Chapter Five
Like the way the Big Bad Wolf would look at Little Red Riding Hood, thought Angelica. Her heart was beating so fast she could barely breathe. They were caught in a strange tableau, both still holding the jacket between them, Leo’s hand on hers. Something shifted.
A longing, a yearning, rose from deep inside her. Unstoppable. It went deeper than desire, although that was there too, sharp and insistent.
She tried to pull her hand away but he tightened his hold. His gaze was on her mouth. Hungry.
‘Leo…’ Her voice came out low and husky, not how she’d intended at all.
‘Dio, Angel, how you haunted me.’
‘I did?’
He nodded and moved closer, tugging her to him. She went. ‘How?’
‘Dreams…nightmares.’ His mouth tightened. ‘Mainly nightmares.’
‘I’m sorry,’ she said helplessly. She’d had dreams and nightmares too.
‘The past is gone. We’re here now.’
Angelica swallowed. ‘What does that mean?’
‘That the present is all that matters. Moving on. And for that to happen… I can see only one way forward.’
Angelica could feel his intention as he moved closer because it echoed within her.
A beating drum of desire, flames licking up and out to every extremity, making her tremble.
She knew that this was a really, really bad idea but she couldn’t seem to stop herself even when she knew the jacket had fallen to the floor and Leo was wrapping his hands around her waist, pulling her even closer.
‘Did you really think I could see you dressed like that and maintain some kind of illusion that I was in control?’
‘I didn’t dress like this for that…’
His mouth twisted a little, ‘No, you did it to irritate the hell out of me and make me look like a fool.’
Angelica thought of his pale face and the fear in his eyes earlier.
It had thrown her, made her heart squeeze with concern, but she couldn’t deny that irritating him had been her intention.
But now her reasoning for it all felt a bit hazy.
‘Yes,’ she agreed simply. And then, before he could say anything else, she said, ‘But I’m sorry that it brought more attention…
I didn’t know that you…’ She trailed off.
‘Neither did I,’ he said. ‘But I don’t want to talk about that now. I don’t want to talk at all.’
Neither did she. When Leo lowered his head to hers, she tipped her face up, telling him that she wanted him.
His mouth hovered over hers for a long moment and Angelica’s hands went to his shirt, fingers clutching at the material.
She was about to pull him closer in a bid to close the gap when those firm contours that she remembered so well settled over hers.
Her legs instantly felt weak and she had to lock her knees to stay standing.
Apart from the shock of being kissed by Leo again, the yearning emotion caught at her gut.
It felt as if she was coming home. And that was so disturbing and disconcerting that she opened her mouth to him, so the kiss could deepen and become much more explicit.
Leo wasted no time in matching her, showing her so effortlessly who was the master here.
She was drowning in sensations and needs and when Leo pulled back after long drugging minutes, it was hard for Angelica to open her eyes and when she did he was out of focus.
He was looking at her, her face caught in his hands. He wiped his thumbs across her tender mouth and said, ‘That’s better.’
She wasn’t even sure what he was referring to, only that she wanted his hands on her bare flesh. She’d felt cold for so long and, finally, heat was reaching all the way into the deepest part of her and spreading out.
‘Leo, please…’
‘Do you want me?’
She nodded. ‘Yes.’ There was no hesitation.
She’d never thought she’d be here again with him, like this.
With him looking at her like this. The last time she’d seen him…
there had been such coldness in his eyes.
Voice. In a bid to banish the memories, Angelica reached up and pressed her mouth to his, showing him.
It was like setting a match to dry kindling that was already burning. His arms and hands were wrapped so tight around her, he was lifting her off the floor and Angelica was not a small woman.
Her breasts were crushed to his chest, thighs pressing together. She felt his erection against the juncture of her legs and she moved against him as a sense of desperation mounted.
He dragged his mouth away and she heard him curse. She let out a small laugh. For the first time in three years, something light and effervescent bubbled up inside her.
Leo dipped slightly and caught her under her legs and carried her through the apartment to his bedroom.
She hadn’t been in here. It was vast with windows taking in the night view—Manhattan lit up like a bauble under a clear night sky.
They were floating above it all as if in some kind of a cocoon.
He put her down by the bed and looked at her.
