He pushed himself away from the wall, his expression rueful as he dealt with disposing of the condom. ‘It wasn’t supposed to happen this way,’ he said, raking a hand through his hair in a distracted manner. ‘I wanted it to be better than a rough grope against a wall. I wanted it to be memorable.’
Gisele stepped forwards and placed a gentle hand on the side of his face, loving the feel of his raspy skin under the softness of her palm. ‘It was memorable,’ she said. Being back in his arms was unforgettable. She knew she would have to live off the memories all over again, but at least she had this time with him.
He studied her for a moment before placing his hand over hers, holding it to his jaw. ‘I want you in my bed,’ he said. ‘I want to wake up in the morning with you beside me.’
How could she say no to him when he made her feel things she’d thought she would never feel again? He might not love her but he wanted her.
He might never love her. Some people were just incapable of it and, from what she had picked up about his past, it certainly hinted that he might be one of them, too damaged to open himself to anyone else. It was a heart-wrenching thought but it was something she would have to accept. She could not stay with him permanently without the love she needed, but for now this felt right. She looped her arms around his neck and looked up into his dark eyes. ‘Make love to me,’ she said softly.
Emilio lifted her and carried her to his bedroom, laying her down as if she was the most precious cargo he had ever had in his possession.
‘Emilio …’ The soft sound of her voice was like a caress over his skin.
‘I’m here, cara,’ he said, threading his fingers through her hair. ‘I’m here.’
‘Did you miss me?’ she said, looking into his eyes with her grey-blue ones. ‘Did you miss doing this with me?’
He pressed a soft-as-air kiss to her mouth. ‘I’ve missed everything about you.’
And he had, desperately. His life had seemed so pointless and empty without her in it. He had worked like a man obsessed over the past two years but none of it had given him any real sense of purpose. He had made money—lots of money; more than he had dreamed possible—but it hadn’t filled the gaping hole she had left in his life. The charity helped a bit but it wasn’t enough. He wanted more. He wanted her.
He kissed her again, a long drugging kiss that stirred up deeply buried longings that he could no longer ignore. He wanted to feel her convulse around him again in ecstasy, he wanted to feel her grasp hold of him as if he was her only lifeline—the only person on this earth who could make her feel complete.
He peeled back the spaghetti-thin straps of her dress to press a kiss to her bare shoulder. Her skin tasted of summer, an exotic tropical fragrance he had always and only associated with her. He worked his way around to her neck, lingering on the sensitive flesh there, delighting in the way she wriggled beneath him, her soft gasps of pleasure fuelling the raging fire of his need. It was a blistering furnace of want, hot flames leaping beneath his skin, making him aware of her in every cell of his body. She was his nemesis, the completion of him, the missing other half that he had been seeking for most of his life.
‘I want you,’ he said, pressing a hot kiss to the skin just shy of her earlobe. ‘I want you so badly I can’t think straight. It’s all I can think about. How much I want you back in my arms.’ He moved his mouth to the soft temptation of hers.
‘I want you too,’ she whispered back, her soft lips moving around to play with his in a cat and mouse game that set his senses on overload.
At least he had her desire for him to build on, Emilio thought. It was the one thing he could count on. She might say how much she hated him but her touch and the press of her lips against his told another story entirely.
He felt the sexy tug of her teeth, the way they pulled on his lower lip in a tantalising bite that made his spine tingle. He nipped her back gently, sucking on her lip and then stroking his tongue over the plump softness until she whimpered and did the same back. Their tongues met and mated in a moist duel of wanton need, each one seeking the other in sensual combat.
Emilio slipped the other strap of her dress off her shoulder and planted a kiss to the creamy softness of her skin. She tilted her head, her long hair falling back over his hand where it rested in the middle of her slender back. She made a soft noise of acquiescence, a murmur of want, of need, of red-hot desire, and his blood surged in response. No one made him feel more of a man than she did.
He uncovered her breasts and gently cupped one of them with his hand while his mouth continued to explore hers. She arched up into his palm, her erect nipple driving into the centre of his palm, her slender hips inciting his to press down to meet her feminine softness. He ached to fill her with his presence but this time he wanted to take things slowly, to savour each moment. He stroked his fingers against her folds, delighting in the scented moistness of her body that told him she was more than ready for him. But still he took his time, gently stretching her with a finger, feeling the tight clasp of her body around him.
‘Please …’ she begged breathlessly.
‘Not yet,’ he said against her mouth. ‘You know how much better it is when we both wait.’
She writhed restlessly beneath him, pushing her body up to meet his, her mouth ravenous as it fed off his. He kissed her back with the same intensity while his fingers continued their gentle exploration. He felt her swell beneath his touch, the tight pearl of her need so delicate and yet full of such feminine power.
Her hands began to search for him and when they found him he groaned out loud in pleasure. Her soft fingers stroked along his length at first before she made a sheath with her hand and rubbed him up and down, slowly at first and then with increasing vigour. He felt all his senses roar for release and had to fight not to explode right there and then.
She wriggled some more, grasping the cradle of his hips with her hands, positioning herself beneath him. ‘Now,’ she said. ‘I want you now.’
