last forever.
“Hold on to me tightly.”
She did as he asked and he rolled them over so that she was beneath him. He pushed her legs up against her body so that he could thrust deeper, so that she was open and vulnerable to him.
“Now, Virginia,” he said.
She nodded and he felt her body tighten. Then she scraped her nails down his back, clutching his buttocks and drawing him in. Blood roared in his ears as he felt everything in his world center on this one woman.
He called her name as he came. He saw her eyes widen and felt the minute contractions of her body around his as she was consumed by her orgasm.
He rotated his hips against her until she stopped rocking against him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed the underside of his chin.
“Oh, Marco,” she said. “Thank you for making love to me.”
“You’re very welcome, Virginia.”
She wrapped her arms around him and held him close. “I never thought it would be like this.”
“Like what?”
“So incredible. Being with you is just…well, I had no idea it would be so raw and intense.”
He laughed. “That’s because you hadn’t made love with me before.”
She tipped her head back and in her eyes he saw a vulnerability that he didn’t understand.
“I think you are right.”
Marco stretched and rolled over as the morning sunlight spread across the floor of his bedroom. The pillow next to his was rumpled and the sheets still smelled faintly of sex and Virginia’s perfume.
“Cara mia?”
There was no answer as he stood up and stretched. There was a glass of juice on his nightstand. He smiled as he reached for it. Maybe Virginia was making breakfast for them.
He walked slowly through his penthouse. All of Melbourne was spread out before him, and he thought for a moment about his life and the fact that he seemed to have it all. He wondered about the curse of Nonno’s that had doomed their family. He’d never put too much stock in it, preferring to believe that he had control over his own destiny, but Dom had loved and lost badly, so perhaps there was something to the Moretti curse.
He scrubbed a hand over his face. Why was he thinking about that damned curse this morning?
He didn’t want to admit it was because he liked Virginia. He was tempted to postpone his travel plans today. Stay in Melbourne with her as long as he could before commitments would demand he leave.
And that was the true measure of why she really did need to leave. He’d find her, eat whatever it was she’d fixed for him and then send her on her way.
“Virginia?”
Still no answer. The kitchen was empty. Maybe she was on the balcony. He remembered that last night she’d really enjoyed being outside. He stopped in his office, noticing that the papers on his desk were askew, as if someone had riffled through them. Knowing how important it was to keep the Moretti Motors secrets, Marco started to grow concerned. Had Virginia been in his penthouse just to find out what Moretti Motors was doing?
Hell, now he was getting paranoid like Dom. She hadn’t asked a single question about the company and hadn’t really seemed interested in it.
He finally got to the balcony and it was empty, as well. He realized she was gone. He knew it wasn’t hard to leave. The keypad at the elevator only prevented people from entering.
Marco clenched his fists, angry that Virginia had left before he’d had a chance to…hell, he wasn’t ready for her to leave yet. He’d thought about changing his entire day for her, and she was gone.
Four
The race in Barcelona, Spain, wasn’t any different from the two previous races for Marco. He did press conferences, attended Moretti Motors functions and as far as his brothers and his teammate Keke were concerned, he was the same ambitious winning driver he’d always been.
But inside Marco seethed. At first, when he’d discovered he was alone in Melbourne, he’d been concerned about Virginia, worried that their night of passion had overwhelmed her. But as time had gone on he’d realized that she’d been after just that one night with him.
He also realized that she didn’t want to be found. And that shouldn’t have been a big deal. He was aware that if she’d stayed, he would have hustled her out of the penthouse and then gone on with his life. He wasn’t looking to settle down. He had made a promise to his brothers that he wouldn’t break, and he had no time in his life for romantic complications.
So why, then, was he still so angry when he thought about the way she’d left him?
“Marco?”
“Sì?”
“We have to meet with the officials in a few minutes…are you okay?” Keke asked.
“Fine. Just going through the race in my head.”
“Are you free for dinner tonight? Elena’s family is in town and we’re going out with them.”
Keke and Elena were getting more serious with each month that passed, and he appreciated his friend always including him, but Marco was starting to feel like a third wheel with them.
“My parents are coming to the race, so I’m going to spend the evening with them.”
“You can invite them, as well.”
“What’s up? Don’t you want to be alone with Elena’s parents?”
Keke flushed. “It’s not that. I’m going to ask her to marry me and I would like to have you there. I don’t have any real family, you know?”
Marco understood. “I’d be honored to join you. In fact, Dom has reserved a restaurant for our evening so that we would have privacy…would you like to use that location?”
“I made reservations at Stella Luna,” Keke said.
“Then we will join you there. What time?”
“Nine.”
Marco looked at the German, wondering what this would mean for their friendship. He knew no matter how much a man wanted his relationships to remain intact, once a man got married, his life changed. “Congratulations, amico mio.”
“Thanks. I…if she says yes, will you be my best man?”
“She will say yes, and I will be your best man.”
Keke left a few minutes later and Marco called his parents and brothers to invite them to join Keke’s dinner celebration.
Marco had a moment’s pause, as he always did when he thought
