‘I’ll arrange for us to see them before Christmas. I’m guessing you’ll want to spend Christmas with your dad and, if I’m honest, so would I.’ He shot her a crooked smile. ‘Now I’ve had a little bit of what Christmas should feel like, I’m hungry for more.’
Ella smiled and relaxed. ‘Just think of how much fun it’ll be when there’s three of us.’ She accepted the chocolate gâteau and fork that he handed her on a small plate.
Doubts eased away. ‘I could get used to all this fussing even though, naturally, it’s not necessary, and on principle I object.’
‘I admire a woman of principle.’
Ella could feel her whole body react to his proximity as he dragged a chair over and waited until she’d finished the cake before dabbing some stray chocolate from the side of her mouth. She sucked in her breath and had to resist the temptation to wrap her arms around him and bury her head against him.
‘Okay, guided tour…’ he growled against her neck and she started with dismay.
‘Whatnow?’
‘To my bedroom. First and only stop will be my bed.’ He scooped her off the chair and ignored her half-hearted protest. He walked and kissed her at the same time, fired up by her tiny, little whimpers of pleasure.
Ella lost herself in her body’s urgent, driving needs. She was on fire by the time they made it to the bedroom. He laid her on the mattress, stepped back to look at her and she basked under his hungry gaze and was ready as he pushed up the top. Shewasn’t wearing a bra. She quivered as she clamped his mouth onto her nipple and sucked, his tongue rasping on the stiffened bud, driving her crazy with pleasure. She was barely aware of him undressing her, not completely, but enough. Enough to trace her no longer flat stomach with his hand, to ease off the loose trousers she was wearing, followed by her panties. She was so wet for him. She flung back her head, closed her eyes and groaned with the anticipation of being pleasured, opening her legs to accommodate the mouth she knew would find the throbbing bud of her clitoris. Her body ached and yearned for him.
His tongue found the perfect spot and she moaned as he flicked it against her clitoris, over and over until she could feel the steady build of an orgasm. She couldn’t hold back. She wanted him deep in her, but she couldn’t resist his demanding tongue, and she moaned and shuddered against his mouth as she came.
Shaken, satisfied and drowsy as desire slowly ebbed away Ella blinked like an owl and then sighed. ‘Rocco…’
She shot him a hooded glance as he straightened, still staring at her with a little smile, and in that smile she could read all sorts of very acceptable levels of appreciation. Ella shuffled herself back into something resembling a state of dress and yawned as exhaustion began creeping in.
‘You’re tired.’
‘I… I’m okay.’
‘You need a nice hot bath.’
‘You’re fussing again.’
‘You like it,’ he teased and she thought, a little uncomfortably,yes, far too much…
He scooped her up and took her directly to anen suitebathroom that was as big as a football field and very, very modern. There was no glass door concealing a shower cubiclebut a huge wet room, a massive bath…and even a comfortable chair against the wall big enough for two.
He sat her on the chair while he ran the bath and tested the water. She thought,if, in a fortnight, you could find part of yourself you’d never accessed before, then over time, with a child uniting us, is it really so much to think that I could bring out the person I know you are?
She could have lost herself in that daydream for ever. Turning it into reality felt like a tiny heartbeat away.
‘You relax here for a bit,’ he said, pushing her hair back and helping her into the warm, deep, foamy water. ‘I’ll bring your bag up and then I have a couple of work calls to make. Climb into bed. I won’t be long.’
He was gone before she could reply and she did as told. She enjoyed a long, lazy bath. Like the rest of the house, the enormous bathroom was in pale marble, only broken by a granite square defining the wet room. The towels were big, fluffy white ones and beautifully warm from the heated towel rail. She felt like a special guest in a very expensive five-star hotel.
When she’d had her bath, she clambered into bed and was nodding off when Rocco eventually returned.
‘Sorry I took a little longer than I expected. One of the calls I made was to my parents.’
‘Ah. How did it go? How did they take the news? They must have been shocked. Did they ask a lot of questions about us?’
‘Some, as to be expected. I’ve arranged for us to go and pay them a visit. It will be a fleeting one.’
‘You’ve actually arranged a date? Already?’
‘There’s no point delaying the inevitable,’ Rocco said wryly.
‘Why not? We could delay it for a bit longer. Let them get used to the idea of their one and only son getting married to the unsuitable girl he got pregnant.’
‘Getting used to that might take them a while.’
