Little by little, with a patience he hadn’t known he possessed, he coaxed Francesca’s lips apart, and when her breath seeped into his mouth, he felt its sweetness infuse into his senses before it swirled and melded with his own breath.
So many sensations were firing through Francesca that her mind was in danger of melting from the overload. There was a tingling warmth in the pit of her stomach, spreading in tiny increments with every gentle caress from Gino’s mouth, slowly melting the paralysis that had gripped her at the first touch of his hand on her cheek when panic had set in that she didn’t know what to do.
The vulnerability she’d denied only moments earlier had embraced her in a chokehold until his murmured words of assurance had gently chiselled through it, bringing her back to herself, and when his tongue slid slowly into her mouth in a beguilingly gentle exploration, the last of the paralysis fell away.
The kiss slowly deepening, the fingers nestled in her hair drifted down her neck and brushed over her shoulder to trail lazily down her arm, trailing tiny darts of electricity through her flesh. When he reached her fingers, he threaded his throughthem before sliding back up and skimming along the line where the top of the duvet met her chest.
His mouth breaking away, he rubbed his cheek to hers. The soft bristles of his beard scratched deliciously into her skin.
He pulled his head back to gaze into her eyes. Whatever he was searching for must have been answered, for he brought his mouth back to hers and, as he bestowed her with another slow, dizzying kiss, he pinched the top of the duvet and began to push it down, skimming it leisurely enough that she could stop him if she wanted.
Her heart beating faster than any hummingbird’s, thick, squirming excitement was building in her… on her… through her… but when she felt the air on her exposed breasts, the erotic pictures of all those beautiful women hung in his den swam into her mind, and she swallowed back an unexpected swell of shyness laced with fear at what he would think of hers in comparison to all the others he’d enjoyed over the years. Not just her breasts but her body as a whole.Heras a whole…
An arm wound around her waist, and, his mouth still fused to hers, she was gently lowered back down.
Her head resting on a plump pillow, the duvet now down to their waists, he propped himself on an elbow and gazed down at her.
Certain her heart was now trying to thrash its way out of her chest, she stared into eyes that were like black liquid, waiting with sick anticipation for what came next.
Stroking her cheek, he whispered, “You are allowed to touch me, Chicca.”
Touch him…
The thought was as dizzying as his kisses, and suddenly she became aware of the tingling yearn in her fingers and tried to summon the courage to lift her hand.
As if sensing her shyness, he smiled and took her hand. Lifting it to his mouth, he pressed a kiss to her fingers before placing it on his chest, right above his heart. Her eyes widened as the thuds reverberated through her palm, widening even more at the tremor she felt wrack through his magnificent body.
The strong column of his throat moved as he lowered his head to kiss her again.
Closing her eyes, she sighed into the kiss, parting her lips and entwining her tongue with his, her senses infusing with his taste that was so dark and compelling it made her crave more of it. If kissing was all they did, she dimly thought as she timidly skimmed her hand over his chest, feeling the fineness of the dark hair covering it as a whisper on the pads of her fingers, then it would be enough, because kissing Gino was an experience in another realm to anything she’d yearned for…
It was a thought that vanished in a haze when his hand skimmed her breast, and she froze, her mouth no longer able to move, unable to draw breath.
“It’s okay, Chicca,” he murmured, gently kneading her breast. He brushed his lips to her ear. “Remember what we both promised.”
She swallowed, trying to breathe, trying to speak. “I… I…”
He lifted his head. His forehead furrowed as he gazed into her eyes. “Do you want me to stop?”
She trailed her shaking hand up his neck and grazed the short hair at the back of his head. Somehow she managed to force her whispered words out. “No. I just… I didn’t know I would feel like this.”
There was no mockery in his stare. “Like what?”
“Like a virgin.” A burst of laughter rose up her throat. It came out like a sob. “It’s terrifying, but…” Her lips curved into a wobbly smile. “I’m not scared.”
“You’re not?”
“No.” She took a shuddery breath and swallowed again. And then she smiled again. “It’s only terrifying because I’ve never done any of this before, but I’m not scared because I know you won’t hurt me.”
Something unreadable flashed in his eyes. The nostrils of his strong nose flared, and then his mouth slanted back onto hers.
It took more restraint than Gino had known he possessed to hold himself back from fully devouring Francesca’s sweet, pliant mouth. A hunger was growing inside him, a hunger he needed to keep in check or her terror wouldn’t be of the new and unknown but of him.
He needed to be fully in the mindset he’d set out on and treat the whole thing like a textbook lesson in sex where he was the teacher and she was the pupil. Whatever effect it had on him personally was irrelevant.
But, God, the burn in his loins…
Closing his eyes, he commanded himself not to react to the sensation of her silken tongue winding with his. Any reaction was for her, not for him, and when he slid his hand over her weighty breast and felt the hardness of her nipple on his palm, he reminded himself sternly that this was the response he wanted her to have. He wanted her to look back on this night in a decade and sigh at how good it had been.
