After the Storm (All I've Ever Needed)(2)

Suddenly he bent his head and kissed the pulse point of her inner wrist, his warm breath igniting the dormant scent pearls of the Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds perfume she’d used after her morning shower and sending a tantalizing hint of it her way.

Then he brushed his lips against her skin seductively.

Natalie gasped. This wasn’t really happening was it? Gorgeous British-Italian hunks don’t crouch before her and kiss her wrist in a manner which suggested they’d been just waiting for an opportunity to do so. No, this had to be a dream.

Still holding her wrist against his lips, Stephano lifted his head and glanced up at her.

The look of desire in his eyes sent a shiver through her. She tried to tear her gaze away knowing that she couldn’t mask her feelings with him this close, but his eyes held hers like a magnet, searching out the secrets of her soul.

And seeming to find the answer to his unspoken question, Stephano reached up, slipped his hand behind her neck and gently inclined her head downwards until their lips met.

Expecting the mere lip brushing she’d shared with her first and only lover Michael, Natalie was unprepared for the passion of Stephano’s kiss. His tongue immediately probed her full lips seeking entry. Once admitted it tangled with hers aggressively before delving deeper. Never before had she realized that kissing parodied the sex act, but as Stephano thrust his tongue deep into her mouth, Natalie had a vision of him thrusting himself just as deeply into her warmth.

More aroused than she had ever been by a kiss, she wrapped her arms around his neck, sliding her fingers up into his hair and kissing him back with all the pent-up longing she’d harbored in the fifteen months she’d been working closely with him.

The faint pop of a kneecap as it protested to having to bear half of his weight and some of hers brought Natalie back to reality with a rude bump. Embarrassed, she tried to disentangle her limbs from his, but in a fluid movement and a demonstration of his phenomenal strength, Stephano straightened and lifted her onto the desk behind her.

The edge of her large, ergonomic keyboard pressed uncomfortably into her hip. She hastily pushed it out of the way as Stephano positioned himself between her legs and continued his assault on her senses.

Fridays were dress-down days, but for their prestigious quantitative market research agency that meant smart casual, so like him, she was wearing designer denim bottoms but a skirt instead of jeans. Her top had a simple, wrap-over bodice and fitted closely to her waist, emphasizing her hour-glass figure and calling a little more attention than she liked to her shapely behind. But its sunny yellow color always brightened her mood, making her think of summer even on a cold winter’s day. This morning, feeling a little depressed that another weekend would find her at the local WHSmiths bookstore trawling their shelves for the romance her life lacked, she had decided at the very last minute to wear it. It was soft and feminine, unlike the ecru linen shirts she usually wore and she’d noticed a few of her colleagues eying her breasts sneakily from time to time all day. Any day but today she would have been wearing a tailored fitted skirt which wouldn’t have allowed Stephano access between her legs. All she could think as she wrapped her legs around his hips was, thank God, it’s Friday!

She explored his muscular shoulders and strong back as they continued the all-consuming kiss. She had thought about touching him often and had tried to imagine what his hard muscles would feel like under her fingers. She had even dreamed about it on occasion, but nothing was as glorious as the real thing. The soft material of his grey shirt allowed her to feel the smoothness of his skin beneath it. In repose his muscles were firm not hard as she’d imagined, but as he suddenly groaned deep in his throat, cupped her behind and pressed her harder against him, they tautened into cords of steel.

With her panties and his jeans between them she couldn’t accurately judge the size of his erection. It felt larger than she’d expected but she knew, and fervently hoped, that his underwear and jeans added to it bulk. What couldn’t be disguised though was its rigidity. ‘Rock-hard’ was a term she’d read often in romance and erotic romance novels in reference to a male protagonist’s erection and had thought it was a term bandied about by writers to make heroes sound better. Now she realized it could be an accurate description of a man in full arousal.

Stephano cupped her right breast and found her nipple already erect and distended. With a groan that somehow even sounded Italian, he finally broke the kiss as he slipped both the top and the lace cup of her bra aside to bare her breast to his gaze.

“Bella. Bella, cara mia.” Instead of bending to it right away, Stephano held Natalie’s gaze for a few heart-stopping moments, making her squirm against his denim-covered crotch.