by Tamara Lush
His accent was thicker than usual, and he sounded a little groggy from sleep, but her eyes drifted down his chest and lower to find he had a giant hard-on.
“Oh, um, I always lock the bathroom door.” She leaned back, gently splashing water onto her breasts as he watched, grazing her nipples with the heel of her hand. It made his cock twitch. “I was waiting for the water to cool.”
“Can…can I join you?”
She smiled and nodded. Of course he could. Now that she knew his true identity, she knew exactly what she had to do.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
It wasn’t hard to break into Skylar’s condo, which was on the second-floor and had a window at shoulder height. The American had left it cracked open a couple of inches, and Annalisa easily slid the glass open, hopped up and launched herself inside.
Careless girl. Stupid girl. Dead girl.
Annalisa would wait until she came home. She knew Skylar wouldn’t be back that evening, since she’d driven away from the Iguana with Luca; she’d spend the night with him, fucking. But surely he’d drive her home in the middle of the night. Luca didn’t like to sleep next to women—which would of course change once Annalisa was back in his life.
She wandered around Skylar’s house, inspecting everything. Had Skylar discovered that Luca liked blowjobs in the morning before he opened his eyes?
Skylar had so many books about The Buddha. Incense. Photos of a woman who looked like Skylar, only older. Her mother, perhaps? Framed sayings from various Zen masters in every fucking room. So annoyingly twee. Annalisa rolled her eyes. Skylar probably drank coconut water and talked about chakras.
“No Mud, No Lotus,” read one framed saying.
Tears came to Annalisa’s eyes when she realized what was ahead.
No Blood, No Luca.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Luca flicked off the harsh bathroom light so that the full moonlight streaming through the skylight in the roof illuminated the bathroom.
“Too dark?” he asked.
“No, it’s perfect.”
She was perfect. Since he’d walked into the bathroom, he couldn’t tear his gaze off her body, or her eyes, which were pure and shining. He hadn’t felt right about making love to her earlier, when he knew that he was leaving and she didn’t, but now that she was aware of his half-made plans, now that he had all but bared his soul to her—as much as he could in his situation—maybe she wanted one final night of pleasure. If that was the case…well, he would take anything she would give.
Regardless, he needed her touch. Her kisses. Her nearness.
Luca eased into the hot water and she smiled at him beatifically. Her sweetness made his heart ache. How could he let her go? His hand caressed the smooth skin of her calf. The tub was so big that they could face each other and stretch out their legs.
“Come closer,” he said.
Moving slowly, she sat in between his legs, her back to him. She swept her long, half-wet hair up, tying it into a messy knot at her nape. Just the tender motion of her doing that sent a current through his body.
I adore her. I want her. If we make love, I might never leave her.
He gently washed the curve of her back and shoulders and kissed her damp neck, pausing to softly lick and bite. His hands slid over her breasts, stomach and legs, slippery from the soap that smelled like lime and basil. She moaned and sighed then turned around and knelt in the water to wash him slowly from his neck to his feet.
When she was finished, he kissed the palms of her wet hands.
They didn’t speak.
* * *
She climbed into Luca’s lap and embraced him with her arms and legs.
“Sky, this is dangerous,” he whispered.
She pulled back to look at him and saw a look of near-agony on his face. “Why?”
“Because I want to be inside of you.”
He sounded desperate, and that made her smile grow. Was she evil for smiling? She didn’t care. “And I want you. I want you inside of me. So what’s the danger?” She leaned forward to kiss him, and for the first time she was the one to slip her tongue to his instead of the other way around.
“Are you sure? Even after what I told you?”
She rested her hands on his chest and nodded. “This is my choice. I choose you, and us. I know it might be just for tonight, that this is all we’ll ever have. But I’m okay with that.”
She didn’t get into how she wanted to live in the now, forget her past and her feelings of inadequacy and shame. She didn’t get into how she thought she understood and respected him more now. This thing that she and Luca shared, that they were about to share…well, it was more of a gift to herself than to him. Tonight was about her needs, her wants, her desires. Oddly enough, knowing what she knew didn’t change that this was the first time in her life that she was choosing her pleasure over a man’s.
Ever so slightly, she shifted her hips. She rubbed herself slowly on the smooth underside of his cock, feeling need build within her. Putting just the tip at her entrance, she exhaled…then lowered herself down, inch by inch.
“Oh,” she whispered, stunned at how united they felt like this. She didn’t move. All she wanted was to feel full of him, his heat finally inside her.
His hands went to her face, gently cupping her jaw. She shifted back and forth, and a groan escaped his lips.
“Sky, we need a condom.”
“I’m on the pill,” she said, pressing her mouth to his, recalling how he had earlier mentioned he was tested and was clean. She raised herself and slid back down him, slow, and whispered, “I want all of you before you leave.”
He touched her face as though she were a fragile, ethereal creature. She stopped moving, and they sat, intertwined and fused. Their faces were near and they kissed, their lips dragging against one another’s, scorching and slow.
