by Kim Lawrence
When Severo awoke during that half-light time just before dawn he had lost the feeling in one arm. He eased it out carefully from under Neve’s body, trying not to disturb her.
She was sleeping like a baby with her head on his chest, her warm body curled up trustingly against him in exactly the same position she had been in when she had fallen asleep a couple of hours earlier.
He looked at her and felt no lessening of the insatiable desire that had driven him last night to make love to her until exhaustion had claimed them both. He had a healthy sexual appetite, but last night had been different. A woman had never aroused him this way or, for that matter, satisfied him as totally—and still he wanted more of her.
She had fallen asleep in his arms but part of him was amazed to see her still there with her hair tumbled around her face and spread out across his body this morning.
But then this was a first for him. Severo had had his share of relationships, but he slept in his own bed and did not warm to the idea of pillow talk.
A person did not want to spoil great sex with conversation and he did not require reassurance concerning his performance.
Last night had been great sex—no, last night had been phenomenal sex! He had never been with a woman who was so natural and passionate, so incredibly…giving? Yes, she gave and held nothing back but asked for nothing in return.
There had been conversation last night and laughter. He knew she had a brother called Charlie who could, if only he found something he really wanted to do, be brilliant. He knew that she was ticklish and she loved milk and dark chocolate but hated the white stuff.
Clenching his hand to speed the return of the circulation to his arm, he shifted his weight slightly and pushed the hair gently from Neve’s face, revealing smooth cheeks flushed with sleep.
She murmured something in her sleep and snuggled closer, seeking his body warmth. The heating had switched itself off at some point in the night and not as yet switched on; the room was chilled.
He pulled the rug that had slipped up over her smooth shoulder. He began to stroke her skin, marvelling at the satiny texture as he continued to study her sleeping face.
As his glance drifted to her soft mouth he felt desire sweep through his veins like a narcotic. He was tempted to kiss her awake, but he restrained the impulse; she’d only had a couple of hours’ sleep and if she intended to look for the lost step-kid, as she obviously would, she’d need all the rest she could get.
And support too, if the story turned out not to have a happy ending.
Did he offer support? Severo had no idea, this was unfamiliar ground for him, but one thing he was certain about: a one-night stand was not going to satisfy his hunger for her. The problem was he was positive that Neve was not the sort of woman who would be satisfied with his standard formula for a relationship.
She would want more, and not just sleepovers. The question was, was he willing to give it—give that part of himself that he had always held back?
She opened her eyes and he greeted her with a soft, ‘Hello, cara.’
Big, impossibly blue, they blinked up at him for a moment with total lack of recognition.
Then, as if a light had gone on behind them, the confusion cleared and she smiled at him, the uncomplicated warmth and pleasure in her face taking his breath away.
He was ready. Being on the receiving end of a smile like that was worth a few concessions, and why not? It wasn’t as if he were going to ask her to have his children.
‘You weren’t a dream. I’m so glad.’ She stretched, wincing slightly as muscles that had never been used before made their presence felt.
Taking pleasure in her feline grace, Severo reached out and brushed the hair from her eyes. Neve brushed her cheek against his hand and pulled herself up into a sitting position. ‘What time is it?’
‘Early, still dark.’
She turned her head, saw where his eyes were trained and with an, ‘Oh!’ slid down under the blanket.
Severo grinned. ‘After last night you can blush?’ He had explored every delicious inch of her body and she had been equally curious about his; he had delighted in her total lack of inhibitions.
Neve gave a crooked little smile, her brows twitching into a feathery line above her tip-tilted little nose. ‘Last night was…’ A flush spread across her skin as the memories drifted back. It wasn’t just the things she had done—the word wanton sprang to mind—it was the fact that everything had been so natural. When she thought about it now in the cold light of almost-day she still felt a sense of rightness. ‘Was that really me?’
‘Unless you have a twin sister.’
‘No sister.’
‘Just a brother.’
Neve regarded him in amazement. ‘How do you know that?’
‘You told me. You were quite talkative at one point.’
She covered her face with her hands. She had had so much adrenaline circulating in her system she’d been high as a kite in the post-coital period. ‘Oh, God I must have bored you silly.’
Men, she knew, at least anecdotally, liked to fall asleep afterwards. Now she knew that this did not apply to all men; Severo had not seemed at all sleepy!
‘You were many things, but boring was not one of them.’ He raised himself on one elbow and took hold of her small hand. ‘Last night, I…’ He caught sight of the bruise dark against the pale skin on the inner aspect of her wrist and froze.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked, alarmed by his immobility and the grey tinge under his golden skin.
‘Did I do that?’ he asked in a stark whisper.
‘What?’ Neve followed the direction of his gaze, her frown clearing when she saw the bruise. ‘Oh, that. It’s such a nuisance—I bruise really easily. No, I think I got that one when I smashed your car, so some people might say I deserved it. When you see your car you probably will.’
At the explanation some of the tension slid from his body. ‘I was concerned—I have never lost control with a woman before.’ She was so damned fragile and small the possibility that he might have hurt her tore him up inside.
