‘Alessandro doesn’t care as long as you’re in here too,’ he growled in her ear, applying pressure through his arms so she turned to face him.
Nat’s breath caught in her throat as his gaze ate her up. There was wildness there, a level of desperation she’d not seen before, not even the first time.
‘I’ve been thinking of you all day, thinking of doing this.’
He didn’t give her time to process that. Time to talk about what had happened in the linen cupboard. Time to even suck in a breath as his mouth opened over hers and devoured every atom of oxygen in her lungs. He walked her backward as she clung to him, dizzy from desire and hypoxia. And then his hands wereplucking at the hem of her nightdress until it was off and then his shirt was pulled out of his trousers and half his buttons were undone.
As they collapsed against the bed she made short work of his zip and the heavy weight of his erection was suddenly in her hand. She squeezed and his deep groan rumbled around them fluttering hot air on to her neck as he kissed her there, his whiskers scraping.
Nat parted her legs to cradle his hips, urging him closer. ‘Alessandro,’ she muttered, unsure if she wanted him to slow down or go faster.
Her mind was a blank. An empty space devoid of any thought, filled only with his scent and fuelled by their linen cupboard tete-a-tete.
His mouth closed over a nipple and she cried out, almost convulsing with desire. His hands pushed at her panties as hers plucked at his trousers. As soon as he had access he entered her and she dug her nails into his back, gasping as he slid home, stretching her, filling her, making her feel more helpless and yet more powerful than she’d ever felt before.
He pounded into her with frenzied strokes, like a man possessed, and all she could do was cling to his shoulders as each jab built her to a crescendo of lust that contracted her muscles and energised every cell, innervating them to an excruciating awareness.
The first flare of her orgasm jolted through her and he crushed her close, burying his face in her neck, crying out her name with his own release as if it had come from his very soul.
‘Nathalie!’
‘Yes,’ she panted as his voice filled her head. ‘Yes… Alessandro… yes.’
Nat wasn’t sure when it finished. It seemed to go forever, suspending them on some plane that floated high even as itfaded. It was almost as if she’d lost consciousness and wasn’t aware of anything other than him until he grew heavy against her and her body moved involuntarily, protesting the weight.
He rolled off and somehow in the post-coital haze he managed to pull down the bed sheets and relieve them of their barely intact clothes. And then he was surrounding her again, spooning her, pulling her into him, pressing kisses into her neck, touching her breasts and between her legs.
It was slower this time, lazier, but Nat felt the heat building again quickly and gave herself up to the moment.
13
Several hours later, not long after they’d fallen into an exhausted sleep, Nat woke to a strange noise. Her eyelids flicked open and despite the pull of slumber she was suddenly instantly alert. Her heartbeat boomed in her ears as she strained into the apparent silence.
The she heard it again. A cry.
Julian!
Careful not to disturb Alessandro, she eased off the bed and grabbed her discarded clothes, throwing them on, and headed to Julian’s room. The muted glow from the illuminated fish tank by the window silhouetted Julian’s tiny frame as he sat up in bed.
‘What is it, matey?’ she crooned.
‘I’ve been sick,’ he sobbed.
Nat, her brain still cloaked in slumber and her bones still heavy from sexual malaise, reached for the nightlight and snapped it on. Julian’s hair was mussy from sleep, his face flushed. She could smell the acidic aroma of vomit and noticed the soiled bed linen.
Sitting on the bed beside him, she put her arms around his shoulders. He didn’t feel warm any more but he’d obviously hadsomething in his system. ‘It’s okay, matey. Let’s get you cleaned up and give you some more medicine.’
She groped in his drawer for clean pyjamas then picked him up and carried him into her en suite, where she helped him change. Wetting a flannel, she wiped his flushed face, then got him to gargle some mouth rinse.
‘Better now?’
He nodded but he seemed listless as she carried him back to his room and she didn’t feel comfortable leaving him all alone in his bed when he was obviously miserable.
Glancing at the open doorway at the end of the hallway, a memory from her childhood assailed her. She’d been seven and ill from something she couldn’t remember now. But she could remember her mother bringing her into her parents’ bed and how she had snuggled into her father. He had patted her back and curled his big arm around her and she had felt so safe and secure and loved.
It had been just before he’d left them and Nat cherished that memory like it was gold. Sure, her mum had always showered her withTLCwhen she was sick, but without her dad and his big old arm there, she’d always felt a little less loved.
Nat didn’t give it another thought. Everyone wanted to feel they were loved when they were sick. It was just… human. She crept into the room and on to the bed and laid Julian next to his father. Alessandro stirred and reached for her before he realised the situation, levering himself up on to his elbow. ‘Julian?’ He glanced down at his son then up at her. ‘What’s wrong?’