They paused, foreheads touching, chests heaving, breath blending. She should have been afraid because the Mafia wanted him. Should have been upset that he’d withheld the truth from her so long. Should have gotten up, left and walked out of his life. But she didn’t and she couldn’t. Now she not only wanted him but admired him. What he was, all that he represented, turned her on. His situation was dangerous. She was stupid for that, she suspected, but other women wanted cops and firemen and soldiers. She wanted Luca.
The room was darker now because the moon had passed beyond the skylight, but the air seemed clearer and she was more hyper-attuned to everything. She moved her hips in a slow, circular motion and he responded with low, guttural moans.
“Sky, I don’t know how much longer I can last like this. Let’s continue in bed, please?” he rasped, kissing her.
She whispered a yes and slid up and off him, immediately missing the feeling of him inside of her.
When they climbed out of the tub, he grabbed a towel and dried her body with long, soft strokes as he himself stood dripping. They made their way to the bed, and he turned on the light. Instead of feeling exposed or self-conscious, the idea that he could see her as she truly was, naked and needy, excited Skylar.
“You said you wanted me to take charge of us, so I will. Totally. I want you on top of me,” she said as he undid the messy, makeshift bun at her nape. She shook her hair free and added, “I don’t want you to hold back. I don’t want you to be tender. I want you to be primal.”
Nodding, he licked his lips. “You got it.”
He pressed her against the mattress, kissing her hard. She opened her legs wide, ready for him.
“Touch me,” she whispered. “Feel how wet I am because of you.”
His lips remained on hers, a feather-light kiss, as his hand roamed into the groomed curls between her legs. Luca muttered in Italian, but when his finger reached her clitoris he switched to English.
“I love how responsive you are to me,” he said in a gravelly whisper.
She could only shudder in a breath. Words weren’t possible.
He pushed two fingers insi
de of her, then withdrew and rubbed her clit slowly as she cried out.
“This? Is this what you want?”
“Yes…no.” Why was his touch so unhurried, so slow? She fluttered her eyelids shut, overwhelmed by the erotic threads he sent through her body.
“No?”
He rubbed her slower, and that was when she realized he was teasing her. Bringing her to the edge of orgasm. Pulling her toward bliss. She said, “I want you inside of me again.”
“Patience, Skylar. We’ll get there. Open your eyes. Look at me. Watch me make love to you.”
She did, and her breath grew heavy as he licked and tongued and sucked at her breasts. As he dragged his fingers through her wet core, she was unable to hold back how she really felt. “I missed you. I could barely sleep, and when I did, I had nightmares.”
He kissed her in response and murmured, “I missed you, too.”
“There wasn’t a single waking hour that I didn’t think about you touching me or kissing me.”
His teeth grazed her neck and the rhythm of his fingers made her body bloom with pleasure.
“Every night before I went to bed I thought about you and your body and your mouth.”
“And what else did you think of, Skylar?” he asked, staring into her eyes, making her melt.
“This. Your hands in my hair. You inside of me. Loving me.”
“Loving you,” he whispered, staring into her eyes.
“You know what else I thought of, Luca?”
He rubbed the swollen nub of her clit between his thumb and forefinger, and she whimpered in response. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she said, “How I feel complete when I’m with you and lost when we’re apart.” Dammit. This was getting messy. It was more difficult than she’d thought, trying to separate emotion from sex, which had sort of been her plan. She didn’t want to cry, not now, not in front of him, but… “And I cried every night when I realized I might never see you again.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
She sniffled and looked him in the eyes. Pure sexual craving overtook her tangled emotions. He knew exactly where to touch to make her come, and it didn’t take long for her to be even more slippery and creamy and crying out from satisfaction. The orgasm sent long, throbbing contractions through her body, and for the first time in her life she felt completely out of control as the crashing waves of perfection and light passed through her.
“Si. Si. Si. Exactly like that, amore mio,” Luca whispered, trailing his nose and lips over her cheek as she came, and her entire body released all of the need and tension she had built up throughout the night. She held Luca tight, quivering, gasping and nearly in tears from the intensity.
“I have never seen anything or anyone more beautiful than you just now,” he said, positioning his cock at her entrance. Teasing her more.
“Now. I need you inside me now,” she demanded. “Don’t deny me that.”
Slowly, slowly, slowly he pushed into her while whispering in her ear. “How could I ever deny you? How could I ever say no to you?”
She gripped his biceps. During their week apart she had ached from his absence; now her heart could explode with joy and pure lusty adrenaline. His cock was bigger than any she’d ever experienced, and it stretched her deliciously like it had in the tub. She rode a faint wave of intensity until her muscles fully relaxed around him.
“You feel so, so good. I know you said primal, but is it okay if I go faster?” he asked, breathless. “I’m not hurting you, am I? You feel really tight.” He panted a little.
“Yes. No. Not hurting me. Faster. Just do…anything you want. I’m yours. Devour me.”
He laughed, a wicked and sexy laugh. “You’re mine. I like that. You’re mine, Skylar Shaw. All. Mine.”
Luca stopped moving then, leaving her full of his hardness. He stared into her eyes with such a devastating gaze that she imagined she could shatter like a fallen vase. She was with a man who turned her on more than anyone on the planet, and who’d tried to tell the truth against all odds. To her, there was no bigger aphrodisiac.
