Chills of sensation washed over her from that tiny touch.
“Do you like that?” he asked in a hushed tone.
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s give it another test, then.” This time he teased the shell of her ear before tugging on her lobe with gentle teeth and then placing hot, wet kisses to the super-sensitive spot behind it.
She groaned. “I like it.”
A small huff of laughter sent air across the sensitized skin and left goosebumps in its wake. “You are very responsive, amore.”
“You are very practiced.”
“No lover is exactly like another, believe me.”
“You’re trying to say it’s different with me?” she asked in disbelief.
“Sì.”
She shook her head.
“Did we not just establish I would not lie to you?”
“But—”
“When I touch you, you are the only woman in my arms, the only one in my mind.”
Her throat constricted with emotion and she could find no words to reply, so she did the one thing she knew that to this point she’d been good at.
She kissed him.
He allowed it for scant seconds before taking over the meshing of their mouths, claiming hers with his tongue. His taste melded with hers, creating an addictive flavor.
They moved through the water, but she could not be bothered to lift her head and see in what direction they went. She trusted her body to his care as she melted into the kiss.
Water receded against her skin, indicating that they were moving into the shallow end of the pool. And then he shifted and she felt a solid sloped surface against her back. The pool steps were flanked by foot-wide ramps that could be used for a steadying hand to enter the water and he must have laid her down on one.
He broke the kiss to lean up, away from her. “Let me have your T-shirt.”
She didn’t think about denying him. It wasn’t as if the garment kept her modesty anyway. According to him, it was more exciting than if she’d simply left it off.
But he wanted it off now, and so did she. She craved the sensation of wet, naked skin against skin.
She took hold of her hem and began to peel the wet T-shirt from her body. He helped, his hands sliding against her skin. Whether by accident or design, she didn’t care. Every little touch excited, making her need more.
He did something with her T-shirt and then put it down behind her.
“I want to touch you.” His voice was thick with desire.
Unable to speak, she nodded.
His gaze burning into hers, he reached around behind her and undid the clasps on her bikini.
Her hands went of their own volition to her chest, holding the triangles of cloth in place. “What about your father? Will he come down here?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“He does not have access.”
“What about—?”
“No one will interrupt us.”
“What if—?”
He placed one masculine finger against her lips. “Shhh. This is my sanctuary. No one will bother us, unless there is an emergency even Devon cannot handle.”
“Is that your standing order for your time down here?”
“Sì, though I have a light on the access panel I can turn to green if I am merely looking to relax, not get away completely.”
“It’s not green right now.”
“No, amore, it is most definitely red.”
“Good.” Mustering her courage, she let her hands fall away from her bikini top.
The wet fabric clung to her breasts.
Vincenzo’s hands raised to hover a hair’s breadth from touching. “May I?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
He pulled the fabric away and tossed her top to the side of the pool, the blue fire of his gaze never breaking from hers. “Molto bèdda.”
“You aren’t looking.” Air rushed over her wet skin, making her already tight nipples tingle and sending arrows of pleasures directly to her core.
“Aren’t I?” he asked as his mouth drew closer to her own.
There was a message here, but she could not decipher it. Rather than trying to figure it out, she shifted her head so their lips met.
Vincenzo hummed in masculine approval as his arms came around her, his hands settling on her naked back. Her excited peaks brushed his hair-covered chest and she shivered in reaction to the cascade of sensation that caused.
He pressed their lips together more harshly than he’d ever done, his mouth possessive and insistent. The kiss was different than any they’d shared so far, and it required a response unlike any she’d given.
As demanding as the kiss was, there was also an element of seeking. Vincenzo wanted something from her and his sensual persistence indicated he was intent on getting it.
She didn’t know what he needed. Permission? Sexual submission? The release of the reins she held so tightly on her own passion? For the first time in her life Audrey wanted to give him all of it.
Winding her arms around his neck, she melted into Vincenzo, determined to hold nothing back.
His growl of approval sent pleasure zinging through her. Trusting him completely in this, she didn’t tense up as he tilted her back again.
Her nape settled against her T-shirt, her head comfortably held away from the hard slope she rested on. She vaguely realized in that small part of her brain still capable of logical thought that he’d rolled the wet cotton into a neck pillow.
The thoughtful provision for her comfort warmed her heart even as her body thrummed with sexual energy.
Vincenzo moved his mouth along her jaw, placing arousing kisses over her face and down her neck. Each caress of his lips felt like a brand, marking her as his.
A moment of chilling clarity washed over her. This would change her forever. Vincenzo’s lovemaking would ruin her for other men.
As if sensing the weight of her thoughts, he lifted his head, his handsome face set in stark lines of desire. “What is it, Audrey?”
No endearments. He wanted truth.
She couldn’t have dissembled if she’d wanted to. “I won’t be the same after tonight.”
“No, biddùzza, you will not.”
“No other man will touch me like you do.” She didn’t mean technique; she meant in her soul.
“No other men.”
The harshness of his tone did not bother her. Though he didn’t mean it as a long-term declaration, she still wallowed in the possessiveness of the words.
“There is only us.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
Without another word he lowered his head again, his tongue flicking out to trace her collarbone.
Audrey’s entire body shuddered.
He slid his mouth down, kissing the top of her breast with suction that she knew would leave a mark. The thought of having proof of his touch on her body tomorrow made the flesh between her legs throb with pleasure and need.
The water lapped against her breasts, the waves caused by the movement of his body sending it over her nipples. Impossible to anticipate, each occasional caress of water over the highly sensitized flesh sent jolts of bliss through her.
Her hands scrabbled against the slick tile under her, but she couldn’t find any purchase to ground herself.
Vincenzo leaned back, a dark smile curving his lips. “Will you trust me, Audrey?”
“I do.” More than made sense.
The smile turned into something predatory, but there was also an unexpected vulnerability in the depths of his blue eyes.
He took both her arms and pressed them over her head, wrapping his own fingers around hers so that one hand clasped her other wrist. “Keep them there.”
Instead of anxiety, like she would have expected, peace settled over Audrey. Vincenzo expected nothing from her but her honest response to his touch. She did not have to wonder how to touch him, how to excite him.
His actions took the stress of her
lack of experience away, leaving only desire behind. Unfettered by distress, her excitement broke over her in devastating waves.
He released her hands, clearly trusting her to keep them above her head. His fingers trailed down her arm and continued across her skin, leaving goosebumps of delight in their wake.
His hand stopped, fingers resting on her breast so lightly she shouldn’t be able to feel them.
But the barely-there touch felt like each fingertip kissed her skin with fire, licks of pure sensation radiating around her aureole. He drew his fingers together, converging on her nipple.
A moan of pleasure snaked out of her throat.
“You are very sensitive to my touch.” His fingers pressed more tightly on her peaked flesh, twisting gently. “I wonder how you will respond to my mouth.”
Heat flushed her body at his words.
His head lowered tormentingly slowly toward her breast. Their gazes locked.
The sight of him touching her so intimately mixed with the physical sensation, increasing her pleasure nearly beyond what she could stand.
She arched toward him, but he laid his other hand on her stomach, gently pressing down. Audrey let her body relax.
Vincenzo smiled. “Bene. Good.” His mouth finally covered her other nipple, his tongue flicking the tip before his teeth carefully worried it.
Audrey cried out, the sensation so intense it had to have an outlet.
His hand slid from her breast down her body until his fingertips rested against the top seam of her bikini bottoms. Vincenzo brushed his hand side to side, his fingertips slipping beneath the fabric.