Chapter Two #3
He nodded to staff on the front desk, then they headed to the lifts.
When one arrived, he took a card and keyed the top floor, then turned to her.
Lily had a better view of him in the brighter light of the lift.
Warm brown skin, dark glittering eyes. The hair that showed from under his hat, a rich, warm black.
He backed her up against the wall of the lift.
‘Cara mia,’ he murmured. Leaning down, he kissed her. His lips soft against hers. His body large and hot. The scent of him an intoxicating, woodsy base. His lips like a dream. Tempting, coaxing.
The lift slowed to a stop and he backed away from her as the doors slid open with a hiss.
‘I can’t get enough of you,’ he said. His accent somehow heavier now, as if showing more of himself than before.
‘Soon we can have all of each other.’
It was strange how the costumes, the mask, made her say things she never would have before.
She’d never been this alive, expressing what she wanted rather than simply taking what she’d been given.
Once so …passive. Like she’d been a passenger in her own life.
Well, that had stopped when she’d truly found out what Richard and her family had thought of her.
Lily wasn’t passive now, but desired, with desires of her own.
The man led her from the lift and unlocked a door ahead of him that opened into a softly lit lounge area with deep plush carpet and elegantly appointed furniture in calming neutrals.
Clearly a suite, with two doors leading elsewhere.
Along one wall wide glass doors opened onto a terrace, which gave a magnificent view of the city where the hazy mist-shrouded lights of Venice shone gold.
‘This is beautiful,’ she said.
‘That’s not the view I’m interested in. You’re the true beauty here.’
He took off his hat and tossed it to an armchair.
Scrubbed his fingers through his hair. Her own itched to touch him.
Run her fingers through his dark locks. Would his hair be soft or wiry?
Her heart tripped in her chest. She couldn’t wait to discover that, and whatever other secrets his body might deign to tell her.
‘You’ve been hidden enough,’ he ground out, voice low and rough. ‘Now I want to see all of you. Remove your mask for me.’
She reached up and gently unpinned it from where ribbons were hidden in her hair, then removed it from her face. The air of the room was cool against her overheated skin.
He muttered something that sounded like a curse. Was that a good or a bad thing? She hoped he liked what he saw, but she refused to worry about that when there were more important things to think about.
‘I want to see you too.’
He placed his thumb under the front of his own mask and pulled it from his head and dropped it to the floor.
Finally, she had a good look at him.
Medici was magnificent. Not only the height and breadth of him, encased in fine brocade, as if he were some dark and enigmatic storybook character, but his face …
Rich chocolate eyes. A strong patrician’s nose.
A magnificent, chiselled jaw. Full, kissable lips.
Stubble she craved to have scrape against her. Mark her skin.
Each feature fitted together in a way that was utterly compelling. It wasn’t enough that he appeared to have the body of a god underneath his fine clothing. He’d kissed like he’d been sent from heaven and touched her in a way that told her she was precious.
‘Like what you see, cara?’
This man was no pretty boy. More fighter than lover if she was asked, with his large hands and roughened palms. She craved to have those hands all over her.
‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘So much yes.’
The corners of his mouth turned up in a wicked smile. The way he looked at her could break a girl’s heart, if she let it. But she needed to remember her heart had already been broken irreparably. There were no pieces which remained whole and undamaged.
What she needed was for him to wipe away those memories so she could start fresh. The new Lily, farfallina, emerging from her chrysalis.
‘Just kiss me,’ she said, almost like a command though it somehow sounded hollow to her ears. What Medici heard she couldn’t be sure. Though his gaze intensified, scorching over her skin with his heated appraisal.
‘Come to the bedroom.’
That was said as a command, a man taking charge.
Not like her feeble attempt at grabbing the reins.
He began to move to a door, casting his glance behind him as he did.
Was he looking for second thoughts? He’d find none here.
The past months had been full of recrimination and regrets, how she’d wasted so much time on someone utterly unworthy, fooled by romantic dreams. She didn’t want romance.
She wanted passion. Seduction. One night with an incomparable man who truly set her on fire.
Lily followed him into the bedroom as he turned on the lamp beside the bed. The enormous, canopied bed loomed large. Covered with plush pillows, the coverlet pulled down.
He took her into his arms, his embrace solid and sure. A man who knew what he was doing even if she was unsure.
‘I want to see the real you. The woman beneath. I crave for you to show her to me.’