Page 29 of Royally Roma
“Yes.” She nodded, and her voice went soft. He had to strain to hear it above the pitter-patter of the rain. “This was once a fifty-room palace with an atrium and a reflecting pool. It’s also where the Vestals kept the sacred fire.”
Priestesses. Sacred fires. No wonder he was out of sorts. These ruins, this hill, the entirety of Rome was enchanted ground. He would feel better once he boarded his plane and left this Eternal City and all its magic behind.
Deep down, somewhere beneath the lingering effects of that unprecedented first kiss and the roar of arousal still making itself known in every inch of his body, he knew that wasn’t the case. How he wished the explanation was as simple as removing himself from the situation. He had a feeling he would remember the heat of Julia Costa’s curves in his hands for quite some time.
Sacred fire.
He arched a roguish brow. “Tell me something else—were they really virgins?”
Her cheeks grew three shades of pink, which confirmed his earlier suspicions. He wasn’t fool enough to believe that she was an actual virgin. A woman as smart and captivating as she, in one of the most romantic cities in the world? Doubtful. But she was heartbreakingly inexperienced. Of that he was certain.
Oh, the things he wanted to teach her.
Not wanted. Craved.Needed.
She cleared her throat, and he found her obvious embarrassment utterly enthralling. “Absolutely, they were chaste. A Vestal’s penalty for breaking her vow of chastity was to be buried alive.”
He took a step closer, just to see how deeply he could make her flush. He wanted her to tumble. Hard and fast. “Buried alive? For allowing a man to take her to bed?”
She swallowed, and his eyes traced the movement up and down the elegant column of her throat.
“That seems awfully harsh. Don’t you think?” He reached out and touched the shallow dip between her collarbones. It wasn’t so much a conscious decision to touch her as it was an instinct. An irrepressible drive. She’d shed her poncho when she’d realized his had vanished. Her clothes now clung to her body, dampened and heavy. He simply could not stand beside her and keep his hands off her. Not for another godforsaken minute.
He blamed the ghostly spirits that surrounded them. All those aching, unsatisfied virgins.
She shuddered beneath his fingertips. “The punishment was far worse for the man who defiled her.”
“Worse than being buried alive?” His fingertips, now moving of their own volition, made a lazy, downward trail, pausing just between her breasts.
Julia inhaled sharply, but made no move to back away. “Flogging,” she said on a whispery breath. “Followed by a public and gruesome execution.”
Desire throbbed between them. Again.
He considered her words then shrugged, feigning nonchalance the best he could before forcing himself to remove his hands from her. There were tourists everywhere, and if he didn’t stop now, he would cup her breasts through her thin polka-dot blouse in plain view of everyone. “I have no doubt that man considered it a most fair and equitable exchange.”
HOW COULD THIS BEhappening again?
Julia’s nipples had never felt this tender. The heaviness in her breasts bordered on painful, and a live wire somehow connected them straight to her center. She was on the verge of crumbling, closer to falling apart than the ancient ruins beneath her feet. And Mano had barely even touched her this time.
She watched, humiliated, as he took a backward step away from her.
Forget the Vestals and their secret lovers. Julia was the one who deserved to be flogged. For letting him do this to her.
“Um.”Say something.Anything.“I doubt that was the case.”
Really, the idea that a singular sexual encounter would be worth risking agonizing torture and death was ludicrous.
Wasn’t it?
Mano said nothing, but simply watched her with that searing hot gaze of his. They weren’t talking about the Vestals at all anymore, were they?
She felt the dark heat of his attention winding through her. A ribbon of need. And she knew without a fraction of a doubtthat sex with this man would be like nothing she’d experienced before.
She inhaled a steadying breath, unsure how much longer she could handle what was happening inside her.
Hang on. Just hang on. The tour is almost over. One more stop.
One more stop, and she’d saved the sight she suspected he would like best for last. The day had been so...odd, for lack of a better word. She hoped and prayed that she could secure a good review from him before it was all over and possibly even put a smile on his face.
