Clio tucked her face away from his, shameful tears filling hers.
He trailed hot kisses along the seam of her bra, kissed the curve of one breast, and she shifted restlessly. She needed his hands on her breasts, needed to feel his mouth over the tight, aching points.
But, of course, he wouldn’t give her what she wanted unless she stripped herself bare of that last layer. Until she was completely exposed to him.
Until she was all his.
His hand caressed the flesh of her hips, tugging her close, until he was leaning over her and she was looking up at him. “Tell me.”
“I was not hiding myself. I was hoping to not see your reaction, Stefan.”
With a hard grip, he turned her to face him. “Explain.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Being naked in front of him should have made her awkward. But the maddening circles he drew over her hips, the protective circle of his arms, freed Clio from that last fear. “He…I have been unhappy for a while. With myself, my career and, of course, my relationship with Jackson. I…somehow found myself without friends even. And it affected everything I did. How I dressed, how I ate, how I interacted with others. Even…”
“Sex?” He gritted out the word as though the very thought of Jackson and her set his teeth on edge.
“Yes. It became such a chore that one night he said the Hudson River in winter would be more warm and receptive. After that, I kept finding excuses to not do it. That he cheated on me so blatantly and for so long is unforgivable but I can’t help thinking I pushed him to it. That it was something in me.
“I don’t want to see the same disappointment in your face, Stefan. If the lights were off, I could still lie to myself about…”
To bare this last fear of hers felt so excruciating that her words died on her lips. Clutching her eyes closed, she waited with her breath hinging unevenly in her throat.
Seconds piled on top of each other but he said nothing.
Until Clio felt his fingers crawl up her thighs, and part the folds of her sex.
Invasive, arousing and utterly addictive, he pressed the bundle of nerves that had been aching for his attention with his thumb. Drew on it in mind-numbing strokes.
Her spine arched, her breath flew out of her in a wave. A lick of heat swept through her as he kissed the sensitive skin of her thigh, as she felt the warmth of his breath.
“You smell so divine, bella.” In one smooth move, he pushed two fingers inside and Clio gasped at the avalanche of sensation. “And, dannazione, you’re so wet for me.”
Turning toward him, Clio met his gaze, heat pooling under her skin in a rush, blasting through every tip.
Bending over, he tasted her mouth. Palmed the engorged and needy tip of one breast.
Clio moaned into his mouth.
“I was not joking, Clio. I have always wanted you, even back then.”
Surprise glinted in her face. “Hitting on every woman you met was your knee-jerk response.”
“I have always wanted you. And now, the reality of having you in my bed…you have no idea how crazy you drive me, Clio.”
While Clio grappled with that information, he bent his dark head and sucked her nipple.
Raw sensation zigzagging over her, Clio sank her hands into his hair and arched into him, needing more.
With a smile, he continued the rhythmic pull of his mouth, driving her out of her skin, while his other hand delved between her curls down below and started a fire again.
He stroked and palmed her heat while suckling at her nipple. The relentless caresses even as he whispered the wickedest words in her ear started Clio on a chase that knocked the breath out of her lungs.
There was nothing but sensation and pleasure, beating at her from every side. There was nothing but Stefan—his kisses, his touches, his body’s warmth and the best of all, his words.
And Clio forgot all her fears, all her doubts as her climax hit her in wave after wave, throwing her out of her body. She felt like she had been shattered and then remade.
Tears seeped out of her eyes.
Feeling his gaze on her, she opened them and saw his raptured look. Gasped when he pulled her onto his lap and took her mouth in a bruising kiss.
But she wanted more, she wanted to be utterly possessed by him.
She ran her hands over his chest, traced the ridges of his ribs, learned his skin to her heart’s content. Reveled in his short breaths, the flexing of his muscles to the slightest of her touches.
Reaching down, she unbuckled his belt and pulled it out. Unfastened his trousers and sneaked her hand in.
Felt the already engorged length of him grow harder and longer in her palm.
Rubbed her thighs together as the heat that rushed through her at the rigid weight in her hand.
Coming to a kneeling position, she vined her arms around him, and licked the rim of his ear. “What else did I do in this fantasy?”
His muscled frame racked in her arms, and she felt like the most powerful woman on earth.
“Some other time, bella,” he whispered back, his abrasive palms roaming restlessly over her back.
“Now, Bianco,” she commanded, and bent down to lick his flat nipple.
His hands tightened in her hair, whether to hold her there or push her, she had no idea. Kissing the ropes of muscle that had fascinated her for so many weeks, she looked up and caught the flush in his cheeks.
Saw the truth shining in his hungry gaze.
Grinning, she trailed wet kisses down his rock-hard frame. The muscles tensed harder and harder as she moved downward.
The tip of his erection lay against his taut belly.
Clamping her thighs together at the thrill in her own blood, Clio licked the soft head.
His harsh groan fell on her ears, a thunderous roar that goaded her on.
On the next breath, Clio fisted her hand at the base and took him in her mouth.
Tasted the hard length of him in a long suck that sent little tremors to her own sex. She continued as he shuddered beneath her caresses, as he cursed and groaned.