality of Gio’s naked body, large, powerful, and so alien as he settled against her.
He was hot to the touch and weighty, yet she almost protested when he propped himself up on his elbows for there was something delicious about him pinning her to the soft mattress.
His skin was surprisingly silky except where crisp hair tickled her breasts and thighs.
Heavy-lidded eyes held hers as he nudged her legs wide and sank between them.
Dimly Stella was aware of her heart racing, of her hips shifting to accommodate him. So many new impressions, so much delight. She ran her hands over his shoulders, rejoicing in their smooth strength, claiming them for herself.
She lifted her head to press kisses across his collarbone and felt his erection move against her belly. Her breath caught in a soundless gasp and she shuffled higher up the bed, needing that weight inside her.
Then Gio moved, not to help her, but to slide down her body, trailing kisses to her breasts, lingering there till she heard a hoarse shout and realised it was her own voice calling his name. His mouth and hands together created something altogether new, drawing ever more potent responses from her.
But too soon he moved again, lower this time, kissing a line down to her navel and past it.
‘No!’
Instantly he stopped, rising on all fours above her. When her gaze meshed with his she read his raw shock.
Stella struggled, only just conquering the temptation to grab his dark head and pull it back down to where she knew he’d give her wonderful, mindless delight.
She was on a knife’s edge, teetering on the brink, and she knew that one touch of his hand or mouth there would send her spiralling into ecstasy. Her whole being was primed to explode.
His voice was ragged. ‘You’ve changed your mind?’
‘No.’ She moistened her lips. ‘I want the first time to be us, together.’
She watched understanding dawn, turning those pale eyes dark. It was like watching a thunderstorm obliterate a sunny day. She’d always loved storms, watching powerful bolts of lightning strike the earth, huge dark clouds turning day into night, while she was safe inside.
She felt the same excitement now, amplified a thousand times. She wanted Gio at a fundamental level for which there were no words.
Finally his taut mouth curled up at the corners and he prowled back up the bed to loom above her.
‘If you’re sure,’ he growled, the rough edge to his normally mellow voice sending skitters of delight through her too-receptive body.
‘I’m sure.’
Letting him pleasure her might have made their coupling easier but some ancient intuition told her this was what she wanted. Just them together.
This time when Gio lowered himself over her, she felt the slide of his erection between her thighs. Felt his knuckles brush her flesh as he guided himself to her.
She sucked in a breath of excitement threaded with want as he paused, the blunt head of his arousal at her core.
Her eyes met his and she saw something shift there as if he’d been waiting for something. Then he moved, slow and sure, and everything changed.
She gasped, fingers clutching smooth shoulders. Breath coming in short pants. But the inexorable slide of hot flesh, the indescribable feeling of fullness went on and on.
He murmured something she couldn’t catch because there was thunder in her ears. A large hand cupped her face so tenderly she wanted to turn into that caress and bury her face in his palm. Instead she held Gio’s gaze and still he slid deeper until eventually they were one.
Stella released a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. Her grip eased and she ran her palms over his shoulders, down his biceps and back up.
It was the most incredible experience of her life. She struggled for words to tell him but they were beyond her.
Yet already, what she felt was altering. She didn’t think either of them had moved but now there were other sensations, delight stirring. As if sensing the change, Gio shifted back, almost drawing a cry of protest from her, until he returned, the slide of their bodies eliciting a sensual shiver.
Stella moved to meet him, exulting in the intense friction, increasing by the second. Slowly they developed a rhythm of advance and retreat and she clung tight, already feeling the tension build to breaking point.
‘I…’
But no other words emerged. It was too late, the cresting wave about to break. She lifted her hand to his face, palm on his jaw, thumb against his mouth, trying to convey something for which she had no language.
Then the tension became ripples, the ripples became shudders as the most intense pleasure engulfed her. It was joy so incandescent she felt she’d flown too close to the sun, yet she gloried in it.
Gio slid his arm around her back, pulling them together, and she felt him come alive in a whole new way. His big body convulsed and deep inside she felt the frantic pulse of his climax, reawakening her own.
They clung together, breaths burning, bodies shaking, sharing a rapture so great she lost all awareness of time or place.
Later, much later, she became aware they were lying on their sides. Her knee up over his hip, his solid thigh between hers. His arms were around her, her head cushioned by his muscles. She inhaled the scent of Gio and something musky and new. Sex. Completion. Absolute joy.
Stella’s eyes closed and she smiled, burrowing closer. She never wanted to move again.
* * *
They sat at a small restaurant’s terrace, perched over the town. It was relatively private since, despite the warm weather, the tourist season wasn’t yet in full swing. Below them a multicoloured jumble of buildings spilled down the steep hill to the sea.