The waves were still rippling through her when Tommaso made his ascent, his tongue flickering back over her belly and breasts, his skin brushing hers as his mouth found hers, and she was pulled into a kiss of deep, tender hunger.
Stretching herself beneath him, Gabriella became consumed with the need to touch him, and as their kiss deepened and the weight of his arousal jutted hard into her inner thigh, the fizzing in her core danced back to life.
Mouths fused, she ran her hands over his shoulders, freely exploring the smooth flesh in a way she’d never allowed herself before, while he slid his hands beneath her thighs and lifted her. Circling her hips so he was right there, exactly where they both so desperately needed him to be, she scratched her fingers up the nape of his neck, almost breathless with anticipation.
He lifted his head and gazed into her eyes. “You’re my world, Gabba.”
Her heart twisted painfully for the words she could never say. Gazing right back, wishing harder than she’d ever wished for anything that dreams weren’t destined for dust, she clasped the back of his head and drew him down to her trembling mouth.
Lips and tongues entwined, he entered her slowly, filling her so completely that when their groins locked together, it came with a heart-stopping sense of completion, as if this was the moment she’d waited her whole life for.
Raising his head, their eyes locked with the same wonderment and intensity as their fused bodies.
They moved together, completely as one, giving and taking with equal measure. The driving rhythm they created swept heraway to a land of untrammelled sensation that belonged only to them.
Almost delirious at the bliss of it all, Gabriella clung to him, her breath sobbing from her lungs as the pleasure built, and when Tommaso took her over the edge and she plunged into the shattering convulsions of ecstasy, she cried out as she clung even tighter, hearing the crack of her name a beat before he shuddered powerfully and warmth spilt deep inside her.
And then there was silence.
Later, much, much later, Tommaso carried Gabriella to the bathroom. There, he stood her in the shower and soaped every inch of her body before drying her and carrying her back to bed, where he made love to her all over again.
The morning sun filtered through the bedroom’s drapes before Gabriella fell into the most contented sleep of her life. When she woke some hours later, she was still curled into Tommaso, her forehead pressed against his chest, her hand on his side. His arm was slung over her hip, his breathing deep and even.
She lay there for the longest time, not moving. Not making a sound with anything but her heart, which was pumping with painful fury at what she’d done, the bright light of day driving out the last of the dream they’d fallen into that had lasted the whole night long.
She’d spent the night making love with Tommaso.
It had been the most beautiful night of her existence.
It had been the biggest betrayal of her life.
She’d made love with Tommaso. Let him make love to her. Made love to him. And in the process, betrayed her father’s memory and the promise she’d made to her mother.
Swallowing to clear her constricted throat, she gently moved his arm off her and carefully lifted herself onto an elbow to stare down at his sleeping face. Bone-deep longing and a tidal wave of misery suffused her.
Later that day, Tommaso would dine at his mother’s home and, with his siblings, decide who would step into their father’s shoes and become head of the Esposito family. When Gabriella next went to bed, it could be with the man who wasn’t just the son of her father’s murderer but his replacement. Lorenzo’s replacement had to be as ruthless as he’d been. One day, the time might come when Tommaso would justify a decision to betray a friend to start a war. And she would be at his side. Sharing his bed. Sharing his life. Compounding her heinous betrayal.
She closed her eyes and breathed back the tears stabbing her as fear ticked in her heart and the future unfolded itself in grimly vivid colour.
This marriage…
How could she live it? How could she step into a future built on threats, blackmail and betrayal? Betrayal would be in her future, too. His betrayal would be of a different kind to the one she’d planned, but she’d had a taste of how it would feel. A man like Tommaso wasn’t built for monogamy. The longer she stayed, the deeper the betrayal would cut.
The fear now morphing into panic, she looked again at Tommaso’s beautiful face. She shouldn’t care that he would one day cheat on her.
What they’d shared through the night had been an illusion. It didn’t matter how tenderly he’d made love to her, Tommasowas still a monster and dreams always turned to dust. Especially dreams that should never have been allowed to breathe.
Sliding out of bed, she padded silently to the bathroom and locked the door for the first time since she’d lived under Tommaso’s roof. It would also be the last time.
With forced determination steeling her spine, Gabriella showered and brushed her teeth. When she opened the door, he was still sleeping. Crossing to the dressing room, she dressed quickly. If she was going to do this, she needed to do it now, before her resolve faltered.
When she slipped back into the bedroom, he was stretched out on his back with his arms hooked behind his head. A sleepy smile on his lips, he raised an eyebrow. “I heard you in the dressing room and thought you were putting something sexy on for me. Unless, my heart, you think jeans and an oversized sweater are sexy?”
Gabriella’s heart clenched tightly at the endearment. So did everything else inside her.
He continued to appraise her, his smile slowly melting away. “Is something wrong?”
Shaking her head, she fought to get air into her lungs. “It’s not something, it’s everything.”
