The Italian's Marriage Bargain (Hot Italian Nights Book 7)

by Annie West

  Out of nowhere misery swamped her. That had been her problem. She’d never been Massimo’s match, even though she’d wanted to believe he’d be happy with a woman who didn’t have a posh family or a fantastic education or a coterie of sophisticated friends.

  ‘Oh, I’m sure, Massimo.’ She swallowed and it felt like her throat was lined with ground glass. ‘We’re over. Over and done with.’

  He shook his head, his eyes never leaving hers. ‘Then how do you explain this?’ One hand cupped her cheek and the other slid around her waist, jerking her up against him and Gina felt, for one precious moment, that she’d come home.

  CHAPTER NINE

  * * *

  It was an illusion. Massimo wasn’t her home anymore. This was simply her body’s craving for intimacy.

  But, oh, the gentle brush of his fingers, the curl of steel-hard muscles encircling her waist, and the furnace-hot solidity of his torso against her yielding body... Even through their clothes he felt appallingly good.

  Better than good. Wonderful.

  She’d longed for this. And since their kiss the longing had become a craving in her blood, singing in her ears, whispering in the brush of her clothes against over-sensitised flesh.

  A bubble of emotion welled high in her throat, clogging her chest as his eyes held hers. Massimo’s long fingers danced a gentle, provocative cadence along her jaw then up to the soft flesh beneath her ear.

  Gina struggled to repress a luxurious shudder as everything inside her sparked and tingled.

  ‘No. I don’t want this.’ She sucked in air to fill lungs that seemed to have collapsed. ‘I don’t want you.’

  Slowly Massimo shook his head. ‘For a world class actress you’re not very convincing. You’ll have to do better.’

  He was right. Her voice was breathy and uneven and her nipples thrust, hard and puckered, against him. Gina realised she’d actually arched her back in response to the arm wrapped around her waist, tugging her close.

  ‘You want me, Gina. We both know it.’

  ‘No! You’re living in the past. I’ve moved on.’ She wouldn’t let herself desire him. She had more control than that.

  He cocked a sleek, dark eyebrow. ‘To De Laurentis?’ He shook his head. ‘Not from what I hear and I’ve got a very good source.’

  Angela. It had to have been Angela who’d filled him in on that detail. Gina didn’t know whether to be annoyed or relieved. It shouldn’t matter what Massimo thought of her, yet to her surprise it did.

  ‘And don’t try to tell me you’ve taken up with Niccolo Marchesi instead. I know that was an act to convince the paparazzi you weren’t breaking up the De Laurentis marriage.’

  Gina stiffened. Angela had been busy. But why had her friend confided so much to Massimo? Angela didn’t know he was Gina’s husband. As far as she, and everyone, knew, Gina and Massimo hadn’t been together long.

  Massimo’s big hand, sliding from her throat to her shoulder and down her side, jumbled her thought processes.

  ‘Let me go, Massimo.’ She stiffened as his palm skimmed her waist then moved down to her hip. ‘Trying to force an unwilling woman isn’t your style.’

  Instantly he stopped. A second later his hands dropped away as he stepped back, leaving her reeling at his abrupt withdrawal.

  His eyes narrowed on her flushed cheeks and she felt the pulse at her throat hammer with shock.

  It was her opportunity to escape. Except, tragically, she didn’t want to. No matter what common sense or pride dictated.

  She should give him a glare and step sideways to stride confidently off to the bedroom wing. Even hunching her shoulder against him and scurrying away would do. Instead Gina’s feet stayed glued to the floor, her fingers flexed with the need to touch him. Worse, she swayed towards him like iron to a magnet.

  Strangely he didn’t crow his triumph. His expression was tense, his features severe.

  ‘This isn’t a contest or a game, Gina. I want you. I always have. And I believe you want me too.’

  She swallowed convulsively, telling herself she should deny it, even though it was the truth. She didn’t want the complication of desiring her husband.

  But she’d never stopped desiring him, had she? Sometimes, when the world was asleep and she was alone with her thoughts, she wondered if she still loved him. But that idea was too scary to contemplate.

