Page 31 of A Baby Scandal in Italy

‘I couldn’t wait another day or endure another sleepless night while I fantasied about making you mine. I wanted the fantasy to be real, and if I could have married you even sooner you would not now be a wide-eyed virgin looking at me fearfully.’

He brought his mouth down on hers again and kissed her with a desperation that lifted Ivy’s heart. His breathing was ragged, and she could feel the thunder of his heart when she pushed the edges of his shirt aside and laid her hands on his bare chest. The evidence of Rafa’s desire gave her confidence in her strength as a woman and his skill as a lover. Her first and only lover, for she had not made her marriage vows lightly.

‘I’m not afraid of you,’ she told him huskily when he moved his lips over her cheek and kissed his way up to her ear to gently bite the lobe.

‘Good.’ His chest expanded. ‘If you’re not ready to sleep with me, say so. I would never try to force you. I respect your right to choose what to do with your body,cara.’

The last vestiges of her tension drained away. ‘I’ll be twenty-five in a week. If I’m not ready now, when will I be?’ She turned her face to his and kissed his stubbly jaw. The slight abrasion against her lips sent a quiver through her and each of her nerve endings tingled. ‘My body chooses you,’ she whispered.

He muttered something in Italian and captured both of her hands, lifting them so that her arms were above her head. He curled her fingers around the bed post behind her. ‘Hold on tight,’ he bade her.

Ivy’s heart missed a beat when he held her gaze and she recognised the sensual promise in his eyes. His fingers brushed against the back of her neck as he unfastened the halter top of her dress. The shimmering silk fell away from her breasts and he cradled the pale mounds in his hands, brushing his thumbs across the dusky pink nipples until they stood proud and taut.

‘Don’t let go,’ he commanded softly, and she obeyed the deep timbre of his voice, for he was a magician and she was enchanted by him. She tightened her grip on the bed post and gasped when he bent his head and drew her nipple into his mouth.

The sensation of him sucking the tender peak was so intense that she pinched her thighs together, sure he must notice the musky scent of her arousal. He moved across to her other breast to mete out the same exquisite torture until she was utterly molten down below and her legs felt too weak to hold her upright.

With a tug, Rafa pulled her dress down, and it made a pool of white silk at her feet.‘Bellissima.’His breath tickled her stomach as he knelt in front of her and kissed his way down to the tiny scrap of white lace between her legs.

Ivy’s inhibitions disappeared and were replaced by a longing for him to touch her there. Her arms ached but she gripped the bed post tighter when Rafa pressed his mouth against the damp panel of her panties. It was not enough, she wanted to feel him...

‘Oh!’ The sheer delight of his mouth on her sensitive flesh when he eased her panties aside drew a moan from her. With a flick of his wrist, he pulled her knickers down and spread her legs apart so that he could bury his face between them. His tongue lapped her slick opening and then dipped inside her in a shockingly intimate caress that took her to the edge. She was powerless to stop the shudders that racked her body as he brought her closer, closer...

She climaxed hard against his mouth and the intensity of pleasure was beyond anything she’d ever experienced. How could she have done when this was all new to her? Only Rafa had ever used his mouth on her this way and, as the pulses of her orgasm faded, Ivy was ready for even greater pleasure.

But she was eager to give as well as receive. When he stood and uncurled her fingers from the post, she twined her arms around his neck and pressed her body against him. He lifted her up so that her pelvis was flush to his and she circled her hips over the hard ridge that strained beneath his trousers.

‘Witch!’ He growled. ‘I want the first time to be good for you,cara, but if you keep doing that I’m going to disappoint you and disgrace myself.’

She loved the rough tenderness in his voice. Her heart gave a jolt. Where had the L word come from? She quickly banished it and focused on what he could give her, instead of something that was never going to happen. Sex was going to happen, and she was aware of a little flutter of apprehension when Rafa laid her on the bed before he stripped off his clothes. His trousers hit the floor, followed by his boxers, and the awesome length of his erection made her catch her breath.

How was she here with this powerful, arrogant man who she knew did not trust her but nevertheless made her yearn for his possession with his mind-blowing passion? Perhaps he sensed her faint hesitation. He lay down beside her and drew her into his arms, one hand smoothing tendrils of hair off her face.

His kisses were unhurried and beguiling as he explored every dip and curve of her body with hands that were strong yet gentle. He made no demands, and she relaxed again and slipped into a world of sensory pleasure while heat unfurled inside her and licked through her veins, hotter, more intense, as his fingers parted her and prepared her.

When he took a condom from the bedside drawer, Ivy gave him a shy smile. ‘It’s okay if you’d rather not wear one. There won’t be any repercussions.’ She had come to terms with being infertile. But now she was a mother to her sister’s baby, and Bertie was very precious.

Her thoughts scattered when Rafa hesitated before he returned the condom to the drawer. There was a steely purpose in his eyes when he lifted himself over her and braced his weight on his elbows while he used one thigh to nudge hers apart. He was so beautiful and so big... Her eyes widened when she realised that it was actually going to happen, and she would have to take his hard shaft inside her.

He eased forward and she felt the tip of him press against her opening. Slowly, carefully, he pushed his solid length inside her, pausing every few seconds to allow her to adjust to the sensation of him possessing her.

There was mild discomfort rather than pain. She was aware of a feeling of fullness, of being stretched. She slid her hands along his shoulders and felt the strength in his bunched muscles. His clenched jaw told her of the restraint he was imposing on himself, and his consideration and gentleness brought tears to her eyes.

‘Cara, I’ll stop if I’m hurting you.’ His voice was gruff with remorse. He began to withdraw, but she wrapped her legs around his hips.

‘It’s fine, just...new.’

‘Dio, I knew you would kill me.’ He claimed her mouth in a tender kiss that quickly became intensely erotic as he began to move, pushing deeper into her, easing back and pushing again, a little further, a little harder, until the fire inside her burst into flame. They were in perfect accord. Her body arched to meet his powerful thrusts and his lips sought hers again and again, taking and giving, demanding and appeasing.

He filled her senses and there was only Rafa, her husband who did not love her but who made love to her so sublimely that her heart trembled with the beauty of it. He took her higher and her entire body trembled as she strove for some unknown place that she sensed was there but was frustratingly beyond her reach.

‘Relax and it will happen,’ he murmured. She wondered how he knew when she did not know herself what her body was desperately seeking. He increased his pace, and there was a new urgency in the way he drove into her. Deep in her feminine core, something was happening, little tremors that became more intense with each devastating thrust of his shaft into her molten heat.

He slipped his hand between their joined bodies and gave a twist of his fingers that sent her tumbling over the edge and into ecstasy. She cried out as her climax cascaded through her, pulsing waves that, when they finally started to ebb, left her limp, boneless and replete.

Rafa had waited while Ivy rode out her orgasm, but now he moved again in hard, rhythmic strokes that prolonged her pleasure as his built to a crescendo. He lifted his mouth from her breast and she felt the tension of the muscles in his back as he remained poised above her for timeless seconds before he gave one final thrust and groaned as he spilled inside her.

She wrapped her arms around his big shoulders and held him while the storm passed. It moved her deeply that this powerful man had come apart and she had been the cause of his downfall. Tenderness filled her and she pressed her lips against his throat and tasted his sweat. In the languorous afterglow of their spent desire, she never wanted to let him go.

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