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The rough arousal in his voice lit a fuse to hers, and the confession tumbled out before she could stop it. ‘She may be my identical twin so I should be used to it but... I don’t like being called by another woman’s name.’
‘I hardly called you Gigi anyway. Perhaps deep down I knew,’ he rasped. ‘Perhaps I should’ve analysed why I walked into that club certain I would be handing you over to the authorities immediately, but then...decided against it. Why watching you blush and try to hide your body from me made my senses tingle in warning that something wasn’t right but I didn’t really want to explore it anyway.’
It was the height of foolishness to attribute anything beyond simple intuitiveness to it, but something leapt within her, a revelry in his statement that made her sway closer, her senses alight with need. ‘Whatever it is, I’m glad you didn’t.’
His nostrils flared, her open confession seeming to affect him. He started to reach for her but then froze.
‘Before we go any further, I need to know. Is there someone in Dr Parker’s life besides your mother and sister who will give you grief for your absence?’ The question was rasped with a displeased bite that sent a shiver through her.
Her heart lurched, then thumped hard in her chest. ‘Are you asking me if I’m attached, Alessio?’
Perhaps it was the unwittingly husky way she uttered his name that made his breath expel in that rapid way. Or it was all in her mind.
‘Se. I am. Because I don’t have qualms about stating unequivocally that I don’t share,’ he warned. ‘That I’m extremely possessive in the things I crave enough to keep.’
Her heart lurched now for a different reason, yearnings she was desperately unwise to harbour, surging high with what it’d look like if Alessio Montaldi craved her. Fought tokeepher. But that would never happen because, even now, the clock ticked down to their eventual separation.
But until then, she wanted...no, needed this moment. And she intended to take it. And once again, it was so very freeing to speak her truth. ‘You don’t need to worry about attachments. Possess away,’ she invited boldly.
Within one breath and the next, he caught her to him, plastering her against the warmth of his body. ‘This unrestrained side of you... I like it. I much prefer it to the pretence from before.’
Another moan slipped out, her hands stealing around his neck so she could strain herself closer to his hot body. So she could alleviate the hunger ripping her to pieces.
‘I want more of it,’ he demanded thickly. ‘And you can start by telling me that you want me.’
‘You have eyes and a brilliant mind, Alessio. You don’t need confirmation.’
‘Maybe not, but a man likes to hear that the prickly woman he’s going slowly mad over is finally yielding to him.’
Her gasp echoed between their lips, the quirk of his eyebrow conveying that he enjoyed the effect of his words on her, that he was anticipating her giving him exactly what he wanted. And like a snake dancing to the tune of a hypnotist, she lost herself to everything about Alessio Montaldi as he swung her up in his arms, exited his study and hurried them upstairs.
In his bedroom, he stopped at the edge of the bed with one eyebrow raised in heated demand, awaiting the answer she’d yet to give.
‘I want you, Alessio. Very much. Maybetoomuch.’
With drool-worthy smoothness, he divested himself of his polo shirt and designer joggers. Then he swooped down, stopping at the last minute so the brush of his lips over hers was a mere whisper. ‘There’s no such thing as too much when it comes to this.’
Thisentailed a caress on her waist, a trail of fire up her ribcage before his hands closed possessively over her breasts, moulding with a deep groan as his lips completed the journey, sealing over hers in a forceful play of lust that had her senses diving into free fall.
The dizzying pairing of his thumbs tormenting her nipples and his tongue delving between her lips to dance with hers weighted her limbs with desire. The sheer power of it was so astonishing and bright and new that she barely felt it when he nudged her one final time to fall onto the bed.
He followed, his body barely parting from hers, the move so smooth and seamless, she felt a momentary twinge at how expert he was at this.
Then she set the troubling thought free. It had no room here.
This moment was all about seizing transient pleasure. More, it was about offering herself as a balm and barrier to the tormenting memories their conversation had unearthed.
Ifthe journey also delivered mind-numbing pleasure along the way, the kind she suspected her brief and unsatisfactory forays into her two previous relationships hadn’t managed to achieve...well, then who was she to look a sublime gift horse in the mouth?
The thought settled deep, producing a smile and a punch of pleasure as she moaned and arched into his touch.
He lifted his head, stared down at her, his eyes aglow with desire. ‘You smile like a siren of old and display this breathtaking body so delightfully, I’m almost daunted by the prospect of being a slave to your wiles.’
‘Almost? Meaning you think you’re immune to it?’ she asked, a substantial part of her frozen in anticipation of his answer.
‘Se.Because base emotion, no matter how divine and powerful, is transient. We can stoke it all we want, but there’s a beginning and an end. Then we have no choice but to put the past where it belongs and move on.’
A pang seared her. Telling herself she shouldn’t take it to heart, that he was referring to their discussion of his father and his own avenging role, his words, didn’t work. It drilled into a soft and vulnerable place within her, warning her to take him seriously...or else.