Impatient, she reached for his bow tie and undid it, pulling it off, fingers finding and undoing his buttons.
He stood there and let her open his shirt, push it back and let it slide off his body. She looked at his chest, eyes greedy to see him again. The perfect musculature, the golden skin. She reached out a hand but just as she did something caught her eye and she stopped breathing.
A nasty scar, just under his ribs. Jagged. It hadn’t been there before. Instinctively, she moved her hand down and touched it lightly with her fingers. She heard Leo’s indrawn breath and looked up. ‘What happened?’
He put his hand over hers and lifted it away gently. ‘Let’s just say it was an early lesson in where I came in the pecking order in prison. They don’t think much of white collar crime.’
Angelica felt her eyes prickle at the thought of such violence being meted out to this man, who hadn’t deserved it for a second. All while Aldo had been creating havoc. She couldn’t look at him, for fear he’d see the emotion in her eyes. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘You didn’t stab me.’
Maybe not, but he still thought she was complicit with Aldo and therefore responsible on some level.
The urge to make him understand how sorry she was and that she’d had nothing to do with it all made her open her mouth but Leo put a finger to her lips, stopping her words before they’d even formulated.
‘No more talking, it’s not important now.’
Angelica swallowed her words. Leo put his hands to his trousers and undid the belt and top button.
‘Let me,’ she said, replacing his hands with hers and pulling the zip down over the hard bulge.
Her blood was boiling in her veins. His trousers fell to the ground.
He stepped out of them. Angelica hooked her fingers into the sides of his underwear and pulled it down.
His erection sprang free and her legs almost buckled again.
He was as magnificent as she remembered. A potent, virile male in his prime.
She only noticed her hand was shaking when she reached out to touch him, fingers tracing the veins that ran along the shaft. She heard another indrawn breath, more like a hiss. He caught her hand again and said thickly, ‘I won’t last if you keep touching me like that.’
Angelica let her hand drop and looked up at him, then she turned around. ‘There’s a zip in the material at the back.’ In the flesh-coloured fine mesh that held the dress in place.
But Leo didn’t put his fingers on the zip, she felt him undoing her hair, pulling out the tie and then letting it fall before furrowing his fingers into her hair and onto her scalp, massaging it. She groaned softly. It was bliss.
He said from behind her, ‘I never forgot how your hair feels like silk.’ Then, he swept it over one shoulder and found the cleverly hidden zip, although at this point Angelica wouldn’t have objected if he’d ripped the fabric asunder.
But he took his time, pulling the zip down to just above her buttocks.
She pulled free of the arms of the dress—designed to make it look as if it were sleeveless—and pulled down the body, over her hips and down all the way.
She wore no bra, only a thong. The dress had precluded wearing anything underneath.
She hadn’t been naked in front of anyone since Leo. Not even Aldo had managed to get that far. Thank God. Angelica shuddered a little just at the thought.
‘You’re cold.’
She turned around and shook her head. ‘No.’ But what she was, was nervous. It made her bring her arms up to cover her breasts. Leo had said she’d lost weight, maybe he wouldn’t find her attractive any more.
But he caught her arms and pulled them apart gently. She could feel his eyes on her and her heart stuttered.
He said reverently, ‘I thought… I’d dreamt you up. That maybe you’d never really existed…that such beauty couldn’t be possible.’
Angelica looked up. ‘I’m just flesh and blood…there’s a million women out there who are infinitely more alluring than I am.’
Leo shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. Come here.’
He pulled her towards him until their bodies were touching. Every part of Angelica’s skin prickled with anticipation. Need.
He kissed her again and she fell into it, twining her arms around his neck and bringing their bodies even closer. His hands were smoothing up and down her back, her waist, hips, fingers tugging her underwear down and off.
Now, cupping one breast and squeezing the firm flesh. Angelica pulled back, breathing heavily. ‘I need you, Leo…now.’
She could only read the stark need she felt mirrored on his face and it buoyed something inside her. In this…they were equal. No messy past, no tense present, no uncertain future. Just now.
Somehow, he manoeuvred them to the bed and Angelica tumbled back, looking up at Leo. He was so tall and proud and powerful, and yet she could imagine that even he hadn’t been a match for a gang in the prison, intent on showing him who was master of that domain. Certainly not him.