With the town behind them, the ocean opened up in front of them. The part of Jen that had been so rigidly controlled for so long, knew it was time to stop before she got in any deeper. But how could anything wrong feel so right? she reasoned. There had been too much darkness, and when Luca glanced at her with his eyes full of warm amusement, she stared back to let him know how much she wanted this.
When they reached the cliff top, she issued a challenge. ‘Race you down to the beach!’
‘Too dangerous. I’d prefer you in one piece when we get there.’
With a laugh, she set off.
Reaching out, Luca caught hold of her. ‘Slowly and carefully,’ he instructed.
‘Is that always your way? No. I didn’t think so.’ Pulling away from him, she ran off down the path. ‘Here,’ she said, stopping beside a moss-covered bank. Stretching out her arms, she threw back her head and closed her eyes. Luca came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. It felt so right.
Jen’s womanly curves yielding to his body moved him in every way there was. Physically, mentally and emotionally, he’d never felt anything like it. Her vital spirit was like a shot of adrenalin in his veins.
‘Kiss me,’ she demanded, staring up at him.
He needed no encouragement.
No. He needed sex. He was hungry for Jen. Holding her as they danced could never be enough. It had only stirred his senses until they roared.
‘You have to kiss me,’ she insisted. ‘It’s a special holiday.’ Her eyes flashed a reckless message..
Pleasure anticipated was pleasure heightened, he concluded, bringing Jen down onto the bank beside him. He freed her hair, dropping kisses on her face and on the side of her neck as he did so, until he could lace his fingers through its silky weight. ‘Not enough?’ he suggested when she moved restlessly beneath him.
‘What do you think?’ she whispered against his mouth.
Her eyes were teasing him, but he could see Jen’s vulnerability flickering behind her clear jade gaze.
‘Touch me,’ she said when he hesitated, and, taking hold of his hand, she guided it to her breast.
‘Like this?’ he suggested, chafing one nipple very gently between his forefinger and thumb.
‘Oh, yes,’ she gasped, clinging to him as he attended to the other.
The sundress she was wearing might have been designed for love, with its tiny buttons from neck to waist. He took his time opening them until only Jen’s flimsy white lace bra remained. Lifting her into his arms, he carefully removed the dress, and then rested her back on the ground, where she lay in an attitude of complete trust with her arms above her head.
Running his fingertips very slowly down the length of her body, he lingered on her breasts. He loved how full they were, and how aroused she was. He moved on over the curve of her belly and down to the soft, tempting swell of white lace. It was an area that merited his full attention. She was beautifully plump, and he loved the way her breathing quickened when he touched her. He stroked her over the lace very lightly, and saw her grab hold of hanks of seagrass in hands that had tightened into ivory fists.
Jen grabbed a hectic breath, wondering if she could hold on much longer. She had never felt so aroused. It was as if she were standing on a ledge, teetering, and longing to fall off. She hadn’t realised that her body was capable of such levels of pleasure, and couldn’t help herself edging her thighs just a little further apart.
Tugging his shirt over his head, Luca hunkered down on the bank at her side. Half naked, he was magnificent. Fully dressed, he was magnificent.
Fully naked?
She wasn’t ready for that.
Luca shifted position until she had the perfect view of his thick, tangled hair, and the wide spread of his shoulders. His movements were unhurried and reassuring. She didn’t even gasp when he eased her legs over his shoulders to suckle her through the heated white lace. But she whimpered, and that whimper became a cry of pleasure as she arced her body towards him in the hunt for more contact, more pressure. But Luca was too clever for her, and he moved again, to keep her waiting; deliberately, she thought.
‘Please...’ She writhed impatiently beneath him, but he left her frustrated as he stood to undo his belt and drop his jeans. He was totally unselfconscious. She heard his zipper go down and then heard him kick his jeans away. Burying her burning cheeks in her arms, she remained motionless as he came to kneel beside her.
