Flames licked at his skin. “So what would you call it then?”
She chewed on the corner of her lip. “Like I said, he was rough.”
He closed his eyes. “Quinn, why didn’t you leave him?”
“Because he was Warren’s choice. Because I knew the dissolution of my marriage would be my father’s biggest disappointment.” Her mouth turned down. “And it was. I don’t think he’s ever forgiven me for it.”
His face darkened. “Please tell me your father didn’t know.”
She turned a scathing glance on him. “How would I tell my father that? Daddy, the man you wanted me to marry has verbally abused me every day of our marriage...has been borderline abusive. Cheated on me with other women...”
The heat flaming through Matteo threatened to fry his brain alive. “He was unfaithful to you?”
She nodded. “At the end. But honestly by then I would have begged him to use someone other than me.”
He pressed his fists against the concrete, the desire to use them on Julian Edwards immense. “You should have left. You should never have been with him, your father’s choice or not. Warren would have lost his mind had he known what was going on.”
“But you see that’s not what we do.” A haunted smile curved her lips. “We Davises specialize in making things work. No matter what. A merger, a marriage. You do not give up. You make it a success.”
“That’s an insane statement. What if he had escalated things? Started hitting you?”
She paled. “He wouldn’t have done that. Control was his power. If he had that he was satisfied.”
“You think that. That’s how it starts, Quinn. It doesn’t usually end that way.”
She was silent for a moment. Lifted her gaze to the horizon. “He’s gone now. That’s all that matters.”
He studied her defiant profile, her upturned delicate chin. “Didn’t you ever think you deserved more?”
She shook her head. “I saw my marriage as my failure. I didn’t want to admit I was incapable of a relationship.”
“That marriage was not any kind of an assessment of you,” he scowled. “Your husband was a monster. He should have been stopped.”
She looked at him, the vulnerability shining in her beautiful eyes making his heart hurt. “I was hopeless at letting him in. I know in the beginning it was equally as much my fault as it was Julian’s. I can be a supreme bitch when I want to be. I shut people out.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “But you can also be an insightful, compassionate, sexy, warm woman if you dig deep enough to find out.” He ran a finger down her cheek. “And you aren’t pushing me away right now.”
Her gaze softened. “You,” she said wryly, “are another matter entirely.”
“Si,” he agreed, reaching for her. “Story of my life, bella. But I know you like it, in fact, I know you love it.”
Quinn was attempting to choke out a reply when he sank his hands into her waist, deposited her in his lap and pulled her wet limbs around him. “Sometimes the penny doesn’t drop,” he murmured, tipping her heart-shaped face up to his. “Sometimes things are exactly as you see them.”
He watched that overactive mind of hers try and process that. Then she reached up and ran her finger over his bottom lip, a sultry glitter in her eyes. “What am I supposed to be seeing right now then?”
Matteo captured her finger in his mouth. Ran his tongue over the soft underside of it. Watched her pupils dilate. “You. On top of me. Now.”
A dull rosy glow stained her cheeks. He released her finger. Bent his mouth to her ear, a raspy edge to his voice. “Up on your knees, cara.”
She did it. Set her knees down on the concrete on either side of him. And he knew from the sparks in her eyes she was just as turned on as him. Needed more as much as he did.
He ran his hand down her trembling stomach, inside her briefs and explored her soft, yielding flesh with teasing strokes that made her body moisten and ready for him. He hardened so quickly he had to bite back a groan. Then she pressed her lips to his stubble-covered jaw, her breathing jagged, uneven, and he did it anyway. She was so sexy when she let herself go.
“Condom,” he croaked, stumbling inside in an Olympic-worthy performance. When he returned, she straddled him, released him and slid the condom on. He reached down and pulled her bathing suit aside. “Portami dentro di te tesoro,” he murmured. “Take me inside of you, sweetheart.”
She reached down and grasped the thick, highly aroused length of him. This time his groan split the air in a fractured moan. Quinn brushed him against her core. Teased him. When he thought he might die, she took him inside her. Slowly, torturously, her gasp filling his ears. It made him feel proud, intensely male that he could do that to her and he swelled even larger inside her. Forced himself to stay completely still as she sank down on him. More, more, until he was buried completely in her.