Skipping down a wide curved staircase that could have come straight out of a movie set, she made her way to the back of the house past room after room until she heard a music system playing Pachelbel’s Canon in D performed by a single guitar.
Becca followed the delicious scent of roasted meat and found the kitchen. It looked like something out of NASA. A slim middle-aged woman turned to smile at her.
Her eyes were pale grey and sharp but friendly. ‘Good evening, Becca. I’m Moira. You’ll be looking for Lucas. He’s in the orangery, down the hall and first on the right.’
Becca found herself grinning back at the twinkle in her eyes and the lovely Scottish lilt in that soft voice.
‘Thanks, Moira. Can I say that whatever it is you’re cooking smells fabulous?’
‘Och, it’s just a roast chicken.’
Since she always owned up to her weaknesses, of which a notorious lack of culinary skills was one, Becca admitted,
‘Doesn’t smell like any chicken I’ve ever roasted.’
Moira’s lips twitched. ‘Away you go and see Lucas.’
Becca did as she was told and found him in a room constructed of plate glass and fat columns of stainless steel.
Wearing ancient jeans and a cream chunky sweater, Lucas was sprawled on a spacious modern couch covered in a cream linen fabric. His feet were bare and she wondered if the house had under floor heating because even though it was huge the space had a cosy feel. At the moment he was scrolling through messages on his cell phone.
A sharp memory of a long forgotten domestic intimacy caught her breath.
Becca cleared her throat.
‘Hi,’ she whispered.
Lucas tossed the phone on the couch and stood.
Those dark eyes met hers and she wished he wouldn’t have such a lung crushing effect on her.
After an eternal moment, he smiled and held out his hand. Becca found herself smiling back. She placed her hand in his, trying desperately to ignore the energy that snapped and zinged around them as he led her to a round table made of plate glass which was set for two.
He sat her in a chair, placed a pristine linen napkin on her lap and a chaste kiss on the edge of her mouth.
Moira bustled in with a smoked fish starter.
‘Wine?’ Lucas asked holding up an icy bottle of white.
‘Please, just a small one.’
He poured a little into a wide goblet of clear crystal.
‘Watching your weight?’
‘Not particularly.’
She didn’t want to get into her personal life, her career and what she did and why, especially with Lucas Del Garda. He had too many fingers in too many pies in show business. This thing between them would probably burn itself out, eventually. A relationship with him, and the potential fall out, may bring her unwanted attention.
‘Were you teaching a class today?’ he asked.
He thought she was a teacher? Well, she was in a way.
‘Yes, did you catch some of it?’
‘Just the end bit. You are a tough cookie, querida.’
Becca shrugged. ‘If Amy wants to get to the top, she needs to put in the work. Partying at nightclubs means she won’t make the cut.’
Dark eyes caught hers as he raised a brow. ‘So it is a case of do what I say and not what I do?’
Well, she walked right into that one, hadn’t she?
‘That was the first night I’d been out for a very long time.’
She didn’t add it was because she was celebrating a Tony nomination for her choreography of Street Dance. The chances of winning were slim to none but she’d been thrilled. Her defences had been down and she wondered now if that was why she’d permitted herself to be seduced by Lucas. Then honesty had her admit that she’d been the one to make the first move in the night club.
Moira took their empty plates and returned with stunning hand made glass platters holding moist tender morsels of chicken breast with oven roasted vegetables.
They ate the deliciously prepared food in a comfortable silence.
Lucas’s deep voice rumbled in his chest as he spoke, ‘Why did you not call me?’
He added more wine to her glass giving her time to consider her honest response.
‘I’ve been debating that question with myself all week. I think it’s because everything that happened between us was too intense, too much.’
He nodded in agreement, seemingly accepting her account of her actions.
‘Si, we have found something very special, querida.’ He took a sip of wine, dark eyes watching her like a hawk over the rim. ‘You said I had been too rough with you. Did I hurt you?’
