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  To: Lee Venzi

  From: Nicole Olsen

  Re: WTF

  Venzi! WTF are you doing in Italy? How come I had to hear about it secondhand from Jenna? Don’t you think it’s time you had mindless sex with an Italian stallion? Call me for tips. Have fun. Nx

  That was so like Nicole. If only she knew. I decided I’d send her a photo of Sebastian to cheer up her gray, New York morning.

  I picked the one of him sitting back on the beach towel, his beautiful face and divine chest in full view. I wasn’t going to send her the one where his board shorts showed the ammo he was packing: Nicole would probably implode.

  To: Nicole Olsen

  From: Lee Venzi

  Re: Re: WTF

  Am thinking about your advice ;) Traveling through Italy with an old friend. Thought you’d like this eye candy to brighten your day. Lx

  I was still smiling about Nicole’s message and my reply, when Sebastian strolled in.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Oh, I just had an email from my friend Nicole in NYC: she wants me to have mindless sex with an Italian stallion.”

  Sebastian didn’t look amused. “Why is she saying stuff like that to you?”

  “Oh, don’t be such a prude, Sebastian! It’s just a joke. She’s always nagging me to find a man.”

  “What about me?” he said, sounding ridiculously hurt.

  I rolled my eyes. “I haven’t told anyone about you. I like having you to myself. But I will, if you want me to.”

  “I want to know your friends, Caro. Although I’ll fucking tell ‘Nicole’ that she can keep her comments about ‘Italian stallions’ to herself.”

  Uh-oh, the Chief was riled.

  Now that was going to be an interesting meeting: Sebastian and Nicole were both pretty fiery. I wasn’t going to place bets on who’d win that encounter.

  Suddenly my phone rang. I stared at it in amazement, as if it had suddenly grown wings. Why on earth was Nicole calling me?

  “Nicole, hi! Wow, it’s great to hear from you. How are you?

  “Don’t give me that, Venzi. Where did you get that smokin’ hot picture? Have you turned into one of those women who ogles younger men?”

  “Like you, you mean?”

  Nicole snorted. “Exactly! Since when did you start taking photos of hot guys? And who’s this ‘old friend’ that you’re suddenly traveling around Italy with?”

  “Nicole, I sent you a picture of him. His name is Sebastian.”

  Sebastian glanced over at me, a smile on his face.

  “Come on, Lee. Why won’t you tell me who you’re traveling around with?”

  “No, seriously, Nicole. That’s a photo of my friend.”

  “The Stud Muffin is your ‘old friend’?” she yelled down the phone. “You’re bullshitting me, Lee!”

  I laughed. “I promise you, Nicole.”

  “Have you been holding out on me? Where did you meet him?”

  Her words poured out in a torrent.

  “I’ll tell you some other time,” I said, shaking my head, as Sebastian gazed at me quizzically.

  “No! Tell me now!” she shrieked.

  “I can’t. Later.”

  “Why not now?”

  “Because he’s standing right here, Nicole.”

  Sebastian raised his eyebrows.

  “Bullshit! I don’t believe you.”

  “It’s true.”

  “Put him on the phone then.”

  “What?”

  “I think you’ve been without sex too long, Venzi. You’re hallucinating.”

  I handed the phone to Sebastian. “She wants to talk to you.”

  He took the phone, looking amused. “Hi, Nicole. This is Sebastian.”

  I saw him listening intently, a slight frown on his face. I wondered what on earth Nicole could be saying to him.

  “You don’t want me to use her?” he said, glancing towards me. “Well, Nicole, I was planning on taking her to bed and using her in ways that aren’t even mentioned in the Kama Sutra, but now you’ve told me that, I think I should go take a cold shower instead.”

  I snatched the phone back, glaring at him. Sebastian just smirked at me.

  “Sorry about that, Nic!”

  There was a long silence at the other end.

  “Nic?”

  “Fuck me!” she said, breathlessly. “Don’t be sorry, Lee. That is the hottest thing I’ve heard in years. He sounds like a sex machine! Look, I think you should write a sex manual with this guy, but you’ll have to take photographs… lots of photographs.”

  I laughed. “I’ll get back to you on that, Nic.”

  At which point, restive and impatient, Sebastian started untying the straps of my bikini. I tried to shoo his hands away, but it was awkward, what with trying to hold onto my phone and continue the conversation. I gasped as he tossed my bikini top onto the floor and massaged my nipples with his fingers.

  “Oh my God, Lee! Are you guys doing it right now? Can you put the speakerphone on?”

  “I’ll have to call you back, Nic,” I said, breathlessly.

  I cut the call while she was still yelling, and launched myself at Sebastian.

