“Surrender,” he rasped, and the words were as much a promise to himself as they were a plea to her. “Surrender to this.”
Chapter Eight
CATARINA BLINKED UPat the man in front of her, letting his features come into focus. The moonlight highlighted the contrasts on the sharp planes of his cheekbones, bringing the harsh angle of his jaw into relief. His brown eyes were obscured in the darkness, but she could see his mouth—a harsh, grim line. Tension radiated from his body in hot waves. Yesterday she might have mistaken these signs for anger. Maybe there was some of that, too, but today she understood he wanted her. Perhaps it was because she was also thrumming with a need that wound her up and begged for release, but there was no mistaking his intent, despite her innocence. Her body knew.Surrender. The word whispered through her, echoing in his deep rumble of a voice that created friction inside her, one she was desperate to soothe.
After reasoning through this all day, debating whether she should give in to this need, right now she could see that reasoning was irrelevant. With him so near, the lure of his sensuality was too powerful to resist.Surrender.Whatever else happened between them, at least this experience would be hers.
Slowly, she lifted her hand to his face. The brush of scruff on his chin scraped her tender skin, adding another sensation to this cauldron that was bubbling inside her, a tonic that felt almost otherworldly. Massimo let out a groan, and then the tension in him seemed to snap. His mouth came down on hers for a devastating kiss that was nothing like the one earlier in the day. That kiss had been a slow seduction, a temptation. This one was lush and indulgent and greedy. It was everything she had spent a lifetime training herself never to be. And yet, here with his heat and his masculine scent surrounding hers, she finally let go.
Catarina explored his mouth without shame, took without worrying about giving, but every one of her sighs was matched by his groans, louder and deeper. Massimo was taking what he wanted, too. His hands found her hips, then moved up her body, the whisper-thin material of her nightgown brushing over her skin, so deliciously sensual, setting her insides on fire. He angled his mouth and took their kiss deeper, and she found herself gasping for air, trying to get enough, trying to get closer. She pressed her body against his and felt his hard length, so solid and sothere, a stark, tempting reminder of what could come next. And oh, how she wanted it. Underneath all her dreams and fairy-tale endings lay something so breathtakingly raw, something she had never imagined and yet somehow, her body still knew she had wanted it the whole time.
Massimo pulled away from the kiss and swore under his breath. The lines on his face were so harsh that, for a moment, he looked almost angry. But then all thoughts left her because he was kissing her again, taking with a hunger that made her weak and sending pulses of need between her legs. She grabbed onto the hard muscles of his shoulders, steadying herself.
His kisses traveled down her neck, over her chest, and then he cupped one of her breasts. His mouth covered it, and she drew in a frantic breath as pleasure burst through her. Before she had time to recover, he sucked on her nipple, and it was as if there was a direct line from her breast to the sensitive bud at her core. Her insides burned and her legs ached as his tongue circled, coaxing. The room echoed with cries, and she was suddenly aware that they were coming from her. She was losing all control.
Massimo lifted her, and in a few quick steps her back was against the wall. One thick forearm held her against him so that her core rested on one of his hard thighs, and between his legs, her own thigh was pressed against his long, insistent length. Cool air drifted over the wet material of her gown, pressing against her nipple, bringing a shiver of pleasure through her whole body. Massimo swore again, then took her other breast in his mouth and, with a shift of his large hand, rubbed the bud between her legs against his thigh. It was too much. She came apart in a spectacular crescendo of pleasure, her cry hoarse as she shuddered and shook. If he hadn’t been holding her so firmly, she would’ve collapsed, but he held her body snugly between him and the wall as she simply let go, let the waves of pleasure wash over her.
His breaths were rasps in her ear as he lifted her, his soft touch against her back so at odds with the harsh look she had glimpsed on his face and the thick, insistent pulse of his steely length against her thigh. He carried her over to the bed and gently set her there. Her nightgown was askew, and Massimo was staring at her with a look that could only be described as thunderous. He took a step back, and a whiff of panic startled her out of this languid purgatory of pleasure. He was going to leave. She was sure of it.
“Don’t go.” She meant it as a plea, but her voice was an invitation filled with pleasure.
He swore again. Massimo Carandini, who had bent the entire world to his will, wanted her. The thought was a powerful aphrodisiac that sparked new desire inside her, opening her curiosity. If he could bring so much delicious pleasure with just his mouth on her breasts and his thigh between her legs, what would happen when he used more? Themorein question was on display, straining against the material of his sweatpants. She ached to explore it.
“Surrender,” she whispered, echoing his word that was still ringing in her head; the word that had brought her to this point of uncharted pleasure.
Massimo closed his eyes, and he shuddered. Then he grasped for the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it off, exposing the hard muscles she had thought about all day. But nothing in her imagination could have prepared her for the way they moved with each of his breaths. It was clear that he was no stranger to physical work. She had felt his hard biceps as he held her, and she could see the ripples of strength across his chest. In front of her were the ridges of his abs and the trail of hair that disappeared into his waistband, so close and on blatant display. She wanted to get on her knees to explore him, but before she could even think to move, he was stripping off the sweatpants and his boxers, and then he was naked in front of her, his erection proud and so much larger than she had imagined.
