7. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
Tuesday Afternoon
It wasn’t easy to unlock the cottage door with her mouth sealed to Matteo’s and her left hand tunneling beneath his shirt, but she finally managed. He shrugged his backpack onto the floor, cupped her face in his broad, warm palms, and kissed her breathless. His velvet tongue teased her lips apart while he grasped her ass through her skirt and pulled her tight against him. Beneath his jeans, his cock stood at attention, a heated ridge of flesh against her belly.
For the past several years, she’d had to tease Jason’s indifferent penis to erection with her hands and mouth, but Matteo was ready to go right now, and her pussy tingled with an urgency that edged toward pain. Mouthing a silent prayer of thanks, she fumbled with his belt.
“Easy, now.” Matteo gently disengaged her greedy fingers from his buckle. “We’re all sandy. Let’s clean up first.”
Her cheeks flushed hot. What a dork she was, mauling him like some clumsy, horny virgin. But his hypnotic gaze held no mockery, just desire so intense it made her insides vibrate. She took his hand. “A shower sounds great. This way.”
As soon as they stepped into the bathroom, Danielle froze. Sunlight flooded through the skylight, glinting off the huge mirror. He was going to see her forty-two-year-old body in excruciating detail, every roll, every spider vein, every dimple. Nausea churned in her belly.
Her wide-eyed look of horror reflected in the mirror. So did Matteo’s hooded gaze as he ran his hands down her arms, raising trails of goosebumps. “Look at you, Danielle. So beautiful, so lush…” He nuzzled her hair and inhaled its scent. “You’re glorious.”
She gulped and met his reflected gaze. Slowly, he unzipped her sundress and let it fall to pool at her feet.
Matteo’s breath caught, then came out in a whoosh that stirred her hair. “Sei bellissima.” His fingertips skimmed over the cups of her black lace bra before lowering the straps. With a soft, hungry grunt, he pressed a kiss to her shoulder, his hair tickling the crook of her neck. Her nipples contracted to sensitive peaks as he swirled feathery caresses over her breasts, down her stomach, along the flare of her hips, finally coming to rest on the tender insides of her thighs, mere inches from where she wanted him. Needed him. Now.
Of their own volition, her hips undulated in slow circles, but he made no move to lower her panties, content to trace the edges of the thin fabric. “That’s it, Danielle. Dance with me. No one’s ever moved with me like you do.” At last, his fingertips whispered over her mound, drawing a shudder, then slipped beneath the elastic.
Oh, God—should she have shaved? Waxed?
Matteo pressed closer, his belt buckle cool against the small of her back. His hips rocked, a subtle sway that brushed his rigid cock over her ass and sent her pussy into a flurry of urgent contractions. With agonizing slowness, his fingers parted her throbbing folds and slid over the slick wetness inside. The shock of pleasure jolted her.
“A goddess.” He stroked her, passing two fingers over her clit, then plunged them inside her slippery channel.
She jerked and gasped, but he held her firmly in place. “Look at me, bella.”
With a ragged inhalation, she focused on their reflection. A rosy flush tinted her face and chest. Her marble-hard nipples strained against black lace. Her stomach rose and fell. And behind her, Matteo’s heavy-lidded stare, his parted lips, his mussed hair. In a voice husky with desire, he murmured, “See how beautiful you are. Watch me make you come.”
“But I want you—”
His fingers curled inside her, and lightning flashed up her spine.
“Soon, cara.” He maintained a steady rhythm, light glides over her clit interspersed with strong thrusts inside. Her bones melted. The room blurred and swam around her. But she kept her gaze on his dark, burning eyes. “Give me this first,” he murmured. “Let me see you come.” He clutched her breast, kneading the sensitive flesh and brushing his thumb over her nipple.
“Matteo, I—” Her words dissolved into a high, keening cry as climax tore through her in wave after wave of electric bliss. He rode it with her, his eyes locked on hers, his hand gently caressing her until, too over-sensitized to continue, she finally squirmed free.
He brought his glistening fingers to his lips and licked them clean. “Mmmmmm. Deliziosa.” He tugged his shirt over his head. “Now I need my skin against yours.”
While she clung to the counter, still too wobbly to trust her legs, he unclasped her bra and let it fall, then peeled off her panties.
