The Girl That Love Forgot

“Are you sure?” he said softly.

Ruthlessly, he took her in his arms. His broad, rough hands cupped her chin, tilting her face upward. She saw his lips curve wickedly beneath the dappled sunlight.

And he lowered his mouth to hers.

She tensed, expecting him to ravish and plunder her mouth, almost expecting him to roughly take her with force.

Instead, to her shock, his lips were warm and tender. His sensual mouth moved against hers gently, luring her, tempting her to pleasure, and against her will, she melted into his arms.

She felt dizzy, swirling in a whirlwind of bliss and need. She felt his hard chest crushing her breasts. His skin was hot and silky beneath the trail of hair. He was so powerful.

He could have taken her at his will. But he had no need to force her.

Annabelle found herself kissing him back with trembling, innocent lips.

He deepened the embrace, pulling her more tightly into his arms. Her lips melded with his as he guided her, teaching her the rhythm. His hands softly stroked her back, up and down.

He parted her lips with his tongue, and as she felt him brush inside her mouth, a gasp of pleasure came from the back of her throat.

Annabelle’s knees trembled. She twisted her arms around his neck, holding on for dear life. His hands moved to her hips and he held her firmly, keeping her close and tight against his body.

His tongue teased her mouth, tasting the corners of her lips, entwining and dancing with her trembling tongue. Pleasure cascaded in waves down her body. His kiss was hungry, his body hot and hard against hers. He held her against him, not allowing her to escape or deny his sensual demand. As if she could …

Her first kiss. She was lost in sensation, overwhelmed with desire. The whole world seemed to shrink to their physical points of contact, to his strong arms around her, to his hard, naked chest, to the fiery heat of his lips against her own.

His kiss changed. His lips no longer softly lured her. They became more demanding.

Stefano no longer tried to convince her. He simply took what he wanted. He kissed her savagely, hungrily, hard enough to bruise. Clutching his shoulders, Annabelle kissed him back with the same force, with all her pent-up need of her lonely life.

Her mind was long gone, her body possessed. She only knew she had to kiss him or die. And it was so good she almost wept …

It seemed minutes or hours later that Stefano pulled away.

“And you still say,” he breathed against her temple, “that you did not need to be kissed?”

Eyes still closed, Annabelle pressed her cheek against his chest. Her heart was beating so fast. Her lips were bruised. She felt warm sunlight on her skin. His strong arms felt like a shield, protecting her from the hard, cold world.

He stroked her hair tenderly. “How long has it been, querida? ”

“What?” she whispered, dazed.

He smiled down at her. “Since you last took a lover.”

She blinked. Then she stared up at him in slowly dawning horror. Her heart pounded in her throat as all the passion and heat and fire turned to cold ash inside her.

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; You’ll never have me, Stefano, she’d said. Never.

She’d lied. The playboy was seducing her.

Annabelle sucked in her breath as waves of fear whipped through her. She couldn’t let it happen. She couldn’t! If she gave her virginity to a playboy like Stefano, she would lose everything. Her heart. Her soul.

While thirty seconds after Stefano had possessed her, he would forget her and move on to his next conquest!

With a gasp, she pulled away. Turning, she started to stumble back through the shadowed forest.

“Where are you going?” he demanded.