“Okay.” She lifted her shirt over her head and tossed it across the room. Beneath it, she wore a flimsy pink bra. She unhooked it and added it to the trajectory the shirt had pursued seconds earlier.
Leonardo shifted in the chair, pressing his elbow into an armrest and resting his chin on his palm.
It was hot in Melbourne, and she wore only a pair of denim shorts and brief underwear. She stepped out of them so that she was completely naked and looked around for the dress.
Leo held it up with his free hand, hooking it from one finger in the air to his side. “Is this what you need?”
She grinned, darting her tongue out to moisten her lower lip. “Oh, that’s just the start of what I need.” She walked with a deliberate swagger and lifted the soft material from him. She brushed her thigh against his hand, as she lifted the dress over her head and slowly, seductively lowered it down her body. It was a pale gold colour, and fell to just beneath her bottom. The sleeves were shoe string, and the front draped a little across her cleavage.
“Call yourself a model?” He drawled, reaching out and tapping his hand against her backside. She shook her head with a small laugh and began to walk, as though the lounge were a catwalk and she its kitten, from one side of the room to the other.
“Is this better?” She asked, tossing her head so that her long, blonde hair flew as a silk curtain of gold through the air.
His eyelids lowered. “Keep going.”
She smothered a smile and sashayed back towards him. “Do you like it?”
He reached out and grabbed her hand, lifting it to his lips and kissing her frantic pulse. “I like it,” he agreed. “But I would not like you to wear it in public.”
He ran his thumb over the sensitive skin of her inner wrist and she felt herself begin to tremble. “It’s a cocktail dress.”
“No. It’s a cock tease dress.”
She shook her head with a small smile on her lips. “That’s crude.”
He shrugged. “If you go to a party like that, you might as well go naked.”
Aurora exhaled an exaggerated sigh, and eased herself down onto his lap, her legs straddling him in the armchair. She could feel his burgeoning erection between her legs and she shifted so that her core was tantalisingly close. Her fingers lifted to his shirt and she began to unbutton it slowly.
He rasped as she flicked it aside, revealing his naked chest. She ground her hips lower and pressed her lips against his neck, teasing him with her tongue and her teeth. “I bought it for you, Leo. No one else.”
He made a sound of triumph. “I’m glad to hear it.”
“You know, I don’t think you used to be this jealous?”
Beneath her, he reached for his belt and unclasped it, pulling it out of his pants and dropping it over the side of the chair. “You’re wrong.”
“Oh?” She fumbled with the zip of his pants, finally managing to slide it down. She reached for his waistband but groaned in frustration before moving off his lap and instead kneeling before him. He lifted himself enough for her to be able to guide his clothes away. He was naked, and he was hers.
She smiled as she hovered over him. She lowered herself back onto his lap and took him inside her body in one swift movement. She moaned as he filled her, and she dipped her legs lower to allow them both the complete fulfilment of togetherness.
Leonardo swore as Aurora rocked back and forward on her heels, driving them closer and closer to an animalistic release of pleasure. “You are driving me crazy.”
“Mutual,” she whispered against his ear, kissing his neck, tasting his salty flesh and wishing for a guarantee life would always feel this perfect.
“I have always been a jealous man.”
“Huh?” She lifted her arms and hooked them behind her head, tilting her face to the heavens as her body rocked with the force of her feelings.
He moved his fingers to her hair and ran them through it roughly. “This hair is mine.” He lowered his hands to her breasts, and through the soft material of the new Prada dress, he circled her naked nipples. “These breasts are mine.” And he thrust into her, lifting himself off the chair and grabbing her hips to hold her steady as he drove into her again and again. “All of you is mine, forever.”
She exclaimed as sensations almost overwhelmed her. He stilled her with his hands. “Stand up.”
“Huh?” She asked, groggy still from the sensual exploration that had been about to pull her apart.
“Stand.”
“I… don’t want to…”
He grinned. “Separation will be brief.”
With a small noise of protest, she pulled away from him and stood, as he’d directed. He linked his hands in hers and pulled her towards the enormous glass windows that overlooked Melbourne. She knew they were fully tinted because she’d been on the balcony earlier that week, looking in and seeing nothing. Still, she reached for the switch as they passed and turned the lights out. Only a golden glow from a lamp remained.
“Hands here.” He pressed her palms to the window, and came to stand behind her. He entered her swiftly, surprising and relieving her at the same time. His hands cupped her breasts, holding her still as he took total possession of her, building her need in waves of crashing desperation. It was a total sensory invasion. His body filled hers completely, and his hands teased her breasts, squeezing and cupping. “Look at the world that is ours to explore, S.B. How did you ever think we would walk it apart?”
She was incapable of speech. Every single nerve ending of her body was quivering with physical sensations.
“I can see your eyes are closed,” he whispered. “Look. Look at it. At us. At how right it is that we are together.”
She blinked and watched. She saw her flushed, feverish face crinkled with desire; she saw his, powerful and possessive, proud and victorious, as he moved within her.
“Yes.” She said simply, for he was right.
“Your body has sung to mine for years. Living without you has been an agony.”
