Читать книгу Modern Romance Collection: March 2018 Books 1 - 4 - Кэтти Уильямс, Cathy Williams - Страница 16

CHAPTER SIX

THE CONTROL IN Rocco’s voice threatened to destroy the sensual mood which had ensnared her and Nicole stared at him resentfully. Did he think she was the same grateful virgin he’d first seduced, who would do whatever it was he demanded?

She held his gaze, her chin tilting as he studied her with cool calculation. ‘What did you say?’

He gave a soft laugh. ‘You heard.’

‘I want you to repeat it, Rocco.’

There was a pause. ‘I told you to get undressed.’

‘To perform a striptease for you, you mean?’

He shrugged. ‘If you like.’

‘Well, I don’t like,’ she said. ‘Not any more. I’ve changed, Rocco—haven’t you?’

His eyes gleamed but he didn’t answer her question directly. ‘So why don’t you tell me what you do like?’

And despite everything she knew and everything she had learnt, Nicole found herself wishing for the impossible. Wanting him to say something romantic. To tell her he’d missed her and his life hadn’t been the same since she’d gone. Wouldn’t a few tender words enhance what was about to happen, even if he didn’t mean them? So that for a while she could pretend he cared, as she’d pretended so often in the past. But that would be a pointless thing to do because grown-ups didn’t demand hypocritical words. They accepted things exactly the way they were. And this was sex—farewell sex or break-up sex, whatever you wanted to call it. One last taste of Rocco Barberi’s magnificent body—and hadn’t she better make the most of it?

Raking her fingers back through her still-damp curls, she was aware that her hardened nipples were thrusting against her T-shirt and his eyes were following the movement, like a man hypnotised. Briefly she revelled in a feeling of power as she met the smoky hunger of his gaze. ‘I want you to take off my clothes for me,’ she said huskily. ‘And to do it as slowly as possible. I want you to test your own patience—so we’re both so turned on that we can’t bear it a second longer. That’s what I’d like, Rocco.’

His eyes narrowed, suspicion shadowing them. ‘Since when did you start having fantasies like that?’ he demanded, in a low voice. ‘Has there been another man?’

‘You think I don’t have any kind of imagination? Or that I’m incapable of articulating my own desires unless a man shows me how? Oh, wow.’ She shook her head. ‘Thanks for reminding me how unspeakably arrogant you can be, Rocco—and for making me realise that this would be a very bad idea.’

She went to walk past him, her hair swaying in the breeze from the terrace, but he caught hold of her and pulled her up hard against him. She could feel her breasts flattening against his bare chest through her T-shirt and hear the wild patter of her heart.

‘I don’t think you want to go anywhere, do you, Nicole? Not really. You just want to play provocative and you want me to do the same.’ His finger traced down the side of her face, before coming to rest against the throbbing pulse at her neck. ‘Have I got that right?’

She attempted a shrug which didn’t quite come off because showing bravado was one thing—but not quite so easy when his face was just inches away and all his hard, honed flesh was this close. ‘I’m not slipping into old patterns,’ she said huskily. ‘I’m not stripping for you just because you’ve snapped your fingers. I don’t want to play those games any more. If you want me naked, then you’ll have to undress me yourself.’

A smile touched his lips. ‘Is that so?’

She nodded, unable to speak because now his hand was drifting from her face down her body and she wished her T-shirt weren’t so baggy. What had possessed her to wear such an unflattering garment? As if he’d read her thoughts, he rucked up the material to slip his hand underneath so that his fingertips were on her bare skin and her nerve-endings were instantly fired as she felt that first light touch.

‘So how slow would you like me to go?’ he questioned almost conversationally as he cupped one of her breasts luxuriously in the palm of his hand and began to massage the underside of it with the edge of his thumb. ‘How long shall I take before I remove this delightful piece of clothing you’re wearing?’

Nicole’s knees sagged. ‘Oh,’ she said breathlessly.

