Her hands fell to the carpet. As the aftershocks rolled over her, I licked all around her sex, up and over her clit, loving the way she twitched and moaned until she was limp beneath me and breathing hard.
“Mi fai impazzire, amore mio,” I muttered as I kissed my way up her flat belly, over the tank at her breasts and across her neck until I found her mouth.
She opened the second my lips brushed hers, coming alert beneath me. Her tongue snaked out and flicked mine as her hands slid into my hair and she pulled me down on top of her.
“Luc... Ah God, Luc...” She flexed her hips and pressed all that sultry heat between her legs right against my bulging erection. “I want you. Mm, I need you inside me.”
Her plea was like a spark to gunpowder. Frantic, I kissed her deeper as I reached down and freed myself from my jeans then pushed her legs apart and moved in close.
“Say it again.” I grasped my cock at the base and rubbed the head up and down her glistening slit. Breathing hotly over her lips, I whispered, “Beg for me to fuck you, angioletto. Tell me how much you need me.”
She moaned, grasped my face tight in her hands, and lifted her head to kiss me again. “God, I need you.” She flexed her hips, trying to force me inside, taunting me with her wet heat. “Please. Fuck me, Luc. Fuck me hard. I need it. I need you.”
I couldn’t hold out any longer. I drove hard inside her, not stopping until I bottomed out and we both shuddered and groaned.
Her whole body shook. She dropped her head back against the carpet and flexed her hips as if to try to hold me inside as I drew back. “More. Please, more.”
I shoved in deep all over again. She moaned and lifted her legs, encouraging me to drive deeper. With every thrust, I could feel my orgasm rising, but I didn’t want to come yet. I wanted to watch her. I wanted to make her fly apart as many times as I could. I wanted to remind her that I was the only one who could make her as hot as the sun, then shatter into a million pieces.
I picked up my pace, fucking her hard and deep, desperate to watch that happen right here beneath me. “Do you feel that, angioletto? Do you feel how good that is?”
“Oh, yes...” She tossed her head on the carpet, her eyes closed, her silky curls fanning all around her. Her hands drifted to my ribs as I pushed her knees toward her chest, as I fucked her faster. “It’s so good.”
I knew it felt good. “I’m going to make you feel even better.” I drove into her, striking that spot again and again that I knew made her absolutely wild. “You know that, don’t you?”
“Oh God, yes.” She threw her head back, pressing her breasts against my chest. “More. There, Luc. Right, there...”
I drove home again and again, giving her exactly what she wanted. And when I felt her body tense all around me, I knew she couldn’t hold back. I thrust even faster. “I want you to come, vita mia. I want you to come all around my cock. Right now...”
Her pussy clamped down on my cock like a vise, and when the pleasure slammed into her, I felt it echo in my own body. My balls drew up tight, and electricity shot down my spine. I ground my teeth and willed myself not to come as I kept thrusting, wanting her to ride the wave. It wasn’t until I felt her slide under and relax all around me that I realized I’d been holding my breath.
I sucked in air and dropped my forehead against her chest. Very carefully, I slid out of her, even though all my body screamed for me to do was drive deep. Just a handful of times. That was all it would take to make me explode.
“Oh God...” Her fingers trailed through my hair. “That was amazing.”
I pressed my lips against her collarbone. “You liked that, huh?”
“Oh yes.” She played with my hair, a very satisfied smiling curling her lips. “What got into you, Mr. Salvatici?”
“You.” I pressed my hands to the carpet and climbed over her. “You got into me, Mrs. Salvatici.” I gazed down into her eyes. “You always do.” I lowered my lips to hers and kissed her softly. “You make me abso-fucking-lutely crazy when you submit to every dirty thing I want.”
She groaned against my mouth, then opened and drew me into a blistering kiss that made my cock pulse all over again. Her hand slid down my chest, across my belly, and to my hip as I took charge of the kiss and devoured her mouth. Then her fingers brushed my aching length, and she jerked back from my lips, her eyes growing wide.
