Maggie moaned as she lay open to his demands. The helplessness under his hungry stare caused a ripple of panic to flutter low in her belly. She lifted her hands to push him away, but as if he sensed her sudden unease, he raised his head to look at her.
“You are so f**king beautiful,” he murmured. His fingers gently parted her swollen folds and dipped into her wet channel, thrusting slowly. “Dios, if I don’t taste you I’ll die.”
“Michael—”
“Yes, Maggie, show me your pleasure. Tell me how much I please you.”
His mouth dived. His hot tongue circled around her swollen clit as one finger joined the other and plunged deep. She arched upward and cried out. The overwhelming sensation of his thrusts, combined with the teasing licks around her bud, pushed her slowly toward the edge. Her fingers grabbed at the blanket in an effort to ground herself but he never let up, swirling and sucking with a gentle, steady pressure that heated her blood and drove her faster and faster toward orgasm.
“I’m going to—oh, God, I can’t—”
“Come for me, Maggie.” With one final thrust, he nibbled ever so gently on her clit and she flew over the edge. She screamed and convulsed, her hips arching up for more. Thrusting over and over, he took her deep and lengthened her climax until every muscle shuddered in agony and ecstasy.
Michael pressed kisses to her inner thighs, then slid down and came back with a condom. He threw the packet to the side and covered her body with his. Maggie moaned at the feel of his hot skin over hers, each muscle pressed into her curves, his hard length throbbing.
She tasted the musky essence of her pleasure as he kissed her long and deep. Helpless from the intensity of her orgasm, she let him take what he wanted, bringing her back up the slow ladder of tension, as he played with her ni**les. As he rolled them between his fingers, the sharp pleasure rocketed her to the top until she surrendered completely and gave him what he wanted.
“Take me, Michael,” she begged. Her hips thrust up in demand, and she hooked one ankle around his leg and tried to urge him down. “Please.”
He laughed low and wicked, his teeth raking across her nipple and causing shivers to wrack her body. “You ask so nicely, cara. I can’t wait to bury myself inside you.”
He grabbed the condom and sheathed himself, then paused at her entrance. Wetness leaked down her thighs and welcomed him further. He teased her a bit, pushing in an inch, then another, until her head thrashed back and forth on the bed and her nails dug punishingly into his back.
“More,” she demanded. “Damn you, give me everything.”
He held her head still, his dark eyes drilling into hers with a promise to take and plunder everything she had. Then he plunged deep.
Maggie gasped as he filled her to the hilt, his massive size overtaking not only her body, but her mind and her soul. Panic hit her full force—the invasion by a man who’d be able to strip her of every surface barrier and unearth the truth.
“No!” She panted, the wild beating of her heart strangling her very breath. “I can’t, I can’t.”
“Shush, mia amore. Relax. Let me in.”
Her body eased, and the feeling of fullness caused a sharp rush of heat. He groaned, obviously struggling for control, and Maggie panted, his body pinning her down into the mattress with no escape. Helplessness flooded through her.
Tears pricked her eyes. “I can’t.”
He pressed a kiss to her brow, every muscle locked. “Here, baby, I know what you need.” With one quick movement, he rolled until she straddled him.
The freedom and sudden control whooshed through her. She relaxed and arched, ripping a groan from his lips.
“Better?”
The joyous smile curved her lips and broke over her face. “Yes.”
He cursed, his hands cupping her breast. “I’m never going to last. Ride me, cara. Ride me hard.”
She threw her head back and moved up and down his penis, reveling in his raw, naked response, in her ability to make this man weak with want for her. She sucked him in deep and the bruising pace quickly brought her right back to the edge. Her hair fell down her back, and his fingers worked her ni**les as she reached for the pinnacle, feeling free and beautiful above him.
“Now, mia amore. Now.”
With one final plunge, Maggie shattered. She screamed his name, and heard his hoarse shout right behind her. The world broke around her in jagged pieces, and she rode out the pleasure to the very end. When she collapsed on top of him, and his arms came around her, one word echoed over and over in her mind, her heart, her soul.
Home.
Then she closed her eyes and slept.
Chapter Nine
Maggie sipped the strong, steaming brew and stared at the magnificent view before her. The sunlight washed over the green hills, highlighting the vast expanse of mighty, snow-tipped mountains. Terra-cotta sloping roofs spotted the horizon. The scent of olive and lemon wafted in the warm breeze, and she breathed deep, trying desperately to calm her racing heart.
Last night, Michael made love to her.
Pieces of memory flashed before her. The delicious heat and explosion of her orgasm. The gentle curve of his lips as he smiled. The strokes of his hands against her flesh as if she were breakable and precious, not just a one-night stand.
But she was. Or at least, maybe a two-night stand. Because at the end of the week, this whole charade would end, and he’d leave. Like they all did.
How had it happened? She’d confessed her secrets freely at his uncle’s house and had no one to blame but herself. His gentleness encouraged her to open up easier than any hot demands ever had. One moment she swore she’d be on the next plane out. The next, she’d challenged him to a bout of lovemaking with the stupid idea she’d be able to wring him out of her system.
She nibbled at her lip and took another scalding sip. When she woke up he’d left her a note that he’d run into town for a few hours and would be back to bring her to the headquarters of La Dolce Famiglia. The disappointment of an empty bed rattled her foundation. She always fought the need to escape as fast as possible once dawn hit. For the first time, she craved a morning snuggle with the man she made love with. He consistently surprised her, challenged her, and made her long for more. He was dangerous. Not just to her body. But to her heart.
She had to get out of here.
Her heart pounded and the blood roared in her veins. The oncoming panic attack gathered speed and Maggie grabbed her camera, desperate to control her ridiculous physical defaults. Breathe deep and clear her mind. She began snapping shots of the landscape, sharpening her focus to the frame in front of her, looking to find something unique and incredible. Her mind clung to the noise of the shutter and the flash of the light of the lens as she moved around the back terrace. Anything but the dizzy pull of alarm taunting her to lose all control.