pair of lacy white panties.
She gazed at him, colour on her face, but made no attempt to cover herself as she usually did.
He swallowed the moisture in his mouth, gripping hold of the bed sheets lest he jumped out, threw her onto the bed and plunged inside her as the aching jut between his legs longed to do.
She walked to him, not taking her gaze from him, until she stood at the edge of the bed and slowly, torturously slowly, tugged her panties down.
Climbing onto the bed, she straddled him, then her hot, sweet mouth was back on his and she was kissing him as if she needed his breath for life.
And then that beautiful mouth was dragging down his throat, her tongue darting out, and she was kissing him everywhere, moving down his chest, his abdomen, her fingers exploring, so many sensations igniting that it was a struggle to breathe.
When she took him into her mouth his hands clenched into fists and he had to force air into his lungs.
He’d never experienced anything like it, such pure, deep desire. It burned him.
Groaning, he watched her head bob up and down, desperate to reach out and touch her but not wanting to do anything that might scare her or break her from the moment.
Just at the point when he felt he might burst, she trailed her tongue back up his chest, her breasts brushing against his skin, until she found his lips. At the same moment her tongue swept back into his mouth, she sank down on him, taking him inside her sweet tightness in one long movement.
He watched her eyes close and a look of bliss spread over her beautiful face.
Wrapping his arms around her, he held her tightly, fusing her to him as she began to move, little cries escaping from her mouth that soon turned into moans and then gasps.
For so many nights he’d dreamed of her submitting to the desire gluing them together and letting herself go.
He’d never imagined it would be like this or dreamt it would feel like this.
He didn’t want it to end.
When he felt his orgasm welling up inside him, he gritted his teeth to hold on, but the softness of her skin against him, the feel of being so perfectly fitted inside her, the friction of her movements, her breath and scent filling his senses...it was a battle he was about to lose.
And then she was crying out his name and sinking as hard onto him as she could, thickening around him, somehow pulling him even deeper into her.
He let go.
‘Elena, God, Elena,’ he breathed with the last of his air, white light flickering behind his eyes and pulsations ravaging him, taking him to a place he had never known existed.
His heart had never beaten so fast.
Much later, when lethargy had crept through his bones and sleep arrived to claim him, Elena entangled in his arms and breathing rhythmically, he opened his eyes for one last look at her and pressed the lightest of kisses to her forehead. Then he fell into the deepest, most content sleep of his life.
* * *
Gabriele gave his morning run a miss. Or, rather, his morning run gave him a miss. Today the sun had beaten him awake. And so had Elena.
He found her on the balcony, drinking coffee and gazing out at waking-up Florence.
Her face lit up with a smile to see him.
They’d shared a bed for almost three weeks yet this morning it felt as if he were handling the morning-after for the very first time.
He wanted to scoop her up and carry her back to bed.
Conversely, he wanted to get his training shoes on and run away as fast as he could.
He settled on taking a seat next to her and pouring himself a coffee.
‘I hope you don’t mind me wearing this,’ she said shyly, indicating his navy robe, which she had wrapped herself in.
Seeing her dwarfed in his robe, her hair mussed from a night of lovemaking, a sparkle in her eyes...
His chest constricted, the palms of his hands dampening.
‘Not at all.’ He added a splash of milk to his cup. ‘You’re up early.’
The sparkle faded a little and she took a sip of her coffee. ‘I woke up with cramps.’
‘Are you okay?’ he asked, immediately concerned.
‘I’ve taken some painkillers. But it does mean I’m not pregnant.’
Relief surged through him in a whoosh.
He hadn’t even realised this was news he’d been hoping for.
Elena wasn’t pregnant. He got to keep her for longer.
He stared at her, trying to read her expression. ‘You’re disappointed?’
Was she really that keen for them to be over? When she conceived their child she could walk away.
But surely she didn’t want to walk away after the night they’d just shared?
She would walk away if she learned what you were up to.
‘A little.’ She took another sip. ‘I don’t know why I thought it would happen so quickly.’
‘It will happen when it’s ready.’ He ran a thumb against her cheek, thrilling when she rubbed into his touch. He adored her cheekbones; they were made for touching. ‘You really do want to have a baby?’
He should have asked her before. Before he made her sign a contract where her only means of escaping him was by carrying his child.
What had he been thinking?
What kind of monster had he become?
And what could he do about it?
Her eyes were wide as she nodded. ‘Very much. I never thought I would...’
‘Because only girls have babies and you didn’t want to be a girl?’ he supplied.
She laughed, visibly relaxing. ‘That was certainly a part of it. But don’t forget I’d intended to stay a virgin until I died and seeing as a man’s help is needed in making a baby...’ She laughed again. ‘I just never thought I would be in the position where a baby could be possible.’
She made it sound as if he’d given her a choice in the matter when the choice he’d presented her with had been no choice at all.
How could she even exchange a civil word with him?
Her hand crept onto his and squeezed. ‘You need to get going soon, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’
He didn’t want to leave her.
He
