Page 52 of Forgotten Mistress, Secret Love-Child
Impossibly, it was as good as before. Better.
He didn’t understand.
But he ceased thinking as Carys wrapped her legs around his hips and told him exactly how much she wanted him.
Aeons later Alessandro’s drumming heartbeat slowed and he recovered enough to roll his weight off Carys and pull her onto him. Only then did his brain engage.
Despite the incredible pleasure they’d shared, his thoughts were nothing but trouble.
Above all was the niggling, astonishing idea that sex with Carys felt too good to be just about physical release.
That it felt profoundly important.
Like coming home.
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘PAPA! Papa!’ Leo’s screams of delight resounded in the glassedin room that housed the villa’s full-length pool.
Carys looked up from her paper to see Alessandro rise out of the water like a sleek, mighty sea god, all honed muscle and heart-stopping virility. The kick of her heartbeat accelerating played havoc with her breathing.
Every night since their wedding Carys had shared a bed with him. She hadn’t been able to resist. She’d learned again the feel, scent and taste of that superbly sculpted body. Learned too the passion and pleasure he could unleash in her. Yet familiarity with his magnificent body didn’t lessen the intensity of her reactions. Just the sight of Alessandro, almost naked in low-slung swimming trunks, set a pulse thrumming deep in her womb.
With casual ease he threw Leo in the air then caught him again, spinning him round, toes dragging in the warm water. Leo squealed with glee, holding tight toAlessandro’s sinewy forearms.
Her son. Her husband.
A flash of heat speared Carys at the sight of them together, delighting in each other’s company.
Stupidly, emotion clogged her throat.
Alessandro and Leo were developing the sort of relationship she’d dreamed of for her son. At first Alessandro had been wary, almost diffident, as if dealing with a baby was tantamount to meeting an alien being. But gradually he’d become adept at handling his child and a camaraderie had begun to build between them, a relationship that was based on far more than duty.
She knew about that sort of relationship. Initially she’d feared that, though Alessandro had been adamant he wanted his son, adamant enough even to marry her, he’d be the sort of parent she’d suffered. The sort who provided the necessities of life, and even some of the comforts, but never quite connected with their child. The sort who saw parenting as an obligation, especially when their child was a cuckoo in the nest, unlike them or their other offspring.
‘Papa!’ Leo’s voice grew shriller as he demanded another aerial stunt.
Carys lowered her newspaper and turned more fully towards the pool, looking over her glasses. That high-pitched tone was a sure sign that Leo was tired and over-stimulated by this exciting new game. If it continued he’d end in tears.
She opened her mouth to warn Alessandro and suggest it was time to finish, but he forestalled her. He lowered Leo into the water and gently towed him along, pointing out the richly coloured sea creatures featured at the bottom of the enormous mural covering the end wall. After a few grizzly moments Leo became intrigued, leaning forward in his dad’s arms and trying to repeat some of the words.
Carys leant back. Alessandro really was developing an understanding of his son. It was there in his eyes when he looked at Leo, in the calm encouragement and occasional firm reprimands he gave. He had a natural aptitude for parenting.
He enjoyed being with Leo. Why else would he spend so much time here at the villa, ignoring the lure of the office?
Alessandro still drove himself, working long hours, but increasingly those hours became flexible. Today he’d arrived mid-afternoon, at a time when Carys and Leo were always in the pool. Instead of closeting himself in his office or taking important calls, he’d spent the last half hour in the water with Leo.
She’d done the right thing. Leo and Alessandro were building something that would last a lifetime. Respect and love. The sort of relationship she’d longed for as a kid. The sort she’d vowed her son would have. Now he’d have it with both parents.
Even if all that kept those parents together was their child. And lust.
She grimaced, ashamed to admit the all-consuming hunger Alessandro sparked in her.
The lust would fade, on Alessandro’s part, at least. Carys was a novelty still, and she was here, available, all too ready to accede to his every sensual demand.
Heaven help her when he lost interest in her!
For with every day spent here in his home, every night cocooned in his arms, sated from his lovemaking, Carys felt the tendrils of her old feelings bud again. She tried to resist, to remind herself that what she felt wasn’t reciprocated, that this was a marriage of convenience.
