Inherited by Ferranti

But she didn’t want to break the moment, and she knew any explanation she gave would be clumsy and awkward. Marco had said the past was in the past. Better to leave it there.

He lay down next to her again, stirring up the embers of need into roaring flame with just a few touches, his mouth on hers, his hand between her thighs. She arched against him, a sound like a kitten’s mewl emerging from her lips.

He laughed softly and then rolled on top of her, braced on his forearms as he nudged at her entrance. ‘Are you ready...?’

‘Yes,’ she panted. ‘Yes.’

He moved inside her and Sierra stiffened instinctively at the entirely unexpected feeling. Her gaze widened and her mouth parted on a soundless gasp. She felt so...full. Invaded, yet in an exciting way. He moved again and she let out a little gasp as the first twinge of discomfort assaulted her.

Marco froze, his face twisted in a grimace of shock and restraint. ‘Sierra...’

‘I’m all right,’ she assured him. ‘Just...give me a moment.’

He stared at her in disbelief as she adjusted to the feel of him, her body expanding naturally to accommodate his. The twinges of discomfort receded and she arched upwards to take him more fully into herself. ‘You can move,’ she whispered. ‘Slowly.’

He slid deeper inside and she gasped again, the sensation acute and overwhelming. He froze, and she let out a shaky laugh. ‘This isn’t quite...’

He touched his forehead to hers, his biceps bulging with the effort of holding himself back. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I don’t know,’ she confessed. ‘I didn’t want to ruin anything. It seemed so...’ She laughed again, softly. ‘I don’t know.’ Maybe part of her had liked the idea of Marco thinking she was experienced, worldly. Maybe part of her had wanted to match him for sophistication and expertise, even though she knew she never could. In some unvoiced corner of her heart she’d wanted to make their positions more equal.

‘Are you okay?’ he whispered, and she nodded. It hurt more than she’d expected, but within the hurt were flickers of pleasure, and her body arced towards those, seeking them out of instinct. Marco moved again, sliding deeper inside and then out again and Sierra tried to relax. He was so big, and he filled her so completely. It was overwhelming, both emotionally and physically, to be completely conquered by another person. She felt him in every nerve, every cell of her body. There was no part of her that he did not possess, and it was a complex and frightening feeling.

‘Okay?’ he asked again and she laughed, a hiss of sound, as she clutched his shoulders.

‘Stop asking me that.’

‘I don’t want to hurt you.’

‘You’re not.’ Except he was, and in a way she hadn’t expected. The physical pain was nothing compared to the emotional onslaught, the sense that Marco Ferranti was battering every defence she had, leaving her completely bare. Exposed and vulnerable and wanting.

And even as these feelings crashed over her, pleasure came, too. Tiny at first, little whispers that promised something greater, and her body responded instinctively, arching up towards his as she wrapped her legs around his waist and drew him completely into herself. She could feel him everywhere, and it made tears start in her eyes.

Marco was moving faster now and Sierra found his rhythm and matched it, awkwardly at first and then with more grace as the sensations whirling inside her coalesced and drove her body onwards. The pain had receded and pleasure took its place, so she clutched him and threw her head back, letting out a ragged cry as she climaxed, the feeling more intense than anything she had ever experienced. Marco shuddered on top of her, his body sagging against hers even as he bore his weight on his arms.

He kissed her temple, his lips lingering against her skin. ‘That was incredible.’

‘Was it?’ she asked, her voice trembling a little with everything she felt.

‘You have to ask?’ He smiled tenderly and smoothed the hair away from her flushed face.

‘Well, I don’t have much experience of this kind of thing. As you know.’ She let out a shaky laugh and averted her face. She was, quite suddenly and inexplicably, near tears and she didn’t want Marco to see.

‘Sierra...’ He trailed his fingers down her cheek, the gesture so tender it brought a lump to her throat. In a few seconds she’d be bawling. ‘You should have told me.’

‘It didn’t feel like the right moment.’

‘I’m not sure when a better moment would have been,’ he said wryly, and then pulled out of her, rolling away to dispose of the condom. Sierra took the reprieve from his scrutiny to tidy her hair and wipe quickly at her eyes, wrapping the duvet around herself.