Page 19 of Bite Marks

His grin widened. “They were all after you, coming left, right, and center. I didn’t have to use any punches or kicks, but I stared quite a few guys back to their seats. I wasn’t going to miss one dance with my little butterfly.”

Heat blossomed in her cheeks but also in her core. She’d been so in tune with the music and the movements that Nunzio’s harsh glares would have easily gone unnoticed. “Why do you call me butterfly?”

“It’s what your name means. You didn’t know that?”

She was a little more than surprised he would know that. He didn’t seem like the type. “Didn’t think you’d know it since it’s Greek. Did you look it up?”

He took her coffee from her hands and set it on the end table. Reaching across her, his massive chest washed her with his heat and spicy scent. Vanessa restrained herself from grabbing him and stripping him of his jacket. Instead, she bit her lip and curled her toes as she swam in him for that all too brief moment.

When he sat back, he said, “Boró na milíso Elliniká.”

She blinked up at him. “What?”

“I can speak Greek,” he said in Italian.

She gawked up at him. “So you know English, Italian, and Greek? Any other languages, Mr. Worldly?”

He shook his head. “I grew up learning the first two. A few years back, I decided to learn another one and randomly picked Greek. Took about two years, and I still have a hard time with it, but I’m getting better. I probably sound more like a gorilla speaking Greek than I do English.”

Vanessa laughed as if she were being tickled because he was probably right. “I can just imagine us in Athens, and you are trying to order something in Greek, and the server just looks at you as if you’re growing a second head.”

Nunzio chuckled, but his eyes never lost that hunger. “You can imagineusin Athens?”

The air swooped out of Vanessa when the realization of what she’d said hit her like a heavyweight’s body shot. “Oh … Well, I … I just …”

Nunzio’s hand on her knee caused another realization … how much he was leaning in. It hadn’t dawned on her how far she sat under him, completely in his shadow. His smile took on a mischievous edge. “Don’t worry. I’m just teasing you.”

The heat from her core burned her mind. “Is that all?” she whispered.

He shook his head. “I know how much you like to tease me. I like teasing you too.”

She sank into the couch’s pillowy cushions, taking his heat in and using it to stoke the fire in her that the music and dance had roaring less than an hour ago. Her hand lightly grabbed at the lapel of his jacket, rubbing the silk between her fingers and opening it. She smiled at him. “It’s fun.”

“You’re fun.”

He leaned down, and her chest and head rose to meet him. His lips crashed over hers like a merciless storm full of thunder and lightning. The electric currents jolted through her system, bringing all her passion and desire to the surface. His arms wrapped her up, pulling her into him while her hands pressed against his chest, not to push him away, but to feel the man beneath her fingers.

There was a lot to feel, but those damn clothes were in her way.

TEN

VANESSA

Vanessa tugged at his coat. She was far too caught up in his lips to do much more than indulge herself in the kiss. Her hands slid up to his neck and jaw, holding him in place over her. His movements jostled her as he took off the Armani silk, but it was closer to a rhythmic motion than something that would jar her out of this dreamy haze.

A piece of her wanted to take one last look at him in the full suit. He was such a snack. GQ Man of the Year contender. Seeing him so sharp, so suave, it was no wonder women couldn’t resist him. But she couldn’t break their lip lock. She couldn’t let go of that sweet, electric embrace.

Nunzio removed his tie but didn’t go for the buttons of his waistcoat.More points to him.

Vanessa wanted it slow, she loved a good build, and with the foundation of the night, if Nunzio took his time, he’d have her wrapped around his little finger.

His arm flowed down her back, under her bottom, to her thighs. He slid her legs across his lap before his hand slipped under her dress. If his hand were on the inside of her thigh, she’d have broken the kiss, but with his hand traveling up the outside, she reveled in the skin-on-skin contact once he’d reached past her nylons. Fingers danced along the curve of her ass, and a needy moan escaped her when they dug into her supple flesh, pulling her against him harder.

He let out a lusty growl into her mouth, sending a wave reverberating along those electric tingles, making them bounce around her in new, chaotic ways. His lips peeled off hers as he pulled her in, taking her neck with his teeth.

She gasped and giggled, holding his head against her. He was going to leave a mark with the way he attacked her neck with his lips. The way he snipped at her on occasion had her biting her lip, rolling against him in pleasure, and part of her wanted him to keep nibbling on her, but when he came back to her lips, she gladly welcomed him home.

His arm under her dress raised the skirt higher as he continued to circle his large hand against her butt, sending more tingles through her body. His body was like a battery. Those gray storm clouds he called eyes supercharged every pore on him. The only thing was …These damn clothes!

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