  My phone clattered to the floor, and one part of my brain was already assessing what damage that might have caused; but the greater part of my brain, by far, already had Sebastian stripped and ready for action. My fumbling fingers had to play catch up but, even so, my tackle had knocked him backwards onto the bed.

  I straddled him and pinned his wrists back with my hands, my mouth crushing his, my breasts forcing themselves into his chest.

  He could easily have overpowered me, being about fifty times stronger than I was, but he seemed content to let me have my wicked way with him. I had some serious catching up to do, and he had rain checks that needed cashing.

  Our tongues were gliding together, our teeth clashing, and I could feel Sebastian getting aroused beneath me.

  He sat up suddenly, cradling his arms around my waist, as mine flew up in surprise. He kissed my neck, running his hot tongue over my throat.

  “You taste like the sea,” he murmured, “and your skin smells like sunshine.”

  He ran his fingers up my back, and let them tangle in my hair, pulling my face down to his.

  “I want to be inside you, Caro.”

  I smiled against his lips, and then rolled off him, scooting down to the bottom of the bed.

  “Raise that glorious ass,” I said, tugging on the hem of his board shorts.

  He grinned at me and lifted his hips off the bed. I pulled off the shorts, threw them behind me, then sat back to enjoy the view.

  His legs were long and tan and muscled like a runner; his thighs and hips pale; and his rich, pubic hair was light brown. My eyes wandered up his body, taking in his erection that hovered above his tight, toned stomach, where his skin turned to gold again. He propped himself up on his elbows and smiled at me, his head on one side, as if he was asking what I found so fascinating.

  “You’re so beautiful, Sebastian. I love to look at you. I love to see you like this, when it’s just the two of us. Why does it feel so right?”

  He shook his head slowly.

  “Maybe it was just meant to be. I mean, shit, could we have had any more challenges thrown at us?”

  I could think of one big challenge that we still had to face, but I refused to let that spoil the here and now.

  “We’ve certainly had our share,” I sighed.

  He sat up and held my cheek with his hand.

  “Don’t be sad, Caro. We’ve got our second chance… or maybe we’re on our third… I kinda lost count already.”

  “That is very true.” I laughed lightly. “Now you seem to have a very desirable hard-on there, so what say we have some fun with that?”

  “I’m all yours.”

  I grinned and jumped off the bed. “Are the condoms in your toiletry bag?”

  “Yeah, baby.”

  I rooted through the o
vernight bag until I found what I was looking for.

  “Sebastian, there’s only one condom left in here,” I said, shaking the now empty box at him.

  “Shit! You’re kidding! Fuck, how did I… ah, crap. Give me that fucker – I’m going to make the most of it.”

  “Oh no, Hunter,” I smiled, waving the foil packet at him, “this one is all mine.”

  His eyes heated instantly and his cock twitched.

  “Feeling a little needy, baby?” I said, continuing to tease him, as I walked around the bed.

  “Fuck, Caro!”

  He lunged for me but I danced away.

  “Dear me, someone is impatient.”

  “Yeah, very!” he said, sounding both amused and slightly annoyed.

  I stood at the end of the bed.

  “Would you like me to take these off?” I said, tugging gently on the delicate laces of my bikini bottoms.

  He nodded silently.

  “Or maybe you’d like to take them off me?”

  He swallowed and nodded again.

  I climbed up from the foot of the bed and crawled all the way up him, the foil packet held in my teeth. I hovered above him and he reached down to untie first one, then the second ribbon, and the small strip of material fluttered to the floor.

  I took the condom packet out of my mouth while his right hand drifted up my thighs and his index finger slid inside, slowly massaging me. My eyes were locked on his: watching him, watching me, watching him.

  Then he pushed another finger inside me, moving faster, and my breath began to come in short gasps.

  “Come on, baby,” he said, his voice tight.

  My body responded and I tried to push his hand away, not being able to take any more.

  “No, baby,” he said softly, “you can take more.”

  “I can’t! I can’t!” I begged him, but he wouldn’t stop, and the most intense, demanding, draining orgasm arched my spine and made my body shudder, the tremors coursing through me like the aftershocks of an earthquake.

  Because my legs were apart, still kneeling across him, it seemed to go on and on and on.

  I collapsed onto his chest, and I felt his fingers stroke my back, tracing my spine through my skin.

  Gently, he rolled me onto my back, and kissed me across my neck and chest, sucking and tugging on my nipples with his teeth. My over-sensitized body responded quickly. It was as if the lightest touch sent a charge of electricity racing through me.

  He pushed up my knees and before my brain had caught up, I felt him plunge inside me.

  “Sebastian, no! Don’t!”