‘You’re not making yourself very clear, Nicole. Oh, what?’

‘I don’t...’ She closed her eyes. ‘I don’t remember.’

‘Sudden memory lapse, tesoro?’ he murmured, his Sicilian accent a velvety caress. ‘I wonder what might be causing it?’

Nicole couldn’t answer because now his thumb was flicking across her thrusting nipple, sending little ripples of pleasure criss-crossing over her skin. He stroked tiny circles over the engorged flesh before turning his attention to the other breast and Nicole could feel her frustration begin to mount. Squirming beneath his touch, she wondered why on earth she’d told him she wanted this done slowly when already her desire was so intense that she could feel a honeyed heat between her thighs. She wanted—no, needed—to get horizontal but he showed no sign of moving and she realised that, in order to stop her knees from buckling, she was going to have to cling onto his shoulders to anchor herself. He gave a soft laugh as her fingers dug into his flesh and he buried his mouth in her neck, his lips becoming entangled with the wild spill of curls as he drifted the tip of his tongue over her skin.

‘R-Rocco,’ she whispered.

‘What?’

‘Take...take off my T-shirt.’

‘I thought you told me to take my time. To stretch my own patience were the words I think you used. And believe me, tesoro—I haven’t even started yet. I’ll show you just how patient I can be.’

It was both a promise and a threat—as well as a boastful demonstration of just how controlled he could be—and Nicole closed her eyes as he ran the flat of his hand over her belly, taking care to avoid the place where she most wanted to be touched. She bit her lip. Had she really been so sure of herself to think she could wait when she so desperately wanted to feel him inside her? She squirmed as deliberately he inched his way along the lacy edge of her panties, praying for him to slip his finger inside so that he could feel how much she wanted him, but he didn’t. She had wanted to control what was happening by setting the pace, but she had done the exact opposite and given him all the power. She wondered what the hell she’d been playing at.

So what was she waiting for?

She was his equal—remember?

Reaching between them, she tugged down the zipper of his jeans, feeling his hard length spring against her palm as she freed him, and his words were a muffled moan as she began to stroke him.

‘I thought you said—’

‘I changed my mind,’ she whispered. ‘It’s a woman’s prerogative, Rocco—hadn’t you heard?’

With her thumb and her forefinger she began to tease his taut erection but he halted her fingers with the firm clamp of his own and she heard him give an unsteady laugh.

She stared at him indignantly. ‘What’s so funny?’

‘You are. I had no idea you could be so...mercurial. I like it.’

A prick of sadness threatened to puncture Nicole’s blissful state. Of course he hadn’t known what she was capable of and had never bothered finding out because he hadn’t really cared. To Rocco she would always be the office cleaner in the too small uniform with the mop and bucket in her hand—the last woman in the world he should have married.

But she wasn’t going to think about that.

Not now.

She was going to think how good this felt and to enjoy every single second of it.

And then she was going to kiss him goodbye.

‘I’m pleased you like it but you’d better not get used to it,’ she warned softly.

‘To what?’

‘The sex.’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘Oh?’

‘Since we both know this is only going to happen once.’

‘Is that so?’ He seemed to recover himself then and Nicole saw the light of challenge in his eyes as he peeled off her T-shirt with a fluid movement and carried her over to the bed. ‘In that case maybe we should stop wasting so much time talking and get down to business.’

‘You’re obsessed with business,’ she said faintly as he put her down on the bed, and he laughed. Nicole watched him fishing around in the pocket of his jeans before kicking them off and joining her. And suddenly he was towering over her, one knee pressed on either side of her hips as she lay there naked, except for her brief pair of lacy black panties.

‘So how do you want it?’ he murmured. ‘Fast? Slow? Lights on? Off?’

She wanted to tell him not to be so flippant until she realised that too would be wasting time. He was right. What was the point of talking when she wanted him so badly that her heart was threatening to burst right out of her chest? Why bother trying to score points when none of this meant anything? She looked up into the unfathomable gleam of his eyes and spoke from the heart. ‘Make love to me,’ she said.

