Taking her search for more contact as his cue, he increased the friction of his finger pad.
‘I can’t hold on!’ she cried out in panic.
‘You can and you must,’ he insisted calmly.
‘Can’t I have just a little bit more?’ she asked when he pulled back again.
‘If that’s what you want?’
‘I do!’
He gave her the tip and continued to massage her at the same time, and when she arced towards him this time, he entered just by the smallest amount, and sank a little deeper, and moved back and forth before he withdrew.
‘Please,’ she begged, thrusting her hips up. ‘You can’t leave me hanging like this.’
He could and he would. ‘Not yet. Only when I’m absolutely sure I have your trust.’
‘You do—youdo!’ she insisted.
‘Once I’m sure, I’ll take you every way you want.’
How was she supposed to hold on? ‘This is cruel.’
‘This is the opposite of cruel,’ Luca insisted. ‘This has to be right, or it won’t happen. Didn’t I promise to keep you safe?’ he murmured as he kissed her again.
Even his voice was arousing. Everything about him was a seduction. Her senses had never been so keenly tuned. Luca knew how to keep her teetering on the edge, knowing he only had to say the word to send her tumbling over. She lay suspended in his erotic embrace; this was an experience like no other. He tempted her to let go and then withdrew the offer. She wanted to scream and shout with frustration.
‘Unless you relax—’
‘You’ll what?’ she demanded, moving restlessly in his arms. She only had to look into Luca’s eyes to sense the pleasure in store. He was her ideal, with his thick, inky black hair, and pirate stubble that rasped her skin in such a surprisingly pleasurable way. His body was perfect. Hard, big, powerful, fit, he was ridiculously good-looking with his knowing eyes and his skilful touch. Luca Fortebracci was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to her, and she was aching for him now.
‘Soon,’ he promised as her hand reached down.
The brush of his warm, hard body against hers, how he tasted—everything about him—made her impatient for him. The clean taste of his mouth, the light salt of his body, mixed with the scent of warm, clean man, was turning this into an experience she would never forget. It was as if he was about to take her for the first time, and with all the care and tenderness she had always dreamed a man would use.
‘Do you like that?’ he asked as he tested her for readiness.
The slightest bit of friction was all it took to blank her mind. And his hands, long, sweeping strokes to reassure her that she was someone to be valued, rather than a creature to be used.
Having protected them both, he cupped her buttocks in one hand, while using the other to soothe and caress. Samia’s thighs parted instinctively, inviting him to take her, a cue he took with the utmost care.
‘Ah...yes,yes!’ she exclaimed when he gave her the tip once more, but this time he didn’t stop moving, and thrust gently inside her. Pulling out again, he noted her immediate complaint and took her again, moving a little further in this time. He repeated this as her cries grew more demanding, until finally he was lodged to the hilt. Her eyes widened as he stretched her, and her breathing became ragged, but then he moved his hips in a lazy, massaging motion until she couldn’t hold on. She cried out for the longest time yet, rhythmically and fiercely demanding as her inner muscles attempted to milk him dry. The tiger claws he knew she had bit into his shoulders, and even when her release subsided into a series of milder spasms, he could still feel her inner muscles hungrily pumping him. Stroking her hair back from her face, he stared into her eyes as she breathed hectically in the aftermath of pleasure. ‘More?’ he enquired with amusement.
Her answer was to grip his buttocks with fingers turned to steel, and work her body hungrily against his.
It was a long night, and a surprising one in many ways. As if she’d woken from a long sleep, Samia was clearly intent on making up for lost time. That they wanted each other was never in any doubt. It was the strength of the longing they’d unleashed in one another that shocked him.
‘I want you again,’ she told him at one point when he was sure she was asleep. ‘I want to ride you, and I want you to touch me. I want to feel you deep inside me, and here too,’ she said, holding his gaze fiercely as she put her hand over her heart. ‘I want to feel you here.’
His heart jerked in response. Had they both forgotten this was a marriage of convenience?
‘Don’t,’ she said when he reached across to the nightstand. ‘I don’t want anything to come between us.’
He hesitated with his arm outstretched, and then shook his head, and did as he’d intended. ‘I will not take advantage of you.’ She’d had enough of that, and however cold-bloodedly they had embarked on this arrangement, he would not take more than he needed from Samia, which was to smooth the transition period in Madlena from his brother’s rule to his. Then they would decide how to proceed. Until that time came, they could enjoy each other and nothing more.
‘Is this just another deal for you—another business contract?’ she suggested, pressing her lips down in anticipation of him confirming this in his usual blunt way.
‘It’s a lot more than that,’ he admitted, ‘but not enough to risk consequences neither of us are ready for.’
