Page 241 of Modern Romance November 2024 5-8

‘Does this mean Manhattan’s back in business?’ she asked between bites.

He swallowed the last of his first bagel and dug into the bag for another. ‘The bagel shop is.’

‘Priorities, eh?’

He winked and took a huge bite of his second bagel. She wasn’t in the least surprised when he unwrapped a third for himself or, when she couldn’t eat the third one he’d brought for her, that he devoured it too. The meal he’d been going to cook before the power cut had been forgotten by them both. All they’d been hungry for was each other.

‘So?’ she prompted, determinedly keeping her voice chirpy. ‘Is Manhattan back in business?’ Meaning, is the Guardiola Group reopening its New York doors?

He shook his head. ‘It is still treacherous out there. There are thirty-foot snowdrifts trapping people in their homes, thousands of cars buried... I have given the order to continue working from home until Monday.’ He brushed his mouth to her ear, sending delicious shivers lacing her spine. ‘It is far too unsafe for you to return to your apartment. You will have to stay here for days longer.’

The purest relief filled her chest.

Days longer to enjoy the bliss of Marcello without the real world intruding.

Eyes gleaming lasciviously, he had a drink of his coffee.

‘What?’ she asked, noticing the funny way he was staring at her.

He shook his head before his perfect teeth flashed. ‘Your hair.’

She put a hand to it. ‘What’s wrong with it?’

‘It looks like a bird’s nest.’

‘That’s becausesomeonemade mad, passionate love to me while it was still wet from the bath.’ And then made love to her again before insisting she get some sleep, only to wake her when daylight filtered into the bedroom for more lovemaking.

It had been the best night of her life and she would cherish the memories for the rest of her life, and make the most of the memories as they made them because it wouldn’t be long until the rest of her life opened up. When they next stepped into the skyscraper that homed the Guardiola Group, this brief affair would be over, something they both understood without either having to put it into words.

It couldn’t be any other way.

Whether their working relationship could survive it, only time would tell. For now, all she wanted was to live for the moment.

His blue eyes glittered. ‘Not that Italian monster you spoke of?’

‘I’m afraid so.’

Eyes not leaving her face, he put his coffee cup on the bedside table, then plucked her cup out of her hand and put it down too. The paper bag filled with their wrappings and napkins he threw onto the floor.

Pinching the top of the duvet, Marcello slowly pulled it down, exposing all of Victoria’s curvaceous body to his greedy eyes. Bagel crumbs had nestled on the top of her breasts and he dipped his head to lick them off, thrilling at her shivers.

‘The Italian monster you speak of needs to make penance,’ he murmured as he circled a large, rosy nipple with his tongue.

Her back arched. Fingers laced through his hair. ‘Oh?’

Still lavishing attention on her beautifully weighty breasts, he trailed a finger down her rounded belly to her pubis. ‘The monster will be your slave for pleasure,’ he whispered seductively, sliding a finger inside her and thrilling to find her already hot and sticky for him.

She moaned. ‘My slave...?’ Her voice broke as he rubbed his thumb over her bud.

‘Your slave. Here to cater to all your desires.’ Raising his face to hers, he gently bit her bottom lip and increased the friction of his thumb. ‘Tell me your desires and fantasies,bella. All of them.’

‘Just...’ She moaned again and writhed into his hand. ‘Just...just keep doing that.’

Being Victoria Cusack’s sex slave was, Marcello decided a few mornings later whilst trying to catch his breath in her arms, a very fulfilling occupation. She was proving to be an exacting, insatiable mistress, growing bolder with her demands the longer time passed.

The sex between them was out of this world. So incredible was it that he refused to think about the real world that was waiting for them. His household staff were all back and working and had been given strict instructions to keep out of his bedroom. He’d ordered his finance director to run the Guardiola empire in his absence, and given strict company-wide instructions that he wasn’t to be disturbed unless a matter of life or death cropped up.

For the first time in over a decade, he forgot about work altogether and lived for the moment... Which was why it came as a shock when a message pinged into his phone from one of only a handful of numbers he’d set to override his phone being on silent.

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