Nothing. Except she would know where all this led and how much her body could feel.
So for tonight, none of what theyweremattered. All that mattered was his mouth, his tongue, his teeth. The way his hands streaked over her, stoking fires she had never once thought possible within herself.
She’d preferred ice to deal with her weakest emotions until this moment. Fire seemed everything now. At the end of all this, she would not be a hollowed out shell like she usually was. She would be something rising from the ashes.
Powerful.
And that’s exactly what she felt. Though she was in nothing but her underwear, and he was fully dressed except for the fact his shirt was unbuttoned, it felt likeshehad brought this moment on.
This wasn’t about her vague plans of letting him seduce her. Because she had not been seduced. She had not been lulled into something. She hadchosen.
This kiss, his searing touch and wherever this led was about…whatever stirred between them that neither of them particularly wanted, clearly. Neither knew what to do with it.
So they were diving into the unknown together.
Except it wasn’t fully unknown. He clearly knew what he was doing. The way his mouth dragged down her neck, causing her head to fall back. The way his hand moved over the front of her thigh, huge and hot, and she thought aiming for the most intimate part of her, only to bypass it entirely.
A game. Meant to stir, to tease, to frustrate. And if there was anything she knew how to do, it was how to match wits with her rival. She lowered her hands down the length of his torso, reveling in the impossibly defined muscle. Though she’d never even seen this man break a sweat…
He would now.
She unbuttoned his pants and grinned into his shoulder when he tensed. She took her time with the zipper but lost her train of thought when she felt her bra loosen because he’d unclasped it. He pulled it off her arms, dropped it onto the ground.
Serena’s breath caught. She’d never been naked in front of a man before, and she did not know quite what to feel about being exposed this way. Except there was no hiding that the man liked what he saw. And there was really nothing her quivering muscles could have done except work exceptionally hard to keep her upright as he reached forward and cupped her breasts. A move both possessive and thrilling, sending an intoxicating jolt through her. When his thumbs brushed the taut nipples, Serena’s legs nearly buckled. Would have, maybe, if he had not smoothed his hands down to her rib cage and pressed her to the wall.
All so that he could taste. His mouth, hot and foreign, feasted on her. Everything inside of her began to wind like a taut string. She wanted so many things, she did not know how to find them, how to demand them.
“Luciano.” She sounded breathless and desperate and that might have bothered her if it did not prompt a rumbling sound deep in his throat, like a predatory, primal growl. The sound shot sparks through her, like she was nothing but fire and heat and wonder.
Then his finger traced the seam of her underwear. Then it wasn’t tracing, it was dipping underneath the fabric and exploring a new part of her. Her head thunked back against the wall, and his laughter was dark against her neck.
“Serena,” he murmured, his mouth tucked against the sensitive skin under her jaw. “I can feel how much you want me.”
“Yes.” With what little control she had, she reached out, placed the palm of her hand against the hard jut of his arousal against his pants. “And I can feel how much you want me.”
“I suppose we are evenly matched then.”
She wanted to say something—something cunning and sophisticated—but the only sound that escaped her mouth was a wordless noise, some mix of a gasp and moan. Because his finger was inside of her, sparking to life fires she had not known could exist. An all-encompassing, heady climb that had her forgetting about everything except that center point of her body.
Until something imploded within her and she shattered into crumbling rubble. It was a blooming, arcing explosion that messed with her equilibrium, because somehow the pleasure another person could bring her was better than anything she’d ever done herself.
Still shuddering, she tried to catch her breath. Still standing, pressed against a wall in the living room of his apartment. In front of huge windows.
She had lost herself, and that could be terrifying if they stopped here. If that’s all that happened. He’d touched her and she’d fallen apart. How would she live with that?
She couldn’t. There was no turning back. Not now. Not so close. She needed to know how it ended. She gripped his face, met his gaze. “More. Luciano. All.”
Though he hesitated, he did not pretend to misunderstand her. After a halting moment, he swept her into his arms. In an impressive feat, he carried her through the penthouse and into a bedroom. The light had faded, so it was all dusk.
He laid her out on the bed, surveying her like some hulking conqueror, and she supposed later she might consider what it said about her that it sent a thrill through her. That she wanted to be conquered in every way by this man she would no doubt regret wanting.
“There will be no going back. When you think of your first, it will always be me.”
It was meant to be a warning. She should take it as one. The stark way he looked at her. The planes of muscle and sinew that made up his powerful body. What could possibly come after this and compare?
Which was enough of an answer. Perhaps she would curse him, her weakness, this moment, forever.
But it might be worth it.
