Million Dollar Christmas Proposal

“No.”

“Then your motives were as you described them. Your attraction to me made it possible to act on your desire to help your brother.”

“And Franca and Angilu. I thought I could make a difference for them, too.”

He nodded, believing that all too easily now he had gotten to know her.

Giving in to the urge that would not go away, he brushed Audrey’s lips with his own, knowing he could not afford to deepen the kiss yet. “We are done with this, sì?”

Her eyes widened with distress. “With making love?”

“With talking.” He shrugged off his own robe, letting it drop into a pile at his feet and giving Audrey an unblocked view of his arousal. “We have plans for tonight.”

“You’re very attached to your plans,” she teased, but her voice was breathy and her gaze kept getting snagged on his erection.

“I am.” Putting action to the sentiment, he led her back to the path of rose petals. “Come, we have many hours of pleasure ahead of us.”

She licked her lips and then smiled. “No early morning tomorrow?”

“No.” Mrs. Percy had already been warned not to expect him or Audrey to come for the children before lunchtime.

With the new game console Enzu had purchased for the game room, the teens had plenty to keep them occupied as well.

Enzu tugged Audrey along, the rose petals beneath their feet velvety soft against the deep plush pile of his suite’s wall-to-wall carpeting.

Audrey gasped when they came into the bedroom.

He stopped and let her take in her surroundings before asking, “You like?”

“Very much. It’s so…so romantic.”

“A woman’s first time comes only once.”

“Yes, but…”

“You will never forget this night.” He mentally shrugged off the arrogance he heard in his own tone.

She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “It could have happened in a broom closet and I wouldn’t be able to forget it.”

“Because you love me?” he found himself asking, when he’d had no intention of doing any such thing.

He clamped his jaw on any further unplanned verbalizations.

“And because you are my first.” She didn’t deny the love thing.

He poured them each a glass of champagne and handed Audrey hers before offering his glass for a toast.

“To first times.”

The crystal clinked quietly, and then they both took a sip.

Audrey’s eyes slid shut and she hummed before taking another sip. “This is very good.”

“It is an excellent vintage from the South of France.”

She laughed softly as her eyes met his again. “Of course.”

“I thought a glass of wine would help your nerves.” And if they were going to imbibe it would be something worth drinking.

“I’m not nervous.”

The honesty of that statement was obvious in the sincerity of her tone, but also the relaxed lines of her body.

“Your trust in me is humbling.” And very little made him feel that way.

“It feels right.”

“Giving yourself to me?”

“Yes.”

Because she loved him.

He let her take another sip of her champagne before removing her glass from unresisting fingers and placing both flutes, still partially full, back on the small table beside the bed.

“After tonight there is no going back. You understand this?” Their futures would be set.

For the first time anxiety flickered in her chocolate gaze. “Yes.”

“Bene.”

His kiss was intentional and deep.

Melting into him, she opened to his questing tongue without even a token resistance. Pleasure coursed through him. This woman was so perfectly matched to him sexually.

He would show her how right she was to trust him with her body so completely.

He let the kiss build until the need to touch her had become acute. What many did not understand in the type of lovemaking that excited Enzu the most was that he got as much satisfaction out of challenging his own control as that of his partner.

But the time to move things to the next step had come.

He allowed himself to caress her body through the silk of her pajama top, mapping her body’s curves—the indent of her shoulderblades, the dip of her waist, the smooth outline of her hips, the soft expanse of her stomach, the gentle ridge of her ribcage, the pillowy curves of her breasts. He cupped them, squeezing and releasing until she made a restless movement with her hips.

Enzu moved on to tease her beaded nipples, sliding his fingers over the silky fabric covering them. He pinched them lightly, enjoying the way her pajama top encouraged his skin to slide off, and then repeating the maddeningly short touch again and again.

She moaned against his lips, the sound as exciting as if she had taken his rigid sex into her hand.

He ended the kiss, once again cupping her cheeks and forcing total focus between them. “I am going to take off your top now.”

“Yes,” she breathed.

He let his eyes warm with approval as he undid the first and second buttons in quick succession, caressing her breasts with the backs of his hands. The satin fell open to reveal smooth, creamy skin.

He leaned down and pressed sensual kisses to each gentle curve of her upper breasts. Letting his tongue flick out, he tasted the silken skin.

She gasped. “Enzu.”

He undid another button, widening the gap in the fabric. It caught on the hard peaks and he let it stay there, teasing them both with her almost-nudity.

He dropped to his knees and nuzzled the fabric aside so he could take one raspberry bud into his mouth. Suckling, he teased the tip with his tongue while he skimmed his hands up the backs of her thighs to cup her naked buttocks.

Her hands landed on his shoulders, fingernails digging in hard enough that he knew he would have crescent-shaped marks there tomorrow.

“Please, Enzu, don’t tease. I need you.”

He lifted his head, giving her his most wicked smile. “You have only begun to need.”

She shook her head. “No. You don’t understand. I’ve wanted you so long.”

“And you will have me, sweet Audrey. But in my time.”

He waited until he saw acceptance in her expression. Willing her to remain still with his eyes, he finished taking her top off. It necessitated removing her hands from his shoulders, but he gave up one pleasure for the promise of a greater one.

She stood silent, still, completely exposed before him.

He had never been so turned on, and if he was not careful he would climax before he ever got inside her.

In an explosion of movement that made her cry out in surprise, he surged up and then lifted her into his arms. Showing her trust in him, she did not scramble to hold onto his neck, though both hands touched his chest, fingers splayed as if she sought to maximize the connection.

He laid her against the pile of pillows, stopping to enjoy the way the royal-blue silk set off her milky skin. Her hair fanned out over the pillow under her head in enticing disarray.

“Molto bèdda,” he praised.

“The view’s not bad from here, either.” She smiled up at him, eyes half-mast with sensual appreciation.

She did not resist when he guided her hands to grip the iron bars of his specially designed headboard, stretching her body and arching her back so her breasts were on tempting display.

With careful hands he arranged her legs so they were spread wide and bent at the knees, pillows placed strategically for her ease.

“Are you comfortable?” he asked, his throat tight with intense desire.

She was blushing like the innocent she was, but she nodded.

“Words, biddùzza. I need actual words.”

“Yes, I’m comfortable.”

“Bene. If you become uncomfortable you can move, or ask me to move you.”

&nb

sp; “Ask you to move me?” she inquired in a tone laced with confusion.

“There is great pleasure in leaving the responsibility of every element of your comfort and pleasure up to me, amore.”

“It doesn’t seem fair.”

“If it is my own preference it is a fair exchange. Trust for trustworthiness. Ceded control for beneficial restraint. Pleasure for equal pleasure.”

“Yes,” she breathed out.

As he knew she would.