wanted what she had before Diego del Santo tore her equilibrium to shreds and scattered her emotional heart every which way.
Oh, dammit, why did love have to hurt so much?
With a sense of frustration she rubbed her cheeks and smoothed the hair back from her face. It was then she saw Diego’s tall frame in the open doorway.
If there was anything that undid a man, Diego acknowledged, it was a woman’s tears. He’d witnessed many in his time. Some reflecting genuine grief; others merely a manipulative act.
None had the effect on him to quite the degree as evidence of this woman’s distress did.
There were occasions when words healed, but now wasn’t the time.
In silence he crossed the room and gathered her into his arms, stilling her protest by the simple expediency of placing the palm of one hand over her mouth.
It took a matter of seconds to reach the master suite, and he released her carefully down onto her feet.
Without a word he skimmed the nightshirt over her head and tossed it onto the carpet, then followed it with his jeans.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ As a protest it failed, utterly.
His eyes were dark, so dark she thought she might drown in them, as he captured her arms and slid his hands up to cup her face.
‘This is the one place where everything between us makes sense,’ he drawled as his head lowered down to hers.
She felt the warmth of his breath a second before his mouth took possession of hers in a kiss that liquefied her bones.
A faint moan rose and died in her throat as he took her deep, so deep she lost track of where and who she was as emotion ruled, transcending anything they’d previously shared.
Somehow they were no longer standing, and she gasped as Diego’s mouth left hers and began a slow descent, savouring the sensitive hollow at the edge of her neck before trailing a path over the line at the base of her throat where her captor had pierced her skin with the tip of his knife.
With the utmost care Diego caressed each bruise, as if to erase the uncaring brutality of the man who’d inflicted them.
The surface of her skin became highly sensitised, and her pulse raced to a quickened beat, thudding in unison with his own. She could feel it beneath her touch, the slide of her fingers.
What followed became a leisurely, sweet loving, so incredibly tender Cassandra was unable to prevent the warm trickle of tears, and when at last he entered her she cried out, exulting in the feel of him as warm, moist tissues expanded to accept his length.
Sensation spiralled to new heights, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, urging him deep, thrilling to each thrust as he slowly withdrew, only to plunge again and again in the rhythm of two lovers in perfect unison in their ascent to the brink of ecstasy.
Diego held her there, teetering on the edge, before tipping them both over in a sensual free-fall that left them slick with sweat and gasping for breath.
The aftermath became a gentle play of the senses, with the soft trail of fingertips, the light touch of lips.
CASSANDRA stirred, and gradually became aware she wasn’t alone in the bed. For her head lay pillowed against Diego’s chest, a male leg rested across her own, and his arms loosely circled her body as he held her close.
Diego sensed the quickened heartbeat, the change in her breathing, and brushed his lips to her hair. Tousled silk, he mused, inhaling its fresh, clean smell. A man could take immense pleasure from waking each morning with a warm, willing woman in his arms.
Not just any woman…this woman.
‘You’re awake.’
She heard his quiet drawl, felt the sound of it against her cheek, and offered a lazily voiced affirmative.
He trailed the tips of his fingers down the length of her spine, shaped the firm globe of her buttock, then he traced a path over her hip, settled briefly in the curve of her waist before shifting to her breast.
There was a part of her that knew she should protest. To slip so easily into intimacy meant she accepted the current situation…and she didn’t.
Dear heaven. She bit back a gasp as he eased her gently onto her back, then lowered his mouth to suckle at one tender peak.
Seconds later the breath hissed between her teeth as his hand trailed to the soft curls at the apex of her thighs and began a teasing exploration.
She went up and over, then groaned out loud as another orgasmic wave chased the first with an intensity that took hold of her emotions and spun them out of control.
His arousal was a potent force, and just as she thought she’d scaled the heights he nudged her thighs apart, slid in, and took her higher than she’d ever been before, matching her climax with his own in a tumultuous fusion of the senses.
It took a while for their breathing to settle into its former rhythm, and they lay entwined together, spent as only two people could be in the aftermath of very good sex.
Make that incredible, off-the-planet sex, Cassandra amended as she closed her eyes and indulged her mind and body in an emotional replay.
It had, she mused indolently, been all about her pleasure. Soon, she’d seek to even the scales a little.
And she did, later, taking delight in testing his control…and breaking it.
Enjoy, Cassandra bade silently. For within a few hours she’d return to her apartment and a life from which Diego would fade.
Later, much later they rose from the bed, shared a shower, then, dressed, they descended the stairs to the kitchen for a meal that was neither breakfast nor lunch but a combination of both.
Diego’s cellphone buzzed as they lingered over coffee, and he checked the caller ID, then rose to his feet.
‘I’ll have to take this.’
Cassandra lifted a hand, silently indicating he should do so, and she watched as he crossed the terrace.
French, she registered, barely discerning a word or two…and wondered how many languages he spoke.
Business, she determined, and let her gaze drift across the pool to the harbour beyond.
‘I have to meet with two business colleagues. Their scheduled stopover was cancelled and they took an earlier flight,’ Diego relayed as he returned to the table. ‘I’ll be an hour or two.’ He drained the rest of his coffee, then leant down and took brief, hard possession of her mouth. ‘We need to talk.’ His lips caressed hers with a soothing touch.
She wasn’t capable of saying a word, and he uttered a husky imprecation.
‘Cassandra—’
