Romancing the Wine: A Boxed Set of 9 Newest Novellas from Award-Winning Authors

by Jan Moran

  Across from her, Luca settled back on the bed, lying atop the covers and watching her through half-lidded eyes, his hands folded behind his head. His long, toned body was immensely distracting when laid out in such a fashion, and Alessia bit her lip, forcing herself to look away. Stanley didn’t answer the second time she called either, I hope nothing too bad is happening to keep him from the desk. Hopefully it's just a chatty guest with a problem and not a real disaster. She should maybe go find out, as he might need her, an idea she discarded with a feeling of intense exhaustion.

  The front desk staff only had keys for the guest rooms, not hers or her father's offices, and she knew that, due to the benefit, they were completely booked, with no guest rooms available. She supposed she could sleep in the lounge, but she’d been looking forward to taking a shower and getting out of her dress.

  “No answer?”

  She jumped slightly at Luca’s low inquiry. “He… uh… he must be busy.” It sounded lame even to her own ears.

  “You want to stay until he calls back?”

  She should refuse. The longer she remained in Luca’s company, the weaker she became to his advances. Not that he was particularly trying to seduce her now; not overtly, anyway. But she really wanted to get back into her room. It appeared that wasn’t going to happen immediately, however. “Would you mind?”

  Luca shook his head slowly, closing his eyes.

  Within a moment, he was breathing deeply, and Alessia released the breath she’d been holding. At least with Luca asleep, she didn’t have to worry about keeping her thoughts at bay. She sank into a chair next to the phone, trying to look anywhere but at the half-naked man on the bed.

  This was, perhaps, the most intimate memory she would ever have of him, stretched out on his back, breathing softly in slumber. Twining her fingers together, Alessia tried to wait patiently for Stanley to call her back.

  Ten minutes passed, then twenty. Still no call. Frowning, Alessia looked from the phone to Luca sleeping in the bed. He looked comfortable. She was so exhausted and Stanley, it seemed, had his own agenda tonight. They’d be having a chat about that in the morning. Rising from the chair, Alessia glanced around the room, specifically at the sofa. However, Luca had spread the contents of his briefcase across it, and she dismissed the idea of lying down and closing her eyes while she waited for Stanley to get back to her. She didn’t relish the idea of curling up in one of the two oversized chairs either.

  Sighing, Alessia crept over to Luca’s side, wondering how on earth she was going to make this sound innocent. “Luca?”

  To her surprise, his eyes snapped open as if he’d been awake the entire time. Alessia jumped slightly, starting to reel back before he caught her wrist in a firm, but gentle, grip.

  “Yes, Alessia?” His green eyes burned into hers, and Alessia’s throat dried as she felt her sex clench, demanding attention.

  “I…well…Stanley hasn’t called back, and I was wondering if I could just lie down on the other side of the bed to wait?” A low, soft sound of surprise escaped her when Luca pulled her down suddenly on the bed next to him and she found herself flush against his side, her entire body humming with awareness.

  “Is that better?” Luca was looking down at her, his expression a very heated mixture of concern and arousal.

  Wetting her lips, Alessia searched for the words to answer him. Better for her raging sex drive? Perhaps, but not good for her sanity. She tried to pluck up the courage to reply curtly, to snap both of them out of the lustful haze settling over them, but she couldn’t. Luca reached out to trace the line of her full lips with his thumb before running a hand through the strands of her long hair. At the feeling of his fingers against her scalp, Alessia bit back a moan of sheer pleasure.

  And then he kissed her.

  All thoughts of Stanley and returning to her own room fled her mind the instant Luca’s mouth touched hers. Alessia gasped as his tongue snaked between her lips to tease her own to life, a low groan escaping him. In that sound, she read desperation, carnal hunger, and relief that they didn’t have to pretend anymore.

  Luca drew her tight against his body, his mouth plundering hers as his hands began to roam freely. Alessia’s fingers tangled in his hair, holding him close as she indulged in the heady, intoxicating taste of him. He found the hem of her dress and started to inch it up over her thighs.

