Then, the emotion he couldn’t name was gone from her eyes as she slowly closed them. Her mouth moved on his and he lost every thought as her soft, supple skin melded with his hard, hot need. Unable to wait, to savor, he thrust his tongue into her, tasting the sweet zing he'd remembered with aching longing. She played with him, slipping her tongue around his, answering his demands with a giving sweetness that only drove him further into mindlessness.
Wrenching his mouth from hers, he stared at her. “Toccarmi.”
A slight frown furrowed her brow. She glanced at him with inquiry. “Tell me what it means.”
“Touch me,” he groaned. He thought of the times he'd watched as she smoothed her hands along silk and leather and herself. Now it was his body she would explore and stir and feel. The anticipation turned something wild inside him. Something untamed and feral. Sweat dampened his forehead and his back.
At his words, her frown turned to a winsome, womanly smile. A smile as old as humankind. One that twisted every cell in his body into blinding lust.
One dainty hand cupped his jaw, smoothed across his hot neck.
He sucked in a deep breath.
The hand slid down to his collarbone and went slower as it trailed across his chest. Her fingers tangled in the hair lying in a patch between his nipple before wandering over to lightly circle one nipple.
She plucked.
He gasped.
“Cor,” she said, wonder in her voice. “You like that.”
“Si,” he managed to say. “Certamente. And you will too when I do the same for you.”
Was she truly blushing? It shocked him, confused him. What was with the shy attitude? It didn’t fit what he knew of her. A scraper who’d seen everything. A girl who’d grown up hard and tough. Surely sex was something she was experienced at. Hell, she’d been with his brother. A cold shot of anger pulsed through his hot body at the thought.
A gentle hand sliding across his stomach poured heat right after it. His entire body tensed.
“You like this?” Her voice was enchanting, luring.
“Si.” He held his breath as her hand slowed.
Then stopped.
A slight frown of concentration furrowed her brow as she watched her hand move on his body.
“Carita,” he panted. “You’re killing me.”
She peeked into his eyes. Hers were filled with…not fear…nerves. She was nervous. Once more, it hit him. The virgin. An act. Surely an act. She was torturing him.
“Toccarmi,” he demanded, his patience long gone.
Her focus went back to his body. She bit her lip as if she were about to jump off a cliff. But his girl wasn’t a quitter. She had courage.
Grazie Dio.
She slipped her silky fingers around him. Slid them up, then down.
His blood roared. He stiffened and arched into her touch. A low, animal groan of pure want poured from him.
“Blimey.” Surprise and pleasure echoed in her voice.
His brother was clearly the worst lover on earth. The thought dimly penetrated the passion pumping through his body. Had the idiot merely stuck himself into her and done his business? The thought of his brother in her blistered his brain. A blast of jealousy, hot and fierce, scrambled with the overwhelming need to take, to imprint himself into her.
His hand roughly grabbed hers and pulled hers away.
She glanced at him, startled. Her eyes widened at what she saw on his face.
“Did I do it wrong?” Nerves jittered in her tone. Her body grew stiff.
Taking a deep breath, he bent his head, slid his mouth along the side of her neck, hid himself from her. Hid the jealousy he never allowed himself to feel with any other woman since Juliana.
“No,” he murmured on her skin. “It was too much.”
“Too much?” Again, there was the questioning, the timidity, that confused him.
Her skin tasted like salted candy. Sweet and ripe. The soft hair at the base of her neck touched his cheek and nose, warm whispers of her tickling him. “I was close to coming, carita.” Why did he have to explain this to an experienced woman? “I was about to lose myself in your hand.”
There was a short pause as his sprite seemed to take it in. He felt it as she breathed in a deep breath. Then her body turned from stiff rigidity to warm, womanly welcome. Her hands came back on his body, slipping down his shoulders, moving over his sides. “I love your body,” she said it with a tentative tone as if testing out the words.
Lifting his head, knowing he’d succeeded in pushing his emotions back, confident he’d soothed her fears, he latched onto her mouth, tasting and taking. He couldn’t endure any more of this shy exploration. He needed her. Had to have her now. There was no more finesse and patience in him.
It was time he took the lead.