‘Are you shy?’ he asked with a smile in his voice.
‘No,’ she said, raising her chin. This was the tipping point. This was the moment when she decided yes, or no.
Reaching out to him was all it took for Luca to bring her into his arms. It felt so good to be embraced by him. He felt so good; so strong, so big, so certain.
Leaning towards him, she brushed her lips against his. He unhooked her bra and tossed it away. Maintaining eye contact, he cradled her breasts. She couldn’t stop herself exclaiming with pleasure, or rolling her head back, asking for more.
Weighing her breasts approvingly in his big, warm hands, he abraded the tip of each nipple very gently with his thumbnail, causing a wave of sensation to stream straight to her core. She was still pulsing with pleasure when he leaned forward to bury his head, before pulling back to suckle first one nipple and then the other, and when she thought sensation couldn’t possibly increase, he dropped kisses on her neck, her ear lobes, and then her mouth. And that wasn’t a teasing kiss, it was firm and deep as he continued to fondle her breasts. Lacing her fingers through his hair, she drew closer still, kissing him back, tongues tangling in the heat of discovery as Luca plundered her mouth.
He had not expected Jen to be quite so fiery. He had sensed the tiger in her, waiting to be unleashed, but she had wound her legs around him, and was rubbing her body against his with all the hunger of an experienced woman. She even gasped with relief when he stripped off her thong. She was impatient and he loved that. He loved the feel of her buttocks, so silky and soft and warm beneath his hands. He cupped them so he could bring her into direct contact with his straining erection. She cried out loud, a hungry, sobbing sound that prompted him to rotate his hips slowly.
‘Please,’ she begged him. ‘Please...’
He replaced the pressure of his straining body with his hand. Using the slightly roughened pad of his forefinger, he explored and tested Jen’s readiness. She was more than ready for him. She was hot and wet and swollen, and with each pass of his hand she rubbed herself against him in an attempt to increase the pressure of his touch.
‘I think you need this,’ he commented huskily.
‘Oh, yes,’ she gasped, exclaiming words of pleasure as he concentrated on the place where she needed him most.
‘And this?’ he said, upping the pace.
Her answer was a keening animal sound of need. Clinging to him, eyes closed, her lips parted, she begged him in words that surprised him to stop teasing her. His answer was to ease a thigh between her legs and, lowering himself down, he caught just inside her. The pleasure of that, and the anticipation of yet more pleasure left her gasping for breath.
‘Not yet,’ he warned.
‘Why not?’ she demanded.
‘Because waiting will only make it better for you.’
‘I don’t want to wait,’ she assured him, moving restlessly.
‘Then, I’ll do the waiting for you.’
‘Again?’ He kissed her mouth as he stroked the tip of his erection back and forth, back and forth.
Closing her eyes, she sighed with pleasure. ‘More,’ she insisted, thrusting her hips towards him, but when he responded, she uttered a sharp cry.
‘What aren’t you telling me, Jen?’
‘No! Don’t stop now!’
But he had stopped, and he wouldn’t continue until she explained.
‘Nothing—honestly nothing,’ she said. ‘Cramp, that’s all. I’m all right now.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course I’m
sure.’ Her hands, her body and her smile gave him permission to continue. ‘You’re so big,’ she exclaimed when he was on the brink of pulling back and, clutching his buttocks, she worked him in deeper.
‘Relax,’ he whispered when he was lodged to the hilt. ‘Let me do all the work.’
‘If you insist,’ she whispered, smiling.
‘I do insist.’ He guessed it had been some time since Jen had made love, and however frantically she tried to urge him on he was equally determined to take things slowly. He brought his hand in to play up the levels of pleasure as she got used to him.
‘Oh, yes...yes!’ she exclaimed, moving in time with him to catch the full benefit of each firm stroke.