  All she knew now was that she didn’t have the strength to walk away from him again. Not when he looked at her with such yearning. Not when her whole body was clamouring for more of the magic only he could provide.

  ‘Gina.’ It was a benediction and a plea, maybe even a curse, for Massimo looked like he was in pain. Then his hands closed round her hips, tugging her hard against his crotch.

  Her eyelids flickered as she felt the wondrous sensation of his long, hot erection against her core and her abdomen. His solid thighs surrounded her. Everything conspired to remind her of the delicious differences between them. Even fully dressed the contact was incredibly arousing. Liquid heat poured through her, pooling low in her body.

  Gina’s knees sagged and she anchored her hands on his shoulders, feeling the springy muscle sheathing hard bone. So familiar even after all this time.

  Her eyes popped wide when she felt one large hand gather up the fabric of her skirt till, with a waft of cool air, he planted his palm across her thigh, branding her through the fine stocking.

  Massimo held her gaze as he slid his palm higher, so high it reached the bare flesh at the top of her stay-up stocking. His touch sent a shock of heat through her, making her unsteady legs wobble harder.

  Instantly Massimo coiled his other arm low around her back. But Gina barely noticed. Her attention was focused on his hand as it crested the top of her thigh and slid, centimetre by heart-stopping centimetre, across to the silk covering her femininity.

  She couldn’t help it. A shudder racked her as long fingers cupped wet silk, moulding to her shape, curling in so that, despite herself, Gina tilted her pelvis up into his touch.

  Massimo smiled then. Not a triumphant sneer of victory but an expression of relief. Of thanksgiving.

  ‘Massimo?’ The way he looked...

  ‘I couldn’t bear to think you didn’t want me anymore.’ The words were slurred, tripping over each other. But still they imprinted themselves on her brain.

  His hand moved and her thoughts scrambled, her eyes slitting against overloading sensation.

  It was only when he moved that she roused herself enough to be shocked anew.

  Massimo dropped to his knees before her, his left hand raising her dark fuchsia skirt higher and higher till she felt cool air around her pelvis. He splayed his hand over her belly, pinning the bunched fabric there.

  Gina looked down on Massimo’s thick dark hair, watching it spill over his brow as he moved in and nuzzled her.

  The shiver that ripped through her was delight and surprise with a huge dollop of relief thrown in.

  How she’d craved his touch. Craved the intimacy of him, the only man she’d ever allowed close. Her heart swelled even as her body softened in surrender and she couldn’t find the strength to care.

  Gina clamped his shoulders as he tugged at her knickers. She heard a soft curse under his breath, felt the exhalation of warm air on her flesh and heard tearing. Then indigo lace and silk fell to the floor.

  Every sense receptor in her body screamed into overdrive as Massimo leaned in again. This time there was absolutely nothing between them. She shuddered at the sensation of his kiss, his lips warm and soft. Then his tongue, sliding down through secret folds, to lap at the tiny bud where pleasure centred.

  ‘Massimo!’ Did she cry it out loud? Or was her throat too dry to produce sound? She couldn’t hear over the rush of blood pounding in her ears.

  She felt his hand slide round to her bare cheeks, urging her forward. Then the thrust of his tongue exactly where she most needed him.

  Her knees buckled and Massimo’s steely arm wra
pped round her thighs, holding her up as she bent over him, hair swinging into her eyes. What she saw, Massimo pleasuring her with his mouth, sent a shower of incendiary sparks shearing through her. Her skin burnt as pinpricks exploded across her flesh. But it was the fiery knot of ecstasy building at her core that undid her.

  Each caress ripped another defensive layer free. And when he looked up, eyes locking with hers as he sucked hard, the knot that held her together burst undone. Ribbons of rapture unfurled through her, making her quake from her soles to her eyelashes.

  Gina screamed. A shout of ecstasy that might have been his name. All she could comprehend was this man and the crisis that splintered her into fragments then welded her together again into a whole that was shinier, better, more perfect than she’d ever been.

