words brought a heady surge of power, stripping away any last inhibitions, making her bold, making her sure. Never had anyone looked at her like that before, made her feel like this before.
Her hands moved back to his shirt again, fumbling with the buttons until she was able to push the fabric apart, expose Vieri’s broad, muscled chest to her greedy eyes, her itching fingers. She placed the flat of her palms against the wall of his chest, revelling in the feel of his hot, hard skin, the brush of tight, coarse hair. His muscles flexed beneath her touch, his obvious strength and power thrilling her senses, tightening her core still further. She closed her eyes, letting herself feel the beat of his heart, picking up the rhythm with her own pulse that pumped the blood rapidly through her veins.
Vieri moved to shrug off his shirt, then dealt with the buttons of his fly, pulling off his trousers, along with his shoes and socks. Down to black boxers now, straining against the power of his arousal, he stood gazing at her for a couple of long seconds, silent apart from the telling rasp of his breath. Then, dispensing with his last item of clothing, he waited, watching her watching him. Harper’s eyes widened. With his naked body illuminated by the candlelight he looked like the embodiment of perfection in masculine form. So virile, so potent, so totally magnificent.
He reached for her again, sweeping aside the curtain of her hair and leaning forward to breathe against her neck, then plant a trail of hot, heavy kisses from below her earlobe to the base of her throat.
Trembling with anticipation, Harper felt his hands slide down her arms, over her waist, to the top of her thighs above her stockings where his fingers sensuously traced the bare flesh, circling inwards towards her very centre. Harper gasped, his velvet touch stealing her breath, clenching every muscle in her body, turning her inside out.
Her small step closed the space between them, trapping his hands where she wanted to feel them so very badly, at the very heart of her, the heat of her, her most sensitive core. But Vieri took his hands away, pressing them firmly against her buttocks, clenching hard to pull her against him so that the gloriously, shocking swell of his arousal pressed against her tummy. Harper drew in a sharp breath of shock.
‘For you, Harper,’ he moaned softly before covering her mouth with his own, kissing her tenderly, but with such possession, such need, that there was no doubting his intent. ‘Just wait one second.’
Pulling away, he crossed over to where his trousers had been discarded on the floor and, slipping his hand into the pocket, he brought out a foil wrapper. Ripping it open with his teeth, he turned to face her again, sliding the condom over his magnificent form with practised ease.
Then he was hers again, spanning her hips with his hands and lifting her effortlessly off her feet. Harper threaded her arms around his neck, Vieri’s soft Sicilian curse sounding like the most erotic word in the world as he moved them backwards onto the bed where he laid her down, his body held over her by locked elbows on either side of her head.
He kissed her again, his hand moving between them to trace the flimsy silk of her panties, before removing them to brush against her tight curls as his fingers found their way to her centre that throbbed, hot and wet and desperate with need. Harper squirmed into his touch, silently urging him on until one finger unerringly found just the right spot and he started a torturous, teasing, circular movement. With a wild gasp, she grasped at his shoulders to anchor him down, to give her more. He expertly increased the pressure until Harper felt herself start to shake, a tremor spreading through her body, taking her over completely. With a sigh she gave herself over to it, closing her eyes and drifting with it, shuddering more dramatically with each wave that rippled through her, dimly aware, but not caring in the least, that her small mews were growing louder with each blissful, clenching contraction.
Eventually she stilled as Vieri’s hand withdrew. She opened her eyes.
‘Sie bellissima!’
His lips closed over her mouth again as he repositioned himself until he was exactly where he wanted to be and with a deep, shuddering thrust, accompanied by a groan of pleasure, he was inside her.
She gasped out loud, the sharp twinge of pain holding her rigid, clawing her nails into his back.
‘Harper?’ Immediately he stopped, pushing himself up on forearms ridged with corded veins as he stared down into her face.
‘It’s nothing.’ Harper made herself breathe and the pain was gone, replaced by the most glorious sensation of fullness, of being joined, as she felt her tightness expand to hold him. She put her arms around his neck to pull him back down. ‘Really.’
‘Harper, if you want me to stop...’
‘No!’ That was the very last thing she wanted. She raised her head to find his lips, digging her hands into his hair. And after a moment of hesitation he was kissing her back, lowering his body, sliding further into her with slick, juddering sureness that felt more right than anything she had ever felt before.
He started to move, slowly at first, but increasing the speed with the rasp of his breath, his thrusts becoming deeper, faster, until Harper felt the dark waves of ecstasy start to roll again and, with a glorious sense of abandonment, she gave herself over to this most incredible of sensations. She heard Vieri groan, utter something low and primal in his native tongue as with one, last punishing thrust he shuddered his own release, deep inside her, before falling down to be wrapped in her arms.
VIERI STIRRED, OPENING his eyes to see a shaft of moonlight illuminating the bed. He looked down to where Harper was asleep in his arms, her face buried in his chest so that all he could see was the tangle of auburn curls. His heart swelled. She looked completely adorable.
A strange feeling of pride came over him, a sense of peace. Closing his eyes again, he listened to her soft, even breathing, inhaling her unique scent, so different from his own, mixed in with the smell of flowers and candle wax in the room.
He had never expected to find himself here. At the start of yesterday he had been thinking about nothing other than getting the wedding ceremony over with, getting the day over with. He had been totally convinced that this was to be a union in name only, and a very temporary one at that. But as the day had worn on, something had shifted inside him.
Spending time with Harper, watching her talking to the guests, to Alfonso, always with that quiet charm, that easy grace, had made him realise just how exceptional she was. He had found his eyes following her around the room, seeking her out, an unfamiliar sense of pleasure stealing over him when she returned to his side. Jaco had soon picked up on the vibe, ribbing his old friend about getting a room, steadfastly refusing to accept Vieri’s account that this marriage was simply a means to an end. In fact it had been Jaco who had slipped the condom into his pocket, giving him a hug and muttering ‘just in case’ in his ear before retiring to bed.
And, of course, Jaco was right. What Vieri felt for Harper went way beyond an appreciation of her social skills, or her ability to make his godfather happy. The idea that that was all it was was laughable. The simmering attraction between them had been there right from the start but slowly it had become more than that. It had become something bigger, more whole, affecting him on a deeper level altogether. He had refused to face up to it. Until tonight.
Tonight he could ignore his feelings no longer. Tonight he had been able to think of nothing else but taking her in his arms and making love to her. The attraction between them, both physical and mental, had become an all-consuming need that he had been powerless to resist. Suddenly he’d