He clasped her buttocks, withdrew, and then sank deep, moving firmly and efficiently until she had no hope of holding on. ‘Now,’ he whispered on a note of command. She obeyed immediately and fell with a cry of shocked delight. She was lost for some time, bucking beneath him as he held her in place to receive the full benefit of each pulsing throb of pleasure, and when the storm had finally subsided and she asked for more, he laughed softly and brought her on top of him.
It was only a little deceit. Was it necessary to announce before she had her first proper sexual encounter that she was a virgin? Would Luca even care? She felt stupid at her age, anyway, admitting to something like that. There was no law that said you had to have sex by a certain age, and she’d always been so busy trying to set a good example to Lyddie that sex had kind of passed her by. And then she had convinced herself she could get by without it, and that it wasn’t necessary to fill her life with all the angst and drama associated with an affair.
A little deceit was surely allowable under those circumstances. After all, what harm could it do?
CHAPTER TEN
JEN WAS STILL lying in Luca’s arms when she remembered Maria would be waiting for her in the town. ‘I should go back. Maria might be worried about me. Luca? Luca...?’
He was lying with his arm over his eyes, not trusting himself to look at Jen. He had thought that making love to her would ease the ache inside him, but instead it had only grown. He wanted her, and for more than just sex. He’d been starved of feelings—had starved himself of feelings—for far too long, and now he was overwhelmed by them.
Emotions hadn’t troubled him since he was a boy. He’d learned to live without them after his mother died, and he had never let them in again. Why would he? His father didn’t want them, and Raoul had decided to align himself with his father. Wanting Jen like this had never been part of his plan. It certainly wasn’t part of his father’s plan, and, however tenuous their relationship, Luca had never broken a promise to his father yet.
‘I’ll come with you,’ he said as Jen reached for her clothes. ‘There are dangers in town during this special holiday.’
‘Worse than you?’ she said. ‘Seriously. I need to go. I don’t want Maria to be worried about me.’
He reached for her and held her wrist. ‘You’ll stay with me tonight.’
‘Will I?’ she said. A smile crept onto her mouth as if she had tried to keep it away, but couldn’t. ‘You must be feeling very confident,’ she said as she fastened her bra.
‘I am,’ he confirmed.
She laughed as he grabbed his clothes and tugged them on. He adjusted the straps on her sundress. She looked so beautiful. Flushed from their lovemaking with her hair in disarray and her lips red and swollen from his kisses, she somehow managed to look younger and more vulnerable than ever.
‘So I’m to stay in the big house?’ she said.
‘That’s the plan,’ he confirmed.
Her cheeks pinked up like a child given a special treat.
‘How old are you, Jen?’
‘Old enough,’ she said. ‘Anyway, you should know—you must have studied my CV.’
‘I have, but it didn’t tell me how experienced you are.’
‘Experienced enough,’ she teased him.
‘There were quite a few gaps in your résumé,’ he recalled as questions started to grind away in his head.
‘I’m twenty-four,’ she said. ‘Does that reassure you?’
Not really. She was very young.
‘How old are you?’ she demanded.
‘Thirty-two.’
‘Old Father Time.’ She laughed as she ran her fingers through her hair to comb the grass strands out of it. ‘But you’re not married, and you don’t have any children—so, seeing as we’re playing the truth game, why’s that, Luca?’
Could anything tempt him to bring a wife and children into the complicated world he inhabited? ‘Don’t let your imagination run riot,’ he warned without answering her question.
‘Why not?’ she demanded, bundling her hair back up again. ‘I’m sure you speculate about me.’
She was shrewd and covered her question in more smiles. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he turned her in the direction of the town. ‘You need to be somewhere?’ he reminded her.
She must have been intoxicated by the light mood that had sprung between them, and grabbed hold of his hands. ‘So we have a future together?’ she demanded, teasing him mercilessly.
‘It will certainly extend into tonight,’ he confirmed.
‘Again, you’re very confident, Signor Tebaldi.’
His mouth tugged in a half-smile. ‘If you don’t want to spend the night with me...’
