Serena felt as if she was in a dream. Had she, in fact, had this dream more often than once in the past seven years? She lifted her hand to the back of her head, feeling incredibly languid, and removed the discreet pin. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders, making her nerve-ends tingle even more.

      Luca reached out and ran his fingers through it, then fisted it in one hand as the other reached around her to draw her into him again, kissing her with ruthless passion, tongue thrusting deep.

      Serena’s legs were starting to wobble. Luca’s mouth was remorseless, sending her brain into a tailspin.

      His hands came to the shoulders of her dress and pulled with gentle force, so the material slipped down her arms, loosening around her chest. She broke away from his mouth and looked up into dark pools of blue, feeling insecure.

      Her arms came up against her breasts. Luca drew back and gently tugged them away, pulling the front of the dress down, leaving her bared to him.

      She wore no bra, and Luca’s gaze was so hot her skin sizzled. He reached out a hand and cupped the weight of one breast, a thumb moving over one puckered nipple. She bit her lip to stop from moaning out loud.

      And then Luca put his hands on her hips and pulled her into him, hard enough to make her gasp, and replaced his thumb with his mouth, suckling on that hard peak roughly, making her back arch.

      His erection was insistent against her and Serena’s hips moved of their own volition.

      Luca lifted his head. ‘Feiticeira.’

      Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth, ‘What does that mean?’

      ‘Witch,’ Luca replied succinctly.

      And he kissed her again before her mind could catch up with the fact that his hands were now pushing her dress down over her hips so that it fell to the floor in a silken swish.

      He put one hand between their bodies and Serena held her breath when he explored down over her belly and lower, until he was gently pushing her legs apart so that he could feel for himself how ready she was.

      Serena felt gauche, but wanton, as Luca moved his hand between her legs, over her panties. She lowered her head to his shoulder when her face got hot, and her breathing grew harsher when his wicked fingers moved against her insistently.

      He slipped a finger under the gusset of her panties and touched her, flesh to flesh. Serena bit her lip hard enough to make tears spring into her eyes. She wanted to clamp her thighs together—the sensation was too much—but Luca’s hand was too strong.

      Her legs finally gave way and she collapsed back onto the bed, heart thumping erratically.

      Luca started to undo his shirt, revealing that broad and exquisitely muscled chest. A smattering of dark hair covered his pectorals, leading down in a silky line under his trousers to where she could see the bulge of his arousal.

      Serena’s brain melted and she welcomed it. She didn’t want to think or analyse—only feel.

      His hands moved to his trousers and he undid them and pushed them down, taking his underwear with them. His erection was awe-inspiring. Long and thick and hard, a bead of moisture at the tip.

      ‘Seven years, Serena,’ he said throatily, ‘For seven years I’ve wanted you above any other woman. No one came close to how I imagined this.’

      She looked up at him, taken aback. She watched as he reached for something in a drawer in the side table. He rolled protection over his length. There was something unashamedly masculine about the action.

      ‘Lie back,’ he instructed gruffly.

      Serena did, glad he was giving instructions because she couldn’t seem to formulate a single coherent thought.

      Luca curled his fingers under the sides of her panties and gently took them off. Now she was naked. And even though she’d been naked in front of men before it had never felt like this. As if she was being reborn.

      Luca came down over her on strong arms, their bodies barely touching. He kissed her, and those broad shoulders blocked everything out. Serena reached up, desperate for contact again, her hands touching his chest and moving down the sides of his body, reaching around to his back, sliding over taut, sleek muscles.

      Luca broke away. ‘You’re killing me. I need you...now. Spread your legs for me.’

      Serena’s entire body seemed to spasm at that husky entreaty. She moved her legs apart and Luca came down over her, his body pressing against hers. She could feel the thick blunt head of him pushing against her, seeking entrance.

      She opened her legs wider, every cell in her body straining towards this union. Aching for it. She looked up at him, her whole body on the edge of some unknown precipice.

      As if some lingering tension shimmering between them had just dissolved, Luca thrust in, hard and deep, and Serena cried out at the exquisite invasion.

      It was sore...he was so big...but even as she had that thought the pain was already dissipating to be replaced by a heady sensation of fullness.

      ‘Serena?’

      She opened her eyes. Luca was frowning. She hadn’t realised that she was biting her lip.

      He started to withdraw. ‘I’ve hurt you.’

      There was a quality to his voice Serena had never heard before. She gripped him tight with her thighs, trapping him. ‘No,’ she said huskily. ‘You’re not hurting me... It’s...been a while.’

      He stopped, and for an infinitesimal moment Serena thought he was going to withdraw completely. But then he slowly thrust in again and relief rushed through her.

      Luca reached under her back, arching her up into him more as he kept up a steady rhythm that made it hard to breathe. She could feel her inner muscles tight around him, saw his gritted jaw, the intense look of concentration on his face.

      Luca pressed a searing kiss to her mouth before trailing his lips down, closing them over one nipple and then the other, forcing Serena’s back to arch again as spasm after spasm of tiny pleasures rushed through her core.

      She locked her feet around the back of Luca’s body and he went deeper, but she couldn’t break free of that sliver of control that kept her bound, kept her from soaring to the stars. A blinding flash of insight hit her like a smack in the face: she recognised now why she couldn’t let go in this moment of intense intimacy—the reason why she’d never let herself feel this deeply before—it was because she’d always been too afraid of losing control.

      Which was ironic. But being out of control on drink and medication had been—perversely—within her control. This wasn’t. This was threatening to wrench her out of herself in a way that was frankly terrifying.

      A small sob of need escaped Serena’s mouth as that elusive pinnacle seemed to fade into the distance. The turmoil in her chest and body was burning her. But she couldn’t let go—even as she heard a guttural sound coming from Luca’s mouth and felt his body tense within her before deep tremors shook his big frame and his body thrust against her with the unconscious rhythm of his own release.

      She felt hollowed out, unsatisfied.

      Luca withdrew from her body, breathing harshly, and Serena winced minutely as her muscles relaxed their tight grip. As soon as Luca released her from the prison of his arms she felt the need to escape and left the bed.

      She barely heard him call her name as she shut the bathroom door behind her, locking it. Her legs were shaking and tears burned the back of her eyes as the magnitude of what had just happened sank in. There was something fundamentally flawed, deep inside her. She’d been broken so long ago that she couldn’t function normally now. And Luca had to be the one to demonstrate this to her. The ignominy was crushing.

      Serena blindly reached into the shower and turned the spray to hot, stepping underneath and lifting her face up to the rush of water. Her tears slid