  Alessia didn’t utter a single protest. She was too wrapped up in him; he had dominated her every waking thought from the moment she first saw him. His hands moving brusquely over her skin were just as delicious as she’d imagined, if not more so. Shuddering, Alessia turned her mouth from his to catch her breath, only to have him trail his lips down her throat to the neckline of her dress.

  By this time, the garment was bunched at her hips, revealing the brief silk Brazilian panties she’d worn beneath. When he felt the outline of the fabric, Luca made a low, short sound of approval in the back of his throat before reaching for the zipper of her dress. Instead of hindering him, Alessia raised her hand to help him find the hidden fastening, and within moments, she had shed the garment, dropping it over the side of the bed.

  All at once, she was facing him in nothing but her underwear. It had happened so quickly that Alessia was suddenly self-conscious of the body she’d allowed few to see.

  Even as she rubbed her thighs together in need, she raised her hand to cover her bosom, which pressed upwards in the strapless bra she wore. Luca’s dark, hungry gaze roamed over her body, making her flush even more deeply. She couldn’t help but think that she might be a disappointment to the man she’d desired all this time, and waited with bated breath for him to make the next move.

  Reaching up, Luca peeled her hand away from where it covered the swell of her breasts before tugging her against him once more. This time, when he kissed her, it was less urgent, less overpowering. His mouth moved leisurely over hers in a way that sent shivers of pleasure down her spine.

  He seemed to be apologizing for his earlier rush with every slow sweep of his hands over her behind and thighs, and every soft nip he delivered to her lips. Alessia’s breath hitched as he lowered the cups of her bra, spilling her ample breasts from its confines. Then his fingers were whispering over the dark peaks, plucking and cupping their warm weight.

  Alessia squirmed against him, needing more as the moisture seeped from her and began to soak into the thin material of her panties. As one of Luca’s hands drew her breast to his mouth, the other slid down her belly, lower and lower, until he touched her slick core through her underwear. Alessia gasped, and then a low moan escaped her. Luca’s mouth enveloped one of her nipples, teasing it with his teeth and tongue as he slowly stroked over her aching folds.

  The clinging fabric of her panties added an extra dimension of pleasure, abrading her in the most tantalizing way as his fingers slid back and forth. Alessia parted her legs for him, arching into the heat that teased her as her hips bucked into his silken touch.

  How many nights had she dreamed of this, waking to an ache so acute it seemed almost like real pain? How many times had she imagined him stroking her just like this, his mouth driving her to the brink of insanity as he nibbled and sucked at the peak of her breast? She moaned his name, her head thrashing back and forth as she clung to him, her body winding tighter and tighter beneath his ministrations.

  As Alessia reached the precipice, her eyes fluttered shut in pleasure, and Luca’s fingers pushed aside the fabric of her panties, two of the thick digits sliding deeply into her, filling her decadently.

  Crying out, Alessia trembled against him, her inner muscles clamping down on the intrusion as her orgasm crashed over her. It seemed to go on and on, leaving her weak and breathless in its wake as she sagged against the mattress.

  “Beautiful…” Luca whispered the word hoarsely against her ear before pressing a kiss to her earlobe, and then to the sheen of sweat upon her neck. His fingers moved, withdrawing before sliding in even deeper, drawing a whimper of desire
from Alessia. “Absolutely beautiful.”

  Alessia felt beautiful.

  In that moment, with Luca worshipping her body, she felt every bit as attractive as he professed. His fingers slid into her again, touching a spot that made her see stars. Alessia clasped his wrist in her hands, begging wordlessly for mercy.

  Luca obliged her, withdrawing his fingers from her tight sheath and touching them to his lips, tasting them briefly. “Oh, honey…” His voice fairly dripped with arousal. “Like a rare vintage.” He pressed his mouth to hers, letting her taste herself on his lips.

