Chapter Four
“Please.”
All the good intentions he had, the reasons for not wanting to rush her into anything more intimate or emotional than what they had already been through tonight, crumbled down around him. He was just a man, sitting in front of the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Saying no to her was not something he was going to find easy.
He lifted his hand to palm the back of her neck, gently pulling her closer to him, not stopping until he could feel her breath against his lips, locking his gaze to hers. “Are you sure, Lee? I want you, don’t ever for one second think that I don’t. But is this what you really want?”
Leona smiled, her expression shy, and warm, but not hesitant at all. “Tony, I know I turned you down a lot over the years, but I thought that was what was best for you. But now, I see that all I was doing was pushing away the best thing in my life. Do I really want this? Hell yes. Now stop stalling and get to the loving.”
“Yes,bellezza mia,with pleasure,” Tony said with a grin, then placed his mouth on hers.
He loved the sound of pleasure she made, and he deepened the kiss, using his tongue to coax her mouth open. As soon as she did, he swept in, claiming her mouth as his own. He pulled her to him, helping her to straddle him. He growled at the way she acquiesced against him and slid his hands up her back to bury his fingers in her thick blonde hair. He twisted it around his fist, then gently tugged, angling her head a little more to give him better access. When he broke the kiss, they were both left gasping for air. The small rotations of her hips had his cock straining at the zipper of his jeans.
“Damn, you taste good,” he said, lowering his mouth to her neck, biting and nibbling his way to her ear. “And you sure as fuck feel good in my lap, baby. Those movements you make with your hips could end this before it’s begun.”
Leona huffed a shaky laugh, and he groaned as she deepened her grind against him. “Imagine how great it will feel when we’re both naked, and I’ve got you buried balls-deep within me.”
Suddenly desperate for more, Tony stood up, gently coaxing her to lower her legs. He held her gaze as he grabbed the bottom of her shirt and lifted it up and off. He allowed his gaze to sweep down over the beautiful expanse of skin the move exposed. Tony licked his lips as he watched her nipples pucker in the cool air. He couldn’t resist leaning down and gently sliding his tongue over and around the hardening peak. Leona shuddered against him then cried out when he tugged her into his mouth and drew hard.
Lifting his left hand to plump her left breast, he moved to give the same attention to that breast, loving how she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held on to him. He felt her shudder against him as he used his teeth on her.
“Off,” Leona said, pulling on the shirt he still wore. “Get this out of my way. Now.”
Tony stood up, and reaching back over his head with one hand, he pulled his shirt off in a quick efficient move. “Who knew you were such a demanding little thing?”
Leona shot him a smile but there was an edge of insecurity mixed with vulnerability to it that had his breath catching a little. As he was desperately trying to figure out what might help her, he was struck by a wave incitement.
He stepped into her. “Tonight is for you,bellezza mia.”
“Why do you call me that?” Leona asked quietly.
Tony reveled in her shiver as they met skin to skin, and reached up to sweep her gorgeous dark hair from her face. “Because you are beautiful. To me, to the world, and it makes my heart race to know that you are mine. You are my kind of beautiful, Leona, and as I said, tonight is all about you. You set the pace. You tell me what you want, what you need, and know that I am your willing slave.” He winced and gave her a sheepish look. “I’ll be honest, my love, that’s not really how I am in the bedroom. I like to take control. When I told you I longed to worship your body with my own, I meant it. But this first time, it’s all about you.”
He carefully lowered the zipper of his jeans and kicked them off with his underwear and socks. When he was naked, he sat back down on the bed, exactly how he had been, leaned back on his arms, and grinned up at his woman who had yet to move.
“Be gentle with me.”
Leona giggled, then looked shocked that she had. Tony couldn’t hold back his own grin when she threw her head back and laughed.
“Oh my God, that’s priceless.” She laughed, still sounding breathless. “You’re what, six-foot-two and have a good hundred or so pounds on me, and you’re asking me to begentlewith you?”
Tony nodded, all signs of humor slipping away. “I am. I gave you my heart. It’s the first and last time I’ve ever done it, and you have the ability to hurt me like no other person on this planet. So yeah.” He shrugged, suddenly feeling a little uncertain himself. “I guess I am asking you to be gentle with me.”
****
Leona felt her heart literally swell, filling with emotions all linked to this strong, beautiful man who had just bared his soul to her. She had no words, no way of verbalizing the emotions that rose within her with what he’d just said. Holding his gaze, she reached down to slide her yoga pants off before stepping forward, not stopping until she was straddling his lap on the bed. She sat back on his knees and wrapped both her hands around his erection.
“Oh, God!” Tony groaned, his head dropping back, the muscles and tendons in his neck and chest standing out in stark relief. “That feels so good.”
Leona smiled, watching his reactions as she caressed him in long firm strokes. “I kinda like it myself. You feel like warm satin over hard steel.” She reached down to gently roll his balls in her palm and smiled when he cried out, cursing in Italian, and a slight sheen of sweat broke out on his forehead. She was surprised at how aroused she was becoming simply by giving him pleasure.
“There are condoms in the drawers beside the bed,” Leona said quietly. “I can slip one on you if you want. I’m clean. We were tested regularly, and I’ve never had sex without a condom. I know it might be hard to believe, but it’s the truth.”
Tony, his breathing a little heavy, suddenly reached out to grip her hips, lifting her a little off him, not much, just enough to drag her forward, so that she was in a position to slide down over him and take him into her.
“I believe you, baby,” Tony murmured. “I want to be the only one who has ever been naked inside you. Skin on skin, just you and me. But like I said,bellezza mia, this is all you. You decide.”
Holding his gaze once more, she knelt up a little higher, reaching down with one hand to hold him in the perfect position, then she slowly lowered herself, not stopping until she had each gloriously hard inch of him. When she was nestled on his thighs, she exhaled, completely unaware that she’d been holding her breath.
