“What I had in mind was this…” he says as he tugs hard at the front of my dress. It fastens with a row of tiny buttons from my cleavage to my navel, and those little buttons fly everywhere as they tear free of their moorings. Raoul stares down at the river of bare flesh he’s exposed. My chest is heaving beneath the lace of my bra. When he strokes my skin, I reach out a hand to steady myself, discordant notes rippling from the piano as my palm meets the keyboard.
“Fuck,” I hiss out, the word joined by more jangling notes as I lean back against the keys when he flicks the front catch of my bra open. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” His fingers continue their stroking over the satin of my panties, his thumb pressing up against my clit through the fabric. I don’t know what tune I’m playing by the time he sets up a rhythm over my nub, but it’s definitely nothing classical.
Keys clatter jarringly as I fumble for balance. The sound is enough to mask the noise of advancing footsteps until, “Signor Caraldi, is everything—?” Paolo’s voice intrudes and then stops short.
“Out!” Raoul snaps, a moment before his mouth closes over my nipple. Paolo scurries away in a rush, but I barely notice it because Raoul’s fingers have slipped past the elastic of my panties.
“Oh, God! Oh, God!” I manage to croak out as he sucks down on my nipple, and two fingers breach me.
“I want you.” His voice is rich and rolls over my skin like a warm wave before he moves his attention to my other nipple. I’m already tugging at the top of his pants with an eagerness that should leave me blushing. But if my cheeks are flushed now, it’s with lust. I’m desperate for this man. God, when did I turn into such a horndog?
“Now. Please!” I say breathlessly, reaching into his snug boxers for the length of his shaft. He chuckles as he reaches down to help me.
“Easy, Buttercup. I’m not going anywhere.”
My heart clenches. God! A day ago, I thought I’d lost him, and it had shattered me.
Of course it would…he’s the father of my child.
But it’s more. So much more…
“More,” I plead as he works my clit with a skill that I no longer question. My thigh muscles tighten as I lift myself and guide the head of his cock along my slit. Sliding his fingers from me, he pushes my panties aside and spreads my lips wide as I press down onto his cock. The slick satin pulls tautly against my skin, framing me for him as he looks down, eyes heated.
“I’ll never get tired of seeing my cock in your sweet cunt,” he growls. The words make my muscles clamp hard, and he groans at the friction as I keep sliding down. I stop when our mounds grind together, skewered on his flesh in a way that sucks the air from my lungs.
“Jesus,” I husk out, resting my hands on his shoulders and staring down into his eyes. Keeping me locked in that stare, his hand moves up the column of my throat, tightening. I shake my head.
“No…I want to breathe you in,” I whisper, inhaling his warm scent. Something softens in his expression, and his lips brush over mine. We’d gone straight from that fight club to the hospital, and I know he hasn’t showered…but it doesn’t matter. Even through the stale sweat and hospital disinfectant, his scent is male and raw, and it makes my mouth water. Like some kind of primal mating bond that I don’t understand. I don’t try to. All I know is that I want to absorb him into my pores right now.
I twine my arms around his neck, resting my forehead against his as I start rolling my pelvis in a steady rhythm. He sets his hands on my hips, letting me set the pace at first, but it’s not long before he’s pumping up into me and holding me down against his thrusts. The force of it would shatter me if I wasn’t so frantic to consume him.
“Yes…yes!” I choke every time he buries himself to the hilt. I’ll never grow tired of how completely he fills me.
“Emma…” Raoul’s voice is hoarse as his movements grow more erratic, our eyes still locked. “Fuck…Emma!” His lips close over mine, sucking my groan into his mouth as a jarring thrust sends a wave of pleasure rippling through me. Each ripple marks a spasm that tightens around him until he releases himself into me. It’s enough to send me over the edge again, and this time our moans mingle, still bound into a kiss that feels like it’s drawing my soul from me.
We share air until I can breathe again, lips mashed together, staring into each other’s eyes with an intensity that shakes me. He breaks the contact first, and it makes me want to cling to him.
Get a grip, Emma!
I don’t know if I’m ready to feel so deeply for this man. But I sense it’s too late. With all that’s happening…how quickly things are spiraling out of control…I think I’m in too deep. I know I am.
When it feels as if he’s slipping away from me again, I cup his face in my palms and force him to look at me.
“You’ll always be better than him,” I whisper. His eyes grow gentle.
“Emma, for the first time ever, I believe that.”
Chapter 12
Raoul Caraldi
Emma’s fast asleep when the phone rings the next morning. I pull the sheet up over her shoulder and stroke a silky curl from her face as I answer the call.
“I got a lead,” McErlane says without preamble.
“Tell me,” I respond, allowing myself one last look at her before rising and moving silently from the room.
“One of my guys picked up some activity at a factory in Brooklyn,” he says. “Looks like a regular manufacturing plant, but there’s something fishy about what’s going in and coming out.”
