They had had the most sexually charged yet chaste relationship on the planet. Every touch had been accidental and every touch had left her craving more. She had dreamt about him back then and had been terrified that Shaun would somehow climb into her head and see her dreams. And he had continued to steal into her dreams like a silent intruder all through the years, long after she had picked up the pieces of her life and moved on.
So now she was ready.
‘Alessandro...’ she breathed huskily and he lifted his head to look at her.
‘Alessandro what...?’ The spoils of the victor. Triumph surged through him. This was what he had wanted: to hear her plead for him to enter her, to know that she could no longer hold out. The grieving widow shedding her black and getting back into mainstream life. With him.
‘Tell me how much you want me,’ he encouraged thickly. ‘I want to hear you say it. No, hold that thought—but don’t even begin to think that you can start cooling down.’ There were condoms in his wallet. He couldn’t fetch one fast enough. His erection was so hard that it was painful.
Cool down? Chase thought that she wouldn’t have cooled down if a barrel of ice cubes had been thrown over her. She was on fire, burning for him. She looked at him hungrily, watching as he put on the condom, enjoying the way he was looking right back at her, his dark eyes bold and wicked.
‘I’d better just check...’ he murmured, straddling her on the super-sized lounger which could have been made for sex and—who knew?—possibly had been because it was as comfortable as a bed. ‘Make sure you’re still hot for me...’ He slid his finger expertly over her throbbing centre and gave a slashing smile of satisfaction. ‘Hot and wet.’
‘I’m glad you approve.’ She wound her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her. Her nipples rubbing against him were doing all sorts of delicious things to her body, adding to the overload of sensation. She sighed and arched up so that she could kiss him and simultaneously opened her legs. ‘God, Alessandro, I want you so much right now...’
‘Are you sure?’
Their eyes met and she knew that he was asking her if she was ready. Given half a chance, he was always more than prepared to tell her the depth of his bitterness towards her, to inform her that her place in his life was temporary, a passing virus of which he needed to rid his system. Yet, as now, when she could see old-fashioned consideration in his eyes which could flare up almost against his will, he could be just so damned three-dimensional.
‘I’m sure.’
Alessandro thrust into her and never had anything felt so exquisite. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he levered her up, his hand on her bottom, so that she could receive him even better as he began moving, fast and hard and rhythmically. Her fingers were digging into his back, driving him on, and her head was thrown back, her eyes closed, her mouth slightly parted.
For a split second, he had a crazy desire to know whether she had ever felt like this with her husband. He certainly had never felt like this with any other woman but, then again, what other woman had he ever had under such extraordinary circumstances? His last girlfriend, a model whose appearance in his life had not outlived the three-month mark, had been a clone of all the other beauties he had dated in the past. Was it any wonder that this one was special? That this just felt so damned special?
Chase had died and gone to heaven. On one final thrust, she tipped over the edge as her orgasm ripped through her, sending her body into little convulsions and spontaneously bringing tears to her eyes which she fought to blink back. She felt his groan of fulfilment with every ounce of her being and never had she wanted more to tell him how she felt. Instead, she swept his hair back and smiled drowsily as he opened his eyes to look at her, at first unfocused, and then smiling back.
‘That was...good...’ she murmured as he slid onto his side to prop himself up on one elbow so that he could look at her.
‘“Good” is not an adjective I’ve ever had much time for. It’s along the same lines as “nice”...’ He idly circled her nipple with his finger and watched as it responded with enthusiasm. ‘How good was it?’
‘Very, very good...’
‘I’ll settle for that. In fact, I’ll enjoy trying to squeeze more superlatives out of you.’ He dipped his head and closed his mouth over her nipple, which was still sensitive and throbbing in the aftermath of their love-making. He was utterly spent and yet he felt himself stir against her leg. ‘Let’s have a swim,’ he suggested. ‘And then some food. And then we can play it by ear; see what comes up...’