She looked down between us, then back up to my face. “You didn’t come.”
I shook my head.
“But why not? I thought—”
I kissed her again, hard and fast, keeping my eyes locked on hers. “I’m not done with you yet.”
Heat rushed right back to her eyes as they held mine. I saw it, and it only made me harder.
“I want you, Natalie. All of you. I told you on our wedding night there was one last way I was going to make you mine. I want that. Tonight.”
Her eyes widened. Just a touch. Just enough to tell me she knew exactly what I wanted. She swallowed hard.
“You trust me to make you feel good, don’t you?”
She nodded, her hands sliding back to my chest, but I saw the nerves in her features.
“I’ll always make you feel good, angioletto.” I shifted one hand between her legs and stroked her swollen sex, teasing her clit with every pass as I watched her face relax. “I know exactly how to make you feel good. Every place you like to be touched.” I circled her clit with my thumb and slid my fingers lower, slipping two deep inside so I could tease her G-spot.
She groaned, gripped my arms tight, and arched up against me.
Pressing my lips against the corner of hers, I kissed her, working my way to her jaw and then her throat as I teased her right back to arousal.
“You liked it when I touched you here.” I eased one finger lower, dragging her wetness down between her cheeks. She tensed, but I nipped at her throat and applied more pressure to her clit, distracting her as I teased the crinkled nerves until she relaxed and moaned. “You liked it a lot when I pressed that plug into your ass on our wedding night.”
“Oh fuck, Luc...” She arched up against me, melting under my strokes, and when I pressed just the tip of one finger against her ass and she let me in, I could barely stand it anymore.
“I want you here,” angioletto.” I licked at her neck and couldn’t help from rocking my aching cock against her hip. “Tell me you want me here. Give yourself to me and I promise I’ll make you feel so good, you’ll come like you never have before.”
She groaned and shuddered, turned her head and found my mouth. Kissing me deeply, she rocked up against my hand, then whispered, “Yes. Yes. I want that. I want you.”
Her words tempted me to explode, all over her thighs and belly. But I held back because I wanted to give her exactly what I’d promised. I pulled my hand from between her legs and reached for her hip. “Roll over. On your hands and knees. It’ll be easier the first time.”
“Oh God...” She did as I said, then dropped to her elbows and pressed her forehead against the carpet. “Be gentle.”
I planned to be. But I knew in a second, she wasn’t going to want gentle. She was going to want fast and hard.
I found the lube by the side of my chair and spread a generous amount all over my cock. Then I eased between her spread legs and spread it all over her.
“Oh God,” she whispered again.
“Relax, angioletto, and trust me. You’re going to like this.”
I rubbed my slick thumb all around her crinkled opening, but I didn’t push in. Instead, I lined up my cock and drove into her quivering pussy.
She groaned, and her channel sucked my aching length deep with her tight muscles. I drew back, then shoved in hard again, repeating the motion as she relaxed under me, each time pressing a little deeper with my thumb until I was knuckle-deep and she was rocking back against both my cock and my finger.
“Touch yourself,” I whispered, fighting to keep from coming in her pussy. “Rub your clit while I fuck you, Nata
lie.”
She shifted her hand beneath her and circled her clit, groaning with every thrust. When I felt her pleasure rising, I pulled my cock from her pussy, added more lube, and lined myself up.
Her muscles contracted as the head of my cock passed over that sensitive spot. Placing a hand on her lower back, I said, “Relax. Keep rubbing your clit and push back against me. I promise it’s not going to hurt.”
“Oh God...”
Her fingers moved faster. I pushed slightly. Her body tensed again, but she did as I said and pushed back as I flexed forward. The tight ring of muscle gave, and the head sank into her.
She gasped and froze. I held still so she could get used to the sensation, but...fuck...she was tight, and all I wanted to do was drive deep inside her. I struggled to hold back. Somehow, I found my voice to say, “Okay?”
“Yes.” Her fingers moved against her clit again. “Oh God... More. Don’t stop.”