He moved again, wracking her with furious strokes while pinning her arms above her head with his hands and squeezing her wrists tight. Just as she had fantasized. Their bodies were still hot-damp from the tub and slightly perspiring from the friction, slick with each others’ juices. He was more primitive than she’d ever seen him. Feral, like an animal.
“More,” she whispered. “Harder and faster and more.”
Luca responded, something fierce and Italian, and her entire body shimmered. She didn’t bother asking him to translate.
“Skylar,” he said, his voice cracking almost imperceptibly, letting go of her arms and pressing even closer. She slid her arms around him, and his energy enveloped her. That’s when she knew for sure that this was just as intense for him as it was for her. He was afraid to tell her how he felt, afraid to stay with her, afraid of being hurt. Just as he’d said.
“You are so perfect, amore mio,” he whispered.
In that moment, Skylar had an epiphany. He needed her, although he probably didn’t realize it. No man had ever needed her. Wanted her, yes. Not needed her.
And she needed him. Luca was what made her happy. She would try to protect him. Exactly how, she wasn’t sure. But she needed to try. So she could nurture him. Please him.
Love him.
If he didn’t leave, she could do all of that.
She pulled his body toward hers and held on as if he would float away if she lost connection with his flesh. Skylar knew he was close to orgasm by the way his body took on a sudden, sweaty sheen, and she said, “Luca, I love the way you feel when you’re inside me. It’s like nothing else in the world matters. Only you matter,” she whispered softly in his ear.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the thick fingers of his hand gripping the sheet. He buried his face into her neck. With a loud, drawn out groan, he released inside of her, his cock pulsing quickly and then slower. She fluttered tender kisses on his neck as he tried to catch his breath, his body heavy and boneless on top of hers.
He propped himself up on his forearms. “Amore mio, are you crying?”
She hadn’t noticed there were tears streaming out of the corners of her eyes. Shaking her head, all she could do was draw him tight.
* * *
Skylar awoke at dawn to Luca’s kisses on the back of her neck. Maybe they hadn’t even slept, because it seemed like they’d spent the entirety of the dark hours touching, kissing, loving.
She was greedy for him and drunk with lust, and she suspected he was as well. It only took a caress of his chest and a soft sigh near his ear for him to spring to attention. His hands went everywhere on her body, her hair wild as he pushed her flat, gripping her wrists. Their mouths were fierce and demanding, and she could only focus on the rough, carnal power of his body as he thrust again inside of her. She cried out, loud. She didn’t care that she hadn’t brushed her hair or her teeth, or that they were both in a sex stupor.
“More,” she said. By this point, she was beyond whispering. “I need more of you.”
He sat up, pulling her into his lap so she straddled him. When she sank onto his erection, time slowed and so did their urgency. His kisses turned gentle and she feathered her fingers across his face. Mouths hovered over skin and eyelashes trailed against lips. She traced his face with her finger then leaned back and put her hands under her breasts, offering them to his mouth. His hands eased her backward, and his mouth sucked her nipples into pink points while she rocked softly on his erection.
“I don’t want this to end,” he whispered into her skin.
“The sex or us?” she asked.
“Both.”
Their hands joined, their fingers intertwined while their eyes met. The look they gave each other seemed more intimate than anything they had done prior. They moved together, slow and sensual, continuing to stare into each other’s eyes. The sun peeked through
the curtains covering the terrace doors and wafted through the gauzy panels covering the bed, infusing the room in a wan, white light. Everything in that moment seemed about to change, to become brighter, clearer, better.
At one point, she turned around and rode him in reverse, allowing him a full view of her ass and his cock sliding in and out of her. She tossed her hair and it fell down her back. Never had she felt so sexy.
“I wish you could see how beautiful you are right now. I wish I could video this and watch it every day for the rest of my life. You are so gorgeous,” he growled.
She half-laughed, half moaned, and he ran his fingers down her spine. She owned this moment. This was the best sex she’d ever had. She reached down and stroked herself into yet another orgasm, not caring that it might also be the last time she was with him. Not caring that she loved him and might lose him. This moment was the only important thing.
“Che bella ragazza,” he whispered over and over in her ear afterward.
It wasn’t until her heart had resumed a normal cadence that Skylar fully comprehended that she would have to reveal she was aware of his secret. She couldn’t let him exit her life without telling him that she knew all about him. Maybe it was a point of pride as a reporter, or maybe she just wanted him to know that she wasn’t a stupid young American girl. Amazing sex had nothing to do with her confronting the truth—and tomorrow would take care of itself.
While he caught his breath, she climbed out of bed and opened the curtains of the windows and doors leading to the terrace. Even though it was early morning, it was already so bright outside that the sky was a pale white-blue. She blinked several times into the light.
Skylar used the bathroom, and when she returned, Luca was still in bed, lying on his back. He looked a little too somber for a man who had just had a night of out-of-this-world sex. Then again, he was harboring all of those secrets.
Not for long.
She slid under the sheets, and he rolled over to hug her. “I’ve never done that with anyone.”
“What?” she asked, puzzled.