Page 11 of The Sicilian’s Deal For 'I Do'

She nodded, quickly. ‘Oh, yes,’ she groaned, twisting beneath him, her muscles squeezing his length, so he pushed aside chivalric duty and any concerns of decency and focused on what she’d come here for. There’d be time to interrogate and analyse. Later.

Pushing back up to watch her properly, he moved gently, slowly, then he gave up on studying her because he needed to kiss her, to taste her, his mouth hungrily seeking hers, his tongue emulating his body’s rhythms, his hands greedily running over her, finding her breasts, weighing them, running fingers across her nipples until she was crying out, exploding, her orgasm sharp and explosive, almost robbing him of his own control, but Luca refused to finish yet, refused for this to be over. He waited—barely—for her to come back to earth, for her breathing to slow, and then he was moving again, faster and harder this time, the sound of their flesh slapping together driving him almost over the edge, so he gritted his teeth, waited, watched, listened for Mia’s own cries to grow sharp and desperate and only then did he let go of his control and join her in the sublime ecstasy of post-orgasm euphoria.

He rolled off Mia, onto his back, staring at the ceiling, taking a second to regain his wits, trying to order his thoughts, but her breathing was so rushed, her body so close, that it was impossible. He needed proper space from her. He needed to move away from her fragrance, her nearness, from the temptation to reach out and touch her.

‘Give me a moment,’ he muttered, standing, prowling from his room and into the adjoining bathroom, bracing his palms on the edge of the sink, staring at his reflection, waiting for the world to start making sense again.

Luca was very rarely surprised.

He generally considered himself to be a good judge of people, and yet he hadn’t expected this. He’d thought Mia’s quivering innocence to be an act. He’d thought her a very, very good liar.

Because when she’d kissed him, out by the car, her body had instinctively responded to his—she hadn’t seemed like a virgin then. She’d been a siren, calling to him, inviting him, begging him...and he’d wanted to listen. He’d been so angry that night. So angry with her, her parents, for the discovery his team had just informed him of. If he’d slept with her then, it would have been to punish her, and, while Luca knew he had a dark side, he wasn’t, he hoped, quite so messed up to resort to using sex for anything other than giving and taking pleasure...

He bit back a curse, because whatever tonight had been, it had gone in a different direction from what he’d anticipated.

He took his time. He needed to. Removing and disposing of the condom, he then had a quick shower, hoping the water would bring clarity, so he could go back out there and calmly ask Mia just what the hell she was thinking not to at leasttell himthat she’d never been with a man before.

But much to Luca’s disgust, whenever he contemplated that, all he could focus on was the fact that he was her first, and a primal, ancient thrill made him grow hard again.

It was ten long, disjointed minutes before Luca felt he could join Mia, and when he stalked into his room, he did so with a command: ‘Okay, Mia Marini, explain yourself, right now.’

But there was no answer, because there was no Mia. She’d disappeared into thin air.

‘G’day.’

Max Stone’s broad Australian accent boomed down the phone line. Luca, in a foul temper, furrowed his brow. He could practically hear the sunshine and salt water in Max’s tone, and imagined him somewhere near one of their pearl farms, happy, relaxed, the exact opposite of how Luca was feeling.

‘Max. What’s up?’

‘Just checking in. Did you have a look at the prospectus I sent you?’

Luca ground his teeth. His father had been trying to get Luca interested in the Stone family business for years—he took a direct approach and Luca enjoyed giving a direct answer: no. But Max was more skilled. He waved things beneath Luca’s nose that would be almost impossible to ignore.

‘I glanced at it,’ Luca lied. The figures for opening a new flagship Stone store in Tulsa were persuasive, and Max knew it as well as Luca. What Max was really asking was for Luca to weigh in on some of the trickier decisions, such as location and size.

These were matters Luca had no intention of discussing, even though he’d immediately formed some thoughts.

‘And?’

He dragged a hand through his hair. ‘And, to be completely honest, the Stone stores are the last things on my mind right now.’

Silence crackled, and Luca grimaced, because he’d made an uncharacteristic error. When talking with Max, he had to keep his wits about him—his brother was too insightful and could read Luca like a book. If Luca even got close to intimating that he’d been obsessively thinking about the woman he slept with last night, Max would push for more details and before Luca knew it he’d be revealing that he’d seduced the woman he’d been supposed to marry a year ago.

It wasn’t as if he kept secrets from Max. He’d never needed to. But the whole business with the Marini family was something Luca didn’t want to discuss.

And he definitely didn’t see the need to go into last night.

Luca was a man who liked to be in control, and things with Mia had spiralled way, way out of his comfort zone. She was different from what he’d expected, and her virginity had caught him totally off guard. So too her disappearing act.

With a tightening of his jaw, he stared straight ahead, eyes sweeping the view without really seeing it.

‘Come on. I’d love your input.’

Luca let out a harsh laugh. ‘You’d love me to sign my life away on the bottom line.’

‘Don’t be so dramatic.’ Luca could hear his brother’s grin. ‘Besides, would it really be so bad to join the family business?’

Luca gripped his phone tighter, that simple, throwaway phrase one Max used without thinking, without any idea how it goaded Luca.

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