He quickly found another condom and applied it before he positioned himself above her with the bulk of his weight supported by his arms as he surged into her with a deep thrust that drew a gasping breath from her body and a guttural groan of pleasure from his. He felt her body wrap around him, the tight ripples of her flesh massaging him, torturing him, luring him into the deep swirling pool of blessed oblivion. He held himself back from it with an effort; no one challenged his ironclad control more than her. The physical act of sex always became something more with her. It was not just a joining of bodies; it reached him on a level he had not experienced with anyone else. It felt as if each time they made love she reached inside his battered soul with her soft fingers and soothed the torn and ragged edges until they didn’t ache any more.
He felt it now, the way she stroked the muscles of his back with her gentle hands, long, smooth, gentle movements that made his flesh turn to gravel with goose bumps. He felt it in the soft but urgent press of her mouth against his, the way her lips were both gentle and insistent, her tongue searching and yet submissive to the driving command of his.
He moved within her, the slide of his flesh in hers slick and sexy, slow and then fast, her body rising to meet each downward movement of his, her legs wrapping around his hips as she urged him towards the edge of rapture.
He caressed her with his fingers to heighten her pleasure. He knew exactly what she needed to take that final plunge into paradise. She was hot and wet and swollen beneath his touch. He kept caressing her, softly and slowly, varying the pressure until he felt her finally give in to the pleasure her body craved. She threw her head back against the pillows and let out a high-pitched cry as her body convulsed around his. He felt every milking movement until he had no choice but to pour himself into her, his body finally collapsing with spent pleasure against hers when he was done.
She continued to stroke his back in the aftermath. He felt those softly padded fingertips move up and down his spine as he eventually got his breathin
g back under control.
‘I’m assuming you’re still on the Pill,’ he said as he eased himself up on his elbows to look at her. ‘Condoms are not always reliable, especially putting them on as haphazardly as I did earlier.’
Her eyes flickered before moving away from his to concentrate on a point just below his chin. ‘I’m sure it’s not going to be a problem …’
‘Are you currently using contraception?’ he asked.
Her gaze met his briefly before skittering away again. ‘I’m on a low-dose pill to regulate my cycle,’ she said. ‘It’s been out of whack since …’ Her teeth sank into her lip before she continued. ‘Since we broke up …’
Emilio felt another dagger-sharp probe of guilt assail him. Gisele had done it tough since he had thrown her out of his life. So much had happened to her: the death of her father and the revelation of her twin sister, all the while juggling the demands of building up her business. No wonder she didn’t sleep properly at night. She had said it wasn’t his fault but how could it not be? Her life would have been completely different if he had stood by her.
He wanted to fix it all, to wipe out all the wrongs, but he sensed it wasn’t going to be as simple as that. There was a streak of stubbornness in her that hadn’t been there before. He understood how she would want to protect herself from being hurt again, but he wanted to break down her defences so she would come back to him, not because of her need for money, but because she valued him and the future they had planned together more than her pride.
He wanted her as the mother of his children. He couldn’t imagine anyone else. He had never considered anyone else. He looked forward to becoming a father. He longed for a family to love and protect. He had dreamed of her swollen with his child. The images had mocked him over the past two years, but now it was something that was just within his grasp if only he could get her to put aside her pride and admit to her own yearnings. She was born to be a mother. She loved anything to do with babies. She just had to trust him enough to let go of the past so they could move forward.
Emilio played with the ends of her silky hair, running it through his fingers, watching as her features relaxed in enjoyment. ‘You know how we talked about having a family one day?’ he said.
She flinched as if he had slapped her. Then she pulled her hair out of his fingers and, using the flat of her hand against his chest, pushed him away from her. He watched in bemusement as she got off the bed and reached for a wrap, tying it roughly around her middle. ‘Was it something I said?’ he asked.
‘I’ve changed my mind,’ she said, spearing him with a glance. ‘I don’t want to have children.’
Emilio swung his legs over the bed and reached for his bathrobe, coming over to where she was standing with her arms folded tightly across her body. ‘What are you talking about?’ he asked. ‘You adore children. You own and operate a baby wear shop, for God’s sake. You spend hours doing exquisite embroidery and smocking on baby clothes. What do you mean, you’ve changed your mind?’
She gave him a defensive look. ‘I mean exactly what I said. I’ve changed my mind,’ she said. ‘People do. I did.’
Emilio looked at her as if she had suddenly turned into someone else. Where was the young woman who spoke so excitedly of having a family? Two years ago she had talked to him about baby names, what sex their children might be, what they would be like, who they would look like. They had even talked about her coming off the Pill as soon as the honeymoon was over.
He was thirty-three years old now. He didn’t want to leave it much longer before he became a father. He had hoped Gisele would settle back into his life and within a month or two everything would be back to normal. He had planned that once things had settled down between them they would marry and start a family. It was unthinkable to him that she wouldn’t fall in with his plans. He hadn’t factored in her refusal to give him the family he wanted so desperately. That would be admitting defeat.
Failure.