She saw his features tense as he stroked her hair away from her face and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her. But he didn’t. Instead, he began to explore her—his fingers drifting erotic pathways over her body as he reacquainted himself with skin which wouldn’t seem to stop shivering. He hooked his fingers into the sides of her panties and she thought he might rip them off as he’d done so many times before but he didn’t—though she noticed his hand was unsteady as he slid them down over her knees. Greedily, her lips pressed against the silken flesh of his shoulder as she parted her thighs for him.

‘Mmm... So responsive,’ he breathed as she arched up towards him. ‘That much never changes, does it, Nicole?’

But Nicole didn’t want comparisons. She didn’t want a then-and-now scenario, which might alert all those little indicators of pain which she’d blocked but which were just waiting to spring out if she wasn’t careful. And this was supposed to be about pleasure, not pain. So take what you want and give him something in return. Wipe the slate clean so you can walk away from each other and leave the past where it belongs.

Exploring each of his nipples with a feather-light touch, she enjoyed the muffled groan he gave in response, watching his eyes flutter to a close as she drifted her fingertips down over the taut dip of his belly. She smoothed the symmetrical ridges of his ribs and thought, not for the first time, how magnificent his naked body was, the olive skin glowing invitingly against the whiteness of the sheet. This was a feast for all the senses, she thought. She could taste him and feel him and she could smell him, too—that beguiling scent of bergamot underpinned with a raw masculinity, which she breathed in with each unsteady intake of air.

Did he hear how erratic her breathing had become? Was that what prompted him to push her back against the pillows so he could bend his head to her breasts, his tongue cleaving a moist path over each tender mound until they were so acutely aroused that she began to writhe impatiently? His teeth grazed over her hardened nipples as his hand moved between her thighs—and Nicole gave a yelp of pleasure as he moved his finger against her moist slickness. And, oh, she had missed this—she was only just realising how much. She could feel the inexorable build of heat and remembered the way she’d almost come apart in his arms when they’d been outside on the terrace earlier that day and, dazedly, she opened her eyes. ‘No,’ she whispered.

‘No?’ he echoed incredulously, his accent growing deeper as it always did during moments of intense pleasure. ‘You choose this moment to change your mind?’

‘I meant not...not like that,’ she amended breathlessly.

He understood immediately and in the moonlight she saw hunger darkening his rugged features as he reached for the condom he had taken from his jeans. She watched while he ripped the foil open and stroked the rubber over his aroused length and the intimacy of the simple action was almost her undoing. Because hadn’t he taught her how to do that and to turn it into a kind of erotic foreplay, a task she had happily undertaken? And hadn’t he turned on her that time and asked her if she’d punctured the condom with her fingernails—demanded to know if she’d deliberately tried to get herself pregnant? He’d retracted the accusation immediately but the memory had lingered for a long time afterwards.

Yet all those dark thoughts vanished the moment he entered her and were replaced by a feeling of such completion that it took Nicole’s breath away. How easily pleasure could conquer pain, she thought. Could make you so helpless that you barely knew who you were any more. Suddenly you forgot you were a wife who was seeking a divorce and became that same blown-away creature who had given her innocence to him so willingly.

‘Rocco,’ she said, brokenly.

He didn’t answer. He was too busy doing all the things he knew she loved best. Hooking her quivering thighs around his hips to angle himself just right. Cupping her buttocks and bringing them towards him—the slick action making his penetration all the deeper. And despite knowing that for him this was nothing more than physical, Nicole was lost. Lost in sensation as one thrust followed another and the sweet and familiar layers began to build. She wanted it to last all night but that was never going to happen—not when she was in such a heightened state of arousal. She’d almost dissolved from the moment he entered her and now she couldn’t hold it back any longer.

‘I’m coming,’ she whispered.

