“Cecilia, you sound nervous. I don’t know if you should be driving. I can come get you.”
I laugh as I hurry down the stairs, almost missing steps, my heart racing ahead of me. “I swear I’m not nervous. I’m just happy. I’ll drive carefully. Stay there—let me be the one who comes to you this time.”
I stop in front of the mirror by the door, smoothing my hair back with trembling fingers. And when I see the woman with shining eyes smiling back at me in the glass... my smile only grows.
The elevator climbs with excruciating slowness. When the chime finally announces the top floor, the steel doors glide open and, for one suspended moment, everything else falls away.
Alexander stands in the center of the living room, motionless.
He is wearing black trousers and a white shirt that hangs open at the collar, the first few buttons unfastened, revealing the tanned bronze of his chest; his sleeves are pushed up to his elbows. Dark hair falls into his eyes, undone by restless hands that have passed through it.
For a heartbeat, neither of us moves, as if waiting to see which of us will break first.
And then, at the same time, we break. I run to him. He opens his arms.
“Alexander.”
His embrace closes around me with possessive tenderness, one arm locking around my waist, the other sliding up to my neck, fingers sinking into my hair as he buries his face in the curve of my throat. I feel his breath there, trembling with relief.
“Dio mio, Cecilia...” he says, his voice undone as his lips find my skin. “I missed you so much. It felt like I forgot how to breathe these past three weeks.”
We pull back and our eyes meet. I don’t know which of us moves first, but our mouths crash together in a hungry kiss full of longing.
My hands fumble with the last buttons of his shirt as he slips my coat from my shoulders, letting it fall at our feet. We leave a trail of clothes and shoes in our wake, stumbling blindly, hips bumping into furniture, laughing through breathless sounds.
We barely graze the couch before collapsing onto the thick rug. At the last second, he twists to cushion the fall, taking the impact as he lands beneath me, and we end up laughing into each other’s mouths.
I’m straddling him, wearing only my bra and panties, grinding down on him, pleasure sparking as I feel the hard length of him pressing through the thin layers of our underwear.
I roll my hips, dragging a rough, guttural sound from his throat. My hands slide over his chest until he tangles his fingers into the hair at the back of my neck and drags me down to him.
“Sei mia,”[LXXI]he whispers, and his kiss deepens with an intensity that makes my head spin.
Moving like a man who already owns me, he reverses our positions, covering my body with his. Alexander kisses my jaw, trailing down my neck, leaving hot, open-mouthed kisses against my skin before biting down on the pulse point as if staking his claim.
His mouth finds my breasts, capturing one nipple, sucking hard through the thin lace of my bra, using the rough fabric to tease my skin. A whimper slips past my lips when he bites down, pushing me to the edge. He strips the bra off me in a quick motion, and his mouth returns to my nipple.
I arch my back, feeling his tongue work over the sensitive peak. I slip my fingers into his hair, tugging him closer, and he sucks harder, pulling a loud moan from my throat.
He releases my nipple with a wet, filthy sound, looking up at me with a look that sends a shiver racing through my entire body. With barely contained impatience, he strips my panties away, then lowers his head, locking his dark eyes on mine.
“Alexander...” I groan, but the sound is cut off the moment his hot tongue touches my center.
He explores every inch, licking me from bottom to top in one long swipe before latching onto my clit with a pressure that is both delicious and painful.
Then two fingers slide deep inside me, moving in perfect rhythm with a tongue that knows exactly what to do. My hips buck, begging for more, until the climax crashes through me. My back arches off the rug, and my muscles clamp down tight around his fingers. I scream his name as wave after wave of pleasure shakes me to my core.
When I finally catch my breath, he lifts his face. His lips are wet, and his amber eyes are dark with possessive heat.
“You taste like my ruin, cazzo,” he growls.
Alexander slides up my body and cups my face in his hands, his thumb swiping over my chin. “What do you want,amore[LXXII]? Tell me,” he asks, his voice rough with desire.
My hand seeks his beard, cupping his face, as if I need to burn every feature into my memory.
“You.Alwaysyou,” I say, holding his gaze.
He turns his head, glancing around as if looking for something. I pull him back to me.
