Killer Romances
Page 23
Enrico brought his lips to hers, cradling her face in his hands before sliding them along the sides of her neck. Kate’s fingers wound into his hair as she deepened the kiss. When they parted for a second, Enrico stripped off his shirt and laid it on the grass, then drew Kate down with him. At last, he was where he wanted to be most. Alone with her, in the dark.
Moonlight filtered through the trees as Enrico bent over Kate. He kissed her cheek, then her mouth, then the side of her neck. Between kisses, he murmured, “It has already been too long.” He rolled on top of her, his body almost fully over hers.
The weight of him holding her down and something about the way the moonlight hit his face reminded Kate of Vince, of her nightmares. Of the attack. Fear ripped through her, making her shiver from a chill only she could feel. She shoved Enrico hard in a panic, and he quickly let her up. She sat up, panting for breath. Damn it!
Her eyes blurred, and she swiped at the tears leaking from them. “God, when am I going to be normal again?”
“Shh.” He stroked the side of her face. “Per favore, do not cry, cara.”
“I don’t know what else to do.” She looked at him. “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”
“Much has happened these last few days. Too much,” he said, leaning back on his elbows. “Maybe this—you and me—maybe it is moving too fast.”
Kate lay back beside him, staring up at the stars through the branches. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
He was silent for a while, then he said, “Only recently have I stopped wishing I was dead.”
She snapped her head toward him. “What?”
“Ever since Toni died, I have wished I did not have to go on without her.” He put his arms behind his head, then he cleared his throat. “After she was gone, I carried on conversations with her all the time in my head. Sometimes all day.”
The tightness in his voice moved her. Kate rolled over and placed a hand on his chest. “I can’t decide if that’s sad or romantic.”
“I prefer to think of it as romantic.” His words hung in the air for a moment, then he said, “I still love her, Kate. But I feel it fading the more time I spend with you.”
She smiled. “Put a little pressure on me, why don’t you.”
“I do not mean to. Not exactly. I have felt like an impostor for a long time. I smiled and nodded in the right places, and I laughed when someone made a joke, but I was just pretending. With you, I feel alive again.”
Her hand flexed against his chest. “You do?”
“Ever since I met you, I have hardly been able to think of anything but you. Having you. Making you mine.” He picked up her hand and kissed it. “You have become my obsession.”
“Now you’re scaring me,” she said, but kept her tone light.
“You should be scared,” he joked. “I do not like to be denied anything I want.”
“I’m sure that rarely happens.”
He rolled up onto his side to look at her. “Somehow, you manage to deny me all the time.”
“Only because you’re under my thumb.” She smiled and stroked his cheek.
Grabbing her hand, he planted a kiss on the palm. “Indeed, I am your slave.”
She bit her lower lip. “That conjures up so many interesting possibilities.”
He looked at her, her hand still upturned in his, his lips hovering over her skin. When he spoke, his breath tickled her palm. “Would one of those possibilities involve any sex?” he asked. He pressed his lips to her palm again, then his tongue followed the path of her lifeline.
Tingles traveled along her skin in the wake of his tongue. “You have been such a good slave, I suppose a little sex won’t spoil you.”
He kissed the inside of her wrist, the touches fleeting as his mouth moved up her arm. “I live to serve,” he murmured, reaching her neck and the sensitive skin there. He parted her blouse, kissing along the hollow of her throat, then his lips moved down between her breasts. He made short work of the bra’s front clasp, his hands and mouth seeking her nipples greedily. Kate lay back beneath him, winding her fingers in his thick hair, a bit amazed they were actually doing this. Somehow he’d managed to cope with her and change her mood for the better. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who needed this connection between them.
One of his hands slipped down between them, pushing her skirt up to her waist, his fingers smoothing up her thighs, and Kate felt her anticipation rising as his hand drew near her sex. But he veered away from it, instead letting his fingers play along the outside of her hip, squeezing the flesh there.