‘I know you are, tesoro,’ he whispered back, his voice deep and husky.

The murmured intimacy of that comment broke through the last of her resistance and Nicole felt herself dissolve around him. Through shuddered little gasps she could feel her legs splaying and her back arching. He gave a low growl of appreciation as she began to convulse around him and rogue tears pricked at her eyes as Rocco’s own movements became more urgent. She knew from the tension in his body just how close he was to the edge and she gripped his shoulders as he drove into her like a man possessed. And didn’t she revel in the fact that she could still do this to him? Could still make him moan like that as his body jerked with his own powerful orgasm?

There was silence in the room afterwards as his dark head lay pressed against her neck. Staring over his shoulder at the moon-dappled ceiling, Nicole wanted to say something reassuring. To make some cool and clever remark which would make him realise this meant nothing to her. Something to reassure him that she wasn’t reading too much into what had been just sex. But instead she found herself whispering the only thing which was on her mind. ‘Rocco.’

Rocco grew still as he heard her murmur his name like that, trying to regain the control he’d lost from the moment he’d entered her voluptuous body. The way she touched him unsettled him and the way she said his name unsettled him even more because she sounded confused. And wasn’t the truth that he was feeling pretty confused himself? Tangling his fingers in the curls which flowed down her back, he told himself this was all he had wanted. Having her underneath him and hearing her gasp out his name one last time had been the whole point of the exercise. He’d wanted her and now he’d had her—which meant he could just walk away. Could give her the divorce she so desperately wanted and set them both free.

But suddenly it didn’t seem that simple and walking away no longer looked such an attractive prospect. Instead he found his hand straying to her breast and his fingers teasing a pouting nipple into life all over again as he waited for her little murmur of assent. For the silent wriggle of her curvy hips to indicate that she’d acknowledged his hardness growing inside her and wanted it to happen all over again. Only this time she wasn’t so accommodating and instead of wrapping her luscious thighs around his back, she was pulling out from under him and wriggling away, until she was lying on the far side of the mattress—so far away that she might have been on a different planet. He turned his head to see the set of her profile as she stared up at the ceiling, where the moon shadows were dancing in an undulating display of light and shade.

‘Is that it?’ he questioned.

The slight nod of her head was the only indication she’d heard him and when she spoke it was in a voice he didn’t recognise. ‘What were you anticipating, Rocco? Another bout of wild sex? Round number two?’

‘Why not?’ His gaze settled on her hardened nipples, dark against the silver wash of her breasts, and he thought how her body was contradicting the conviction of her feisty words. ‘The first time is simply the appetiser—the second time is the feast. Surely you remember that, Nicole?’

He watched her throat constrict as she swallowed and he could hear the stiffness in her voice as she answered.

‘The circumstances are rather different this time around.’

‘In what way?’ he drawled.

She shrugged. ‘We obviously both enjoyed that—in a physical sense, certainly. Perhaps it’s better not to tempt fate by doing it again.’

‘And if I don’t agree?’

‘I’m afraid you don’t have any choice but to agree, Rocco.’

There was a pause and when he spoke his voice was very calm. It was the same kind of thoughtful response he might have used if someone had raised an awkward question in a board meeting. ‘I thought you wanted me to be accommodating about the forthcoming divorce.’

Slowly, she turned her head to meet his eyes and he thought how beautiful she looked with her dark curls all wild and free and the faint flush which had spread from her cheeks to her breasts.

‘Is that a threat?’ she demanded. ‘Are you saying that if I don’t agree to have sex with you again, you’ll block the petition?’

‘Please, Nicole. Do not insult me. I would not dream of asking you to do anything you don’t want to do.’ He reached across the bed to place his palm over her thigh, pleased but unsurprised by the instinctive quiver of her flesh in response. ‘I’m merely pointing out that it seems a waste for us not to capitalise on our remarkable chemistry while we have the opportunity to do so.’

