If he didn’t stop now, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to. But this was hardly the place for her first time.
“I’m not going to sleep with you here.”
She opened her mouth as if to argue then clamped it shut again. “Here?”
He closed his eyes as the enormity of what he was opening himself to sat between them.
“What’s wrong with here?” Her confused expression was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“Oh, Allegra,” he took a step towards her, and finally, finally, gave into the temptation that had been throbbing through his veins for what felt like a lifetime. With no witnesses, and no need to fool anyone, he put a hand on her waist, then slid it to the small of her back and drew her forward, against his body. He felt the air escape her lungs and stared down at her, wishing they were anywhere but here, in his grandfather’s home. True, it was enormous, but there were too many unpleasant memories here for him to want to involve this moment.
“When we do this,” he murmured, “I want to know it’s just you and me. No staff, no house guests.” And then, because he’d already weakened and his control, which had been hanging by a thread all week, was at breaking point, he moved his other hand between her legs, brushing her sex lightly, seeing the way her eyes widened in shock as he pressed a little harder. The noise she made was addictive. Sweet and soft, like a purr, and then, surprise.
He dropped his hand, breath rushed. If he didn’t stop now, he wouldn’t stop.
Her eyes, hooded and dreamy, flared wide and locked to his. “Luca,” her voice was breathy. “You can’t tease me like that.”
His lips pulled to the side in something like a smile, except, it was just a ghoulish approximation. Need and desperation were clawing at his insides, so despite the setting, he felt like throwing all caution to the wind and giving into this. It was the way they’d spent their night. Being so close, touching, flirting, holding each other; desire had been building and growing and it was now like the bursting of a dam.
He glanced towards the night sky, thick with a blanket of stars, then down at Ally. “If we do this, there’s no going back.”
Her eyes shimmered with determination, and a strength that he found quite awe-inspiring.
“We’ve blown past ‘if’, right?”
“Good point.”
He moved his hand to hers, holding it. “This won’t change anything between us.”
Her chin jutted defiantly. “I’m well aware.”
Was he imagining the hardness to her tone? The hint of something like anger or resentment? He must have been, because a moment later, she was leaning forward, her body cleaved to his. “So?”
His nostrils flared as he breathed out. “Not here,” he shook his head firmly, and caught the disappointment on her face.
It didn’t last for long.
“Come with me,cara.I want to show you something.”
He wasa man who had a mansion on the coastline of Italy, a private island, a private jet, a hotel, a million different businesses, so it shouldn’t have surprised Ally when he led heraway from the house, down the steps to the beach and onto another boat. Not the speedboat that had brought them to the island, but more of a small, sleek yacht.
Unlike the speedboat, there was no crew on the yacht, meaning that once she was on board, Luca took care of all the logistics to untether the craft from the pontoon and set their course into the calm ocean surrounding the island. The moon was high and gloriously full, the shimmering silver casting a beacon over the water that the boat seemed to instinctively follow. There was a distant humming, the sound of the party winding down, soft strains of music and tinkling laughter.
Ally stayed on the deck, enjoying the feeling of the balmy evening air on her skin and in her hair as they went, the sensation only adding to the sensuality of the moment. When the island was just a silhouette in the distance, the festoon lights from the party like tiny golden specks, Luca cut the engine. The silence was deafening for a moment, so Ally turned around quickly, and then became aware of the lapping of waves against the sides, the rhythm of the boat as it rocked gently. She was, in fact, hyperaware of everything, and she knew why.
His touch.
That one single glimmer of contact had made her whole body catch fire.
And it hadn’t stopped burning. The rush of sea air had helped a little, but now that the engine had stopped and he was standing a few feet away, staring at her, bathed in moonlight, her skin broke out in goosebumps and the waiting was a form of agony.
Slowly, painfully slowly, he started to walk towards her and Ally held her breath, or rather, it stuck in her throat. She could only watch as he covered the distance between them and then drew her into his arms, pulling her hard against his body, his touch rough in a way she craved. She gasped, need ripping her apart.
“I want to make you scream. I want you to scream and know no one can hear you. I want you to give into every single one of your feelings, your wants, I want you to be completely free to abandon yourself to this.” He lifted a finger and pressed it to her lips. “I want to show you everything you’ve missed out on, Allegra.”
She shivered both at his promise and at the way her name sounded on his lips.
“I want that too.” Her voice was just a husk. She could hardly form words; her brain had lost all its power.
