He didn’t need to be asked again. Whispering her name as if it were a benediction, Alessandro kissed her with such tenderness that Sam felt like her heart was coming back to life again. Her bed was tiny for his frame, but she loved that because it gave him no room to move away from her.
He trailed kisses down her cheek to her neck, and before she knew it, her top was gone and his lips left blistering warmth all over her breasts and her midriff. There was no inch of her that he didn’t touch or kiss or nip. And yet all of that frenzy calmed down in a matter of breaths as his fingers tugged at the seam of her shorts.
“I hate seeing these bruises on your body,” he said, and then let out a curse. “Don’t be mad, Sam.” Slowly, softly, he kissed the perimeter of the blue-green bruise. “I told myself I would not stifle you or suffocate you or make you think you’re incapable. I just… The thought of you in pain or anything happening to you…turns me inside out.”
Sam buried her fingers in his hair and tugged until he looked up at her. The naked love in his eyes made her hiccup like a child, as if he were a fantasy that might disappear the moment she opened her eyes. “It’s okay. I want to know these things you feel. And you’re already doing better.”
And then she was naked, and he was kissing her all over, his fingers pulling and tugging, and she was like those piano keys he played so deftly. One more breath and she’d fall away and…
“My parents,” Sam exclaimed and then giggled. She cast a look around the room and groaned. “Every little sound carries down from this room. I don’t think I can ever face them again.”
Alessandro nipped at her right hip, hard enough to leave a small mark on her skin. “Will you listen to me next time when I say we need privacy?”
“Sì.Absolutely.”
He grinned and buried his mouth in her inner thigh. Another nip at the silky flesh, revving her up all over again. “Didn’t you hear them? Their car left a while ago.”
“What?”
Alessandro rubbed her lower lip as if he couldn’t stop touching her. “I spoke to your dad earlier when your mom took a nap. I wasn’t sure if you’d…” He flicked her nose. “I wanted you all to myself tonight. I told him there’s a room in their name at the Four Seasons in case he wanted to take your mom out for the night, and in case you refused to come to the hotel with me. I wanted all bases covered to have you to myself.”
Sam bit her lower lip, but the smile broke through anyway. “I’m not going to encourage you going behind my back and conspiring with my parents of all people…but in this case, I excuse you. I guess my dad likes you.”
Alessandro grinned. “And he knows you better than your mom does.” That wide, wonky smile winked at her. The change in him—the sheer happiness in his expression was like a balm to her heart. She did want his words, but nothing spoke more eloquently than his gray eyes.
“Although, I’d prefer to not talk about him right now.”
In reply, Sam snuck her hands in between them until she could wrap her palm around his erection. “Come inside me, please,” she said, cheeks heating at the length and feel of him. Her core clenched, greedy and damp. “I won’t break, Alessandro, not because of a couple of bruises and a broken foot. And that’s the only way this relationship will work.”
He opened his mouth, shook his head and then closed it. She laughed.
Between kisses and laughter, somehow, they managed to push his pants down, and then he was notched at her entrance. Then there was no reason for words.
He thrust into her, slowly, softly, stretching her impossibly wide, whispering so many words she didn’t understand into her skin. And when he was lodged all the way in, he told her how she felt, how he’d been thinking of this moment, how he’d never stop wanting her.
Sex with him had always been a study in vulnerability and boundaries and falling off the edge when those boundaries were crossed. But this time, it was different. Their hands clasped, their eyes holding each other, joy suffused every movement, every word.
The blasted man took his own sweet time. And when Sam begged him to let her come, he tilted their angle and went deeper and faster, and she unraveled. Even their climaxes felt different, felt so much more than simple release. When he’d have pulled away, Sam held him, loving the weight of him on her and said the words she knew he wanted to hear. “I love you, Alessandro. You make me want to take risks, you make me come alive, and you…”
He took over and kissed her and whispered more words in Italian, and Sam knew she had found her grand adventure and her resting place all in one man.
It was dark in the room when Sam woke.
She turned to find Alessandro leaning his head on his elbow, studying her, his fingers drawing lazy circles over her belly. She flushed as she realized he’d not only cleaned her up but dressed her back in her shorts. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“I like looking after you.” He grinned, something wicked and naughty flaring in his eyes. “Plus, I know how much you dislike being all sticky.”
She flushed, heat rushing to her cheeks.
“I love when you get that expression in your eyes,tesoro. Reminds me there’s so much more we still have to do with each other. To each other.”
Moving onto her side, she faced him. With him around, she needed to get used to feeling warm and gooey and wanted and satisfied. A state of being she liked very much.
She didn’t miss the thoughtful look in his eyes or the tension that drew his upper lip into that taut line before he covered it up with a grin. And Sam had a niggle what had put that look in his eyes.
She ran her hand over his chest, adoring the feeling of his skin stretched taut over lean muscles. He was hers. It was going to take time to get used to it. He was also a man who felt deeply, a man who suppressed every need and desire he felt first.
Sam wanted to be what he needed. Give what he wouldn’t demand. “If I ask you something, will you give me an honest answer?” she said, unable to hide the gravity in her voice.
