The lift doors opened and Liv gave a gasp of surprise as he scooped her easily into his arms and carried her into his apartment.
‘Stefano, you can’t—’ Her faint protest was smothered by the possessive demands of his mouth and her wrap slid to the floor, closely followed by the silver bag.
Without lifting his head from hers, he carried her through to his bedroom and then lowered her gently to the floor.
Beyond the huge glass windows stretched the winter wonderland that was Hyde Park, but Liv was so dazed from his kiss and from the look in his glittering dark eyes that she couldn’t focus on anything except him. For her, Christmas was in this apartment, with this man.
Cupping her face in his hands, Stefano brought his mouth down on hers again and this time she just melted against him, so excited that she could hardly breathe. He kissed her slowly and thoroughly and with such skill and expertise that her body threatened to explode. Lost in his kiss, she barely felt the sensual slide of his strong hands over her body and when her dress pooled on the floor she gave a murmur of shock and pulled away slightly.
‘Stefano—’
‘You have the most amazing body,’ he said hoarsely and the raw appreciation in his eyes doused the sudden flicker of insecurity that had threatened to disturb the moment.
He tipped her back onto the bed and came down on top of her, his expert hands tracing every contour of her shivering, excited body. His mouth lingered on the sliver of lace that framed the tantalising dip between her breasts and then suddenly she was naked from the waist up, totally exposed to his disturbing masculine gaze.
Blindly wondering how he managed to undress her without her even noticing, Liv was just about to protest when he drew his tongue over one pink-tipped nipple and she felt a spasm of sexual heat connecting with the most intimate part of her. With a moan of disbelief, she arched against his clever mouth and with the skilled flick of his tongue and fingers he drove all traces of shyness from her brain.
Liv was no longer thinking about the fact that she was virtually naked. Neither did she care that the moon was providing sufficient light for him to enjoy a leisurely visual survey of her body.
Her body ached and throbbed and she writhed her hips against the silk sheets, needing him to touch her but far too shy to ask. The air vibrated with sexual tension but Stefano took his time, driving her to screaming pitch with the deliberate touch of his mouth and his fingers. When he slowly drew away from her and stood up, she almost sobbed out a protest and then realised that he was removing his own clothes. His eyes didn’t once leave hers as he swiftly dispensed with his shirt and dropped those lean, clever fingers to the button of his trousers.
His chest was broad and muscular, the bronzed skin darkened with crisp curls of male hair that drew the eye inexorably downwards over his board-flat abdomen to the bold thrust of his erection.
He discarded his clothes in a careless heap and his firm mouth curved into a sexy smile full of masculine promise.
The mattress dipped as he came down beside her and Liv felt her stomach knot in wicked anticipation as he slid a hard, muscular thigh over her legs, trapping her.
‘Do you know how long I have waited for this?’ With an appreciative murmur, he slid a leisurely hand down her body and Liv shivered with helpless longing.
She would have expected to feel self-conscious, but he was looking at her with such a blaze of sexual hunger that it was impossible to feel anything other than beautiful and seductive.
When his clever mouth closed over one pink nipple she gasped, and as his warm, strong hand slid confidently over her thigh she shifted her hips to try and relieve the nagging ache that was building inside her.
She didn’t feel like herself. Everything about her world suddenly seemed different. She was hot, burning and just dizzy with longing as he introduced her to an eroticism that she’d never before known.
Her fingers slid over the hard muscle of his shoulders and he lifted his head and looked at her, his glittering eyes half-shielded by thick, black lashes.
‘You are spectacular.’ He shifted slightly and brought his mouth down on hers and every single part of her shivered and quivered with agonising sexual tension. Their eyes held as his tongue danced with hers and Liv squirmed underneath him, her thigh sliding against the rough hardness of his.
His hand slid between her legs and she cried out as she felt the expert stroke of his fingers touching her moist femininity. The pleasure was so wickedly intense that the world around her suddenly ceased to exist and there was nothing but him.
‘Stefano…’ She gasped his name against his mouth in a desperate plea and he shifted her underneath him in a swift, decisive move.
‘I need you now,’ he groaned thickly, ‘I can’t wait.’
Liv felt the hard probe of his erection against her and dug her nails into his shoulder. As she arched her hips towards him, he slid his hand into her hair and for a moment he stared down into her eyes, his gaze fierce and hot. Then he shifted his weight and sank into her with a purposeful thrust that drew a harsh groan from the back of his throat and a startled gasp from her.
He was powerfully male and for a moment the feel of him inside her was so overwhelming that she couldn’t move or breathe. His eyes were dark and demanding, the atmosphere was steamy and hot and each thrust of his body drove her deeper and deeper into an ecstasy that she’d never known before.
The excitement bordered on terrifying and as he drove her higher and higher she clung to the hard muscle of his shoulders. Consumed by unbearable pleasure, her world exploded in a shower of exquisite sensation and her body tightened around his as she fell, spiralling down and down in a dizzying, endless tumble of ecstasy.
Stefano groaned in agonising pleasure and reached his own peak, his passion so intense and demanding that it prolonged her own pulsing excitement. Liv wrapped her arms around him, holding him as tightly as he was holding her, shocked and dazed by sensation and wishing that they could stay like this for ever.
* * *
She woke to bright sunshine and the knowledge that she was naked in Stefano’s arms.
Memories of the night before filled her head but her initial rush of elation was swiftly swamped by her old feelings of insecurity. Conscious that moonlight created a very different atmosphere from the harsh honesty of daylight, Liv felt a sudden desperate urge to put some clothes on and wondered how she was going to extract herself without waking him up.