  A thrill rushed through her. She clutched at him, wrapping a leg around his waist as she drew him against her. She would never tire of the feeling of his body against hers. It was almost like they were made for one another. Despite her small stature and his tall form, they fit together like puzzle pieces. “Luca, please…” she begged softly. “I need you.”

  Luca stopped his exploration of her body for long enough to gaze down into her eyes, his own blazing fire. Without a word, he pushed down his pajama pants, lowering them in a smooth motion. His erection sprang free against Alessia’s belly, and she inhaled sharply at the scalding, rigid length of it. Her fingers encircled its ample girth, and she began to stroke lightly up and over the swollen flesh until a choked sound of pleasure escaped from above her.

  Luca’s eyes were closed, his mouth turned down into almost a grimace as he thrust into her hand, which was soon slick with his arousal. Her own thighs glistened with her readiness. A second later, Luca yanked her hand from his erection and lifted her by her hips to position her against the headboard.

  From the angle at which she was held, Alessia could see everything, from Luca’s strong shoulders to the V of his abdomen and the near-scarlet erection that jutted from between his thighs.

  He leaned forward to press his mouth to hers, sucking on her lower lip, and Alessia felt the hardness of him at her entrance. She arched, taking in the first few inches with a low moan before Luca thrust home with a force that left her gasping, pinning her momentarily against the bed.

  He stroked a strand of hair from her forehead, kissing it tenderly, before he began to move. Slowly, Luca pistoned his hips against hers, penetrating her deeply before drawing back.

  Alessia arched her hips against him at the peak of each thrust, feeling the tip of his erection kissing against her and reveling in the sensation. Her entire body was aflame, her nerve endings tingling, and her whole focus was centered on the expression on Luca’s face: rapture, pleasure, and elation rolled into one, every motion of his hips drawing a subsequent groan of pleasure from his throat.

  He was magnificent, and as she watched him, Alessia felt her core burning with need.

  Luca gathered her tightly against him, pressing so deeply that she cried out once, twice, three times before her world shattered into a thousand pieces, each emblazoned with his name.

  She dimly heard Luca’s hoarse cry, gasping at the feel of his hot seed flooding her still-clenching inner passage. Slowly, the heat that had raged between them began to ebb. Luca collapsed against her, his warm weight pinning her comfortably to the bed as they regained their breath.

  The aftermath was a pleasant hum of silence and sated bodies. Alessia lay there with her eyes closed, floating on a natural high of endorphins and profound relaxation. The last time she had felt like this—without a care in the world and truly at peace—was long before Luca had entered the picture.

  And now, he’d given her what she’d so sorely needed, what they had both been hesitant to let happen.

  All at once, the phone rang, the brassy sound echoing through the room. Alessia didn’t even have the energy to start. She merely groaned softly, burying her face in Luca’s neck as her lover chuckled quietly. The ringing continued incessantly.

  Rolling away from her, Luca stood, striding across the room in all his naked glory to pick up the receiver. “Hello. Stanley?” He was silent for a moment, listening. “Alessia was trying to reach you. She’s having some issues with her keycard. What should I tell her?”

  After a few minutes, he thanked Stanley and hung up the phone. “Stanley’s going to leave the office door open for you.” He slid into bed next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist to draw her against him. “So you can get what you need.” He began to press kisses down the line of her neck, and she squirmed, unable to suppress the smile that rose to her lips.

  “Luca… Luca…”

  “Alessia,” he growled, nipping at her shoulder for a moment before turning her in his arms to kiss her soundly. His hands had started to move over her naked form, igniting passion anew, when she stopped him, panting.

  “Wait… wait a second, Luca.”

  He slowed, drawing back slightly to eye her, his eyes bright with need.

  “I really need to resolve this issue. I need to get into my room.”

  The fire in his eyes dimmed. “You want to leave now? Right now?”

  Alessia rushed to reassure him. The last thing she wanted was to abruptly revert to the place they’d been before. Anything but that. Raising her face, she kissed him softly. “Do you want to come with me?”

  Luca arched a brow in inquiry. “To your father’s office?”

