The Temporary Mrs. Marchetti

She shrugged off her light coat and let it drop to the floor. Then she unzipped her dress and let it puddle at her feet before she stepped out of it, leaving her in bra and knickers and heels.

His eyes turned black, his mouth compressed until his lips disappeared. ‘Don’t.’

‘Don’t what?’ Alice said, unhooking her bra and tossing it to the floor near his feet. ‘I’m having fun, aren’t you?’

He kicked her bra out of the way and came to her before she could remove anything else. He took her by the upper arms, his fingers gripping her so tightly she was sure they would leave marks. ‘Why must you always fight me at every turn?’ he said.

Alice glared back at him. ‘I’ll fight you until you start treating me as an equal.’

‘Then start behaving like an adult instead of a child.’

She pushed her naked breasts against the hard wall of his chest. ‘How’s this for acting like a grown-up?’ She slid her hand down between their bodies to touch his swollen length. ‘And this?’

His mouth came crashing down on hers as if some formerly strong leash of self-control inside him had finally snapped. It wasn’t a kiss of tenderness, of exploring and rediscovering, but a kiss of raw, rampant hunger.

Alice kissed him back with the same frantic need, their tongues duelling, fighting—a heated, potent combat that made her senses careen out of control. She tore at his clothes, tugging off his shirt with no concern for the buttons. She barely registered the plink, plink, plink of them hitting the marble floor. Next she unhooked his belt and slipped it from his trouser lugs, letting it drop to the floor at their feet.

His hands shoved her knickers down past her thighs, his fingers stroking her damp heat with devastating expertise. The pleasure came at her from nowhere, ambushing her, throwing her into a whirling tailspin that left her gasping.

But no way was she allowing this to be a one-way affair. She ripped his zipper down and freed him into her hands, massaging him as she fed off his mouth, using her tongue against his to remind him of the sensual assault she had in mind for him. He made a guttural sound—a sound so utterly primal it made her insides quiver in excitement.

He wrenched her hand away with a muttered curse, his mouth coming back down on hers with a fireball of passion. He walked her backwards to the nearest wall, part walk, part stumble, and roughly stepped out of his trousers and shoes.

Alice broke the kiss to peel her knickers the rest of the way down her legs and kick off her heels. Cristiano tugged her by the hips back against him, letting her feel the full force of his arousal. Her hand went to him again, while her eyes met his. She loved watching the waves of pleasure contort his handsome features. It was the only time she had ever seen him lose control.

‘Wait,’ he said, breathing hard. ‘Condom call.’

Alice would have thrown caution to one side like her clothes, but knew it would be irresponsible given their circumstances. Not that she didn’t allow herself a tiny moment, while he sourced a condom from his wallet, to wonder what it would be like to carry his child.

Cristiano came back to her, one hand going to the wall next to her head, his mouth pressing a hot kiss to the side of her neck, and then over her collarbone and then to her breasts. His tongue stroked each upper curve before circling the nipple, in ever tightening circles until he took the nipple into his mouth, drawing on it in a sensual suck that made the hairs on Alice’s head stand on end as if pulled from above.

He kissed his way back up to her mouth, taking it in a deep, plundering kiss that left her clawing at his body for the release she craved. He moved between her legs, lifting one of her legs up and anchoring it on his hip before entering her with a sure, swift thrust that made her gasp out loud.

It had been so long!

He set a fast rhythm as if he knew the sweet and savage agony her body was going through. He drove into her moist heat with determined purpose, his breathing just as ragged as hers. Alice gripped him by the shoulders, her fingers digging into his muscled flesh as the wave bro

ke over her. A smashing wave that tossed her into a spinning whirlpool that shook and shuddered through her body. And then another and another followed in its wake, leaving her boneless, spent and quivering all over with aftershocks.

He continued to rock against her until he came with a deep groan of release, his body shuddering as it emptied, his breath hot and rapid against the side of her neck.

Alice unlocked her fingers and slid her hands down his arms and back up again. ‘You certainly haven’t lost your touch. But I guess you’ve had plenty of practice.’

He pulled away from her and removed the condom. Then he bent to pick up his trousers and stepped back into them. ‘I’m not going to apologise for having a life.’

Alice stepped past him and scooped up his shirt and slipped her arms through the sleeves, drawing it around her naked body, figuring it was quicker than fumbling around the floor for her clothes, which seemed to be strewn from one end of the foyer to the other. ‘Are you suggesting I haven’t got one?’

He gave her a levelling look. ‘You haven’t dated in over a year. Why?’

Alice pursed her lips, locking her arms even tighter around her body where she was trying to hold his shirt in place. ‘I’ve been busy at work. I’m always too exhausted at the end of the day for trawling around the nightclubs or online for a sex buddy. Thanks to your extremely generous grandmother, I can now indulge myself for the next six months with you. Lucky me.’

A line of tension pulled at his mouth. ‘Is that all you want from men? Sex?’

‘Not all men,’ Alice said. ‘Only the ones I can bring myself to sleep with.’ She stepped forwards and trailed a fingertip down his bare arm. ‘You tick all the boxes. You’re rich, good-looking and you know your way around a woman’s body. Oh, and you always have a condom handy. That’s always a bonus.’

His hand capturing her wrist, he searched her gaze for a long pulsing moment. ‘You’re twenty-eight years old. Don’t you want more for your life now than work and no-strings sex?’

Alice closed her mind to the image it kept throwing up of a tiny dark-haired baby with raisin-black eyes. ‘Nope. Do you?’