Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Flora
This was happening. We were really doing this.
I was nervous, but there was more to it than that.
I was excited. I knew if this was a flop then it would complicate things, but I couldn’t help but feel that it wouldn’t be.
I felt like this was going to be a defining moment in my life and hopefully for the right reasons.
The feel of my hand wrapped in Maurizio’s felt right. I hoped my palm wasn’t clammy with nerves because this might have been more animalistic than romantic, I didn’t want it to become awkward, although I was struggling to speak. Maybe speech was unnecessary.
Walking to the front door seemed to take forever but once it opened, everything picked up speed. I quickly found myself pressed against the back of the door while Maurizio studied me briefly before lowering his mouth to mine, pausing as his lips were about to land against my own.
“I don’t know what this will mean . . . for us.” Maurizio’s expression was suddenly serious.
I refused to let the weight of his stir make me question the repercussions of this. “Nor do I.” The truth was that I was blocking out the reality of what it might mean for us afterwards.
“It could be bad. Really bad. Disastrous.”
“It could.” I had at least rediscovered my voice, even if my words were essentially a repetition of his.
“Last chance. Tell me to stop and I will, and we need never speak of it again.”
I smiled up at him, loving his integrity in wanting me to stop this and whatever the consequences to it might be. “I don’t want you to stop. I don’t know what this is, the attraction, but I want to find out. Don’t stop.”
That was it. His lips continued their journey until they clashed with mine, and I had never been so glad to have defied his demand to stop this than I had ever been about anything else before.
He parted my lips with ease and as his tongue found mine, we embarked on a battle of sorts until everything I was softened and succumbed to his body that crushed mine.
We kissed, although that seemed a totally inadequate description of what we were doing and how it felt.
This was like no kiss I had ever known before and I feared it may ruin any other kiss I might ever experience, or at least ruin any other person that might ever kiss me.
Why was I thinking about other kisses when all I wanted were Maurizio’s?
Was I already preparing myself for the end?
Like this definitely couldn’t last and my gut knew it?
No.
I wasn’t going down that road.
I tuned back into his kiss, the way his lips created fires that would continue to burn for a long time.
I had no idea how long we had been in this position, our lips, tongues and arms somehow entwined, but time no longer seemed to matter or make sense. Somehow one of my legs had snaked around his hip, allowing him to get even closer, his body pressed into mine.
“Maurizio,” I quietly moaned when our kiss broke, albeit briefly.
My use of his name seemed to act as encouragement for him to return his lips to mine. Suddenly there was a strange sensation against my thigh, right up high, almost against my most intimate folds that were already softening and moistening from his kiss alone.
“Maurizio, what’s that? I can feel something.”
I felt his laughter vibrate against my neck that his mouth was now teasing. He had clearly misunderstood the meaning of my words.
“I should hope you can feel something, I’d be very disappointed and a little insulted if you couldn't.”
He laughed again. This time I laughed too just as the sensation I felt earlier struck once more.
“Maurizio,” I called, a little more insistently now. “Can't you feel it?”
A confused expression spread across his face as realisation dawned. The vibrating had stopped and almost immediately began again.
“My phone.” Maurizio reached into his pocket and retrieved his phone. “My mother,” he told me, holding the display towards me.
I nodded, unsure if he was somehow asking permission to take the call, but as far as I was concerned that was unnecessary, even if yet another of our moments was being broken; she was his mother and she was currently caring for his children.
He dipped in and delivered a single kiss to my cheek before connecting his call, whilst still standing with my leg around his hip.
“Mama . . . no, of course.” He laughed. “I bet they are, but only if you’re sure. No, that’s fine . . . hey, you two . . .”
He continued to chatter, quite obviously to the children, and then he hung up, returning his phone to his pocket and his full attention to me.
“My mother and the children have had such an amazing weekend and with the weather forecast promising sun and warm temperatures, they’d like to stay another night.”
“I see.” I honestly wasn’t sure that I saw anything.
“Meaning . . .” Maurizio leaned in closer, as if preparing to resume his kissing of me.
“Meaning?” I asked a little breathlessly and rather optimistically.
“We have the whole night with no interruptions.”
I fought the grin that was desperate to break out. “Do you suppose she’ll ring back?”
Maurizio looked confused. “You want my mother to ring back?”
I shrugged. “Not necessarily your mother but the vibrate mode on your phone was rather pleasurable.”
“You’re.” He rested his forehead against mine.
“Going.” His hand slipped around my neck until he gripped the back of it.
“To.” He pulled me closer. “Get.” His breath danced across my lips.
“More.” He smirked. “Pleasure.” My breath hitched.
“Than.” His eyes bored into mine. “You’ve.
” I could feel myself flushing as my temperature rose.
“Ever.” A moan sounded around us as his lips gently touched mine. “Known.”
Before I could respond in any way, I was being lifted until I was hanging over Maurizio’s shoulder and he was climbing the stairs. He paused at the top and looked between his room and the landing that led to mine.
“Your place or mine?” I asked, still hanging over his shoulder, unsure why he seemed to be deliberating this as much as he was.
“Yours.”
I felt a little insulted by his reluctance to take me to his bed. A hand rubbed across my ass cheeks, and he spoke again.
“Yours for starters, I have plans, and then we go to my bed.”