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They tangled in a frenzy of limbs, his hands already pulling her robe loose before roving her supple form, reacquainting himself with everything she’d denied him when she’d walked away from him at the sauna. Her breath gushed in his ear as he trailed his lips from the corner of her mouth and down her jaw and throat. As he lapped at the wild pulse beating there.
As he charted a path lower to the pebbled peak of one plump breast, groaning deep as he finally,finallycaptured the erogenous morsel. Her back arched, and his senses lit on fire.
One more taste, justone moreand he’d...he’d...
‘Oh, God...’ Her gasped delight pushed him deeper into quicksand.
Diu mio.‘Gi—’ He stopped short of uttering the name he knew wasn’t hers.
Just as she stiffened. Then tried to scramble away from him. ‘Stop.’
Alessio froze, ice drip-drip-dripping into the flames of his ardour, dousing them enough for him to refocus. To regain a crumb of control.
And remember.‘Why,duci?’ he forced the drawl as he dragged himself away from her, watched the woman whose guilt was written all over her face. ‘Because you’re not Gigi Parker? Because you’ve been lying through your beautiful teeth since we set eyes on each other?’
A look of horror overcame her face, followed swiftly by alarm.
Alessio saw the wheels turning as her eyes darted away from his. Luckily for her, she gave up the ruse with a swift inhale.
‘How did you know?’ Her voice was a husky, shaky mess she couldn’t control, and the sound of it aroused Alessio even further. Evidently, there wasn’t a single thing about her that didn’t turn him on. At least, now he unequivocally understood why.
She was not Gigi Parker.
Remarkably, now it was confirmed, he was remembering even more differences. The occasional bouts of shyness, the way she blushed at the oddest times. His nostrils flared involuntarily, taking in more of her heady scent as he stared down at her.
‘I suspected. You just confirmed it.’ When her eyes flared again, he continued, ‘Among other things, the woman I met a few months ago existed solely on shots and cocktails. You drink wine and not very much of it. You also pretend to love the limelight when in fact I suspect you hate it.’
The deep relish in his tone had her snatching the loosened ties of her silk robe to hide herself.
He grieved the covering of her sublime body but hardened his tone. ‘A little late for that, don’t you think?’
‘You can’t expect me to still...’
‘What? Give into your desires the way you’ve been fighting all week?’
She paled a little, which only served to highlight the deep rouge of her well-kissed lips. ‘Why didn’t you say something?’
He shrugged, the pressure in his groin warring with the curious chafing in his chest. He wasn’t coming down with something, was he? No. He never got sick. This must be some new adverse reaction of subterfuge. One that didn’t just start and end in rage. Alessio wasn’t sure whether to be thankful or resentful of the sensation he couldn’t totally figure out.
Enough.
‘Maybe I was biding my time, seeing how far you would take it. And you were prepared to go all the way, weren’t you?’
Her face flamed and he smothered a groan. Even now, with bare-faced evidence of her duplicity exposed, he found her far too alluring. A tiniest sliver of him wished he’d kept his mouth shut.
A flash of something close to hurt crossed her face before she smoothed it out. ‘I’d do anything to keep my family safe.’
The prongs of accusation in her response flattened his arousal. ‘Do I hear judgement in your tone,duci?’
Incredulously, she waved him away as if he were a pesky fly.
Swallowing a growl, he countered it by approaching her, catching her shoulders within his grasp. ‘This is the part where most people show remorse. It would be great if I didn’t have to drag answers out of you.’
‘Would it do any good? Only I get the feeling I’d be wasting my time.’
He dragged her closer, his senses unwilling to stand the small distance between them. ‘Try it and see.’
She stared at him for an age before her gaze dropped. To his mouth. Alessio stifled another groan. But again, she wiped the hazy look within seconds and had he not been watching her, he would’ve thought he imagined it. Unlike her sister, she was better at caging her emotions.