I pushed again, desperate to get inside her. My gaze drifted down, to where she was taking me in, slowly—achingly slowly. My whole body trembled as she surrendered to me. “Dio, that’s so hot. Let me in, angioletto. Let me have all of you, and I promise I’ll make you come so hard you won’t remember your name.”
“Oh fuck, Luc...” She pressed back against me, quivering as she surrendered to me, inch by inch, until her sweet ass was pressed up against my hips and we were both shaking.
“Santo Dio, Natalie. You’re so tight.” I ran my hands up her back and down to her hips. “How does that feel?”
“Big,” she gasped. “I can’t... I need... Oh fuck...”
My chest tightened at the panic I heard in her voice. “Cazzo, I’m hurting you. I’ll stop. I—”
“Don’t you dare stop. Oh fuck…” Her voice jumped two octaves, to a sound I’d never heard from her before. “Oh my God, fuck me. I can’t take it. Please start moving. I’m about to come already... Take me. Now. Right now…”
Her plea ignited a firestorm inside me. I drew back and thrust in deep, just as she was begging for me to do. Did it again. And was rewarded with a scream that pierced my eardrums as her whole body exploded in a massive orgasm around all me.
Her pleasure was too much for me. I managed only a couple of thrusts before my balls drew up tight and I detonated inside her.
She was shaking when I opened my eyes. We were both facedown on the carpet, her sweaty body beneath mine. Easing off her, I rolled to my side, then pulled her into my arms. Her breaths were fast and shallow as I brushed the damp hair back from her face and kissed her forehead, hoping that hadn’t been too much.
“Are you okay?” I whispered.
“Okay?” Her muffled voice met my ears, and her warm breath fanned my neck. “You destroyed me.”
I couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or not. And I was almost too afraid to ask. Then she pushed back from my chest and looked up at me with glazed eyes. “That was... Holy cow, that was intense. I think I came as soon as you were inside me.”
“Almost.” I studied her face for any sign I’d hurt her. “How do you feel?”
“Limp.” A slow smile spread across her face. “Yours.”
That one word melted me. I groaned and dragged her mouth back to mine. “You are mine,” I said between kisses. “All mine now. Only mine. And I’m yours. Always.”
She smiled against me. “Good. Because I don’t think I can walk anymore. You might have broken me.”
“No way. You’re too tough.”
Her grin widened. “Maybe I am. But so are you. Thank you for that.”
“For introducing you to really dirty sex?”
She laughed. “No.” Then she sobered as she looked up at me. “For being you again.” Her eyes grew misty. “I-I missed you, Luc. I missed all of you.”
“Ah, vita mia.” I swiped a tear from her cheek with my thumb, knowing exactly what she meant, moved by the power of her love for me. “I was always here. Part of me just got a little lost along the way. But I promise you, no matter what happens, I will always find my way back to you. No matter what.”
She lifted her mouth to mine and kissed me. And, overwhelmed by her strength, her love, by everything about her, I pushed to my feet, lifted her into my arms, and carried her into the shower.
I washed every part of her body, then mine. She leaned back against the tile wall and sighed as I rinsed her. My stomach dropped when I spotted the bruises on her breast and realized I’d been too rough with her, but she soothed me with a kiss and told me she was fine. That she liked what I’d done. That she liked everything I did to her. And when she tried to drop to her knees and take me into her mouth, I didn’t let her. I touched her between her legs until she trembled against me, then I lowered myself to the shower floor and pleasured her all over again with my tongue.
Afterward, we curled around each other naked in bed, and I held her to me as she fell back to sleep. And as my mind drifted to everything that had happened the last few days, I knew it wasn’t any doctor or medicine that had healed me. It was her. Her trust, her love, her unfailing belief that we were meant to be together.
She had saved me. Not from the evil of my House but from myself. She was the only person in this world who could.
Chapter Twelve
Natalie
I was a terrible human being. A liar who was about to betray the only person in the world who mattered to me. And there was nothing I could do to stop that from happening.