She kissed him boldly on the mouth and said, ‘You can lose it with me any time you like.’ Had last night been just talk or would she see him again?
Channelling bright and breezy, because she really wanted him to carry on believing that she was the sort of cool, sexually experienced woman who took a one-night stand in her stride, she grabbed the wrist he wore his watch on.
‘What was the time?’ It wasn’t as if she had time for a relationship—not until she’d fixed the one she didn’t have with her stepdaughter.
He turned his wrist so that she could read the dial.
‘I am also glad last night was not just a dream.’
She stilled, wondering if wishful thinking was making her hear something in his voice that wasn’t there. She turned her head.
Their glances connected.
It wasn’t wishful thinking!
‘I think reality is better than dreams.’
She nodded, thinking, This one is.
‘At least last night was,’ he continued, obviously choosing his words with care. ‘However, it still feels…like unfinished business? You agree with what we discussed—that it might be a good idea to continue, pick up where we left off…?’
‘A date, you mean…you want to go out with me?’
His grin flashed. ‘I was thinking more along the line of staying in with you, but, yes, a date. You need time to think about it.’
Neve laughed. She felt as though all her birthdays had come at once. ‘No. Not no, I don’t want to,’ she corrected hastily. ‘I mean no, I definitely don’t need any time to think about it.’ She rolled onto her side and slid on top of him, loving the feel of his lean, hard body underneath her and feeling a thrill of female power as his erection pressed into the softness of her belly. ‘I would really like to stay in with you. Does this mean you’re my boyfriend?’ Her eyes widened at the rather surreal idea.
&nb
sp; With a growl Severo slid a hand around the back of her head and pulled her face down to his. ‘If you like.’ He slid his free hand over the curve of her bottom, spreading his fingers across the smooth flesh. They didn’t have long before it got light and he had no intention of wasting a moment of the precious minutes.
A shiver ran through her as their mouths connected; his kiss was deep and possessive. She returned the pressure, murmuring his name against his lips. The kisses rapidly escalated to wild and their hungry caresses became frantic.
At some point they slid off the sofa onto the floor.
The breath left Neve’s body in a soft sighing gasp.
‘Are you all right?’ Severo asked, levering himself slightly off her.
Neve grabbed him and pulled him back down. ‘Fine, don’t stop, please don’t stop!’
Severo, who doubted he could have stopped even if he’d wanted to, had no problem complying with her throaty plea.
‘Dio mio, I can’t get enough of you!’ he growled, flipping her over onto her back. ‘But I damned well intend to try,’ he panted, sliding a hand between her legs.
A low keening moan emerged from her throat as he ran a finger along her folds until he came to the sensitive nub. She arched under him, biting into his neck.
‘Please, Severo, now!’ she sobbed, desperate to feel him inside her.
‘Put your legs around me, cara.’
She looked up at him through a hot haze of passion and did so just as he surged thick and hard into her, driving deep and driving her out of her mind and into her body, aware of every cell and nerve ending as he stretched and filled her.
He carried on kissing her the entire time he moved, stroking into her hard and hot, moving deep, touching the place that ached to be touched by him. Everything was in sync: their bodies, their moans, their gasps and sighs and at the end, their releases.
Afterwards they lay there on the floor, bodies still locked together, panting as their sweat-slick skin cooled. Neve closed her eyes, loving the feel of him heavy on top of her, loving the heat of his breath on her neck, loving the musky smell of his salty skin.
Finally Severo rolled off her, not sure if he was insatiable or insane and not actually caring. ‘We will definitely do that again soon.’ He was breaking all his own rules and enjoying it.
Chapter Ten
NEVE cast one last wistful look at the grey stone walls. She had entered here one woman and was leaving another.
Severo had suggested that they stay put until the rescue services found them, and in truth she had been tempted, but the sun shone from a blue sky on the crisp white snow and she knew that there was no good reason, beyond a strong desire not to delay their return to the real world, not to venture out.
‘You left a note?’ she checked anxiously as he closed the door.
Severo gave her a look that was tinged with impatience. After the fourth time she had asked him the same question he had stopped counting. ‘Yes, I left a note and my phone number along with a promise to pay for any items we used or damage caused. I am the king of courtesy among housebreakers, so relax.’
It was, he knew, a pointless suggestion; he had felt the tension build in her all morning. She was worrying herself sick over her stepdaughter; it was hard not to compare her concern with the utter selfish style of stepmotherhood favoured by Livia.
The snow on the path crunched under her feet as Neve walked up the incline towards what was probably a driveway when it wasn’t covered in several feet of snow. Everything, she reflected, gazing around, looked so different in the daylight.
‘I’d hate to come home and find someone had been in my home.’
‘Careful,’ he cautioned sharply as she slipped. Considering the amount of sleep she had had last night she ought to be dead on her feet, but she had hit the floor running this morning and showed no sign of flagging yet.