She pushed his hand away even though he could sense her reluctance.

‘You mean the chemistry which got us into so much trouble in the first place?’

‘Is that how you see it?’

‘Of course it is. Because it’s the truth, Rocco, and one I made myself accept a long time ago. I was just another body. Just another face. Just another one of the long list of women you seduced. The only difference between me and the others was that I was a virgin.’ She reached for the rumpled duvet which lay at the foot of the bed before yanking it up, though he noticed she didn’t include him in the protective cover she gathered round herself. With only her face visible, she stared at him and her bottom lip was jutting out stubbornly. ‘And you felt differently about that. Perhaps you were jaded because you’d had so many experienced women throwing themselves at you. Wasn’t that the way of it, Rocco?’

His answering smile was hard. ‘That first night with you blew my mind.’

‘The thrill of breaking through my hymen, I suppose? That unique tightness which you can never get back.’

He stiffened, unfamiliar with the sudden steel which had entered her voice. ‘You have become very cynical, Nicole.’

Shivering violently despite the warm cloud of duvet which enveloped her, Nicole wanted to ask what on earth he expected. Had he thought she’d just walked away from him without having learned anything? Because if you didn’t learn from your mistakes then what hope was there? She’d realised that in order to survive she needed to view what had happened dispassionately, and there was nothing to be gained from trying to put a sentimental slant on her failed marriage. The giddy virgin who’d fallen for the powerful Sicilian was now just a distant memory and she’d worked hard on gaining a whole load of perspective in the interim. She didn’t fabricate myths or believe impossible things any more, just to make herself feel better. And a single bout of fantastic sex with the man she had married was not going to make her change her opinion.

She realised there was something else they hadn’t talked about—something far bigger than a young women being introduced to sex for the first time—but she couldn’t face bringing up the subject of their baby. Her fingers tightened around the duvet. Not tonight. Maybe not ever. He hadn’t wanted to talk about it at the time, had he?

And neither had she, she realised, with a sudden flash of insight. Rocco’s reluctance to communicate had suited her very well. He hadn’t wanted to talk about what had happened to them, while she had simply been unable to articulate her pain. Had that made the void even deeper?

She sucked in a deep breath, resolutely bringing her thoughts back to the present. ‘Maybe I needed a touch of cynicism. Maybe I was too much of an innocent in all senses of the word,’ she said, aware of the sudden prick of tears at the backs of her eyes and terrified he might see them. ‘And now I think it’s time you went back to your own bed.’

He shifted his weight slightly on the mattress. ‘Or I could stay here and spend the night making love to you. Since that is what we both want.’

And despite everything which was wrong between them, Nicole was tempted. Who wouldn’t be tempted by such a man? He looked like a lion lying there, so certain of his own strength as the moon coated his powerful body with silver. A quick glance told her that the faint arousal she’d felt while he was still inside her was now fully grown, and didn’t the irrational side of her nature—the hungry, yearning side—make her long to put her arms around him and have him do it all over again?

But that way lay a madness which would blur her shaky hold on reality. Already she felt weakened by the realisation of how deeply he could still affect her. She wondered what had happened to the woman who was supposed to be over him—but deep down she knew the answer. That woman didn’t—maybe couldn’t—exist when Rocco held her in his arms. Why make herself vulnerable to him by having more sex when she still had the rest of the weekend to get through?

‘I think I’ll pass on that,’ she said, the surprise on his rugged features only increasing her resolve. She gave him a thin smile. ‘And now I want to go to sleep. Alone.’

He made no attempt to persuade her, rising from the bed in a display of muscular grace—his buttocks pale against the dark olive of his powerful thighs. But as he bent to pick up his jeans Nicole turned onto her stomach and buried her face in the soft pillow, trying to block out the rasping sound of his zip. She heard the door click quietly shut behind him but her emotions were too jangled to even think of sleep.

And she realised that not once during that entire episode had he kissed her.