He moved harder and faster, pumping the essence of himself into her and she cried out as her own body began to convulse with blessed release.
“You will never leave me again,” he said quietly, his hands now running the length of her back. “You will never leave me again.”
She leaned forward infinitesimally, pressing her forehead against the glass window and shaking her head from side to side. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He pulled away from her, but for the briefest of moments. Just long enough to lift her and cradle her against his chest. He carried her through the apartment, to the palatial bathroom. Gently, he removed her dress then eased her into the spa and began to run warm water into the enormous space. He disappeared briefly, to get some liquid wash, which he tipped into the running water. Then, he eased himself into the tub, sitting opposite her. Against the cream of the bath, and the white foam of the bubbles, he looked tanned and masculine.
“You must be exhausted,” she observed quietly.
“I am living on adrenalin,” he retorted with a grin. “You know I do not need much sleep.”
She did. Oh, how she knew that.
“Aurora,” he said, his eyes hooded. “I want you to touch yourself. For me.”
Her eyes flew wide. “I … what?”
“I want to see you… please.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “You are mine. I am yours.”
The objection she’d been about to voice stuck in her throat. The water was deliciously warm against her skin, and her whole body was still reverberating with sexual energy.
“And watch me while you do.” He commanded again. Slowly, she lowered her hand, her eyes glued to his, as her fingers found the most sensitive flesh of her body. She began to move over it, surprising herself with how quickly she felt the orgasm building. “Do not be ashamed,” he said, when she instinctively closed her eyes. “Your enjoyment is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
She nodded, t
racing her tongue around her lips, as her arousal built to fever pitch.
“Good,” he murmured. “Come here.”
She moved through the running water to kneel in front of him. And when she thought he was going to take her again, she was surprised. Instead, he hooked a single finger inside her and watched as her eyes widened with pleasure. “I can feel you letting go,” he whispered, pressing his mouth to hers.
She grabbed his shoulders as she came, hard, her hips pressing down, her body convulsing against the water of the bath and the warmth of his body.
“I’ll never get sick of this,” she promised.
“Good.” He parted her legs as he removed his finger from her body, and slid himself into her moist warmth instead. “I’ll need you forever,” he promised again. He drove into her; and the sensation of the water, and him, was almost too much to bear. She clenched her nails into his back and wrapped her legs around his waist. He drove her backwards, against the wall of the bath, as he took her again and again, moving within her.
They exploded together, a tangled web of limbs and sound, and too much pleasure. Aurora had never felt happier, nor more alive.
9
“I’m dry,” she whispered, her eyes saucer-like as they watched him taking great care to towel down her whole body. Softly, adoringly, he ran the material across her legs and stomach, then her back.
“You’re so lovely,” he almost groaned, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to his naked body.
Their skin contact made her pulse thrill, but she had to stifle a yawn against his shoulder.
“You’re tired,” he said reproachfully, lifting her and placing her down on the bed. He arranged the covers over hand pressed a kiss against her forehead.
The second her head touched the pillow, her eyelids seemed to be weighted by cement. She blinked to try to keep them open, but it was almost impossible.
“Where are you going?”
“I have a couple of things to do. I’ll join you as soon as I can.”
Her eyes were fuzzy, but she squinted to read the time on the electronic clock. “It’s three in the morning.”
His grin was bemused. “Not in Italy.” He kissed her forehead again and ran a hand through her blonde hair. “Shut your eyes, Sleeping Beauty. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“It is morning,” she called out, but the words fuzzed on her tongue as sleep claimed her.
“Goodnight, Aurora.” He watched her from the door, his expression inscrutable, his mind filled with doubts. For though he loved her, he couldn’t easily forget what she’d endured the last time they’d broken up. The sense that getting involved with her again could only end up in disaster almost consumed him, but he pushed it resolutely aside. She was his and he was hers. That was the end of it.
Later that same day, when he’d completed the interviews he was obliged to provide to the international press, he sat opposite Aurora, studying her thoughtfully.
She was reading a fashion magazine, her long legs curled under her, her hair in a high pony tail, her beautiful face free of make up.
“You know, you don’t look a day older than when I first fell in love with you.”
She shook her head, a smile of disbelief cracking on her face. “I was nineteen.”
“My mistake. You look about a year younger than when I first fell in love with you.”
She reached over and punched him playfully on the arm. “Charmer.”
“Have you spoken to Alec yet?”
Her expression clouded momentarily. “No.”
“What about Beatrice?”
She shook her head silently.
“You’ve tried?”
She nodded, and a sense of sadness filled her. “Of course I’ve tried. I’ve called. Left messages. Emailed. I’ve called Peter. It’s useless. She doesn’t want to speak to me.”
“She’ll get over it.”
Aurora frowned. “Do you really think so?”
“Of course. You two have been inseparable for years. She’ll get over this.”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “Lying to her never felt right. Even at the time, I hated keeping the truth from her. Now I wonder why we didn’t just tell her about us from the beginning.”
He reached out and took one of her hands in his. “Because she would have become a third wheel in our relationship. And she would have been jealous. We got to keep our relationship to ourselves and she got to keep her best friend to herself. It was sensible.”