Kate shifted restlessly beneath him, parting her legs slightly, though he didn’t take the hint. Instead he slid his palm across her belly in slow circles, just feeling her skin. His eyes followed the progress of his hand, and she studied him, surprised at how mesmerized he was by what he was doing.
“You really like touching me, don’t you?”
His eyes flicked up to hers. “Of course I do. You are so soft. So lovely.”
She smiled and pulled him into a kiss. “My slave gives the best compliments,” she said when they parted.
“So what would my mistress like?” His index finger circled her belly button.
“Anything.”
“That is such a broad category.” His hand stilled, lying flat and warm against her belly. “Tell me. Fingers or tongue?”
She turned her smile wicked. “Why stop at one?”
He laughed, soft and low, a sudden exhale at her neck that made her shiver. “Why indeed.” He bent his head, mouthing the tips of her breasts again, then slowly kissed down her belly, lingering just below her navel, his breath hot on her flesh.
With the slowest of movements, he peeled her panties to just above the triangle of her sex, planting little kisses across her belly until she twisted her hips and let out a moan of frustration. She felt him smile against her skin. “This is for making me wait so long,” he said.
“I knew I’d pay for it somehow. But it is better this way, isn’t it?”
He nodded and finished taking her panties off. “Definitely.” Parting her legs, he kissed the insides of her thighs, then blew on her curls, making her shiver. He ran a finger down the center of her pussy, finally slipping it between the lips. His finger went in easily; she was soaking wet.
Kate moaned when he pressed a second finger inside her. As he slid them in and out, he lowered his mouth to her, his tongue finding her clit and working around it in slow circles, a merciless tease.
She closed her eyes and heard the tide coming in, waves crashing against the beach in rapid succession, her own breathing the only sound she could hear above it. Clutching his hair, she raised her hips to meet his mouth, his wonderful, teasing, taunting mouth.
He brought her close to the peak several times, then backed off each time, making her groan with frustration. “Why are you torturing me?” she finally asked in a ragged voice.
He smiled up at her, then placed a hand below her breasts and urged her to lie back as he continued to skirt around her fulfillment.
At last he took her all the way. Her face flushed hot and she came in a belly-clenching, thigh-shaking rush, letting loose a cry that surprised her in its rawness.
Moving up her body, he caught her lips with his. “I want you, Kate,” he whispered, his voice husky. “I want you so much.”
“I want you too.” She held his jaw and delivered a kiss fierce with her hunger. She felt him fumbling with his belt and unzipping his trousers. She let go of his face and dragged his trousers down, her hands seeking his hips to pull him over her. But he surprised her, grabbing her around the waist and flipping onto his back so that she straddled him. She placed her hands on his chest and leaned forward. Both of them moaned as she slowly lowered herself onto him.
She rocked over him, enjoying the freedom of the position. How had he known what she’d needed, when she hadn’t? Moonlight striped his face as she looked down at him, but he didn’t look like Vince now. He was so beautiful. Inside
and out. Not perfect, not at all. But wonderful, nevertheless. Maybe she even….
She pushed the thought away. She couldn’t be in love with him. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake again, she wasn’t going to allow herself to be swept away by a man she barely knew. Especially not by a man who was hiding something, a man who still loved someone else. A man who wasn’t truly available, who could never be hers.
All he could give her was this, this ecstasy, this monumental pleasure. This bliss. And that was all she was going to take from him before she left.
CHAPTER 21
Enrico watched Kate sleeping. It was just after dawn, a little light filtering into their room. He thought back to those moments on the beach, what he’d said to her about Antonella.
It was all true. Even while he and Fiammetta were involved, Antonella’s presence had hovered close to him. But now—well, more and more, especially the last few days—he’d stopped constantly thinking of Antonella. Which didn’t mean he’d stopped loving her. He always would. Would Kate ever be first in his heart? He didn’t dare hope for that.
