“Yes,” he murmured before kissing her again. “I do.”
He broke eye contact to stare at their clasped hands, resting on the throw blanket. “I told you I’m struggling with the commitment I made to my late wife.” He fixed his eyes on hers. “I’m falling in love with you, Simone.”
Her heart rejoiced. She captured his beautiful, chiseled face in her hands, and she kissed him.
Tell him.
“I’m falling in love with you too.” She breathed deeply, hoping to slow her rapidly beating heart.
They came together in a powerful embrace. When it ended, he said, “Love isn’t stagnant. It grows stronger or it fades away. If we are each other’s person, nothing and no one can stop it.”
She kissed him again, then murmured, “I could love you for a long, long time.”
His smile filled her with hope. But she didn’t want to get ahead of herself.
“We have a killer to catch and The Bomb Maker to hunt down,” she said. “I need to start workingnow.”
He rose with her in his arms and carried her up the stairs. “I’m going to love you first, then we work.”
LUCIANO
In her bedroom,she snaked her arms around him and pressed her lips to his. Desire spread through him. He was ready to lose himself in her passion, her beauty, and her soul-filling strength.
The bedside table lamp was on, bathing the room in diffused light, but his attention was solely focused on the woman in his arms.
“I need you, Luciano. Fury-filled you. Broken you. Loving you. I don’t need you to comfort me and protect me. I need you to remind me that we’re alive. That we’ve got what it takes to hunt down these monsters and eliminate them.”
He framed her face in his hands and he kissed her. A wild, deep, biting kiss powered by greed and passion. She slowed it, ending it with a soft peck. Off came her shirt. She stepped out ofher heels, removed her dress pants. Simone in a black bra and black thong was a perfect vision and the best escape.
“We don’t deserve to feel good,” he said, the guilt creeping back in.
She placed a finger over his lips. “One hour.”
He collected her hand in his, dotted her warm skin with kisses before he married his lips to hers. Her throaty moan ripped through him, kicking up the heat. She ended the kiss and helped him out of his jacket and shirt.
With her attention cemented on his pecs, she pressed her mouth to his chest and kissed him. As he toed off his shoe boots, she sauntered over to her queen-sized bed, tossed the throw pillows onto the floor, and threw back the linens.
“I know the demons that chase you,” she murmured, “and I’m going to help you escape them… for a little while.”
He removed his pants and boxer briefs, his jutting erection at-the-ready. She caressed his shoulders, scraped her fingernails down his chest and his abs until her hands came to rest around his shaft. While she fondled his balls, she massaged his shaft sending pleasure skyrocketing through him. When he stroked her bare ass, a groan shot out of him.
“I need you, Simone,” he bit out.
“I’m gonna take good care of you.”
She released her hold and collected a pillow. “Lie on the floor facing the bench,” she commanded.
Unexpected, but he’d go with it.
“I’ve never done this, but I’m going to give it a try,” she said as he lay down.
After tucking the pillow under his head, she collected a bottle of massage oil and eased onto the bench. She removed her bra and his attention dropped to her breasts, her pert nipples beckoning.
She trickled oil into her hands and rubbed it all over her tits until they glistened. His cock bobbed up and down in approval. A barely-there smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she caressed her thigh, then her calf, and finally her foot. Jolts of energy powered through him as she ran her long fingers over her provocative toes.
After covering her feet in oil, she laid them on his chest. Then, she dragged her toes down his torso until she’d sandwiched his cock between the soles of her feet.
“Yes,” he rasped.