  “Come on, baby, you feel so good.”

  He rolled his hips, and sensation flooded through me.

  “No!”

  I pushed hard on his chest and, reluctantly, he pulled out, his sea-green eyes accusing.

  “What are you doing, Sebastian?” I gasped, staring at him in shock.

  “I just want to make love to you, Caro.”

  “I know… but, you’re not wearing a condom.”

  I opened my hand, begging him to look at the foil packet that I was holding, still unopened.

  “We don’t need that, Caro.”

  Did I hear him right?

  “What? Are you crazy, Sebastian? I could get pregnant!”

  He stared down at me.

  “Would that be so bad?”

  “You want me to get pregnant?” I stammered.

  He sighed and closed his eyes, rolling onto his side.

  “I want to have a life with you, Caro, for the rest of my life. Look – kids – whatever. If it happens, then great; if it doesn’t, that’s fine, too. Just as long as we’re together. This time, forever.”

  I flung my arm over my eyes, shutting out the vision of his beautiful face, trying to regain some order among the craziness.

  He pulled my arm away from my eyes, forcing me to look at him.

  “Caro?”

  “Sebastian…” I stuttered, not sure where to start. “We were apart for ten years. I saw you again a week ago, we had sex, a couple of dates, more sex, we fought, we broke up… and now you’re saying you want to have children with me?”

  He smiled and raised his eyebrows. “Yeah.”

  “Do you know how crazy that sounds?”

  “That’s our story, Caro. Crazy in love.”

  I didn’t know whether to kiss him, hit him, or have him committed.

  “I… I don’t know what to say.”

  He shrugged. “You don’t have to say anything, Caro. You don’t have to do anything. Like I said: if it happens or not… whatever… we’ll deal.”

  “And what… you’ll give up being a Marine to look after the kids?”

  His mouth dropped open, then he grinned at me. “Kids? As in, plural? Sure, why not?”

  “You… you’d do that?”

  By now I was gaping at him.

  “Caro, I’ll do whatever it takes to be with you. I’ve been in the Marines for nearly ten years now and I’ve had tours in Iraq and Afghan, been stationed in Germany, Paris and Geneva. I didn’t care because I didn’t have anywhere to go home to. But with you, we’ll have a home, and I won’t want to be away from you.”

  I struggled to sit up, still feeling tremulous from my very recent orgasm. Or it might have been the complete head-spin Sebastian had just thrown at me.

  “I… I…”

  He smirked at me. “I thought you were supposed to be the one who was good with words, Caro.”

  “Usually,” I choked out.

  He stroked my stomach suggestively, letting his hand drift lower.

  “So, what do you think? Shall we just keep going?”

  “I… no… look, just give me some time to think about this. We’ve got this lonely, little condom, so let’s use it and talk again later. Okay?”

  He sighed and looked resigned, but I could tell he was disappointed. Then he looked down at his dick, which had lost some of its delicious hardness.

  “Feeling a little flat here, baby. You wanna pump me up?”

  His mood swings left me reeling, but I couldn’t help smiling at the hopeful expression on his face.

  “Yes, I think I can do something about that. Lie back.”

  He grinned up at me. “What are you going to do?”

  “Absolutely nothing.”

  “What?” he said, frowning.

  “I’m not going to touch you, Sebastian, and you’re not going to touch me. Yet. I’m going to show you how good I am with words.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about baby, but it’s making me feel horny.”

  I smiled. “That’s the point, Sebastian. I’m going to make you so hard, I’m going to get you so wound up, I’m going to turn you on so much, that all I’ll have to do is touch you with one finger to make you come.”

  “Fuck!” he breathed, his eyes wide.

  I lay down next to him so we were close, but not touching.

  “Close your eyes,” I breathed.

  He gave me one, long, hot, lingering look, and then did as I asked.

  “I want you to see it all in your mind, Sebastian. Imagine everything I’m saying: see it, hear it, taste it, feel it, and breathe it in. Understand?”

  He swallowed and nodded.

  “You’re lying on the bed and it’s very quiet. It’s night time, but there’s a full moon, and the shadows on the floor are almost blue. You hear the door open, but your eyes stay closed. You hear my footsteps across the wooden floor; you know it’s me because you recognize the soft sound of my footfalls. I’m standing right next to you, looking down at your naked body. You can hear the rustle of my clothes as I slowly start to take them off. You can hear the zipper of my dress. I must be wearing silk, because the material whispers as it falls from my body. Then you feel the mattress moving under you and my weight presses down on your body. My naked breasts are brushing against your skin; it’s cool and my nipples are hard when you take them in your mouth.”

  He groaned
softly and I saw that his cock was almost completely erect again.