All he wanted was to soothe the ache in his chest, to banish the loneliness that coiled around his heart. To stop wishing he was dead. And on those three counts, Kate was the answer he heard. He’d make her his wife—if she’d let him.
He watched the rise and fall of her breathing, the to and fro of her dreaming eyes. Cristo, he was a fool. Kate wasn’t really his. She was in his bed, but that was all. If he demanded anything from her, she’d bolt. His stomach knotted. Could he suffer that loss, that emptiness, again?
No. He had to keep coping with Kate’s indecision, her chaotic moods. Once she knew who he was, she’d come to see that she could trust him, that they could make each other happy. And if he had to hide the divided nature of his heart from her, he would.
When they were talking in the trees, a truth had risen unbidden in his heart: he wasn’t yet fully in love with her, as much as he wished for it. He didn’t love her the way he’d loved Antonella. If he truly loved Kate, he would put her needs first, not his. He would have sent her away, would have married Delfina to keep Kate safe from Carlo.
Instead, he’d followed the dictates of the selfish, greedy side of his heart. And that side said to keep her with him. And it whispered to him, as it was doing now: How could he ever be sure she was safe? How could he trust Carlo’s word? Better to keep her close than to have her far away and in danger. That was the right thing to do, yes? The safest thing?
But if that was true, why did his conscience keep niggling at him?
He sighed. Maybe it was just nerves. Introducing her to Don Battista, that was monumental. His approval of Kate was necessary. Without it, there could be no wedding, no matter what Enrico wanted. And without Don Battista’s approval, she couldn’t leave either. At least not alive.
Under his breath, he cursed Dom for putting him in this position. If Dom had just kept his mouth shut, Enrico could have kept Kate under wraps for a while longer, could have given them both time to sort out how they felt about each other, could have given her the option to leave.
But now that Don Battista was aware of Kate, most likely so was La Provincia. Which meant Enrico’s judgment would be called into question. He would have to account for his actions. He’d endangered the cosca and started a war with Carlo Andretti that probably wouldn’t end until one of them was dead.
But he’d figure it out. He always did, didn’t he?
Kate stirred, and Enrico had the pleasure of watching her awaken. Her eyelids fluttered before opening, and she took a deep breath, her nostrils flaring slightly. Then her green eyes took him in. A moment of anxiety flashed through them before she recovered and smiled. It was a definite improvement over yesterday morning. “Hi,” she said, then bit her lip, her shy gesture seeming most fetching to him.
“Ciao, bella.” He leaned over and kissed the tip of her nose.
“How long have you been watching me?”
“Long enough to realize you are even more amazing than I thought.”
“And all I was doing was sleeping. Imagine how much more impressive I’ll be while awake.”
He gave her a wolfish grin. “I was thinking about that. Debating whether to wake you.”
“You’re insatiable.” She smiled.
“It is all your fault.”
She arched a brow. “Blaming the woman for your lack of self-control, are you?”
How right she was. That was how they’d ended up in this mess. “If you were not constantly tempting me, I would be a model of restraint.”
She chuckled. “I doubt it.”
He growled and lunged at her, pinning her to the bed while he ravaged her with kisses. “I am such a beast, yes?” he asked when she dissolved into giggles.
“A very ferocious one.” He rubbed his hard cock against her and she bit her lip again, this time holding his eyes suggestively. “Very ardent too.”
“As I said, it is all your fault.” He pressed a kiss to her lips. Then he pulled back and looked at her a moment, debating whether to tell her who he was. Was now the right time? Or should he wait?
“What has you so serious all of a sudden?” she asked.
He shook his head. He’d wait until he’d spoken to Don Battista. Much depended on his counsel. “Our meeting today with my godfather.”
She looked up at him, questions in her eyes, then she said, “It means a lot to you, what he thinks of me, doesn’t it?”
He nodded, his heart twisting as he wondered where his own father was, what he would think of Kate. Enrico wanted Rinaldo’s approval too. But it was Don Battista’s that mattered most.