Insecurity gripped her, just for a moment, but there was no mistaking the desire flickering in his dark eyes. He wanted her, and that knowledge infused her body like a shot of sweet liquor, relaxing her tense muscles. She turned to face him, bare ass against the cool tile counter, and ran her hands over his chest.
She’d forgotten what this felt like: satin skin dusted with coarse hair, firm muscle, pounding pulse. She trailed her fingertips over his pecs and brushed her thumbs over each flat, brown nipple before following his tantalizing happy trail down to his belt. “Let’s get you out of this,” she murmured as she unfastened the buckle.
She slid the rough denim down, then hooked her foot in the waistband and shoved his jeans to the floor. He wore nothing underneath, and his cock sprang free, hard and thick, a glistening teardrop on the plump crown.
“Oh my.” She raked her nails over his smooth flanks and the muscular curve of his ass. “You are glorious.” With a hungry moan, she cupped his silky balls and stroked his shaft.
His eyes drifted shut, and his jaw relaxed on a shuddering sigh. His hips rocked toward her, his heavy cock gliding across her palm. With a hiss, he stepped back. “Shower first. I want you stretched out on your bed so I can get at all of you.”
He cranked the faucet and tugged her beneath the steaming spray. Sand ran off their legs and feet and swirled down the drain. He squirted shower gel into his palm and stroked it down her arms, then slicked his hands over her breasts.
“So good,” she murmured as she filled her palms with citrusy bubbles. Round and round she glided over the flare of his collar bones, his sculpted chest and broad back, his taut belly, the sexy hollow at the side of each hip. With soft purrs and moans, they explored each other—until she reached his cock. He allowed her one soapy stroke before pulling away.
“Baby, I want to come deep inside you, not in your hand. Can I do that?”
She nodded. Every nerve howled for more, but the wait would only increase their pleasure.
After rinsing, they continued their mutual exploration, patting each other dry with big, fluffy towels. He took extra care to blot the tips of her hair, now curling wildly from the damp heat. His gaze flicked to the bottle of lotion on the counter.
If he kept delaying, she was going to explode.
She grasped his hand and led him across the hall to the bedroom. A breeze lifted the filmy curtains, and laughter from the cottage next door drifted through the slightly open window. She moved to close it.
“No, leave it.” He gently gripped her arm. “Let’s make them jealous.”
With Jason, she’d always taken pains to ensure the kids never heard their lovemaking. He kept mostly silent anyway, his motions mechanical, his face a stony grimace as he pistoned in and out of her. With Olivia and Noah in the house, she fought her natural tendency to sing out her pleasure. Not that she’d reached her peak all that often with her ex.
But Matteo invited her, even challenged her to get loud. How deliciously wicked. She fell backward onto the bed, pulling him down beside her.
With a sexy growl, he crouched over her and kissed her forehead, each closed eyelid, her throat, before savoring her mouth with soft brushes of his lips and teasing flicks of his tongue. She wound her arms around his neck to pull him closer, but he slid from her grasp. On hands and knees he descended, dropping kisses onto her shoulders, her sternum, and suckling deeply at each breast. Happy sparks flew from her nipples to her clit. She’d never been able to come from breast play alone, but if he kept this up, she just might.
He licked a tingling line down the center of her belly, circled her navel, and finally reached her mound.
“So lovely.” He parted her thighs and settled between them. One finger lazily stroked her seam before sliding inside. He traced the edge of her inner lips with his fingertip, then his tongue.
A groan escaped her throat—a ragged, animal sound. She raked her fingers through his dark mane and pulled him tighter against her.
His sexy laugh rumbled. “You like that, bella?” He knelt beside the bed, grasped her thighs, and pulled her to him. His fingertips spread her wide—and then, nothing. She waited, heart thundering, but felt only the whisper of his breath. She lifted her head to peer down at him.
He gazed raptly at her pussy, a dreamy smile on his face. “Like a seashell,” he murmured, softly caressing her coarse curls. “The prettiest part hidden deep inside, pink and shiny and delicate.”
Her lover had the soul of a horny poet. She stroked his hair and very nearly blurted, ‘I love you.’
Her heart squeezed at this moment of reckless stupidity. This wasn’t love, just a bit of fun, a vacation fling. She mustn’t let herself fall for the beautiful young man admiring her cooch, no matter how sweet his words, how skilled his touch. Their connection had an expiration date. She couldn’t allow herself to forget that.
