Page 25 of A Diamond for My Forbidden Bride

I remembered our first kiss. It had been mine too, since naturally enough, if Domingo had forbidden Constantine and me friends, he’d always forbidden us girlfriends. I’d never held a girl before, never kissed one either, and it had been so very, very sweet.

I could still taste that sweetness. It was still there. But we weren’t fifteen and seventeen any longer, and a very real, very adult heat leapt between us now.

It was electric.

Women had long since beaten a path to my bed and I’d lost count of those I’d taken. After all, sex was one of life’s pleasures and I’d never denied myself.

But Olivia had always been different, and kissing her was as different from kissing all those other women as night was from day.

She tasted of champagne and sea salt, of sex and desire, and I wanted her now, right now. I was tired of waiting and I wanted it all.

She went rigid in my arms, her whole body taut and, even though it was the last thing on earth I wanted, I forced myself to let her go.

I’d given her a taste. If she wanted more, she knew where to get it.

Olivia stared at me, her brilliant grey eyes full of fury. But I could see the desire there too, burning hot. She looked as though she wasn’t sure whether to kiss me or strangle me.

I didn’t look away and I said nothing. I let her make the choice.

Then suddenly she lunged forward, her arms winding around my neck, her hot, slender body arching against me as her mouth found mine.

Triumph filled me just before all thought shattered. Triumph that she’d made her choice and her choice was me. And then there was only her in my arms. Her, after so many years of watching her from the shadows, wanting her but trying not to. Dreaming of her and losing her every morning when I woke up.

But not now. Now she was here and she wasn’t a dream. She was reality and she was finally where she’d always belonged: in my arms.

I could taste the fire inside her now, and I dug my fingers into the wet silk of her hair, pulling her head back so I could kiss her deeper, harder, chase that taste. Her mouth was so hot and she was trying to kiss me back, her tongue touching mine, at first tentatively, and then with more confidence, more passion.

She kissed like a virgin, which only sharpened the edge of my hunger. I’d suspected Constantine hadn’t taken her to bed and this confirmed it.

She was mine. Every part of her was mine. And something inside me regretted all the women I’d taken to my bed over the years...regretted that she was not my first, my only. That I wasn’t all hers the way she would be mine.

But there was nothing I could do about that now.

I might have had many other women physically, but my heart was pure. My heart had always been hers.

I kissed her with savagery, with demand and, because she was Olivia, she kissed me back the same way, her arms tight around my neck, her slender curves pressed hard to the entire length of my body.

The sea washed around us, swirling the silk of her dress around my legs, making me aware of all the clothes between us and how I didn’t want them to be there. I wanted nothing between us, just her bare skin and the heat of her mouth. The tight clasp of her sex around me as I pushed inside her and made her mine.

I tore my mouth from hers and began to kiss my way down the slender column of her throat, tasting the salt water and sweetness of her skin.

Her head dropped back, the sound of her breathing ragged in the night air.

I fastened my mouth over her pulse, tasting the frantic beat of it with my tongue, and she shuddered, a soft moan escaping her.

Yes, I wanted more of that sound. More of her, a slave to this heat between us. I wanted to make her cry for me, beg for me; I wanted her as desperate as she’d made me.

I pulled hard at the neckline of her dress, silk tearing to reveal the lavender bikini top she wore beneath it. The last of the summer sunset had disappeared, her skin now glowing like mother-of-pearl in the starlight, and I wanted to see it. I wanted to see all of it.

I jerked the strap of her bikini top down, uncovering one round breast, and she gasped as I slid my palm around it, cupping her.

Dios, she was perfect. As perfect as I’d imagined. Her skin was silky-smooth and hot, her rosy-pink nipple hard and ready for my mouth.

I dipped my head, hungry for more of a taste, tracing the curve of her breast with my tongue and then circling that hard little peak.

‘Val...’ Her voice was husky and thick in the night, her fingers digging into my shoulders. ‘Oh... Val...’

I teased her, then drew her nipple into my mouth, sucking hard, and she cried out.

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