He brought the car to a growling halt in the garage, walked around to Lilly’s side and pulled her out. “You’re paying for that,” he promised, pushing her in front of him and out of the garage. “That was seriously stupid, Lilly.”
His wife appeared not to care. In fact she stood there, her cat’s eyes challenging him, focused on him, as he unlocked the door to the villa. He urged her inside and locked it. The want in her gaze undid him.
He threw her over his shoulder and headed upstairs.
“You know I like this,” she teased.
“Your payment hasn’t even begun.”
He set her down on the floor of their bedroom, then shrugged out of his shirt, ripped off his belt and ditched his pants. Lilly’s eyes were big as saucers as he pushed her against the wall and ran his hand over the soft flesh of her breasts, temptingly full under her cotton dress, then down over her trembling stomach.
“Ric—”
He moved his hands over her hips and under the flirty dress that had been driving him crazy all night. Her flesh was warm, and toned, and control was in short supply.
“Feel free to tell me when the punishment is over.”
He pushed her thighs apart and slid the heel of his hand up over the heat of her. “You will know.”
She was trembling under his hands. He reached up, snagged his fingers in the sides of her barely-there thong and pulled it down over her long legs. She was beautiful and intoxicating, his Lilly, and she whispered something unintelligible as he stood and buried his fingers in her hair, kissing her senseless. She had the most perfect lips he’d ever encountered in a woman—full, perfectly shaped, and without a collagen injection in sight. And if he hadn’t been so intent on teaching her a lesson he would have suggested she wrap them around another part of his anatomy.
But payback was paramount. He slid a hand between her thighs, seeking and finding her hot wetness. She moaned and pressed closer, inviting him in as he slid a finger inside her.
“Ric—”she said brokenly, shaking like a leaf.
“Not over,” he said harshly, adding another finger and working her in a rhythm he knew would send her close to the edge.
Her breathing was quick and tortured against his mouth. Her hips writhed against his hand. And he knew the point at which she would beg...
“Please—I—”
He removed his fingers from her and pushed her toward the bed. “I never make a promise I don’t keep, amore mio.”
The front of her knees butted up against the edge of the mattress. He placed a palm in the small of her back and pushed her forward until her hands were braced on the bed.
“Almost over,” he murmured. “Because I know you like it like this too.”
She bit back a gasp as he pushed her dress up and nudged her legs apart.
“Ric—”
“Shh.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss against her back. “Keep your hands there and don’t move.”
She stayed where she was. He felt his composure waver as he brushed himself against the wet heat of her, hard steel against soft velvet. Lilly groaned and grasped the bedcovers. She was as hot for him as he was for her, but he kept a torturous hold on himself as he slid into her slowly, inch by inch. She was incredibly vulnerable in this position and he needed her trust.
“Good?” he asked hoarsely, giving her body a chance to adjust to the size and girth of him.
She let out a strangled, urgent moan. He closed his eyes and let himself go. Let the desperate urgency of a man who was haunted by a woman take over as he drove into the tight, wet heat that embraced him like a glove.
Too long he had wanted her. Too much he had missed her.
His hands tightened on her hips as he took her close to the edge, then pulled back, wanting this to last, wanting to torture her as she’d tortured him. Wanting to give them both maximum pleasure. But his body tensed and swelled; his mind fixed on the torturously perfect fit of being inside of her again. Then the world splintered apart.
He wanted, needed her to be there with him, and he almost cried out with relief when he felt her body contract around his, drawing out his own release until his harsh moan split the night air. The tightening of her body rolled over him like a shockwave, sending surge after surge of explosive pleasure through him.
Dio. He scooped her trembling body off the bed and sat down with her limbs wrapped around him. She buried her head in his shoulder as if she couldn’t bear to break the connection. And the force of his emotion hit him like a tidal wave, stealing his breath.
He was not over her. He was not even close to being over her.
She had walked out on him without a backward glance. He had spent every night after that for at least a month thinking she would change her mind and come home.
She hadn’t.
He stood up with an abrupt movement and deposited Lilly on the bed. She stared up at him, a dazed look on her face, all tangled long limbs and physical satiation.
Great sex, he told himself. That’s all it is. But it was enough to severely mess a man’s head up.
“I’m going to go make sure everything’s locked up,” he said roughly.
She was curled in a ball on her side of the bed when he came back. A tightness seized his belly so strong he almost reached down to gather her in his arms. But he kept his hands clenched tightly by his sides.
She deserved to suffer.
He’d suffered every night for a year. Let her feel his pain.
CHAPTER TEN
LILLY PEEKED HER head around her sister Lisbeth’s hospital room door, checking to see if she was awake. Their brother David, who’d driven Lisbeth down to New York last night for a series of tests before her treatment abroad, was sitting in a chair by the window.
“Lilly!” Lisbeth practically screamed the word across the room at her, her blue eyes shining brightly. “You’re here!”
Lilly crossed the room, gave her older brother a hug, then pressed a kiss to her sister’s cheek. Lisbeth had an IV tube sticking out of her arm and looked so pale and small that a lump formed in her throat. This had to work. There was no alternative.
“Where is Riccardo? Did you bring him?”
Lilly shook her head and sat back. She needed to tell Riccardo about Lisbeth, and soon, because she and Alex intended on going to Switzerland with her. But it never seemed like the right time—not with the rollercoaster of emotion going on between them. “I will soon, sweetie. How are you feeling?”
Her sister made a face. “Crappy, but the doctor’s hoping after all this I’m going to feel a whole lot better.”
Lilly’s heart contracted, feeling too big for her chest. “Six weeks, Lizzie. You can do it.”
“Does you and Riccardo being back together mean I can come stay with you guys when I’m better?” Lisbeth looked at her with eager eyes.
Lilly kept her face straight, because to do anything else would be to reveal far too much to her sister and brother about her and Riccardo’s relationship. “You can come stay with us anytime.”
You can come stay with me anytime.
A satisfied smile curved her sister’s lips. “I think I need a life.”
Lilly squeezed her hand. “Conserve your energy so we can fight this battle together. Then we’ll talk about it.”
They stayed until Lisbeth got tired and David had to leave for home. Kissing their sister goodbye, they walked out into the hallway.
“She’s going to be okay, right?” Lilly asked, looking up at her older brother.
David pulled her into a hug. “Of course she is.”
She hugged him tight, her head feeling far, far too full. She loved her serious, hardworking sibling, even with his strict sense of right and wrong—which had clearly labeled her and Alex’s defection nine years ago wrong. Seeing him again after so long—what had it been? A year and a half? Two years—reminded her how much she missed him.
Her brother pulled back. “You okay? You look like hell, sis.”
No. She most definitely was not okay. But she couldn’t talk to David about it.
“I’m fine. Just worried.”
“Pretty damn amazing we can get her this treatment. She’ll be fine, Lil. We didn’t raise her to be a strong, sturdy farmgirl for nothing.”
She nodded. “You sure you want to head back tonight? You could stay and start out early tomorrow. A few hours isn’t going to make a difference.”
“It will the way things are now.” Her brother rubbed a hand against his face. “Even with the extra money you’ve been sending and the extra help we’ve hired we’ve all been working from sun-up till sun-down.”
Guilt mixed with the maelstrom of emotion swirling through her. She felt as if she was hanging on by a thread. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You know we had to go.”
The lines of fatigue softened around the corners of his mouth. “I know. In some ways I think Mom and Dad even understand too. But staying away isn’t going to change the past. It’s only driving the wedge deeper and deeper between you guys.”