Marriage Made of Secrets

Her spine arched clear off the bed. ‘Cesare!’ His name was a cry ripped from her throat, a cry that sounded again when his thumb swiftly found her nub of desire. Blood pounded through her veins, crashed through her head until it was the only thing she could hear.

He groaned as her fingers bit into his shoulders. Her head thrashed against the pillows, fighting but knowing she was losing the headlong flight into rapture. The brief reprieve she experienced when he gently removed his fingers was easily lost again when the blunt head of his powerful erection replaced his fingers.

‘Open your eyes, Ava.’

Weakly, she obeyed.

Curling her legs around his hips, he plucked her hands from his shoulders and placed them both above her head. ‘Now don’t move.’

His gaze stayed on hers as he rocked forward. At the first thrust, every instinct urged her hips to move. ‘I can’t not...it’s too much...’

‘You can. Just do it.’ He fed more of himself into her, stretching unused muscles and sending her senses into near freefall. Her heart hammered, her lungs begged for air and the sheer pressure of being filled by Cesare threatened her sanity.

Finally, he was deep inside her. His gaze fixed on hers, he held still, allowing her to savour the full force of his possession. Time suspended between them, the only sound their shared breath as the power of being joined held them in thrall.

At last, he breathed, ‘Now.’

They moved at the same time, slamming together with a force that rocked worlds. His grunt of pleasure triggered her shuddering moan. Pleasure like she’d never known surged through her. Clamping her legs tighter around him, she met him thrust for thrust, falling into a long-forgotten rhythm like a song to a lark. The world fell away.

Nothing else mattered but Cesare, his sounds of ecstasy filled her ears as he thrust over and over inside her.

Her flesh welcomed him, enclosing him in a tight, silken embrace that gradually milked his pleasure. His face contorted in a mask of pained pleasure as he crept closer to the edge.

In the single moment before all became lost, Ava glimpsed a connection, an unspoken bond that drew at her heartstrings and made her catch her breath. Before she could analyse it, she was swept away. Holding back was not an option so she flew towards ecstasy and a release that annihilated every single thought. Unable to bear the assault, she clamped her eyes shut. Firelight rained again, showering her in pleasure so profound, tears prickled the back of her lids.

Above her, triggered by her relentless convulsions, Cesare hurtled towards his own release. For a split second, he stilled, his whole being gripped tight in indescribable sensation. Her legs around his back strained to keep him locked against her. With a final desperate groan, he gave up control, managing just in time to adjust his position before he collapsed on top of her.

Ava drew her arms around him, her fingers slowly caressing his sweat-slicked flesh as shudders chased through him. Somewhere in the lost minutes, he turned his head and planted kisses along her jaw, but no words were uttered. None were needed.

She couldn’t recall when he finally disengaged from her but she had a vague sense of being settled against him. But something different tripped her senses. It wasn’t until she was drifting off to sleep, his strong arms coming around to anchor her to him and soft words gently ushering her into sleep, that she realised what it was.

In the moments before his climax, Cesare had pulled out of her.

CHAPTER TEN

CESARE STOOD AT the foot of the bed, gazing down at his sleeping wife. Guilt bit hard into him. Although a careful inspection of the condom had set his mind at ease somewhat, he didn’t delude himself into thinking that would be the case every time.

Their passion hadn’t abated in their time apart. If anything, the opposite was true. He’d had to stop himself from taking her in the raw and earthy way his senses had clamoured for him to, and he didn’t fool himself into believing he would always remain in control. Ava needed only to be within touching distance to erode his willpower.

His senses sprang to life again as she shifted and stretched on the bed, baring a little more of her body.

He locked his knees to stop himself from crawling back beside her. When his feet disobeyed, he clung to the bedpost, gritting his teeth as arousal fired deep inside. For a split second he resented the unrelenting need Ava had always elicited in him.

From the first moment he’d laid eyes on her at that busy intersection in London, something vital had shifted inside him, knocked him sideways. He’d labelled it as lust back then, but now he wasn’t so sure it was mere lust. Lust faded. But the thought of Ava walking out of his life permanently made his chest tighten in fierce rejection.