Heat burned her cheeks. They’d said horrible things to each other that day and she knew by the anxiety in his dark eyes that she owed him nothing less than the truth.
She shook her head. ‘No, you didn’t. Once I got over the shock of being manhandled, I liked it.’
He still looked concerned and frowned now.
‘You think I manhandled you? Promise to tell me if I do something you do not like.’
Becca wasn’t stupid. If she agreed to that statement she knew it was a carte blanche for more sexual gymnastics in that big bed upstairs. The ball was in her court. She could say no that nothing was going to happen, have dinner and leave.
But was that really what she wanted?
‘I promise,’ she said and didn’t miss the flash of pleasure in those eyes. A sudden spurt of anxiety made her ask, ‘What are we doing, Lucas?’
‘We are getting to know one another.’ His deep voice went gravelly. It vibrated up her spine.
Becca decided there and then that she needed to be clear about her needs and her intentions.
Her eyes clung to his. ‘I don’t want a relationship.’
Lucas hooded his lids as his fingers toyed with the stem of his glass. By the clench of that strong jaw and the narrowing of his fabulous mouth she received the message loud and clear he wasn’t pleased.
Those eyes, cool now, met hers with an intensity that had the nerves tightening in her belly. ‘Do you mean a relationship with me or with anyone?’
Did she? Becca didn’t know but she didn’t want to get hurt and she didn’t want Lucas to get hurt either.
Leaning forward in her chair, she wanted no misunderstandings between them.
‘To be in a relationship you have to be in a place where you’re capable of compromising certain parts of your life, to let another person in. I’m overwhelmed with work. I’m just getting my life back together. It’s nothing personal, Lucas.’
Those dark eyes flashed into hers now in a way that made her brace herself.
‘Forgive me, but it feels personal to me. I went through something unique and outside my experience with you. I respect your feelings, Becca. But you need to respect mine too. We are not children, querida. Not contacting me was the behaviour of a twelve year old and I do not want it to happen again.’
She blinked at the rebuke as a flush of mortification burned her cheeks.
Who the hell did he think he was talking to? He respected her feelings did he? Since when?
Temper stiffened her spine as her eyes battled with his.
‘Really? Then how do you explain invading my work space? Virtually kidnapping me this evening? Stripping like a manwhore to arouse then leaving me high and dry? And if I didn’t contact you, perhaps it was because I’m not ready to have a relationship or sex with you or with anyone? You don’t want it to happen again? Where do you get off talking to me like that? I won’t call you if I don’t want to bloody well call you.’
Christ, she was trembling and where had all that come from? What on earth was she doing?
Her heart was hammering in her ears and she realised he was as stunned by her outburst as she was, but his own anger was gathering now. Fine. So was hers.
Those dark eyes slitted as the sexy I-need-a-shave jaw tensed.
‘Manwhore? Charming. If you want to leave you only need
to say so, querida. John will drive you home or take you wherever you want to be this evening.’
Stubbornness had always been a besetting sin with Becca and it reared its ugly head now.
She stood and dropped her napkin on the table.
‘Thank Moira for the delicious meal. I’ll get my things and go.’
The flash of surprise in his eyes galvanised her to spin on her heel and almost run down the hallway. Obviously Mr Sex on Legs wasn’t used to a woman walking out on him. Tough. She took the stairs two at a time and burst into his bedroom, tossing still damp clothes into her kit bag.
He hadn’t even kissed her!
He’d marched into her studio and taken her to his home – without her permission by the way. Imagine standing naked and parading his body in front of her like a stripper? He’d deliberately teased and tantalised her then walked out leaving her off balance and out of her head with lust.
The bastard had given her dinner and discussed his wants and demands without even a glimmer of the intimacy they’d shared before. What had happened to the empathic man who’d held her tight and kissed her as if she was the only woman in the world for him?
Fury with herself that she was making a horrible scene, and with him for causing it, made Becca’s hands shake as she thrust her arms into her jacket and wound a fine cashmere scarf around her neck.