Until Matteo plunged his tongue between her folds, and her common sense was no help at all. Primitive need took over. There was only this moment, this man. His beard tickled her thighs while his fingers and tongue lifted her to dangerous, dizzying heights until she fell and soared all at once as bright, sharp pleasure blanked her mind and rocked her body. At last, she subsided against the bed, blissed-out and boneless.
His chuckle rumbled between her limp thighs. “Una dea—a goddess.” He rose, swiped his glistening mouth on his forearm, and crawled over her like some great jungle cat, muscles shifting beneath golden skin, eyes glittering. He kissed her belly, her breasts, her throat, before plunging his tongue into her mouth. Her own scent clung to his beard. She’d marked him, and the knowledge flamed inside her. Despite two powerful orgasms, she craved more.
He rose onto his knees, still straddling her, and his cock bobbed upward, ruddy and thick, its rosy crown slick with pre-cum. She reached for him.
“Just a moment.” He climbed off the bed and trotted, gloriously naked, back toward the bathroom. “Condoms in my jeans.”
He returned with a fistful of foil packets and a mischievous grin. “Take your pick, beauty.”
A giggle burbled up. She hadn’t used a condom since those early days with Jason. She grabbed a packet without looking, ripped it open, and extracted a slippery, hot-pink disk that smelled of strawberry bubble gum.
Matteo held out his hand, but she shook her head. “Let me.” While he stood beside the bed, she rolled the thin sheath over his pulsing shaft, shiny cartoon pink over deeper, rosy skin. She feathered kisses over the soft, fuzzy sack beneath. The dusky skin contracted at her touch.
His fingers threaded into her hair, drawing her back. “That feels so good, but I want to be inside you.”
She lay back, and with a rumbling moan, he crawled over her. Supporting his weight on one hand, he positioned himself at her entrance. The contact sent delicious shivers through her whole body. He held her gaze as he slowly pushed inside. Her inner muscles resisted at first, but the steady pressure opened her to him, making each unhurried thrust more exquisite. With a raw groan, she wrapped her thighs around his hips to pull him even closer.
He set a steady rhythm, gliding in and out while raining kisses everywhere he could reach.
Her breath came in shallow pants. White-hot pleasure swelled inside her.
Eyes closed, he drove into her faster, harder. He dropped still lower, forearms bracketing her head, his chest and belly pressed to hers, magnifying the heavenly pressure building throughout her body until another blinding climax whirled her away.
“Ah, bella,” Matteo groaned into the crook of her neck as his cock pulsed inside her.
Ribs heaving, he collapsed over her, a warm weight that grounded her until her senses returned.
“Oh, God,” she gasped, fingers tangled in his hair. “That was—you are—sweet Jesus.”
Still panting, he grinned. “We’re so good together, Danielle.”
She brushed a stray curl from his glistening forehead and pulled him down for a kiss. They were good together. Spectacular. Sex with Jason had never felt this amazing. And afterward, he always rolled off and took a shower, leaving her alone in their damp bed. Fastidious, he was, and impatient with post-sex cuddles.
Matteo slowly withdrew, plucked tissues from the box on the bedside table, and peeled off the condom. He wiped himself clean, then crumpled the whole mess together and dropped it onto the floor. “I’ll get that later. Don’t want to leave the bed now.” With another handful of tissues, he dabbed the wetness between her thighs. “Sorry if I got too wild. Did I hurt you?”
Grinning, she shook her head.
He settled onto the pillows, scooped her to his side, and cradled her head on his chest. “In a minute, I’m going to tell you how amazing you are. Rest here with me, okay? You wiped me out.” Within two minutes, his breath slowed and deepened into the rhythm of sleep.
She nestled in the inviting hollow below his shoulder and inhaled his scent—fresh sweat and sex musk and lingering notes of citrus shower gel. A wash of tears blurred her vision.
She snuffled and bit her lip. Just enjoy this for what it is. Don’t catch feelings for him .
But it was too late to guard her heart. Even if it wasn’t really love, even if it was only temporary, leaving him behind was going to hurt.
She rested her palm over his steady heartbeat and resolved not to think about the inevitable end. Nestled in the arms of her sweet summer lover, she drifted off to sleep.