Page 110 of Ricardo

I know where he's going.

I know what he's about to do.

The thing I never had the courage to ask Harrison for.

The thing I know would've made a look of disgust cross his face.

The thing I was always ashamed to want but did anyway.

Ricardo grabs one of the pillows and gently lifts my hips, sliding it underneath me. Then he settles between my legs and slides his hands up and down my thighs, murmuring something to me in Italian.

"What are you saying?" I pant.

"I am thanking God," he murmurs. "For this view."

My cheeks explode with heat, but I don't look away. I watch, mesmerized, as he just looks at the most intimate part of me, his gaze full of desire.

Then he parts my legs even wider, pressing my thighs open with the heel of his hands.

"Hold these open for me while I eat, won't you, cara?" he says casually.

I am so shocked by the words that I can't even form a response. Is this what people do? This is what people say? Is this how lovers speak to each other? I don't know. I've never heard anything like it.

Harrison would have been horrified.

But coming from Ricardo, it's the most erotic thing I have ever heard. The heat that floods my system is so intense it's almost painful.

Fresh wetness coats me, and I can actually feel it. I've never been this intensely turned on before. This can't be normal.

I close my eyes as a fresh wave of self-consciousness washes over me, a lifetime of conditioning that this part of me is something to be ashamed of. To be hidden away.

The fear that he’ll find something wrong with me.

I start to close my legs.

He stops me, his grip firm but gentle.

"Ah ah ah," he tuts softly.

My eyes fly open and I stare at him.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

"Don't you dare apologize," he says, his voice a low growl. "Don't you dare."

I blink at him, my heart pounding.

"This," he says, and I am not prepared for what he says next. "This beautiful pussy that is dripping before my eyes is nothing to be ashamed of."

My jaw drops open.

No one has ever spoken to me like this.

And he's not done.

"It's a gift, Julia," he says, and then his gaze darkens. "And I intend to fully enjoy it. If you'll let me."

And just like that, the shame, the self-consciousness, the fear of being not good enough, it all just... melts away, replaced by a white-hot desire that burns so bright it almost blinds me.