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Newly turned twenty-one, she’d negotiated a two-week break after winning another world championship and managed to wangle an invitation to spend the time off in New York with her best friend Maria and Draco. Revelling in nothing but new delights like shopping, attending her first nightclub and even sneaking in her first taste of champagne, she’d never wanted the vacation to end. She especially hadn’t wanted to return to Tuscany to a father who had turned increasingly demanding and unreasonable in the weeks leading up to her twenty-first birthday. In a desperate bid to find common ground, and simply because they hadn’t spoken in several months, Carla had called her mother and pleaded with her to intervene with her father.
Hoping the brief conversation would yield the results she wanted, she’d naïvely thrown herself into her last weekend of freedom by accompanying Draco and Maria to Miami. Little had she known that she’d set in motion a chain reaction of events that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Her father’s phone call branding her a disappointment and a traitor had come an hour into the party hosted by Javier Santino.
The strange, tingling feeling she’d experienced when she’d met the enigmatic, devastatingly handsome Spanish man had only been superseded by her father’s decimating condemnation. Years-long feelings of oppression had exploded, leading to a desperate and blind search for oblivion. With Maria nowhere to be found, she’d indulged in one too many tequila slammers, until Draco’s tough-love dressing-down had sent her fleeing to the bathroom. She’d emerged to find Draco and Javier engaged in a heated argument, and, unwilling to face any more censure from Draco, she’d readily accepted Javier’s invitation to go for a walk. Truth be told, she hadn’t needed another excuse to be with Javier, his breathtaking looks and clear interest much more than she’d ever been used to.
Draco’s displeasure with her decision had been clear, as had Javier’s irritation with him. Only after numerous reassurances that she’d be fine had Draco backed down.
She’d let Javier take her hand, his formidable possessiveness a new and exciting danger she’d yearned for. Besides being with a man who made her every breath quiver, being firmly entrenched in the present had meant there was no room to think about her father. Or her mother. Or what her attempt to find her own sense of worth and happiness would mean.
The ride in his open-top sports car to the ‘best coffee place in town’ had ended with an incandescent, mind-blowing kiss hours later on a secluded pier, and quickly progressed back to the now empty beachfront mansion.
‘Are you sure you want this?’ he’d asked her several times in between tugging off her shoes, disposing of her handbag, pulling the diamond-studded clip from her hair and showering compliments as he kissed every inch of exposed skin.
A bold hand cupped him, his girth momentarily stopping her breath. ‘I want to experience everything you have to give, Javier. Please don’t make me wait.’
His groan echoed through her entire being. ‘Say things like that to me and I’ll have to take you right here on the stairs.’
‘Tell me the right words to say. Teach me what pleases you.’
‘Madre di Dios. Either you’ve done this enough to know that it’s guaranteed to drive any man crazy,’ he growled, ‘or...’
‘Or what?’
Golden brown eyes bore into hers. ‘Or you’re a sexually potent creature who doesn’t even know her own power.’
‘I’m...neither. I’ve never done...this before.’
Shock. Surprise. Blazing possessiveness coupled with something so primitive, every cell leapt with sizzling excitement. Then a bold cupping of her nape. ‘Say that again, mi corazón. Explain it to me explicitly so there’s no mistaking what you’re saying to me.’
‘I’ve never slept with anyone, Javier. I’m a virgin.’ Shaky words, spoken with dread that her confession would end the most transcendent experience of her life.
‘I’m to be your first?’ Disbelief and a touch of reverence in his words.
‘Y...yes. If you want to be.’ She squeezed her eyes shut and reframed the words. ‘I want you to be the first. Please don’t refuse me.’
‘Refuse you? Do you have any idea what the thought of you saying this...or asking another guy to be your first, does to me?’
Breath punched from her lungs, refilling an instant later with cautious hope. ‘No...?’
‘Let me show you.’
Scorching kisses branded her, leaving her gasping for breath, her fingers clenched in his hair as he swung her into his arms and strode for the nearest flat surface, which happened to be the first-floor hallway wall. Her silver sequinned dress seemed to melt off her body, along with the white bra and thong set, which particularly aroused a torrent of guttural Spanish words. His exploration of her was thorough, his fierce and expert attention eliciting an uninhibited response from her.
‘Do you feel this, querida? Do you feel how much I want you?’
His erection, thick and heavy between her thighs, brought flames to her cheeks and a fire low in her belly. ‘Yes.’
The involuntary twitch of her hips earned her a heart-stopping smile.
‘You’re a natural sensualist, but I’m going to enjoy teaching you so much more.’
‘Yes.’
She was lost in delirium, the sound of the condom opening barely breaching her consciousness. Exploring him as thoroughly as he explored her became a need she couldn’t...didn’t want to deny. Swift, hesitant kisses grew longer, bolder, her teeth and tongue coming into play when harsh, throaty encouragement fell from his lips. A pinch of his flat nipple brought a deep shudder, making her freeze in alarm.
One strong hand captured both of hers an instant later. ‘As much as I love that, you’ve shoved me to breaking point very quickly, Carla mia.’ A kiss on her swollen lips, before he dropped to his knees before her. A firm grip on her thigh parted her legs. ‘I need to redress the balance a little.’
