An apprehensive frown dented her smooth pale brow and then she managed an uncertain laugh, for she knew he could only be joking. ‘I wouldn’t go quite that far…’
‘I think you’ll go as far as I want you to, mia bella.’ He tasted her soft, parted lips with slow, burning precision.
It was like watching a flame dance closer to dynamite; her tummy flipped and her body quivered in expectation. He lifted his arrogant dark head again to scan her with gleaming golden eyes and then he kissed her again with a hot violence of demand that left her clinging to his shoulders to stay upright.
He drew her hands down and removed her bra. Ignoring her startled indrawn breath, he caught her fingers in his before she could turn away in an instinctive need to conceal her nakedness. Appreciative golden eyes lingered on the small pouting swells adorned by coral-pink tips.
‘I’ve missed your body…’ Lucca confided.
Her flush of embarrassment started at her collarbone. Pleased though she was by the sentiment, she felt naked and exposed and far too much the focus of attention.
‘I shall enjoy becoming reacquainted with it,’ Lucca declared, letting his thumbs rub over the tender swollen peaks of her breasts and watching her jerk and strangle a responsive gasp in her throat. Bending down, he lifted her up off her feet into his arms.
‘W-where are we going with this? I mean…you and me?’ Vivien stammered awkwardly.
‘My bed…don’t ask trick questions,’ Lucca advised. ‘You’re not subtle enough.’
He laid her down onto the vast smooth expanse of the divan. He had told no lies. He had been straight with her, Lucca told himself squarely. If she chose to play the eternal optimist and reach other assumptions, it was not his problem. He wanted her and she was willing. Why make it any more complicated than that? The low light gilded the silky tumble of her fair hair, accentuating the pale delicacy of her skin and the flawless grace of her slender figure.
He was holding her wrists to the bed to keep her entrapped and a shy smile softened the anxious line of her reddened lips, for the intensity with which he was visually devouring her prone length could only entrance her. There was nothing suspect about the level of his interest. It certainly wasn’t a cruel tease. He really, really wanted her. The question of how m
uch he might have wanted Bliss Masterson threatened to intrude and, like someone slamming the door shut on hell, she shut off that thought-train fast.
‘You’re really beautiful…in your little way,’ Lucca completed almost roughly, handsome jaw line squaring as if he was afraid such a compliment might give her ideas above her station.
‘That’s just what you think,’ she dared.
‘Doesn’t Fabian think the same thing?’
‘Fabian?’ Her luminous eyes widened in bewilderment, for she could not think how he had become aware even of the existence of the other man, but was not sufficiently concerned by that mystery to enquire into it. ‘I shouldn’t think he has ever considered my looks. Like me, he’s much more interested in practical things—’
‘Dio mio…what a very sensible attitude,’ Lucca murmured between gritted teeth, displeased by the airy manner in which she twinned her own nature to that of another man. ‘But then what I think is at this moment…all that should count, bellezza.’
Her heart clenched at the assurance. ‘It does count—’
‘So stop trying to edge below the sheet to hide from me. It’s been a long time. Let me savour the view,’ he urged, directing his attention to the bikini panties she still wore and peeling them off. ‘That’s better…’
Dark golden eyes flared over her in a sensually assessing arc of confidence and he stepped back to remove his boxer shorts. He was fully aroused and more encouraged than inhibited by an audience. Her face burned hot. She closed her eyes but a wicked tingling had begun low in her belly.
‘Look at me…’ Lucca ordered thickly as he came down beside her.
Her lashes lifted. He let a knowing fingertip delicately trace the tender thrust of her pink nipples. Her spine arched, arrows of fire shooting to the tight hollow centre of her and she gasped, ‘Lucca…’
He bent his dark head and the tip of his tongue stroked the straining tips and her hips shifted against the sheet, intolerable heat beginning to burn the sensitive flesh between her thighs. It had been so long since she was touched and she was shattered by the strength of her own response. She clenched her hands tightly by her sides, striving for control and then losing it just as fast and spearing her fingers into his luxuriant black hair to hold him to her.
He stretched up and pulled her down to him, dipping his tongue in a hungry, sexy forage into the tender interior of her mouth. Again and again he penetrated between her lips until she had both arms wound round him tight to trade kiss for kiss. Her heart was hammering so hard she could only breathe in fevered snatches.
He rolled her half under him and discovered the damp liquid heat between her slender thighs.
‘You need me, cara…’ With a husky laugh of male appreciation, he explored the slick, silken depths of her with expert fingers. The pleasure was a torment that made her twist and turn and moan. She was lost in passion, overwhelmed by the frantic hunger of her own body.
‘Lucca, please…’ she heard herself plead and she didn’t care. The wanting inside her had reached such a peak she was utterly controlled by it and helpless.
He flipped her back and plunged into her with an earthy groan. Her slight frame jerked in sexual shock from the power of that invasion and the hot glide of his rigid shaft as he penetrated her. He pushed her legs high, ground deeper into her. Her excitement flared to fever pitch. In the midst of that wildness that she had never known with him before, she dimly recognised the difference in him, but the raw, helpless pleasure taking her by storm wiped out every other awareness. Sensation sent her rushing to an explosive peak and the shattering release of joyous abandonment rippled through her in wave after wave of delight.
In the aftermath of that sensual storm, Vivien was weak and in shock. She wrapped her arms tight round Lucca while he was struggling to recapture his breath. She felt incredibly happy. They were together again, Vivien thought, weak with relief and gratitude for the opportunity. Yes, lots of things still had to be ironed out, but essentially their separation was over and they were at the outset of a new beginning in their marriage.
‘Life just wasn’t life without you,’ she mumbled in the grip of her emotions and trying very hard not to get weepy, but it was difficult because she was on a high.