His praise hit me right in the chest. “So. Fucking. Beautiful.”
“Daniello.” I whimpered as my hips buckled and my orgasm breached.
“Cover my cock,” he growled before he thrust up and jerked my hips back and forth with bruising fingers. My orgasm spiked to an explosion, and I screamed out his name in defeat as my body pulsed and shuddered.
Daniello pulled air through his teeth, pushed me onto my back, and dipped his head between my thighs, sucking my clit as I quaked beneath him, gasping. He fed and fed until I was drawn tight and went over. Once satisfied, he lifted my lower half off the floor and buried himself as I choked on the fullness.
His eyes closed as a powerful current passed between us, and my heart tightened when he opened them.
“Phoenix.”
“Don’t stop.”
“Jesus Christ,” he grunted out while he pumped furiously until we were both in a frenzy, breathless and full of emotion. Hot tears streamed down my face, stemming from pleasure, our connection, and belonging. Because it had never been clearer.
I belonged to Daniello.
I came, clenching him as he submerged himself. One powerful thrust after another, praise and lust in his eyes. His cock jerked as he brought himself down to the carpet to hover above me. He moved us both while he gripped my hair and slammed his lips against mine, invading my mouth with a hungry tongue. Answering that hunger with my own, I gripped his shoulders as I pulsed under him before detonating. With one last thrust, I felt him fill me before he ripped himself away and spilled over, his fist pumping the very last of him onto my chest.
He collapsed next to me as we lay recovering on the carpet, both moved and speechless.
Minutes later, I gripped Daniello’s hand and turned to him with a smile. “I’m willing to bet the blissfully ignorant don’t vacation like this.”
Daniello’s dead expression wiped the smile right off my face.
“What’s wrong?”
Daniello’s golden eyes swept my body as he stood and gripped my hand. “We must go.”
“Why must we go?”
I felt my heart sink as he distanced himself from me and began to dress. “Rocco is not a happy man.”
“That’s not news.” I slipped on one of the three sundresses I’d purchased at a local shop and played immune to his sudden indifference, though it tore me to shreds. Whatever was happening between us wasn’t supposed to be happening. This much we knew. Still, as I checked the room for any of my newly purchased possessions, I felt the weight of his stare.
“What, Daniello? Just say it.” I braved a glance his way as he cast his eyes away.
“Let us go.”
On the way back to Charleston, Daniello kept his eyes on the highway as I masked my sulking in my seat. Indifference. I knew indifference. I’d been its whore.
“Your GPA is down.”
I gave Ray big eyes. “I’ve been up late a lot lately.” My smug smile was ignored as he tore into me. Blue eyes scorned me from across the table. “Don’t waste my money.”
“I’m not wasting your money. It’s a half point. I can handle a half point.”
He forked a bite of his steak. “Long days and late nights are the way to success.”
I sipped my white wine, exasperated. “Maybe if I cut out the exercise. Lord knows I’m getting enough with my gentlemen caller.”
Ray’s jaw flexed, his lips tight. “This isn’t fucking funny.”
“Jesus, stop playing the part of father.” I rolled my eyes and jumped when he knocked my plate from underneath me.
Incredulous, I lashed out. “I was hungry!”
“Stay that way!” He moved to get up with his plate in hand. “I’ll dine in my bedroom.”