“It happened at the doctor’s office,” she blurted, suddenly worried he might think she’d lied about being a virgin when there was no hymen. “My first exam.”
His thumbs glided over her cheeks as he held himself still while she got used to the feel of him inside her. “You are the most surprising woman, Faith….”
“You believe me,” she said softly, her body trembling from nerves and excitement. She hadn’t much considered how he might react until the moment came. That he believed her without hesitation made her chest ache. It was more than her family had done for her when the picture she’d sent Jason went viral. They’d believed the worst from that moment onward.
“Of course I do,” he said, dipping his head to run his tongue along her lower lip. “Why wouldn’t I?”
Something inside her twisted. Faith glided her palms along the muscles of his arms, arching her body against him, shuddering as sensation rolled through her when he moved his hips just the tiniest bit. It was the most beautiful feeling.
And she wanted more of it. She wanted the physical so she could take her mind off the emotional, off the way he smashed all her misconceptions about him.
“Now,” she said—begged, really, “please, now.”
With a growl, he began to move, slowly at first, and then faster as she wrapped her legs around his waist and lifted her hips to meet him with every thrust.
It was a bold move, very unlike her in many ways, and yet she couldn’t help herself. Because it was a revelation, this feeling of having a man inside her for the first time.
It was raw and sexy and primal, but it was also beautiful. Faith closed her eyes. She’d never felt so close to another person in her life, never felt so cherished and special.
Renzo bracketed her face in his hands and kissed her, a hot, wet kiss that excited her almost as much as his body possessing hers so completely did. She was spiraling higher, her body catching fire with feelings she’d never experienced.
When his mouth moved to her nipples, she couldn’t keep her moans of pleasure locked inside any longer. She was losing control of herself—and she didn’t care.
Her hips thrust up to meet his, her body accepting—demanding—the exquisite torment of his lovemaking. He answered her with an intensity she hadn’t imagined possible. Their bodies moved together, lifting and sinking and soaring, until stars exploded behind her eyes and she cried out.
He kept moving, kept thrusting, wringing every last moment of pleasure from her until a ragged groan tore from his throat. And then he sank down on top of her, his mouth taking hers again, before he rolled to the side and pulled her with him.
Faith lay against him, panting, her body still tingling and shuddering in the aftermath.
My God, what had just happened to her? She’d never flown so completely apart, nor wanted the feeling so desperately that she would have done anything to get it.
Renzo’s breathing was as hard as hers as his fingers skimmed down her naked back. A few moments later, he got up and walked into the attached bathroom, and her skin began to cool when he was no longer lying next to her. She lay sprawled on the bed, her body flushed and quivering and moist, and a sudden sensation of guilt pricked at her conscience.
She reached for the covers, suddenly acutely aware of her own nakedness. The room wasn’t brightly lit, but a lamp was on, spilling soft light over the rumpled bed.
She was not like Renzo, she thought. He was so beautiful, so perfectly made, muscles bunching and rippling as he moved.
And she was softer than she should be, padded. She was definitely not underwear model material. She yanked the covers to her chin as the heat of embarrassment infused her. Renzo had been too preoccupied before to really notice the flaws in her body—but now? Now he would notice everything.
Faith would have shot from the bed and grabbed her clothes, but he returned too quickly. As he strode toward the bed, she got her first good look at his injured leg. There was a long scar down one side of his thigh and along the side of his knee. The scar was faded, but still noticeable.
He stopped and glanced down at his leg, and she realized she must have been frowning. She tried to wipe the look from her face, but he wasn’t fooled.
“It was a long time ago,” he said. “And yes, it was bad. So bad they said I would never race again.”
Faith bit her lip. She hated to think of him in so much pain, being told he couldn’t do the one thing he loved to do, the thing he had been the best in the world at. For the first time ever, she had an idea of just how hard he must have fought to prove them wrong. And how much it frustrated him to be dealing with it again now when he thought he’d conquered it.
“But that is unimportant at this moment,” he said, joining her in the bed again. His fingers hooked into the covers and tugged gently. “Let me see you, Faith.”
“You already saw me.”
He laughed. “It’s a little late for modesty, don’t you think?”
Her ears burned. It was a little late for everything. Where was her decorum, her sense? Her self-respect? She’d tumbled headlong into carnality. If she was sorry now, it was no less than she deserved.
Except that she wasn’t sorry. Not for what they’d done. If she was sorry for anything, it was that she’d given herself to him and erased the mystery. How soon before he tired of her? How soon before she was looking for another job?
She’d done the one thing that she’d sworn she would never, ever do. She’d had sex with her billionaire boss, and become one of those women who seemed to think they could sleep their way to a better job or a better life. She knew women like that, women she’d met who worked for powerful men and thought that sleeping with them would lead to love.
Elaine had never admitted it, but Faith was convinced that’s why her roommate left the city and returned to Ohio. She’d had an affair with a man in her office who, while not her boss, was in senior management and quite wealthy. And married, it turned out. The affair had been over for a while, but Elaine had never quite gotten over it.
Renzo leaned down and kissed her, and Faith’s body started to melt. It surprised her, how she could respond so instantly after what they’d just done. She should be replete, too satisfied to react.
And yet she wasn’t. It was a shock to realize that if he wanted her again, right now, she’d happily wrap herself around him and go along for the ride.
And it was terrifying, too. If she couldn’t control herself now, what would happen later, when she was so accustomed to his lovemaking that the inevitable breakup would crush her? She’d be one of those pitiful women who kept calling his office—except that she was the gatekeeper.
Faith wanted to whimper and wail—and surrender to his touch.
Renzo was oblivious to the feelings crashing through her as he kissed her, and the covers inched down until she could feel the air sliding over her breasts, her torso.
“Beautiful,” he said, his hot mouth kissing a trail to her breasts. “I think I should keep you naked at all times.”