  Gina’s eyes shut, her body caved and she was lost, utterly, to the moment. Not just the physical release, but the gift that was Massimo, the man she’d adored, doing this to her.

  Dimly she wondered that she hadn’t collapsed to the floor, despite his supportive hold. It wasn’t till sometime later that she realised the floating sensation wasn’t just the aftermath of her orgasm, but because Massimo had scooped her into his arms. Heat branded her side as powerful arms cradled her. She felt the racing beat of his heart beneath her ear and inhaled the fresh scent of mountain forests.

  Nothing had ever seemed so perfect in her life.

  Until she sank onto a bed and opened her eyes to see Massimo fumbling with his clothes, tearing his shirt off and thrusting down his trousers. She heard something rip then he was naked above her, his knees straddling her thighs.

  Seven years had changed him. He was still tall and lean but his chest was heavier, his thighs and biceps bulkier. Between his thighs his erection jutted towards her and despite her satiation, Gina felt another squiggle of excitement down low in her pelvis. She’d remembered him as well-endowed. But the sight of him naked and ready told her reality was far superior to memory.

  ‘Lean over.’ His voice was gruff but his hands were gentle as he lifted her shoulder and slid the zip of her dress down between her shoulder blades. Then he flicked her bra open.

  Gina wriggled, helping him tug the beautiful dress down her shoulders and off her arms. But instead of dragging it all the way off her body, Massimo instead whipped off her silky bra and tossed it over his shoulder.

  If she’d had any doubts about what they did, his expression would have changed her mind. Nothing could hide the glitter of sexual excitement, the intense masculine arousal, but she’d swear she saw something like reverence too. And when his hands closed over her breasts, cupping and kneading, she realised his fingers were unsteady.

  ‘You don’t know how long I’ve wanted this.’ His words feathered her nipple just before he took it in his mouth and suckled.

  Instantly Gina arched high off the bed, one hand grabbing the bedspread, the other fastening in the thick hair on the back of his skull. Between her legs the restlessness became an ache that throbbed incessantly.

  Then Massimo was there, the weight of his erection settling between her legs as he braced himself over her.

  Green-grey eyes met hers and fire sizzled down her backbone. He opened his mouth as if to speak but when Gina shifted against him, trying to ease the ache of need, his mouth snapped shut and his jaw turned to granite.

  Then it was as she remembered, the easy slide, the stretch, the tickle of hairy thighs pushing hers wide, the wondrous sense of oneness. The slow retreat then the hard surge back, pushing her up the bed. The weight of Massimo’s gaze pinioning her as effectively as his sexy body. Another thrust and the ripples started, growing and cresting as he huffed a choked breath. Then suddenly it was upon them, breaking over them, tugging them down into a whirlpool of darkness and flaming stars and pleasure so profound it must mark her forever.

  They clung together, panting, bodies arching and thrusting, Massimo’s mouth at her neck, biting down at that sensitive spot he knew drove her crazy.

  Gina opened her mouth to scream but his lips closed on hers, tongue delving deep to mimic the way their bodies mated. Together they rode the storm, huddled close, needing each other as the world turned inside out.

  And when it was over, still they clung, bodies entwined, breathing mingled, hearts beating in rhythm.

  Gina kept her eyes closed. All she could do was take this one breath at a time. Because the alternative, thinking about what they’d just done, would terrify her.

  Because this wasn’t over. They weren’t over.

  Spectacular sex was hard to resist. But it was worse than that. Despite what she’d told herself for so long, this wasn’t just about physical cravings.

  How was she supposed to walk away at the end of the week and take up her life again when everything had changed? No, not changed. She’d just been forced to face the truth she’d avoided for years.

  She was still in love with her husband.

  CHAPTER TEN

  * * *

  Massimo didn’t want to move. He couldn’t anyway. He wasn’t sure he had the strength to stand.

  He and Gina had been voracious for each other. Even in the intervals when, as now, they weren’t actually making love, they lay tangled together, bodies entwined as if they couldn’t bear to be apart.

  Seven years’ separation had been incinerated by a passion so consuming Massimo had never known anything like it. He’d lost count of the number of times he’d come. One thing he did know, he was addicted to the sound of Gina’s throaty purrs and the hoarse way she called his name as ecstasy took her.