“Was it?” She shook her head. “Even now, you really think that? You don’t think that, in hindsight, we should have just been honest and let the cards fall where they may?”
“No.”
It forced a smile from her, regardless of how serious her mood was. “You’re incredibly confident, aren’t you?”
“My sister would have stuck her nose in at every opportunity.”
Aurora sighed. “Still. I can see why she’s angry. Have you talked to Rita and Lucien?”
“A brief call in the early hours of the morning.”
“What did they say?”
“Congratulations.” He grinned, lifting her hand to his lips and kissing it.
She rolled her eyes. “Of course. I meant about us.”
“They were anxious to know I am looking after you. I have little doubt they value you above me. That they would ostracise me if I did anything wrong by you.”
“Then you’d better be good,” she said with a wink, leaning back in her sofa.
“You’re too sexy to be good with. I’d prefer to be bad. Really bad.”
She laughed but put aside her magazine. “That’s a really corny line, you know.”
“Absolutely. Did it work?”
In response, she moved towards him and kissed the tip of his nose. “Yes. But I need you to do something important for me, first.”
“Anything.”
“Go to bloody bed!” She said sternly. “You’ve hardly slept in twenty four hours. I’m exhausted just looking at you.”
He nodded, rubbing a hand across his stubble. “On one condition. Come with me.”
She grinned. “That, I can do.”
They lay, side by side, in the enormous bed. She watched him from beneath shuttered eyes, and he watched her right back. He lifted a hand and tucked her hair behind her ear, his expression difficult to comprehend.
“What changed your mind? About my racing?”
Her heart turned over. “My mind hasn’t changed.” She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “I hate that you put yourself in a piece of metal and drive it around a track at impossibly fast speeds.” She shuddered. “But when you won, and I wasn’t there, it felt all kinds of wrong. I do love you, Leo. And I guess I just realised that I can’t love you without accepting that racing is a part of your make up. I wish it weren’t. I really wish that you loved tennis or baseball instead… but it’s racing, and I have no choice but to back you.”
His eyes closed and he fell asleep, finally, his face grey beneath his tanned complexion. She reached a hand out and ran her fingers through his thick dark hair. He was a Formula One champion; he was happy, and he loved her. Loving someone who had a dangerous job was hard, but she couldn’t love anyone but him. He was her match.
The race in Malaysia was the next on the calendar, and as the plane touched down on the humid island, she wondered how she’d ended up back on this crazy ride. Flitting from one race city to another, an unofficial part of the team; Leonardo Fontana’s lover and companion. One look at him, as he studied the track for the hundredth time in the flight, she felt a jolt in her heart.
She reached over and put a hand on his, to catch his attention.“Are you nervous?”
His eyes were smiling at her. Reassuring her. “Yes. As I always am before a race.”
“Good nerves,” she said with a nod. She remembered this.
“Exactly.” He lifted her finger to his lips. “Are you nervous?”
“Yes.
” She scanned his face. “My favourite part of your races are when they’re over.”
“This one will be soon enough. And in the mean time, I have a surprise for you.”
“A surprise?” She looked at him blankly. “What surprise?” He’d been so busy with race preparations after Melbourne that she hadn’t even really known if he remembered her existence.
“You’ll have to wait a little while longer.” He kissed her gently. “It will be worth it.”
He was distracted. Almost his entire focus was on the upcoming race. He returned his gaze to the paper and furrowed his brow; Aurora returned to the blog she was in the midst of drafting. Hard to think about writing a column on Autumnal fashions when she was in the midst of a monsoonal summer, but she turned her mind to footless tights and Mac coats while the plane continued its steady cruise towards Malaysia.
The weather was every bit as sultry as she’d expected when they touched down. She was used to warm climates, and could generally cope well with heat, but the humidity was an unwelcome hit in her face as they swept onto the tarmac.
“The hotel will be air-conditioned,” Leonardo promised quietly, as they slipped into a limousine.
She stared out of the window as they cruised through downtown Kuala Lumpur, towards the five star hotel. The lights of Malaysia were overwhelming at first, but this was by no means her introduction to Asia. She’d travelled extensively in her early career, doing runways at the fashion weeks. She felt the buzz of the city as a welcome back, rather than a first greeting.
“What time will you start tomorrow?”
“Practice begins at ten.”
She nodded. Again, she wondered what the heck she’d done, getting embroiled in this life again. But one look at Leonardo and all her doubts seemed to evaporate. She smiled at him, then returned her ice blue gaze to the window. As the limousine slowed to a stop in front of the Emir Residence Hotel, she turned to him again. “You said something about a surprise?”
A flicked of a frown crossed his face. “Yes, of course. Inside.”
He stepped from the vehicle and held a hand out for her. She put hers in it, and followed a step behind him. The humidity was like a moist blanket on them as they walked. By the time they’d reached the luxurious penthouse, the only surprise Aurora wanted was a freezing cold shower followed by an ice-bath.
Clare Connelly Pairs: Warming the Sheikh’s Bed & Love in the Fast Lane Page 25