“Stand up. I want you closer.”
His voice was gentle, almost tender, and she responded to it immediately. He closed the distance between them and lifted her nightgown until she was naked, too. And whatever had been satisfied inside her just moments before turned back to want. This want felt so much larger, so much more overwhelming because he was now bare before her, and somehow, the promise of pleasure for both of them made it even stronger. Catarina reached for his chest and touched him tentatively, and she felt his muscles tighten under her hand. He let out a sound too raw to be called a laugh.
“Careful.” The word echoed with an unmistakable warning.
But Catarina was done being careful. She was done being the person her father wanted, and she had long been cast out from the sheltered life that revolved around her mother. Every moment, every move, was now hers. Though she had no idea how this would play out, she knew she wanted it. So she slid her hand up his chest, feeling the thump of his heart, relishing in his desperate breaths and the electric power of touching his skin.
Just a man, she reminded herself, but she found this was no longer a comfort, now that she had had a taste of what this man could do with her. To her. Catarina explored, and he stood still, letting her, using his well-known control. Except this control seemed to be teetering on the edge of something else, something she wanted desperately to understand. A rush of satisfaction surged through her.Shehad this effect on him. But as she moved her hand lower, to the trail of hair on his stomach, he grabbed her wrist. Before she could register what was happening, he cleared the bed of her billowy duvet and pillow with his other hand, and then she was on it. He leaned down for something, and she heard the rip of a package. A condom. He rolled it down his length, and she watched, entranced. He climbed on top of her, nudging her thighs open, and settled there so easily that it felt as though his body had been made for hers. He propped himself on his elbows, his body skimming over hers, his muscles flexing under his weight, and his hardness, thick and full against her core, moving over it with delicious friction, setting off a fresh wave of pleasure. He didn’t seem to notice any of that. He was staring at her face.
“Surrender,” he said in a voice so stark, so final, that at once she could feel that he was not simply asking for sex. He was demanding something much more devastating.
Then, the nudge of his hardness pressed against her, and all other thoughts disappeared.
Holding himself on the brink of ecstasy, Massimo stared down at Catarina. Her thick brown hair spread over the pillowcase in waves, her lush lips were parted and her eyes were innocent and wide, as if she was on the verge of a discovery so unexpected, so earth-shattering, that she didn’t know what to do.
But Massimo knew exactly what to do. He knew what she needed because he felt that same need pulsing through his own body. He was no longer going to lie to himself, not after seeing her response to his touch; not after tasting those tight buds of her nipples in his mouth; not after the way she drove him wild with her cries. He needed this like he needed his next breath. All the havoc that this feeling could wreak on his life he would contemplate later, but now was the time to answer this siren’s call. To surrender to it. Both of them.
He stroked himself along her soft core one more time, gritting his teeth against the overwhelming urge to let go, instead focusing on the hitch of her breath, the moans and sighs that sent rushes of pleasure through him. Then he positioned himself at her entrance and nudged in, straining at the tight fit, slowly easing himself into the hot, welcoming place he craved. His desire spiked higher with each of her breaths. She was so soft and wet from her pleasure that when he came to the point of resistance, he almost forgot to stop. He almost lost control.
But suddenly, her muscles tensed, jolting him back from the edge of ecstasy. He felt a resistance, and wariness now clouded her eyes.
“I’ll take care of you,” he whispered, stroking his hand over the silky skin of her cheek. “I promise.”
He had meant to comfort her, but her eyes inexplicably filled with tears. He froze, then pulled back, searching her gaze for what had gone wrong. But she shook her head and pulled him closer.
“Please,” she said in a voice that was husky with need. “I want this.”
I want you. Satisfaction soared through him. It should have been satisfaction that his seduction plan had worked, but the pleasure that ran through him was complicated in a way that he couldn’t begin to contemplate. So he didn’t. He lowered himself to kiss her, pressing his mouth to hers, and that magical thing that seemed to happen each time her lips touched his happened again. He lost himself in the kiss as he slowly, slowly, continued to push. He felt the moment where the resistance gave, felt her flinch. He soothed her with more kisses until she moved, urging him deeper and deeper until finally,finally, he was inside her completely.
“Catarina.” Her name slipped out of his mouth, his voice a rasp of insatiable hunger that lurked inside him. As sensations threatened to overwhelm him, a sudden thought darkened the bliss of that moment: This was something he would never come back from. The idea swirled inside him, an uncomfortable mix of fear and satisfaction that he tried to push away. Then she moved again, and he moved, too, focusing on reining in his control, pleasuring her, holding himself on the edge of abyss. Each stroke, each cry, took him further into pleasure, building it until the whole world fell away, and it was only this connection between them. With another hard thrust she fell apart in his arms, shuddering with cries that broke him. He came with a long, guttural groan that reverberated through his entire body. Ecstasy flooded him in wave after wave as her body responded, drawing out both their pleasure. He held himself over her, his lips pressed to her neck, breathing in her scent, until the world took shape again.
