Remembering how earlier he had asked her to touch him, she tentatively closed her fingers around his erection and began to stroke the hard length. She heard his swiftly indrawn breath and felt a little thrill of delight that she was able to arouse him as he had aroused her. She grew bolder and more inventive in the way she caressed him, but after a few moments he groaned and tugged her hand away.
As Dante lowered himself onto her, Rebekah caught her breath, feeling her muscles stretch around him as he pushed deeper and deeper until he filled her. She had forgotten how beautiful lovemaking was, she thought dazedly. But she could not remember that she had ever felt this sense of completeness with Gareth.
Dante began to move and withdrew almost completely, laughed softly when she protested, and repeated the process a little faster, thrusting deep and hard so that she gave a choked cry of pleasure and begged him not to stop.
But her husky plea had the opposite effect. He stilled and, with a savage imprecation, began to withdraw again.
Disbelief turned to panic when she realised he was actually going to stop making love to her. Was he turned off by her curvaceous body after all? She felt sick with humiliation and disappointment.
Her voice shook. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I forgot to use a condom,’ he informed her tersely. Inwardly, Dante cursed himself. He always without fail used protection. It was another of his golden rules—never get emotionally involved, and never ever risk an unwanted pregnancy. He could not believe he had been so irresponsible. What the hell was he doing having unprotected sex with Rebekah? Just because he had been blown away by her lush, curvaceous beauty was no excuse.
But even now his body was battling with his common sense. The lure of Rebekah’s velvet softness made him want to keep thrusting hard and fast into her until he achieved the release he craved.
‘I’m on the Pill.’
Her words were like a siren’s song, and Dante could not control his body’s reaction. Damn it, he could not remember ever being at the mercy of his hormones the way he was with Rebekah. He did not like the effect she had on him, but his willpower seemed to have taken a hike and he could not prevent himself from pressing forwards and sinking deeper into her sensual embrace.
‘You’re sure?’ Stupid question, he thought grimly. She was hardly likely to admit she was lying. He either believed her or he didn’t—his choice. With good reason he had vowed never to trust a woman again, but as he stared into her eyes he felt certain she was telling the truth. He relaxed, and at the same time his muscles tightened in anticipation. ‘I want to reassure you that I’ve always used protection for health reasons as much as to prevent conception,’ he told her.
Oh, God. Why did he have to make it sound so clinical? Rebekah knew she was blushing and felt angry for being so stupid. Dante was being sensible, and she should be glad that he was so realistic. When he had first started to withdraw from her the sense of disappointment had been unbearable and she had been desperate for him to continue making love to her. She was still desperate, she acknowledged, her breath quickening when she felt him stir within her. It felt as though all her nerve-endings were taut with anticipation to experience the sexual release she sensed he would give her.
‘I’m … healthy too,’ she mumbled. ‘I’ve only ever had one other partner, and … and that was a while ago.’
Did she mean that the only other guy she had slept with, apart from him, was the ex-boyfriend she had mentioned? Or had she had an affair after she’d broken up with the Welsh guy? Why was he curious? Dante wondered impatiently. All he cared about was that with the contraception issue dealt with, there was no reason not to continue giving in to the passion between them.
He rested his weight on his elbows and circled his hips against hers, giving her a lazy smile when she drew a swift breath.
‘So, there’s nothing to prevent me doing this?’ he murmured as he thrust forwards, drew back a little and thrust again with deep measured strokes that sent ripples of pleasure through him—and, from her wide-eyed expression, her too.
‘Yes … I mean … no, oh …’ Rebekah dug her nails into Dante’s shoulders and writhed helplessly beneath him as he drove into her again and again. ‘Don’t stop,’ she pleaded, uncaring that she sounded desperate. Each devastating thrust felt like the sweetest torture that built her excitement to an unbearable level. He was a magician, a sorcerer, who was creating mind-blowing magic that made her body tremble. She had never known sex could be like this, so intense and all-consuming that she felt as though if she died now it would be the sweetest death. She understood now why the French referred to sex as la petite mort—the little death.
And then she stopped thinking, as each of her senses focused on reaching the climax that she knew from experience often remained frustratingly out of reach. Dante had increased his pace and she knew from the harsh sound of his breathing that he was close to the edge.
‘Please wait,’ she muttered, and then tensed as she realised with agonising embarrassment that she had spoken her thoughts out loud.
Dante gave a soft laugh, but the unexpectedly gentle expression in his eyes reassured her that he was not laughing at her. ‘Of course I will wait for you, cara. Do you think I would take my pleasure without first ensuring yours?’ Was that the kind of selfish behaviour she was used to with her ex-boyfriend? he wondered. He had heard the faint desperation in her voice and he was determined to make this the best sexual experience she had ever had.
‘Let me see if I can help,’ he murmured as he bent his head and flicked his tongue across her nipple, teasing it and tormenting it until she whimpered and he transferred his mouth to its twin.
The sensation of Dante sucking hard on each of her nipples in turn while he continued to thrust powerfully into her drove Rebekah wild. She arched her hips and gave a little sob when he slipped his hand between their joined bodies and found her most sensitive spot. The pleasure he induced when he caressed her there was so intense that she cried out. And suddenly she was at the edge of the precipice, suspended for a few breathless seconds before she tumbled into ecstasy. The explosive orgasm was unlike anything she had ever experienced. It blew her mind and sent convulsive shudders of pleasure through her so that she threw her head back against the armrest of the sofa and could not hold back her husky cries of amazement.
It was too much for Dante. Watching Rebekah come apart so spectacularly was highly erotic. He felt the pressure build inside him until it was intolerable and, with a final thrust, he reached the exquisite moment of release and gave a savage groan.
For a long time afterwards they lay with their bodies still joined, Dante with his head pillowed on her breasts while he dragged oxygen into his lungs. That had been good, he mused. He hadn’t had such intensely satisfying sex for a long while. Maybe never that good, a little voice inside his head pointed out. One thing he was certain of was that once was not going to be enough. His body was already stirring as he contemplated making love to Rebekah again. But, for now, curiously he was in no rush to move and break the languorous aftermath of physical pleasure that had left him feeling deeply relaxed.
Rebekah’s pounding heart gradually resumed its normal rhythm. A sweet lassitude made her muscles feel heavy, but inside her head a voice was saying wow! A rueful smile curved her lips. So that was what she had been missing all these years. Her sex life with Gareth had never set the world alight. Making love with Dante had been a revelation. But there was a danger that it could become addictive, which was why she could not allow it to happen again. The pang her heart gave at the thought that this was a once-only event was a timely warning that it would be far too easy to fall for him.
She pushed against his shoulder, wondering what the protocol was now. Presumably they would spend the remainder of the night in their own rooms. Should