She stiffened underneath him. “Enrico, I haven’t promised you anything. I haven’t decided to stay.”
“I know. But I want you to keep an open mind.” When she nodded, he kissed her quickly, then rolled off the bed, the easy mood between them broken. “We had better hurry. He expects us for breakfast.”
They took a small motorboat around the island, Enrico easily guiding it to a secluded inlet on the northern shore. He tied off at the dock and helped Kate out of the boat. They walked hand in hand toward a simple whitewashed house nestled among a grove of palm trees. Sun streamed down on them, and Kate was glad she’d chosen a light flowery dress that fluttered in the breeze. Near the end of the dock, Enrico stopped short. “Can you wait here a moment? There is something I want to discuss with him.”
She frowned. “More secrets?”
“It is a business matter.”
“Why can’t I hear about it?”
“It is his business; he would not appreciate my disclosing it to a stranger.” He gave her a pleading look. “It will take only a moment.”
“All right.” She sat on one of the pilings, watching him head toward the house. She didn’t like all these damn secrets. She was going to force them out of him if she stayed. If she stayed.
Kate thought back to the sadness on his face when they’d talked about this meeting, about his father. She’d been afraid to say anything at that moment, afraid some quaver in her voice would give her away.
Damn him. The way he’d been looking at her then, he’d made her want to say yes, that she’d stay. That she’d risk his breaking her heart. That she’d stand by him, that she’d trust him to keep her safe from Carlo. But she was afraid to make those promises, afraid to let him have her heart. Afraid to break her resolution to leave.
Enrico found Don Battista on the stone patio at the rear of the house. He was sipping espresso, and he put the cup down when he saw Enrico. “Rico, my son,” he said, his wide smile revealing the small gap in his upper teeth. He rose and embraced Enrico, kissing him on the cheeks. “Where is this lovely American of yours?”
“She’s on the dock. There’s something I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“She doesn’t know who I am. What we are.”
The old don’s face turned stern. “Then why is she here?”
/> “I wanted you to meet her. To give me your opinion. I’m afraid….” He trailed off.
“Afraid of what?”
Enrico had trouble meeting his eyes. “I’m afraid I don’t see her clearly.”
“How do you mean?”
“I can’t decide whether to tell her.”
Don Battista picked up the cup and took another sip of the steaming liquid. “You know what it would mean if she can’t accept it.”
The knot in Enrico’s stomach, the knot that had been there all morning, tightened. “I can’t bear losing her.”
“I’ll give you my opinion after we speak. That is all I can do.” He set down the cup and put his hands on Enrico’s shoulders, giving them a squeeze.
Enrico finally looked up, meeting his gaze. “Thank you, mio padrino.”
Enrico seemed a little more relaxed when he returned for Kate. Taking her hand, he escorted her to the back of the house, where an older, somewhat heavyset man awaited them at a table laden with covered dishes. He rose as they approached.
“Padrino,” Enrico said. “Allow me to present Kate Andretti. Kate, this is my godfather, Vittorio Battista.”
Vittorio stepped around the table and extended his hands toward her. “At last we meet, Signora Andretti. I have heard tales of your beauty, but they did not do you justice.” He took the hand she offered in both of his and kissed it.
Kate smiled and laughed. “If I didn’t know you were Enrico’s godfather, I would have supposed you were his father.” When he gave her a questioning look, she said, “You’re both so very gallant.”
He looked at Enrico. “I do not know this word?”
“She means you are a flirt.”
Vittorio grinned at her. “Ah yes, we share a weakness for beautiful women.” He shrugged. “I hope you will forgive me.”
“What is there to forgive?” she said, enjoying the way his face creased up when he smiled. She could see he’d been very handsome when he was young. He was still handsome now, but in a distinguished way. He’d lost most of his hair, only a short grayish fringe remaining around the back and sides, but the look suited him. His thick salt and pepper mustache and intelligent eyes gave him an air of vitality. Though he was at least twice her age, he was far from dead.