ecstasy with my body and my fingers like I did you? If I—”
Pia cupped her hand over his mouth, unable to hear anymore. “I don’t know how one night of sex has transformed into this. We don’t suit each other. I’m not beautiful or sophisticated or any of the things that your other...your usual women are.
“And you...”
“And I what, Pia? Tell me how I do not suit you.”
“You don’t believe in love.”
“You thought you were in love with Frank.”
“You’ll never let me forget that mistake, will you? You think I’m a foolish idiot. Why would you even want me as a wife?”
“I do think you’re naive. But it is what attracts me to you. You’re unlike any woman I’ve ever known. You’re honest and open. You don’t care about external trappings. Just as you know you can trust me, I know I can trust you with myself and even with Alyssa. We burn when we come together and if you put love aside, you and I want the same things out of marriage.”
“Like what?”
“Fidelity, respect and lots of babies.”
“You truly want more children?”
“Yes. Especially if they’ll be nearsighted and smart and beautiful like you are.”
“I have to think about it. I need more time. I need...”
“Si?”
“I want to spend time with you.”
“I’m more than happy to do that.”
She blinked. “You are?”
“Si, Pia. Usually when a man is attracted to a woman, and he wants to do all sorts of deliciously wicked things to her, and is determined to persuade her to walk down the aisle to him, he wants to spend time with her. He wants to be the one who brings her favorite things, he wants to be the one who makes her cry out with pleasure, he wants to be the one who gives her babies...”
Pia threw herself at Raphael, glad that they were finally on the same page. “Although I don’t think we should sleep with each other again too soon.”
He looked thunderous. “What kind of a condition is that?”
“I go into this dreamy state where I can’t think logically when we make love. I...what I’m saying is...you have too much power in this relationship if we have sex.”
A hard, harsh laugh fell from his mouth. “You think you don’t have any?”
A vein pounded in his temple as she pulled him toward her. Joy blooming in her chest, she wrapped her arms around his waist, ran her hands over his muscled back and down. How she loved the way he felt in her hands. When she slipped her hands lower to his buttocks and tugged, his arousal grazed her belly. “Do you think I do?”
Jaw tight, heat scouring those sharp cheekbones, he raised a brow.
“See, I didn’t even know I had it.” When he’d have slammed her body into his to cradle his arousal, Pia pushed back at his shoulders. “No, let me touch you as I please.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game, cara mia. It’s been two weeks and I know if I touch you, you’ll be wet for me.”
Pia blushed, the dampness between her thighs confirming his arrogant confidence. “Yes, well, we already agreed that you can melt me like an ice cream on a summer day with one look, si?” She ran her hands up his back and sank them under his collar.
She petted him as if he were her very own wild animal. He growled when she rubbed herself against him. On purpose. Heat blazed in his eyes.
She was playing a dangerous game, and yet she’d never felt more alive. “Stay still for me, won’t you, Raphael?”
His explicit Italian—about what he’d like to do to her instead—sent heat pooling in her lower belly.
Sinking her fingers into his hair, Pia kissed the corner of his mouth. The scratch of his stubble against her lips was heavenly as she peppered that arrogant jaw with soft kisses. “I don’t even know what I like and don’t like yet.”
“Let me participate and I’ll give you the different options, bella. You love experiments, don’t you?”
Laughter bubbled up her throat even as she nibbled on his lips as if he were her favorite treat. He tasted of wine and masculinity and seduction and it went straight to her head. And her buckling knees.
When she traced that lower lip of his that drove her wild, he sucked the tip into his mouth and released it with a pop. A whimper escaped her mouth, her nipples suddenly sensitive against her bra. On the next breath, his fingers crawled into her hair, held her tight, and he took over the kiss. Hard and demanding, he plunged his tongue into her mouth. Rising to her toes, angling her mouth, Pia gave back as good as she got.
Their teeth banged. Their lips nipped and bit.
His thigh lodged between hers, hard muscle rubbing against the apex of her sex. Just where she desperately needed it. “Dannazione, Pia.” His forehead leaned against hers, his warm breath feathering over her face. “Come to bed, cara mia. I will happily show you how much power you have over me. We could spend all day in bed and by nighttime, you would know whether you like me above you, or under you or behind you.
I will show you how to use that sweet, deceiving mouth to drive me to the edge. I will show you what I can do to you here—” he emphasized by rubbing at the spot that ached for his attention “—that will...”
A rush of wetness filling her sex, Pia drew a sharp breath. And stumbled away from Raphael. The man could seduce her just with words.
And like her, he was breathing hard. His pupils dilated, his nostrils flaring, as if he had just engaged in a physical fight. The front of his trousers was tented and when her gaze lingered there, his growl was feral.
Raphael undone—or at least close to—was the most glorious sight she’d ever seen.
Swallowing away the longing burning through every inch of her, she slowly wiped the moisture from her lips with the back of her hand. “I know you want to spend the day with Alyssa and I have to study. But I’ve been dying to see one of the cars you’ve restored,” she added. Proving to herself that she could affect him just as much as he did her was a small victory. But having won the battle, she wasn’t really interested in the war.
A vein pulsing in his jaw, he stared at her for so long that Pia wondered if she had pushed him too far. “Friday evening.”
When he passed by her without touching her again, her heart sank.
“And Pia?”
“Si, Raphael?”
“You will be my wife, and I know how to exact retribution.”