  Alessia smiled. “To the vineyard’s main office. The master keycard is there and…” She bit her lip, hesitating, before she continued. “Your father’s old office is as well.”

  Luca stiffened against her.

  Alessia instantly regretted ever doubting that he had been sincere about Bruno. He’d said that he had no idea why his father had willed him his share in the winery, and on the few occasions since then that Bruno had come up in conversation, Luca’s answers had been short and curt.

  It was obvious that Bruno’s absence from his son’s life had impacted him more deeply than he was letting on. Now, in the aftermath of the passion they’d shared, she thought he might be more willing to speak about the subject.

  But she wouldn’t push him.

  She waited a beat, and then another. When Luca didn’t reply, she merely rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. “It’s all right, Luca. It will only take me a minute. I’ll be right back.”

  Extricating herself from the tangled sheets, Alessia rose from the bed, finding and slipping into her underwear before wiggling back into her lace confection of a dress. She had turned to leave the room, intent on her errand, when Luca suddenly took her hand in his, halting her in her tracks.

  Surprised, Alessia glanced at him where he sat on the edge of the bed. Slowly, he drew her back into his arms, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in the material of her dress in a surprisingly vulnerable gesture. Alessia let him hold her for a good five minutes before she stroked her fingers through his hair. “Luca?”

  He looked up at her, his expression rawer than she’d ever seen it—not with passion or lust, but with apprehension. “You have the key to my father’s office?”

  She nodded slowly. “I do. I don’t believe anyone has been in there since he died. His things will still be where he left them.”

  Luca appeared to ponder for a brief moment before rising from the bed, reaching for a pair of jeans neatly folded over the back of a nearby chair. “I’ll come.” His words were soft, almost inaudible.

  Alessia nodded, then moved towards the door to wait for him, her stomach in sudden, inexplicable knots. She hadn’t forgotten that this man might very well split her beloved company in two, that he could take his half of the shares and sell them off, or neglect them. In the moment of passion they’d shared, she’d forgotten her fears, and she now expected them to come flooding back.

  But they didn’t.

  Luca’s nervous expression had, in one fell swoop, banished that apprehension.

  He was here, Alessia realized, to make peace with his father’s memory.

  And if she could help him do that, she would. If nothing else, it might cement a relationship that would lead Luca to make the right decisions concerning
his father’s legacy.

  At least, that was her hope.

  She watched Luca dress, swallowing the tide of lust that rose in her throat as his muscled body disappeared beneath slacks and a loose sweater. She wanted nothing more than to tear his clothes off before he took another step and return to bed as he’d wanted earlier, but she knew nothing would get done that way.

  Alessia hadn’t quite realized how agitated Luca was about his father until this moment—until he had the opportunity to confront what he’d both anticipated and feared.

  She’d been so wrapped up in the idea that he might want to simply take half the winery away from her and her family that she hadn’t seen it before; now she pushed the guilt and the assumptions aside. When Luca joined her at the door, his nervous expression spoke volumes. For a moment, Alessia was surprised.

  Luca always acted so calm, so cool and collected, that she hadn’t even guessed that something might be able to unsettle him. She touched his hand briefly before letting them both out of the room.

  Chapter 15

  They wound their way through the dark, quiet halls, a comfortable silence between them. As they reached the basement floor and she let them into the open custodian’s office, she found herself wondering what, if anything, they would find in Bruno’s office. Would it be enough to help Luca make the decision she so desired, or would there be nothing at all?

  She supposed there was only one way to find out.

  Grabbing the keycard to reset her room lock, she then took the key to Bruno’s office from where it hung on its hook on the wall. He had never liked the keycard switch over, and had kept an old-fashioned lock on his office. It was something she’d thought funny at the time, but now, locked out of her room at two in the morning, she had to admit that he might have had a point.

  Then again that little system glitch hadn’t been entirely bad.

  She turned back to Luca, her lips curving upward into a small, encouraging smile as she dangled the key before his eyes. “Are you ready for this?”