Her blush gave her away. ‘Unless I get a better offer,’ she said, shooting him a provocative look.
He knew she was joking, but even the thought of another man looking at Jen was enough to stir his warrior genes. Sexually, she had been a revelation to him. She was fiery and passionate, but at the same time vulnerable. He had never found a woman like that. The closer he came to Jen, the more he could understand what his brother had seen in her—and even the thought of their friendship was enough to provoke a stab of jealousy inside him.
As soon as they were back in the town square Maria spotted them right away. Jen greeted his housekeeper with a hug. That suited him. The happier she was in Sicily, the more likely she was to stay. And he wanted her to stay, he realised, and for no other reason than he couldn’t bear for her to go.
Shortly after Jen had found Maria, the friendly housekeeper left them to re-join her friends. Her first full day on the island had been incredible, Jen thought, smiling up at Luca. Being the sole focus of Luca’s attention had been incredible. She would never forget the day when she made love with a hot Sicilian on a tiny island during a festival. If excitement never returned to her life again, she had that to cling on to.
She had more than that, Jen concluded as Luca turned to look at her. As his eyes locked with hers and they shared an intimate smile, she was ready to believe anything was possible. ‘Tonight,’ she whispered.
His faint smile set her heart racing. Then he turned away to speak to some people who had recognised him. She was a bystander, happily watching, when the elderly man leading the small family group reached for Luca’s hand and kissed it.
‘You are Don Tebaldi now,’ he said in a loud, quavering voice that brought several murmurs of agreement from the crowd. ‘Your father has earned his retirement. We look to you now, Luca.’
And then the man upon whom she had bestowed her long-preserved chastity patted the old man on the shoulder before drawing him close in an embrace to say, ‘I will never let you down, Marco.’
There were tears in the old man’s eyes by the time Luca released him. But even those tears, genuine though she knew they must be, couldn’t make up for Jen’s shock. She had managed to conveniently divorce Luca in her mind from his father, but now reality was staring her in the face.
She’d been so confident she could handle anything that she had walked willingly into a world she knew nothing about. How was she supposed to relax when everyone on the island treated Luca like a king? The elation of the day vanished, and was quickly replaced by concern.
‘You two should dance,’ the old man said
, drawing Jen into the conversation with a warm smile. ‘Go on,’ he encouraged her. ‘You have to dance for me now. My feet won’t work!’ He laughed with glee as he glanced around their little group, as if the warmth of his family and the protection of Luca made him happier than anything else on earth.
‘What’s wrong?’ Luca asked, feeling Jen’s tension as he brought her into his arms.
‘Nothing,’ she lied, smiling reassurance at the old man, who was watching them as he’d promised. Everything was wrong. Luca and Jen? The penniless student who’d had a thesis on right and wrong drummed into her by her mother, and the man who seemed to have inherited some sort of feudal fiefdom? How was that going to work? Just for a few fabulous hours, she had allowed herself to believe that it could.
‘I don’t believe you,’ Luca said, drawing her close to stroke her hair. ‘You’re very tense.’
‘Self-conscious,’ she argued, which was true; there were a lot of people watching them. ‘Don’t worry, it’s nothing,’ she said as Luca wrapped his arms protectively around her.
‘The parade’s about to start,’ he said as the music faded. Bringing his face close, he smiled into her eyes and kissed her.
‘We shouldn’t miss that,’ she agreed, wishing she could lose the sense of an egg timer with the sand running out on their time of being as close as this.
She welcomed the distraction as Luca led her through the mass of people. She remembered Maria telling her to collect as many bead necklaces as she could when the parade passed, as they brought good luck.
She needed a barrel full, Jen mused ruefully. She had to stop wanting things she couldn’t have, she thought, glancing at Luca.
They hadn’t even reached the main street when Luca drew to a halt, and pulled her into a shaded alleyway. ‘Why?’ she whispered.
‘Because I want you?’ he said with shrug.
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