He shook his head, his dark gaze netting her in its web. ‘I can’t sleep,’ he murmured. ‘Haven’t been able to since…’
His weariness wormed its way right down to her soul and her instincts cried out to comfort him. ‘Oh… Alessandro.’
Compelled in that way she was around him, Nat didn’t give a second thought to moving closer, sliding one hand behind his neck and one into his hair, cradling his head against her stomach. ‘I’m so sorry.’
His arms automatically encircled her waist and everything lurched. When he pressed his face into her nightshirt, everything tightened. ‘You smell like an orchard,’ he murmured, his voice muffled as he nuzzled just under her sternum, the heat of his breath warming the skin beneath the fabric of her shirt. ‘And rain.’
With every erogenous zone in her body on high alert, Nat knew she should step back, push away, but the plain truth of it was – she didn’t want to. ‘It’s Flo,’ she said. ‘She likes the rain. I put her out in it for a bit.’
He didn’t say anything for a beat, just held on until he whispered, ‘I’m tired. I’m so tired.’
She cradled his head and rocked slightly. ‘I know. I know.’ Because she did know. She knew what it was like to grieve the end of a relationship. To lose someone close. How exhausting it was right down to the bones.
He pressed a kiss to her belly, setting up a wild tangle of sensation directly underneath. Glancing up at her he murmured, ‘Nathalie.’
Nat shook her head. She knew that look in his eyes. Knew for damn sure it was reflected in hers. ‘Don’t call me that.’ Her voice shook. She hated how husky it sounded, hated that she knew where this was heading and had zero intention of slamming on the brakes.
He rubbed his chin in the spot he’d kissed and the prickle of his midnight shadow was an erotic scratch that sucked her breath away. ‘Why? It suits you.’
With each word, her abdominal muscles rippled beneath his stubble as if he had licked them, and deeper down other muscles stirred deliciously at the way he’d sighed her name. Her hand drifted down from his hair to his face. She rubbed gently at the red mark on his cheek with the back of her hand. ‘Because I like it too much.’
They stared at each other for the longest time. They didn’t move. All that could be heard in the small office was the rain on the roof and the staccato rhythm of their breathing.
It was Alessandro who made the first move, applying pressure through his arms, bringing her down on to his lap, their heads close. Their lips closer. Nat didn’t protest, mesmerised by his eyes, by the desire that gleamed there. That they could be black ice one moment and warm like sable the next.
She wasn’t supposed to be here, doing this, but she also knew she was utterly powerless to resist. She could almost feel his mouth on hers, taste it, and she wanted it so badly anticipation hummed through her system.
His hand crept up, brushed against her shoulder and moved along the line of her collar bone until it was cradling her nape, four fingers lodged in her hair, his thumb stroking her jaw. He exerted slight pressure, inching her closer.
Their mouths nearer.
‘Bella,’ he murmured. ‘I know there is a multitude of reasons why kissing you, taking your clothes off and having you right here, right now, is a bad idea.’
Oh,dear God. Nat’s entire body clenched at his frankness.
‘But I also know that amongst all the bad stuff that has gone on in my life lately, you feel very right. You make me feel more alive than I have in a long time. Averylong time.’
His words fanned across her skin, thousands of goosebumps following in their wake. His fingers drifted down her neckline, coming to rest where the material scooped low on her breasts and Nat shut her eyes as her erect nipples ached for his attention. She watched fascinated as he dropped his head and kissed her not far from where the sauce had landed only a week ago. His lips practically sizzled against her skin and she arched her back involuntarily.
‘Nathalie…’
She barely had a chance to whimper before his questing mouth found hers and brushed against it ever so lightly. Gentle, like a whisper of what was to come. ‘Alessandro.’ She wasn’t sure if it was a warning or an invitation.
But it was definitely surrender.
Her hands snaked around his neck at the same time and their lips met again. Not gentle now. Not light.Deep. Deeper. Open mouths and questing tongues feasting on each other like starving beasts. His moan reverberated through her head and stroked deep inside her before it travelled to all her erogenous zones.
Nat couldn’t breathe. Her head spun as the kiss spiralled out of control and she broke away for a second, dizzy and out of breath. Alessandro looked at her with a passion he didn’t even try to conceal. His lips were moist from her ministrations – full and beckoning.
She’ddone that to him. Made this man look at her with eyes that devoured her, that branded her. She should be scared by this level of intensity but,God help her, she wanted more.
His thumb rubbed across the soft swollen contours of her mouth. She hadhimon her lips.Them. And she wanted more. To be joined even more intimately. To taste him more intimately. To have him inside her. ‘You’re so sweet,’ he whispered against her mouth.
‘Screw sweet,’ she muttered, then slammed her lips to his.
He met her ardour, surpassed it. His hands tangled in her hair, holding her captive, making escape impossible. Not that she wanted it. She could feel he was hard for her, her position on his lap giving his impressive arousal nowhere to hide.
Nat squirmed against it, wanting to feel it pressed against her more intimately. Wanting to touch it, damn it. Without breaking the kiss, she manoeuvred herself until she was straddling his lap, her nightdress riding up her thighs.