That word was like a ghost that stalked him. That word haunted him like no other. It was an invisible but all too real enemy from his childhood, the same one that had followed him out of back alley dumpsters in search of food and shelter. It had taunted him; it had tortured him with thoughts of not being good enough, not strong enough, not determined enough to get out of that hellhole. He had fought it off; he had wrestled it to the ground, determining he would never allow it back in his life.
He would not fail.
He would find a way to change Gisele’s mind. Whatever it took, however long it took, surely she would change her mind. ‘Has this been a recent decision or one you’ve thought about for a while?’ he asked.
‘What does it matter when I made the decision?’ she said. ‘I’ve made it and I’m not unmaking it.’
‘Gisele, you know how much I want a family,’ he said. ‘You’ve known that from the start. It’s one of the reasons I asked you to marry me. I saw a future with us as parents, building a family unit together.’
‘Just because you’ve made bucket loads of money doesn’t mean you can automatically have anything you want,’ Gisele said. ‘Life isn’t like that.’
Emilio tunnelled a hand through his hair. ‘Look, I know you got terribly hurt by our break-up. It came out of the blue and shook you badly. Having a child is a big commitment in any relationship, let alone one that caused you so much pain in the past. But we can make it work. We’d make great parents. You’ll be a fabulous mother. I just know it. I’ve always known it.’
She gave him a glittering glare. ‘I’m not going to be a breeding machine for you or for any man,’ she said.
‘For God’s sake, Gisele,’ he said, frowning heavily. ‘When have I ever referred to you as such? I want you to be the mother of my children. That’s an honour that I have never asked of any other woman.’
‘You’ll have to ask someone else to do it because I’m not going to,’ she said, shooting him a look that would have felled a lesser man.
Emilio felt his jaw tighten with frustration. How could he make her see reason? Was a month going to be long enough to make her change her mind? Was she doing this just to get under his skin? If so, she couldn’t have picked a better weapon. He hadn’t told her anything about his past. He had told no one. The loneliness he had felt, not having a proper home and family, not belonging, being constantly hungry, cold and dirty. The shame of not even knowing who his father was. The shame of being an outcast because of the poverty that had been all he had ever known. ‘Is this about money?’ he asked, barely managing to control his anger. ‘You want more money? You want a business deal instead of a proper relationship? Is that what you want?’
Her expression turned bitter. ‘That’s what we already have, isn’t it?’
‘That’s not what we have and you damn well know it,’ he said, frowning at her furiously. ‘You made love with me, not because of the money we agreed on, but because you wanted me. It wouldn’t have mattered what amount of money I gave you. I don’t believe you would have sold yourself. You’re not that sort of woman.’
She turned away, her arms still wrapped tightly around her body. ‘I don’t want to talk about this any more,’ she said. ‘I’m only here for a month. That’s what we agreed on. I haven’t signed up for anything else.’
Emilio let out a harsh breath. ‘I want a future with you, Gisele, and I want a family. Don’t make me choose between one and the other.’
He saw her back and shoulders stiffen. ‘I can’t give you what you want,’ she said.
‘Can’t or won’t?’ he asked cynically. ‘You want to punish me for how I hurt you. I get that, I really do. I understand that was part of the reason you agreed to come to Italy with me. You saw it as a chance to be as difficult and demanding as you could so I would let you go at the end of the month with no regrets.’
She swung back round to face him, her expression taut with anger. ‘And why shouldn’t I punish you?’ she asked. ‘You broke my heart, damn you. I hate you for that.’<
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Emilio put his hands on her shoulders. ‘Cara, if you truly hated me you would never have shared that bed with me just now,’ he said.
‘It was just sex,’ she said with a worldly toss of her head. ‘It’s been a while for me. I wanted relief and you provided it.’
‘I don’t believe it was just sex.’
‘Women can do it too, you know,’ she said. ‘We can separate emotion from sex when we need to.’
‘Is that so?’ Emilio asked with a curl of his lip.
‘Yes,’ she said, chin up, eyes defiant.
His hands tightened on her shoulders as he pulled her closer. ‘Then if that’s the case, you won’t mind having sex again just for the heck of it, will you?’ And then he brought his mouth down heavily on hers.
Gisele had fully intended to block his kiss by keeping her lips firmly closed, but just one stroke of his tongue had her opening to him with flagrant need. She felt the sexy thrust of his tongue against hers, calling hers into a tango that sent shivers racing up and down her spine. Her body was pressed tightly against his aroused one, the hardened probe of his erection searing her belly with the erotic promise of his potent possession. She returned the heat and fire of his kiss with wanton disregard for her pride or principles. She wanted him with a hunger that was beyond her control. It raced through her veins with breakneck speed, lifting her skin in earthy delight as he tore open her wrap as if it were made of tissue paper. His hands cupped her breasts, his thumbs rubbing over her nipples until they were tight and aching all over again.
He eased the ache with the hot, moist cavern of his mouth, sucking on her until her back was arched in pleasure, her hands clutching his head for support as the fiery sensations tore through her.
Her hands got to work on his bathrobe, pulling it off him while her mouth went back in search of his. She grabbed at him greedily, delighting in the hard sheath of his flesh and the way it throbbed under the caress of her fingers.
Deserving of His Diamonds? Page 11