him.
Huskily she said, ‘But this is me, Luca. This has always been me. It was just...buried before.’ Then she blurted out, ‘I’m sorry for running off. I came straight here. I wouldn’t have gone near the beaches—not after what you said. I do have some street-smarts, you know.’
Luca moved closer. ‘I panicked. I thought of you being oblivious to the dangers.’
Now Serena noticed how pale Luca was. He’d been worried about her. He hadn’t assumed she’d gone off the rails. The anger and hurt drained away, and something shifted inside her. A kind of tenderness welled up. Dangerous.
She had to physically resist the urge to go to him and touch his jaw. Instead she said, ‘I’m here...safe.’
His hands landed on her hips and he tugged her into him. She was shorter without her heels. He made her feel delicate. Her skin was tingling now, coming up in goosebumps in spite of the warm air. Emboldened by his proximity, and what he’d just said, she lifted her own hands and pushed Luca’s jacket apart and down his arms.
He let go of her so that it could fall to the ground.
Without saying anything, Luca took her by the hand and led her into the apartment, stepping over his coat.
Serena let herself be led. She’d never felt this connection with anyone else, and a deep-rooted surge of desire to reclaim part of her sexuality beat like a drum in her blood.
Yet when Luca led her into what she assumed was his bedroom, because of its stark, masculine furnishings, trepidation gripped her. Perhaps she was being a fool? Reading too much into what he’d said? Didn’t men say anything to get women into bed? There was so much in her past that she was ashamed of, that she hadn’t made peace with, and Luca seemed to have an unerring ability to bring all of those vulnerabilities to the fore. What would happen when he possessed her completely?
Her hand tightened around Luca’s and he stopped by the bed and turned to face her. Serena blurted out the first thing she could think of, as if to try and put some space between them again. ‘I lost my virginity when I was sixteen...does that shock you?’
He shrugged, his expression carefully veiled, ‘Should it? I lost mine at sixteen too—when one of my father’s ex-mistresses seduced me.’
Serena’s desperation rose, in spite of her shock at what he’d just revealed so flatly. ‘It’s what men expect, though, isn’t it? For their lovers to be somehow...innocent?’
Luca made a face. ‘I like my lovers to be experienced. I’ve no desire to be some wide-eyed virgin’s first time.’
A wide-eyed virgin she certainly was not. Innocence had been ripped from her too early.
Luca pulled her closer and heat pulsed into Serena’s lower body. She could feel his arousal between them, thick and hard. It scattered painful thoughts and she welcomed it like a coward.
‘I want you, Serena, more than I’ve ever wanted anyone. I’ve wanted you from the first moment I laid eyes on you...’
For a heady moment Serena felt an overwhelming sense of power. She reassured herself that the emotions rising inside her were transitory; sex had never touched her emotionally before, so why should it now?
When he reached for her Serena curled into him without even thinking about it. It felt like the most necessary thing. The world dropped away and it was just them in this tight embrace, hearts thudding, skin hot.
His fingers spread out over her back, making her nipples harden almost painfully against the material of the dress. And then he lowered his head and his mouth was on hers, fitting like the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Serena’s lips opened to his on a sigh, tongues touching and tasting, stroking intimately. Her hands wound up around his neck, fingers tugging the short strands of hair, exploring, learning the shape of his skull.
Luca’s wicked mouth and tongue made her strain to get even closer. After long, drugging moments he drew back, breathing harshly. Serena had to struggle to open her eyes.
‘I want to see you,’ he muttered thickly. ‘Take down your hair.’
Serena felt as if she was in a dream. Had she, in fact, had this dream more often than once in the past seven years? She lifted her hand to the back of her head, feeling incredibly languid, and removed the discreet pin. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders, making her nerve-ends tingle even more.
Luca reached out and ran his fingers through it, then fisted it in one hand as the other reached around her to draw her into him again, kissing her with ruthless passion, tongue thrusting deep.
Serena’s legs were starting to wobble. Luca’s mouth was remorseless, sending her brain into a tailspin.
His hands came to the shoulders of her dress and pulled with gentle force, so the material slipped down her arms, loosening around her chest. She broke away from his mouth and looked up into dark pools of blue, feeling insecure.
Her arms came up against her breasts. Luca drew back and gently tugged them away, pulling the front of the dress down, leaving her bared to him.
She wore no bra, and Luca’s gaze was so hot her skin sizzled. He reached out a hand and cupped the weight of one breast, a thumb moving over one puckered nipple. She bit her lip to stop from moaning out loud.
And then Luca put his hands on her hips and pulled her into him, hard enough to make her gasp, and replaced his thumb with his mouth, suckling on that hard peak roughly, making her back arch.
His erection was insistent against her and Serena’s hips moved of their own volition.
Luca lifted his head. ‘Feiticeira.’
Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth, ‘What does that mean?’
‘Witch,’ Luca replied succinctly.
And he kissed her again before her mind could catch up with the fact that his hands were now pushing her dress down over her hips so that it fell to the floor in a silken swish.
He put one hand between their bodies and Serena held her breath when he explored down over her belly and lower, until he was gently pushing her legs apart so that he could feel for himself how ready she was.
Serena felt gauche, but wanton, as Luca moved his hand between her legs, over her panties. She lowered her head to his shoulder when her face got hot, and her breathing grew harsher when his wicked fingers moved against her insistently.
He slipped a finger under the gusset of her panties and touched her, flesh to flesh. Serena bit her lip hard enough to make tears spring into her eyes. She wanted to clamp her thighs together—the sensation was too much—but Luca’s hand was too strong.
Her legs finally gave way and she collapsed back onto the bed, heart thumping erratically.
Luca started to undo his shirt, revealing that broad and exquisitely muscled chest. A smattering of dark hair covered his pectorals, leading down in a silky line under his trousers to where she could see the bulge of his arousal.
Serena’s brain melted and she welcomed it. She didn’t want to think or analyse—only feel.
His