God, she felt physically ill. She simply couldn’t cope with her feelings for this man. They swung from wanting to jump him to sticking a red hot needle in his eye.’
‘Becca, you are behaving like a child.’
The deep voice from the door was indulgent and the tone clipped her temper as Becca lifted her bag and stepped into him.
‘Move!’ she said rudely and kept her eyes glued to a point past his shoulder.
‘I am sorry if I upset you, querida,’ the words were spoken through clenched teeth by a man who apparently found it hard to apologise. He didn’t mean a word of it.
Her eyes flew to his.
‘No, you’re not sorry! How dare you tell me how to behave? What’s next? Being put over your knee?’
Wicked laughter flashed into those dark eyes.
He grinned and that did it. ‘Actually... Oof!’
Lucas doubled over as her kit bag plunged into his gut.
She’d caught him by surprise and moved to dart past him.
But she wasn’t fast enough.
He seized her in a vicelike grip around the waist.
Stunned by his physical strength she dropped the bag.
‘You little wildcat,’ he muttered in her ear and heeled the door shut.
Strong arms caught her tight to his body as he lifted her off the floor.
Panic had her feet kick and she thrust her head back, narrowly missing cracking his jaw.
Her jacket was stripped and tossed on the floor and she found herself flying through the air to land on her back on the bed. Air whooshed out of her lungs and Lucas was on top of her pinning her to the mattress.
Becca attempted a scissor kick and her fists flew.
The ease with which one big hand caught her wrists above her head had her panting frantic little breaths in her throat.
When he removed her scarf, wound it tight around her wrists and tied it to a thick steel bed post, Becca went stiff with alarm.
Her eyes flew to his and she swallowed an outrageous need to giggle.
‘You cannot be serious?’ she gasped up into his wicked face divided between utter terror and sheer delight.
His lips were merely an inch from hers. Dear heaven, he smelt wonderful.
Like a warrior she battled the impulse to kiss his fabulous mouth.
‘Untie me at once,’ she demanded in her best do-not-mess-with-me tone.
‘No. You like this,’ he told her as his hips pinned her to the bed.
Indeed she did like it.
He rocked his pelvis and his erection jabbed into the soft flesh of her tummy.
Becca had never been tied to a bed or to anything else in her life. Naturally she’d heard of such things but it had never entered her head to play sex games. He’d complete control of what was happening to her and she was torn between a heady excitement and healthy fear.
His lips danced a soft shoe shuffle along her jaw.
She turned her head away but merely succeeded in exposing the delicate skin of her neck to his hungry mouth.
‘You have a very bad temper, baby. That is the second time you have lost it with me and you must be punished for it. I am going to make you scream with pleasure, querida,’ he promised in her ear. His accent was stronger, the tone deeper and it vibrated through her blood to pool in a hot liquid between her legs that almost made her moan. Her breasts swelled under him, her nipples now hot, hard buds of arousal.
The tiny whimper of surrender that escaped from her throat in spite of herself had her snap her teeth at his jaw.
He simply gave a deep throaty laugh. ‘Naughty, naughty girl.’
His mouth swooped and caught hers at last. Thank God. His tongue stroked, slid and danced with hers. He plundered, ravished her mouth and demanded everything she had to give. Heart pounding in her ribs Becca was with him every step of the way.
Lucas eased back, those dark intense eyes filled with arousal as he studied her flushed face.
‘More,’ was that husky voice hers?
For a split second, she wondered where he was going as he rose to his feet. Surely he wasn’t going to leave her like this, tied to his bed in a sea of lust?
Dark eyes burned into hers as he pulled off his sweater and tossed it.
Her mouth went bone dry. The man worked out. His toned body showcased a washboard flat stomach, a narrow waist and the dark silky hair of an inverted V that disappeared inside the loose waist of his low slung jeans.
Then his fingers undid the button, slid down the zip and she gasped.
