Page 44 of The Housekeeper and the Brooding Billionaire

Horrified, Alessio moved to withdraw.

Sharp fingernails dug into his skin, and she looped her slender leg over his as if to hold him still.

‘I hurt you?’ His throat was thick.

‘Only for a second. And not hurt really, more...’ She paused and dragged in air, making her breasts torment him as they slid against his labouring chest. ‘I feel fine. More than fine.’ She wrapped her other leg around his thighs, then jiggled her hips so she could encircle his buttocks with her legs. ‘I want you, Alessio.Please.’

Those words banished a rusty conscience that told him he should withdraw completely. Because he didn’t mess with virgins.

She’s not a virgin anymore.

It wasn’t logic that convinced him, it was that pout, that sexy moue of pink lips, as if she begged for something only he could give her.

When in fact it was she giving everything to him.

The realisation sank deep into his soul, past the years of pain and isolation, to a place he hadn’t known existed any longer. A place that craved warmth and connection. And Charlotte’s beguiling body.

Knowing he’d have to battle his conscience and his curiosity later, Alessio gave in. He was only a man, after all, more flawed than most, and no man could resist the irresistible.

Holding her close, he rolled over so she lay above him. He watched her eyes widen and felt a tiny punch of satisfaction as her legs slid down to straddle him, and he tilted his hips, sliding deeper into welcoming heat.

‘Hold on to my shoulders and sit straight.’

She was delightfully eager, and each movement sorely tested him. But it was worth it to have her seated there, taking all of him.

‘Okay?’ he grunted, barely leashing the need to set a driving rhythm.

‘Oh, yes.’ Her fingertips curled against his shoulders, digging deeper as she shifted, eyes widening at the sensation of them sliding together.

Alessio grasped her hips, urging her up. Somehow, even as he battled the compulsion to lose himself, it was Charlotte’s look of wonder and delight that took centre stage.

She sank back and he thrust up, feeling her tell-tale shiver of response inside that made the sweat break out on his brow as he fought to go slow. Her skin flushed a deep rose, and he wanted to taste her again.

He held back. As her first lover, he had a duty to make this as good as possible for her. Yet it wasn’t duty driving him. He wanted her in ecstasy even more than he needed his own release, even though it felt like waiting any longer might kill him.

Charlotte found her pace, her breaths quickening, her bright eyes holding his as he cupped and fondled her breasts, feeling the momentum build within her. Finally, as they both sped towards the inevitable peak, he gave in to his body’s desperate urging and drew her down against him so they touched all the way down their bodies. He took control of their rhythm when she faltered and captured her lips with his.

Her mouth tasted as sweet as he’d imagined through all those lonely days and nights. She tasted like the promise of spring after the longest drear winter.

Restraint was impossible. Her silken hair tangled in his fingers as Alessio grabbed the back of her head and held her to him. Their lips fused as he plundered her mouth in time with the desperate plunge of their bodies.

Charlotte moaned, and he swallowed the sound.

He didn’t understand how, but that felt every bit as intimate as the age-old dance of their striving bodies.

That sound, the taste of her on his tongue, the indescribable perfection of their thrusting bodies were too much. Alessio felt the surging rush of sensation from the back of his skull to his groin, knowing he couldn’t wait any longer. But then it didn’t matter because at last her spasming muscles signalled her climax, drawing him tighter, milking him into ecstasy.

His last thought was to hold her safe and tight against him as they leapt together into fiery oblivion.

Alessio hugged her to him as their thundering pulses finally slowed. How long he’d lain with Charlotte in his arms he didn’t know. Just that he wasn’t ready to relinquish the lingering remnants of bliss.

Finally he rolled onto his side and Charlotte with him so she lay facing him, their bodies still welded together.

Her hair was in disarray, her eyes closed, and those soft lips slightly swollen from the desperate way he’d plundered her mouth. It amazed him how touching his lips to hers had undone him when he’d been able to withstand earlier temptations.

Her skin was flushed and she’d never looked more alluring.

A tiny shudder rippled down his spine.

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