Page 26 of Cipriani's Innocent Captive
‘I’m too big for deck-chair sex,’ Lucas murmured.
‘Who said anything about sex?’ Katy breathed. ‘We could just...you know...’
‘I think I’m getting the picture.’ He emitted a low, husky laugh and settled her on the cushioned deck chair, arranging her as carefully as an artist arranging a model he was about to paint, lying her in just the right place with her legs parted, hanging over either side of the chair, leaving her open for his attentive ministrations.
Then, sitting at the foot of the chair on his over-sized beach towel, he tugged her gently down towards his mouth and began tasting her. He slid his tongue into her, found the bud of her clitoris and licked it delicately, feathering little explosions of sensation through her, and he continued licking and teasing, knowing at which point she would begin to buck against his mouth as those little explosions became more and more impossible to control.
When he glanced up, he could see her small breasts, pointed and crowned with the dusky pink of her nipples, which were pinched from the water cooling on them. Her lips were parted, her nostrils flared as she breathed laboriously and her eyes were closed.
A thought flashed through his head. His condoms were nowhere to hand. What would happen if he were to sweep her up right now, hoist her onto him and let her ride them both to one of the body-shattering orgasms that they seemed strangely adept at giving one another? What if he were to feel himself in her without the barrier of a condom? Would it be such a bad thing? It wasn’t as if pregnancy would be a certainty.
Shock at even thinking such a thing stilled him for a second. He’d never had thoughts like that in his life before and it implied a lack of self-control he found disturbing.
He killed the wayward thought that had sprung from nowhere and drove a finger into her, rousing her deep inside, and feeling her begin to spasm as she began to soar towards a climax.
She came against his mouth, arching up with an abandoned cry of intense satisfaction, and then and only then did he allow her to touch him, with her mouth and with her hands.
The errant desire to take her without protection had been ruthlessly banished from his head but it left a lingering taste of unease in his mouth as they both subsided and flopped back into the pool to cool off.
Katy swam to Lucas but he stiffened and turned away, striking out into the water and rapidly swimming four lengths, barely surfacing for air as she watched from the side. He’d rejected her just then. Or maybe she’d been imagining it. Had she? He certainly hadn’t done the usual and held her against him, coming down from a high with his body still pressed up against hers.
Sensitive to the fact that this was not a normal situation, that it was the equivalent of a one-night stand stretched out for slightly longer than the one night, Katy got out of the pool and walked over to her towel, anchoring it firmly around her so that she was covered up. Then she watched him as he continued swimming, his strong, brown body slicing through the water with speed and efficiency.
He didn’t spare her a glance and after five minutes she retired to the villa and to theen suitebathroom which had been designated for her but rarely used, now she and Lucas were lovers.
The villa was magnificent, interestingly laid out with lots of nooks and crannies in which to relax, and huge, open windows through which breezes could circulate freely through the house. It lacked the slick sophistication of his yacht and was rather colonial in style with a stunning mixture of wood, billowing muslin at the windows, shutters and overhead fans. Katy loved it. She settled with her book into a rocking chair on the wide veranda that fronted the villa.
She kept waiting for Lucas to show up but eventually she gave up and nodded off. It was a little after four but still baking hot and, as always, cloudless.
Allowing her mind to drift, yanking it back every time it tried to break the leash and worry away at Lucas’s reaction earlier on, she was scarcely aware of time going by, and it was only when she noticed the tell-tale signs of the sun beginning to dip that she realised that several hours must have passed.
In a panic, she scrambled to her feet and turned round, to find the object of her feverish imaginings standing framed in the doorway...and he wasn’t smiling. Indeed, the humorous, sexy guy she had spent the past week with was noticeably absent.
‘Lucas!’ She plastered a smile on her face. ‘How long have you been standing there? I was reading...er... I must have nodded off...’
Lucas saw the hurt beneath the bright smile and he knew that he had put it there. He had turned his back on her and swam off, and he had carried on swimming because he had needed to clear his head. When he’d finally stopped, she was gone and he had fought against the desire to seek her out because he was not going to allow a simple sexual liaison to get out of control. When they returned to London, this would finish and his life would return to normal, which was exactly as it should be. So he’d kept his distance and that would have upset her. He clenched his jaw and focused on what really mattered now, which was a turn of events that neither of them could have predicted.
‘You’ve been talking to your parents. What, exactly, have you told them?’
‘Lucas, I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Just try and think.’ He moved to stand in front of her, the beautiful lines of his handsome face taut and forbidding. ‘Did you tell either of them where you were? What you were doing here? Who you were with?’
‘I...you’re making me nervous, Lucas. Let me think...no;no.I just told Mum that I was in Italy and that it was lovely and warm and that I was fine and having a good time...’
‘I have just spent the past hour on the phone with the Chinese company. It seems that they were told by Powell that I was the wrong kind of person to be doing business with—that I was the sort of guy who seduces innocent girls and shouldn’t be trusted as far as I can be thrown. It would seem that news travelled and connections were made. Someone, somewhere, figured out that we’re here together and social media has taken the information right into Powell’s hands and given the man ammunition to blow my deal sky-high at the last minute.’
The colour drained from Katy’s face. When he said that ‘connections were made’,it was easy to see how. They had been into the little town several times over the past few days, checking on Maria and doing all sorts of touristy things. He could have been recognised and, whilstshewouldn’t have been, someone could have sneakily taken a picture of them together and tagged them in something they posted online. The mind boggled.
‘This isnotmy fault, Lucas. You know how pervasive social media is.’ But itwasher fault. She was the one with the connection to Duncan and, if gossip had been spread, then who knew what her mum might have mentioned to anyone in the village? Someone might be friends with Duncan on Facebook or whatever. Guilt pinked her cheeks, but before she could go on the defensive he held up one imperious hand to close down her protest.
‘I’m not going to waste time going back and forth with this.’ He frowned down at her and sighed. ‘I’m not playing blame games here, Katy, and you’re right: there’s no privacy left anywhere. If anyone is to blame, then it’s me, because I should have been more circumspect in my movements here. The place is small, I’m a well-known face, it’s close to the busiest time of year for tourists and they have smart phones. But the fact remains that I have now been left with a considerable problem.
‘No, perhaps I should amend that: when I say thatIhave a considerable problem, it might be fairer to say thatwebothhave a considerable problem. Your ex approached Ken Huang and told him a story, and there’s an underlying threat to go to the press and take public this sordid tale of a young, innocent girl being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous billionaire womaniser.’
Katy paled. ‘Duncan wouldn’t...’
Buthe would.
