He does it again and my muscles twitch. “Elio,” I gasp. “I can’t… I’m not…”

I’m not sure, exactly, what I’m trying to say. I want him to help me get there, to the place where I am wild and aching for him.

But I want… more.

“Caterina,” he purrs, his fingers pumping in and out of me now. They’re trapped against me in my shorts, and I wiggle because I know the issue.

I don’t want to come on his fingers.

“Elio, more,” I pant.

He pauses. His eyes look up at me, a question in them.

A question, and a wild hope.

I lift one of my arms and tug at the fabric of my shorts. “I want to come around you,” I whisper.

His eyebrows shoot up, and he freezes, his fingers still spreading me wide. “And you will, cara mia,” he says with a hint of a smile.

I shake my head. “No, Elio. I want to…” I gulp.

Thank God Elio is a quick thinker.

His eyes turn dark as night. The muscle in his jaw twitches. “Caterina…” he warns.

“Please, Elio,” I whisper.

My heart thuds in my chest.

Once.

Twice.

Then he kisses me, hard. He pushes me forward on the desk slightly, so my hips are balanced right at the edge.

He tugs at my shorts, pulling them down and off.

Then, he steps back and stares.

24

ELIO

Caterina is spread before me,and I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my entire life.

Except, of course, the last time that I saw her like this.

That was so long ago, it now feels like a dream. Something to comfort me on long, lonely nights.

But the Caterina who is spread before me on my desk, her head arched back, legs spread open for me, her nipples pulled taut as they are exposed to the air…

This Caterina is real.

She is warm.

Willing.

And I want her more than anything.