She reached the deep end and grabbed a hold of the edge of the pool, catching her breath. To her shock, Angelo was right behind her. He had kept pace with her all the way.
He didn’t let me face the deep end alone.
He grasped the coping next to her, breathing slightly harder than he had before. Droplets coated his thick dark lashes as he gazed at her.
God, she wanted to kiss him. She wanted to do everything with him.
“You did great.” A devious grin curved his lips. “Want to race back to the other side?”
Feeling suddenly playful and so wonderfully live, she splashed water at him and he splashed back with a laugh. Using his brief distraction, she dove into the water, determined to beat him to the shallow end. When she reached the steps, she was one stroke ahead of him but somehow fully aware that he had let her win. Because that was the kind of man he was. The kind of man who would never have to win a competition with her, would never have to push her away to be triumphant. He didn’t need to win anything. And that made her swim right into his arms.
Tonight was going to be the best night of her life.
Chapter Seventeen
Angelo’s heart tightened with a swell of joy as his little Irish siren swam right into his arms. She didn’t know it yet, but she was natural swimmer. She would only improve with a few more lessons, but by the look on her face, lessons were over for tonight.
They stood in the middle of the pool together as Angelo. He wound one arm around her waist as he pulled her flush against his body. His other hand came up to brush the backs of his knuckles across her cheek as he fell into the ocean of her gaze. She had such Irish eyes. With a depth of feeling and waves of sorrow that crested with a brilliant blue when she experienced moments of glorious joy.
Never in his life could he have imagined a night like this. That he would be holding a woman like Kara in his arms and feeling such a mixture of tender joy and desperate longing all at once. It was overpowering. Was this what his friends felt like? If so, he could understand. It was everything he’d wanted his whole life and now… now he had it.
“Kara…I lov?—”
She covered his lips with a fingertip, silencing him.
“Don’t say it, not yet,” she whispered, those blue eyes of hers full of inner storms. “Please, Angelo. Let’s just have tonight. Don’t make me leave knowing I am turning my back on love. If it goes unsaid I can pretend.”
His ribs constricted with the pain of holding in those words of love but he nodded in understanding. If he was in her position, he wasn’t sure he could have left either. But that didn’t change that he’d promised her she would never have to leave him.
“I won’t stop fighting to keep you… and I meant what I said. If you run,I run. You won’t be leaving me behind.” It was going to take time to convince her of that, but she wouldneverhave to be alone again.
“Hush, just kiss me,” Kara demanded, her voice breathless as her gaze dropped to his mouth. Angelo would never deny her a kiss.
Angelo cupped the back of her head as he leaned down. His mouth paused a mere inch from hers as he held her gaze. She was as spellbound as he was in that moment. He closed his eyes then his lips slanted over hers. He told her with his kiss what he couldn’t say with words.
I love you, Kara, tesoro mio. I love you… have loved you since the moment I saw you. You are mine… I am yours. Always.
She shivered in his arms as he deepened the kiss, urging her to open her mouth even further so he could taste her.
He moved slightly, dipping a little in the water so that he could lift her up into his arms. Her legs parted and she wrapped her thighs around his waist, raising her body higher in his hold so their faces were more aligned. She clung to his shoulders. Her ass filled his hands as he held onto her, his body turning taut with desire. He found the edges of her bikini with his fingers,slipping the golden rings out of place so the bikini bottoms drifted off her.
She gasped against his lips in shock, and he smiled wickedly between kisses.
“Take your top off,” he ordered between more hot, lingering kisses.
Kara obeyed him, her fingers undoing the top and it drifted away. Now she was gloriously naked, her full breasts pale and softly illuminated in the pool lights. Angelo shifted her even higher, raising her enough so that her breasts were level with his mouth so he could suckle them. Each little bud was tight and hungry for his mouth as he nipped at the tips. Kara’s hands clenched tight in his hair, the bite of pain sending more blood surging south to his aching, hard, cock.
Not yet ... he reminded himself. He wanted to savor this, save her for her as long as possible.
Her breathing changed, turning shallow as he continued to savor and linger on her breasts. Her skin was as smooth as satin beneath his mouth as he pressed kisses to the swell of each breast and then nibbled up to her collarbone making her giggle.
She yanked on his hair, drawing his face back up to hers as their mouths met again. Angelo wanted to see her mouth swollen with his kisses, to feel her breasts pinkening from the attentions of his mouth. He wanted her neck dotted with love bites and her bottom to bear the marks of his hands from holding onto her. He wanted to leave his claim on her so that she would never forget she was his. That she was well loved and safe with him.
Her hands dug into his shoulders as he broke the kiss and bite her bottom lip. Her pupils were large as she panted and gazed at him. Unable to deny what they both so clearly needed, he reached under the water to jerk his swim trunks down. When he grasped his shaft and she lifted up letting him slide into place.He entered her slowly, watching her eyes, the way her lashes fluttered as she stretched to take him at this angle.
Kara’s mouth parted on a little cry as he sank the last few inches in, their hips pressed tight against each other. He was so fucking deep, her body hot and tight around him. Her inner muscles suddenly clenched down around his cock and his eyes rolled back in his head and he groaned.
“Fuck… that feels amazing,” he rasped. “Do that again.”
