The Untamed Argentinian

‘And you did,’ he reassured her. ‘Now it’s time for you to think about Bella Wheeler for a change…’

And as he kissed her she thought that might, at long last, be possible—except there would always be that same thing holding her back—Bella’s hidden flaw. ‘I can’t,’ she said, pulling free from Nero’s embrace.

‘You can’t?’ Nero’s ebony brows rose, though his eyes were as warm and as passionate as they had ever been.

‘You asked me if I was a virgin,’ she reminded him. ‘And I don’t know how to answer you because if I say I am, I’m not… What I mean is, I have and I haven’t…’

‘And when you did it was a bad experience—and that’s what you remember?’

‘Enough not to try it again,’ Bella admitted, trying to be wry and funny at the same time, with the inevitable result that she ended up stumbling over the words. Her cheeks were glowing redder by the second. Closing her eyes, she tried again. ‘What I’m trying to say and not making a very good job of is that I have…once, but I’ve never reached the ultimate conclusion that everyone else raves about.’ She opened her eyes again. ‘So you tell me, Nero. What does that make me?’

‘A woman I want,’ he murmured, drawing her into his arms. ‘And if you haven’t had an orgasm before, you’re about to. So buckle your seat belt, Ms Wheeler—you’re coming with me.’

And when she made some mild protest, Nero ignored her and removed her dress as if they had all the time in the world, and every

inch he brought it down he replaced the whisper of silky fabric with his sensitive hands, or with his lips, or the nip of his teeth. Naked and exposed, her heart opened but, vulnerable though she was, she had gone too far now to turn back. The truth was, she didn’t want to turn back.

Cradling her in his arms, Nero freed her hair and arranged it around her shoulders so that it framed her face. ‘You’re beautiful, Bella Wheeler,’ he murmured.

She wasn’t, but Nero made her feel so, and for the first time in her life she felt like a desirable woman. That feeling gave her strength and, unbuttoning his shirt, she pushed it from his shoulders, pausing only to admire the firm tanned flesh. At what moment had this hard, rugged face become hers to kiss? She brushed the curve of her smooth cheek against Nero’s sharp black stubble and shivered with the promise of all the knowledge in his dark eyes that he would use to bring her pleasure.

Dipping his head, he took her lips again. ‘No doubts?’ he murmured, making her quiver as his hot breath touched her ear.

‘None,’ she said shakily. Torn between passion and fear of the past coming back to haunt her, she blocked out her past experiences and believed only in a very different future with the man she loved. Lacing her fingers through Nero’s hair, she bound him to her.

Sensing her disquiet, Nero soothed her with a kiss, and when that kiss became heated he turned her, bringing her across his thighs so he could kiss his way up the back of her knees, her thighs and her buttocks until he reached the small of her back. As he cupped them, her buttocks responded with delight to each kiss and nip and stroke. She groaned with anticipation, forgetting everything but this, and even opened her legs a little to encourage him. Nero turned her so he could watch the pleasure building in her eyes as he stroked her into a frenzy of arousal. His hand found her heat and moved with an exquisite understanding of her need, but he drew it away, smiling faintly when he saw her disappointment. ‘Not yet,’ he cautioned.

‘But soon,’ she begged, writhing against him.

Nero suckled first on one breast and then the other. The heat of his mouth, the lash of his tongue and the rasp of his stubble all conspired to heighten sensation until she was completely lost in the moment. Laughing softly, Nero kissed the corner of her mouth until she turned to look at him, when he deepened the kiss and, drawing her into his arms, lay down with her on the hay.

‘Now,’ she begged him, easing down on the hay so that his kisses must find her belly and now the inside of her thighs. Shameless and determined, she thrust her hips towards him in a blatant invitation, crying out in triumph when Nero parted her legs with the wide spread of his powerful shoulders. Throwing her head back she gasped with approval.

But it still wasn’t enough.

‘I submit,’ Nero murmured, when she moved over him and held him down.

‘That’s good,’ she said, kissing his face, his neck, his shoulders, and then his chest.

‘Don’t stop now,’ he teased her.

She had no intention of doing so, though she felt a jolt when she kissed the hard planes of his belly. He was so toned, so perfect. Nero was a playground of pleasure. And it was his turn to exclaim softly when she stroked his thighs, before cupping the swell of his erection beneath the straining fabric of his breeches. She measured and nursed it, and wondered if she could encompass it in one hand. There was only one way to find out…

‘Feel free,’ Nero murmured as she trailed one fingertip down the cool steel zip.

‘Shameless,’ she mocked him softly as he locked his arms behind his head.

‘You’d better believe it.’

Freeing the fastening at the top of his zip, she eased it down and he sprang free. Question answered: two hands. Lowering her head, she closed her mouth around him.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

FOR a moment Nero was completely lost. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t think; the pleasure was far too intense. Bella had really surprised him. She was bolder than he had imagined, and instinctively sensual. She traced the acutely sensitive tip with her tongue, sucking and licking until he was forced to move—had to move if he wanted to please her.

Without losing the delicious contact of Bella’s mouth on him, he kissed his way down her body until he reached the plump swell of her arousal. When she whimpered and threw herself back in the hay he stripped off the last of his clothes. Spreading her thighs wide, he found the heat at her core again and, laving it delicately with his tongue, he gradually increased the pressure. She was already moist and so swollen with arousal that when he parted her plump lips to claim the most intimate part of her, she widened her thighs and urged him on. When Bella’s mouth and tongue began their work again, the exchange of pleasure between them was like nothing he had ever known.

Nero brought her to the brink so many times she wondered how he knew when to draw back. Was it second sight? Intuition? Whatever it was, she was pleased he possessed the skill. And, as for her fears of falling short as a woman—what fears? By the time Nero moved over her she couldn’t have taken fright if she’d tried. She had never felt anything like this—had never thought herself capable of such intense sensations. Could it really get any better?