He backed me toward the bed and lowered me onto it. Then he stood over me for a moment, looking down with such open hunger that I felt it low in my belly.
“Do not look at me like that if you expect me to behave,” I whispered.
His mouth curved as the expression in his eyes darkened.
“I gave up on that before we left Seattle.”
That should not have thrilled me as much as it did.
He pulled up my skirt and removed my tights before settling between my thighs, spreading them with slow, certain hands, and I felt the first pulse of real anticipation, enough to make me catch my breath. He kissed his way up the inside of one thigh, then the other, taking his time in a way that felt almost cruel.
“Pietro,” I said, a warning and plea all at once.
“I know,” he murmured, not stopping. “You’re impatient.”
“Because you’re doing this on purpose.”
“Yes.”
The simple honesty of it made me shiver.
Then he pulled down my underwear and his mouth settled where I needed it. The whole plane could have dropped out of the sky and I honestly would not have cared. He was thorough, his tongue and mouth devouring me with intent. He touched melike a man who had already learned exactly what undid me and meant to make full use of the knowledge.
My hand flew into his hair as I rocked my hips.
He made a low sound against me, and the vibration of it nearly broke me on the spot.
“That’s it,” he said, the words roughened now. “Hold on to me.”
There was nothing tentative in the way he took me apart after that. He kept me right at the edge until I was shaking, helpless under his hands, until every breath I pulled in felt too thin. And when he finally let me fall, it hit hard enough to leave me boneless.
I barely had time to come back into myself before he was over me again.
His face was flushed, mouth wet, eyes almost black, and when I reached for him he came at once, kissing me hard enough to let me taste myself on him.
That nearly sent me right back over.
“Again?” he murmured against my mouth, and there was just enough arrogance in it to make me want to bite him.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. “Try me.”
The sound he made at that was low and filthy and deeply satisfying. He opened his pants just enough to free his hard erection.
He settled between my thighs, the weight of him enough to make me ache for more before he even gave it, and when he finally pushed into me it was slow enough to feel every inch. My breath left me in a broken gasp. He groaned, forehead dropping to mine, his whole body going tight with the effort of not taking over completely.
“Emily,” he said, my name wrecked in his mouth.
“I know,” I whispered, though I wasn’t sure what knew anymore.
Maybe all of it.
The need. The love. The fact that he was trying so hard to stay gentle for me even now.
That was what undid me most. Not the size of him, though I felt that too, not the pleasure building all over again, but the way he fought himself to give me exactly what I needed instead of what came naturally to him.
I slid my hand into his hair and kissed him once, deep and slow.
“You can move,” I whispered.