Actually he felt pretty energised considering the energy he had expended between the sheets—not that there had been sheets, but who needed sheets when he had a soft, warm woman to hold onto and sink into?
He walked behind her watching the gentle swing of her hips while his body sent him a pretty strong message that he still wanted her, though in the cold light of day he was struggling to see her fitting into his life.
He was struggling even more to see her in the role of mistress.
‘Accidenti!’
His hand shot out, his fingertips brushing her own as Neve recovered her balance. She flashed him a smile of gratitude for the steadying hand and wondered if the casual contact had sent an electric surge charging along his nerve endings too.
‘I’m sure you wouldn’t want a stranger to freeze to death on your doorstep.’
‘No,’ she conceded, thinking, You were a stranger this time yesterday. And now they were lovers…She smiled to herself, liking the sound, but her smile was tinged with caution.
Last night she had allowed herself to be carried along by his determination, flattered and wanting to believe they had some sort of future, but she had never been convinced that the fragile thing that had blossomed in the hothouse atmosphere last night would survive in the real world.
Maybe things were already changing? Last night he had begun to open up to her, but this morning she sensed that he was regretting some of the things he had said.
She paused to fan her warm face and heard Severo say, ‘Exactly. Besides, I’m sure the owners will have more important things to think about when they come home. Slow down,’ he added, shadowing her steps, staying close enough to be there to catch her if she slipped.
‘What sort of important things?’
Severo was happy to share his theory—at least it took her mind off the missing teenager whom Severo would quite happily have throttled for putting Neve through this sort of hell.
‘Did you see those open garage doors?’
Neve nodded. Last night they had approached from the opposite direction and not even known the detached garage block was there.
‘And upstairs the nursery full of brand-new stuff.’
‘I didn’t see that,’ she said, wondering where he was going with this.
‘It still smelt of wet paint, then there were dates on the calendar in the kitchen pencilled in with antenatal clinic.’
Neve stopped at the top of the incline and turned to face him. ‘You think the woman who lives there is pregnant?’
‘I think the woman that lives there went into labour during the blizzard. It would explain why they left without turning off lights or locking up. It explains the entire Marie Celeste scenario.’
Neve was impressed. ‘You got all that from the smell of fresh paint.’ A leap but it did fit. ‘I hope they reached the hospital,’ she said with a worried little frown as she imagined the nightmare journey the couple must have had.
Off the narrow path now, Severo was able to walk beside her as they set off in the direction he was pretty sure the road lay.
‘What a thing to happen. Can you imagine how scared you’d be giving birth out in the middle of nowhere?’
‘I would be very scared giving birth.’ But even more scared to see the woman he loved going through the pain and potential danger of childbirth.
Neve did not respond to the quip. She was thinking about babies; she wanted them one day when she met the right man. ‘So would I.’
He gave a disapproving frown and contended, ‘You are too young to be thinking of babies.’
His habit of issuing autocratic pronouncements was irritating and had the effect of making her want to say the opposite. ‘That’s an opinion, but not necessarily mine.’
‘I suppose all women are genetically programmed to procreate.’
Neve, who could think of several friends childless from choice who would disagree with that, didn’t dispute the claim. ‘But not all men?’ she asked, flashing a curious look at his patrician profile and wondering if he was actually speaking of himself.
If he was it was a waste because any baby who
inherited his genes would be beautiful. She smiled to herself as an image of a dark-haired baby materialised in her head.
‘It is different for men. We are designed to impregnate, not nurture.’
He had been anxious to do neither, a fact she was grateful for because, to her shame, it was not something that had crossed her mind, but Severo had been scrupulous about protecting her. Even last night when things had got really wild, then this morning he had…they had fallen…Neve huffed a shocked gasp as the memories of their early morning love-making came back.
A look of shock etched on her face, she gulped and walked on.
It seemed that he had not been so scrupulous after all! Not that she was blaming him—the responsibility had been equally her own, and if one slip had any consequences it would be a cruel twist of fate.
‘Are you all right?’
Neve turned her head and found Severo studying her face. Her eyes fell from his guiltily.
‘Fine.’
He angled a sardonic brow.
‘It’s nothing,’ she said, hoping that time would not make a liar of her.
He continued to look unconvinced.
‘I was just wondering…hoping that they were safe, the mother and the baby…’ It was only half a lie; she hadn’t been thinking about the family, but she was now.
Severo regarded her incredulously. ‘It was just an educated guess. There might not even be a family. For all I know they just forgot to switch off the lights when they went to do the supermarket shopping.’
Neve, still frowning, shook her head. ‘No, I think you’re right.’ She brightened as an idea occurred to her. ‘We could ring around the hospitals when we get back.’
Severo stared; she was serious! It had obviously not been a good idea to share his theory with her. ‘There was dog food in the cupboard—why don’t we ring around the animal shelters too?’ He made a sound of disbelief in his throat and shook his head. ‘Doesn’t it get exhausting feeling responsible for everyone, Neve?’
‘I’m not some sort of bleeding heart!’ she protested indignantly.