  Every time she cried his name it battered home the knowledge that she was his. Finally.

  Massimo grinned, his lips curving close to her nipple. He moved his head a little and kissed her there softly. She sighed, moving in her sleep, and tenderness wrapped around him. He’d missed this. Not just the sex, but the intimacy of being together. He wanted—

  His stomach gave a loud growl. Then another, reminding him he’d been too busy to eat since breakfast, caught up in the madness that had made today’s show such a success.

  He glanced over at the digital clock and amended that. Yesterday’s show. It was already two in the morning and he had another frantically busy day ahead.

  Another loud rumble. Loud enough to wake Gina if it kept up.

  Massimo rolled away, frowning. But willpower wouldn’t fill his stomach. Reluctantly he got up, padding down the hallway to the kitchen.

  A short time later, busy laying out an antipasto platter to take to bed and share with Gina, he sensed something. A change in the atmosphere. His skin tingled as if from an electrical charge. His gaze snapped up.

  Instantly his mouth dried as desire punched hard. Every muscle tensed. It was one thing to wander around his apartment naked in the early hours. It was another when Gina did it.

  His gaze skated from tousled, bright copper waves to a symphony of pale skin and seductive curves that heated his blood to searing point in a second. His wife wasn’t a big woman. She was fine-boned. But every centimetre was packed with delectable curves and intriguing hollows. And the fiery glow of red-gold hair at the apex of her thighs was a beacon, inviting further investigation.

  His response was immediate and full-bodied, his erection rising insistently as if he were a randy seventeen-year-old instead of a responsible man of thirty-two.

  The fork he’d used to lay out prosciutto and semi dried tomatoes clattered to the island bench. Massimo flexed his fingers. They felt stiff and unwieldy.

  His gaze lifted to Gina’s smoky eyes. He saw something there that made his pulse hurry and his breath quicken. Not simply physical desire but an expression that made his heart swell with hope. It reminded him that sex wasn’t enough. He wanted Gina, not just for tonight. He wanted his wife back. He needed to find a way to rebuild what they’d lost.

  ‘Did you miss me?’ His voice was rough, scoured from somewhere deep inside.

  Gina smiled, a hint of a dimple showing in one c
heek as she sauntered towards him. The smile grew as she rounded the large island bench and saw his massive erection.

  Her laughter was a peal of bells on a spring day, the moment of sheer delight when you cleared the ground on a downhill ski run and soared, weightless through the air.

  ‘I did.’ She sidled closer and snaffled some cheese off the platter, popping it into her mouth. Her lips were a plush, dark pink from being kissed. Her eyes sparkled like the twilight sky when the first stars came out.

  He leaned down and buried his face in the curve of her neck, inhaling the mingled aromas of vanilla, sweet woman and sex.

  He’d even missed her unique scent, he realised abruptly.

  Massimo’s hands closed on her upper arms, holding her just where she was while he lavished open-mouthed kisses across her collar-bone then up her neck.

  Urgency engulfed him. This, Gina, them together, felt so right. He needed to hang onto it. Ensure she didn’t walk out on him again.

  He pulled back, ignoring the screaming protest of his hyper-aroused body. ‘It’s time we talked, Gina. We have things to discuss.’

  She said nothing at first. Then she shifted closer.

  ‘Later,’ she purred. Her voice was pure seduction but, he realised, her eyes had lost that slumberous quality. They were bright with—

  Massimo’s thoughts frayed as her hand closed around his erection, sliding experimentally from base to tip and back again.

  He locked his knees, his buttocks bunching as pure longing branded through skin, sinew and muscle. Massimo’s eyes closed as Gina folded both hands around his length and squeezed.

  He groaned, a shudder ripping from his groin up his spine and down his legs to weld his bare feet to the floor.

  Instinctively his hands found her hips, perfect curves and the warm silk of supple flesh.

  His woman. His Gina.

  His eyes snapped open and his brain cells started to scurry into action.

  ‘Gina, I...’