“Come too quickly? I did.” He dipped his head and kissed her, his voice a soft, sensual growl when next he spoke. “I assure you this is no longer a problem.”
Faith strained toward him, even though she was already close. She wanted him to kiss her again, to kiss her the way he had in his office, to make her forget everything but him and this moment together. Her body hummed with excitement, with anticipation and nerves and a zillion other feelings that were sparking and zapping inside her.
So long as he kissed her, the fear was submersed beneath the need.
One hand spanned her jaw, and then his mouth slanted over hers again, taking her roughly. She was shocked—and aroused. She wanted this kiss, wanted it just like this. Because it reminded her of last night, in the car, when he’d seemed so barely controlled that she’d thought he would tear her clothes off and make her his in a too-small sports car parked in the Tuscan countryside.
“Faith,” he murmured. “You are so sweet. So intoxicating. Why did I not realize this before?”
“Renzo.” His name was a sigh.
His lips touched hers again, and then his tongue slid against hers like silk and she moaned. She knew the rhythm so well now. Knew it as if she’d been born to kiss this one particular man for eternity.
She expected that he would quickly tire of the kissing and try to move on to the main event. That’s what Jason had done on the fateful night when she’d refused him. She’d felt so badly afterward that she’d committed the single biggest error of her life.
Tonight, however, was not an error. She was twenty-six, more than responsible for herself—and more than ready to experience lovemaking.
Renzo kissed her endlessly, tirelessly, as if he had all night to do so. The tension in her body wound tighter and tighter until she throbbed with it. She wanted him so badly that it hurt—physically hurt—not to have him.
She was on fire. She wanted her clothes off, wanted to feel the cool air wafting over her sweat-sheened skin. Renzo must have sensed it, because he stood then and pulled her with him. Without a word, they climbed the stairs to the second floor, where he tugged her into his arms and kissed her even while he moved her inexorably toward her bedroom.
A moment later, he scooped her up and carried her into the room—not hers, she realized, but his. This room was even bigger than the one she was staying in, and furnished with antiques, priceless art and a large bed with white linens that he laid her on before coming down over top of her.
Faith wrapped her arms around his neck, arched her body toward his. His arousal came as no surprise, considering the way she felt. He was big, hard, and he moved his hips against hers until she caught fire. Her body spiraled toward the peak, but he did not let her reach it. Before she fell over the edge, he stopped, moved down her body, kissed her throat, the exposed skin at the top of her dress.
Then he lifted himself onto his knees and shrugged out of his shirt while she bit her lip and stared. His eyes were so hot, so full of promise, as he gazed down on her.
“You could not have chosen a sexier dress, Faith,” he said, his voice rough. His fingers strayed to the tie at her waist. “You wrapped yourself up for me, and I’ve been looking forward to the unwrapping all night.”
RENZO tugged at the knot at her waist until it came free. Faith held her breath as he undid the inner knot—and then he opened the dress as if he were opening a present, his eyes gleaming appreciatively as they slid over her.
She’d never been so open to a man in her life, and yet she didn’t feel exposed. She felt beautiful, desirable. She didn’t envy the Katie Palmers of the world at this moment. No, it was they who should envy her. Because this gorgeous, gorgeous man was looking at her like she was the only one in the world who could satisfy him.
It might only be temporary, might only be for this one moment in time, but she didn’t care. Right now, he was hers. She could see it in his eyes, in his beautiful masculine body. His entire focus was on her, and she knew she wouldn’t be the same after tonight.
Renzo shook his head slowly. “What have you been hiding from me, Faith? For six long months, you’ve been hiding this sexy body.”
He made her blush. “At this point, I’m a sure thing,” she said, her heart beating hard. “You don’t have to flatter me to get your way.”
He looked so serious. “It is not flattery, Faith. It’s truth. You are incredibly sexy.” He spread his hand over her belly. It wasn’t a flat belly, not like his, and she bit her lip as embarrassment sliced through her.
“Renzo—”
“I love your skin,” he told her, as if she hadn’t spoken. “So creamy and pale. And your curves.” He sucked in a breath. “Dio, Faith, your curves could kill a man if he weren’t careful.”
His hand slid down over her hip, skimmed over the silk of her panties, and then back up to cup a breast. His other hand went behind her back, unsnapped her bra, and then he was lifting it off her arms—along with the dress—and tossing it aside.
“They aren’t perfect,” Faith blurted. “They aren’t round and perky and firm.”
Renzo put a finger over her lips. “Don’t talk, cara mia. Feel.”
He bent until his mouth hovered over one stiff nipple. “I love your breasts. They are real. Round and firm, as you say, is usually made of silicone.”
He licked the tip of her nipple, and her sex tightened. “Renzo,” she gasped.
“Yes, amore, feel.”
He made love to her nipples then, licking and sucking the stiff little points until she wanted to scream. She’d never known that arousal could be painful until tonight. Because she burned for more than this, exquisite as it was. She burned for his body inside hers, for the sweetness of a shattering climax. She was gasping with need, writhing beneath him, and still he wouldn’t put her out of her misery.
When he moved down her body, his mouth skimming her flesh, she cried out. If this was what making love felt like, why had she waited so long?
Because this was what making love with Renzo felt like. It would not have been the same with another man.
He tugged her panties from her hips, sliding them from her legs, and then he brought her to his mouth and slid his tongue along the seam of her sex. She arched up off the bed when he did so, her entire body on fire in a way she’d never before experienced. Of course she’d had self-induced orgasms before, but she’d never felt this kind of excitement in the buildup.
Renzo spread her with his thumbs. The instant his tongue touched her soft, sensitive core, she came apart with a cry. The sensations had been building for so long, her body growing so tight with it, that she needed nothing else to send her plunging over the edge. He didn’t take his mouth off her as she shattered. Instead, he pushed her harder over the edge, kept the pressure focused on that one spot, his tongue darting and swirling long after she would have thought she had nothing left.
When it was over, she closed her eyes and turned her head into the pillow. Embarrassment echoed through her. And something else. Something hot and dark and ecstatic.
And yet she was surprised to realize that she wasn’t completely satisfied. She felt boneless, liquid—and edgy. There was more, so much more that she’d not yet experienced.
“Dio, you are sexy,” Renzo said, his voice roughened with passion. “The things I want to do to you, Faith. You tempt me beyond what is reasonable.”
She couldn’t speak as he stood and stripped off his trousers. She could only