I forced back the nausea as I lay in bed and stared at the coffered ceiling. The scents of frying bacon filled the room from downstairs. Luc had left me a half hour ago with a kiss to my forehead, telling me to sleep a little longer while he made breakfast.
I didn’t want breakfast. I didn’t want anything but him. I wanted him to climb back in this bed with me, for us to throw the covers over our heads, and pretend like the outside world didn’t exist.
But, of course, we couldn’t do that. His House—the evil men who ruled his country and the world—were out there. They were watching. Lurking in the shadows. Just waiting for me to fulfill my end of our deal. And like the submissive, powerless woman they expected me to be, I was going to give them exactly what they wanted.
Bile pushed up my throat. I managed to throw the covers back and rush to the toilet before I lost it. Since I hadn’t eaten very much yesterday, there wasn’t much in my stomach, but my body revolted until I was left weak and shaking on the bathroom floor, trying to figure out what I was going to say to Luc, trying to figure out how I could keep from making him hate me.
Bracing my back against the wall, I drew my feet in close, perched my elbows on my knees, and dropped my head into my hands. I fisted my hair and pulled until pain shot down my scalp, but it didn’t help distract me from the sickness in my gut. It didn’t help me see things clearer or come up with a plan that would get us out of this mess.
I’d been terrified last night when Luc had seen the bruises on my breast. Terrified and desperate to distract him. He hadn’t known what he’d been looking at. He’d thought he’d hurt me. Then to make me feel better, he’d pleasured me all over again. And like the awful person I’d become, I’d let him. I’d let him while I’d been plotting how to return him to the people who’d raped him.
Oh God... I pulled harder on my hair. All this was my fault. I was a detestable, awful, horrible person. If I hadn’t gone to New York, if I hadn’t stuck my nose where it didn’t belong, if I hadn’t been looking for answers about Elena’s death, none of this would have happened.
A knock sounded at the bathroom door. My head came up, and horror tightened my throat until I realized I’d shoved the door closed behind me when I’d raced in here.
“Angioletto?” Luc called. “Breakfast is ready.”
I scrambled to my feet. “O-okay. I’ll be right down.”
“Don’t take too long.” He hesitated a second, then said, “Are you all right?”
“I-I’m fine,” I lied, hoping he couldn’t hear the fear in my
voice. “I just woke up.”
“Okay. It’s getting cold, so hurry.”
I waited until I heard his footsteps moving away, and when they were gone, I closed my eyes as I slumped over the sink.
Nausea brewed in my stomach all over again, but I forced it back as I braced my hands on the counter. I could do this. I breathed slowly, working to bring my heart rate back down. All I had to do was come up with a convincing lie of desperate proportions that would make him think I hadn’t betrayed him.
Desperate proportions...
My brain latched on to one possibility.
It was a long shot. I stared at my pale reflection in the mirror, a plan slowly coming into focus. He’d figure out I’d lied to him once we got there. But if I could get Marco and Felicity to help me come up with a cover for that once we were back in Italy, it just might work.
Knowing I was out of time and options, I splashed water on my face, twisted my hair into a knot, and brushed my teeth. Then I took one last look at my reflection and said, “Enough stalling.”
I tugged on a pair of pajama bottoms and found a sweatshirt in Luc’s drawer. It fell to my thighs, and I had to push the sleeves up because they were too long, but I didn’t care. I was chilled right to the bone, and I needed as much warmth as I could find. I just wished this cold was from Scotland’s cool weather and not the ice forming in the middle of my soul.
Luc was at the stove, in jeans and a loose gray Henley, stirring something in a pot when I entered the room. He looked up when he heard me, and when our eyes locked, I watched a warm, relaxed smile spread across his face, one I hadn’t seen in weeks.
“There you are,” he said as he flipped off the burner. “I was starting to think you went back to bed.”
If only...
Oh God... I was going to hell. I was about to ruin everything. Take away that happy look. Hurt the one person in the world I never wanted to hurt.
I forced a smile I didn’t feel and moved toward the coffeepot. “Someone wore me out last night.”