He moved onto the bed, flopping onto the mattress in a way that suggested he was being imposed upon. Yet she knew it was an act. Leo lay there, arms behind his head, a smug smile on his face. He’d ceded control to her but she knew that he wasn’t giving it away completely. She wanted to break him apart like he routinely did to her, break herself and then let them be stitched back together. Entwined, knitted. Two cracked halves making the other whole.
She eased off her panties in a slow tease, then undid his trousers and slid them from his body. Hooked her fingers into his black briefs, dragging them away and tossing them over her shoulder. A liquid heat pooled low in her belly as his impressive erection sprung free. She loved the sight of him, potent, aroused, intoxicating. Simone licked her lips.
‘Want a taste of what I have?’ he asked hoarsely.
‘I’m hungry for you, Leo. You’d better hang on.’
He chuckled but when she took him in hand the sound was rapidly cut off. She smiled, then lowered her head and wrapped her mouth round his smooth, silk-steel length. He was salt and sweet and everything she could have desired in this moment. Simone relished teasing him with her tongue as he gripped the covers of the bed. Sheachedfor him. He’d barely touched her yet and already she needed to clamp her legs together against the burn that built at her core. Could she come like this, with not a hand of his on her? Feasting on him? After so many years of feeling nothing, no desire, like walking through a kind of haze, this was a revelation.
Simone looked up at him, as his head arched back. The sounds he made, not so elegant and restrained now, but feral and out of control. She knew he was close, as his body quaked, but she didn’t want the moment to end yet. Perhaps she was still allowed a little selfishness, but she wanted him inside her. She eased away from him and he groaned, his eyes glassy and distant with arousal. She crawled over his body, sliding the centre of herself over his length, relishing in his hardness, how slick they both were. Him from her mouth and her because of how Leo always affected her.
The burn built between her legs as she rubbed herself back and forth, his hands on her backside, encouraging her. She was panting now, close. So close. Simone sat up.
‘Condom,’ she whispered. She reached over to his bedside drawer and grabbed a foil packet. Her fingers were trembling and she fumbled so Leo took it gently from her, tore it open and slid it down his length in one practiced move. Simone leaned forwards and kissed him again, their mouths clinging to each other as she lifted herself and positioned him at her entrance. Lowering herself onto him, relishing the sensation of being filled. The relief of it so intense it was all she could do not to orgasm in that moment. He groaned and gripped his hands tight to her thighs as she took all of him in. Rising and falling as she toyed with her nipples because she knew he’d love to see her doing that. Arrows of pleasure spearing between her legs whilst she rode him. He released one of her thighs, easing his thumb between her folds to her clitoris, circling and stroking.
It was like a competition now, as to who would win and come last. The pleasure burning through her. She clenched her body around him and his breaths became shuddering gasps as he stopped lying there taking what she gave and began to thrust up into her. Simone was lost to the sensation. It was all heat and need until Leo’s movements became uncoordinated and he threw his head back, shouting her name.
Words toyed at the edges of her consciousness about what this meant, whathemeant, although they were elusive, formless things. More feeling than reality. Then the conflagration of ecstasy roared over her, burning her to the quick. Simone fell to his chest. He took her in his arms and the world became soft and hazy as Leo’s coiled body relaxed and she drifted into an intoxicated sleep.
CHAPTER TEN
The soft morninglight bled through the room’s curtains as Leo woke to the chirping of birds. He checked the time. Still early after their late night. Yet he didn’t feel tired, he felt invigorated. A deal with the Tessitores was close. He wouldn’t relax till it was final; however a partnership would be a masterstroke. He had little doubt it would be marvelled over, considered a coup of sorts. Together, he was sure they could do great things and he’d ensure that the Silvestri family never got their hands on Tessitore fabrics for their furniture, ever again. They’d have to find another supplier, someone inferior, because there was no company quite like Tessitore Textiles.
All of that had been made possible by the woman lying next to him. He propped himself up on his elbow and looked down on her sleeping form. Her hair a golden tangle on the pristine cream cotton of the pillow. Sheet round her waist. She looked peaceful in slumber, that slight line he sometimes saw between her brows when she concentrated, smoothed away. A warmth lit inside of him, a sensation intensely satisfying, like in those days on the streets when he’d been bone-numbingly hungry and had managed to make enough money for a fulfilling meal. He realised his whole adult life had been about searching for something more, interspersed with only brief moments like now, when he felt he hadenough.
This morning, it was as if he was finally sated.
Of course, it could have simply been a hangover of their lovemaking the night before. Her lips were a revelation. Then the vision of her looking like a goddess, over him. Taking her own pleasure from his body. Giving him pleasure in return, an experience so mind blowing, it had been a struggle to hold onto consciousness long enough to scoop her into his arms before he’d tumbled into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Those memories were enough to have him hard, aching and wanting again, but there was something more. Simone was a mystery. She remained an enigma. Intelligent, beautiful, but in many ways as far away from him as the day he’d employed her. It was like a tiny splinter digging into him, an irritation.
He’d given her some of himself and yet she’d shared nothing of herself at all. He’d told her once that he’d have questions and that time was now. To him, his failure to ask anything of her now seemed like a personal one. He wanted to know what she liked, disliked. What kind of life she’d come from, why she was estranged from most of her family.
Simone was a puzzle he wanted to solve. He had questions. He could think of no better time than today for her to answer them.
As if some sense in her knew, Simone stirred. Her eyes fluttering open. At first her gaze was unfocused but then she fixed her cool grey eyes on him and the most beatific smile broke over her face, like a shaft of sunshine through a crack in the curtains. It was as if that beautiful light in her smile settled smack in the middle of his chest. An unfamiliar warmth, soft and bright. He rubbed at the spot with the heel of his palm.
‘Good morning,’ she said, her voice a little husky from sleep.
‘It’s an excellent morning.’
Simone lifted her hand and traced one gentle finger from the base of his throat to where that warmth in his chest had begun to ignite and burn. She placed her own palm over it as if somehow, deeply and intuitively, she knew it was there. Did she feel the same when she looked at him, when he smiled at her? It was yet another question in the long list he had for her.
‘Last night went well I think.’
‘Thanks to you.’
‘All I did was to ask a question everybody seemed to want to avoid.’
‘I was planning to address the issue over drinks at the end of the meal.’
A little crease formed in the centre of her brow again. He wanted to reach out and stroke it away.
‘Sorry to change your game plan.’
He shook his head. ‘It was perfect.Youwere perfect. From me, there would have been no way for the question not to sound forced. From you, it was organic, curious. Thank you. For that, and for your food. It made the evening far easier. I don’t believe I’d have achieved the result as quickly, on my own. I’ve been dancing around Gino for months. I believe even had I asked outright, he would never have told me about Fia’s illness.’
A flush bled across her cheeks. Simone gave a self-satisfied, and well deserved, smile.