Yes!
Commando!
Lucas stripped to his skin and simply stood watching Becca as she fought for control, still fully dressed and bound to his bed.
His body was ready to rock and roar with hunger for her. She was like pure fire burning in his blood. After almost a week of nothing but hot dreams having the real thing tied to his bed made his cock ready to explode.
‘More,’ she said again and the tone now was not one of a nervous girl. It was all woman who was more than ready for her lover.
She was terribly aroused, her nipples under her thin vest beaded and swelled under his hot gaze. Her full mouth was swollen from his kisses and her breath was labouring in her throat. Oh yes, Becca was loving every single minute of this.
He had no idea what had possessed him to tie her to his bed. It wasn’t something he’d considered before, but he had to admit the concept was one of his better ideas. By Becca’s flushed features and the manic twinkle in her eye she was not averse to the idea although she had doubts. Well that was fine, he had doubts too. But Becca was in the driving seat even if she didn’t know it.
‘I am going to strip you now. If you say stop I will stop. It is up to you how far we go with this.’
Lucas didn’t miss the hot flash of lust in her eye. Neither did he miss the low moan in her throat.
Slowly he removed her boots, her socks. He ran the nail of his thumb over the tender skin of the sole of her foot, under her right instep. She jerked in his hand. By the time he’d finished with the left foot she was trembling. He crawled up her body and straddled her. His powerful erection rested against the exposed skin between her jeans and her vest and her eyes grew huge as she watched him. The pink tip of her tongue licked her top lip and he swooped to capture, to taste and to plunder.
His need of her only intensified the hunger of his brutal pillage of her soft, tender mouth. No woman, he thought dimly, had ever made him suffer like this.
More action this time with his tongue pushing in and out of her mouth, harder and rougher. He took and took and she gave and gave until he had to force himself bac
k.
Settling between her thighs, he hissed in a breath rocking his aching cock against the cradle of her jeans. It felt fabulous. Her gasp of shock had him kiss her in a merciless possession that had her strain against the tie at her narrow wrists.
He sat, still straddling her, and picked up a pair of sharp scissors. Her eyes went wide as he slid the blade up her vest, snipping the straps, exposing her small breasts to his gaze. Her skin was as clear as fresh cream. The nipples a dusky pink that beaded and strained towards him. Again he settled between her thighs. A single hard thrust of his hips, skin on denim, made her breasts bounce.
His cock was bursting with need for her now. He rocked it again and again between her thighs, the deep pleasure a blissful pain.
He decided to pay particular attention to those sweet little nipples. When his mouth closed over one her back arched off the bed. He suckled hard and bit gently on the tender flesh before popping the damp tip, rosy and hard from his mouth, and blowing on it. Her throaty sob speared straight to his euphoric cock and he turned his attention to her other breast. She was so amazingly responsive to him. Her breasts were so finely tuned to his caresses she truly humbled him. He could lick and tease her for hours. God he wanted her sex, he wanted to taste to feast on her.
He kept his voice low and soft as her breath hitched in her throat.
‘You want me. Look at your body. I am going to take off your jeans and panties. Tell me stop and I will.’
Praying that she wouldn’t test him he quickly removed her clothes in one fast tug leaving her naked, exposed and still tied to his bed.
At his leisure he looked his fill.
‘You are so fucking gorgeous.’
Becca squirmed. Her skin flushed a deep rose with desire and mortification. And he wondered just how far he could go with her.
‘Bend your knees, querida.’
Her eyes stayed on his and he read confusion as well as excitement as she slowly bent her legs.
‘Open your legs. Drop your knees to the bed.’
She shook her head pressing her knees together.
Lucas moved to the side of the bed and bent over to capture her mouth. He punished her with his tongue as his fingers tormented and his palms rolled her nipples making her sob into his mouth and strain against the ties at her wrist. He didn’t stop until her knees dropped, opened, exposing her core to his gaze.
A Stormy Spring Page 5