Page 49 of Unveiled As The Italian's Bride
She was grinning. He could make that out in the shadowy darkness of the bedroom. It was a little after eight, and the shutters and heavy voile panels only allowed slivers of light through, even though outside the day had already begun.
He couldn’t believe that he was here, in a luxury riad in Morocco for three nights. Since when had Morocco ever been on his list of desired holiday destinations? Actually, when had he ever had a list of desired holiday destinations anyway?
But Kate had laughingly mentioned Morocco, had mentioned that it had always sounded so glamorous when she had been travelling around with her parents, absorbing information like a sponge and dreaming of seeing places without the headache of living in and out of boxes.
And, without bothering to think, he had got his PA to book the most luxurious place in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, nestled in Berber territory. Every stick of furniture and every artefact in the spacious suite had been hand-sourced from Indonesia, India and North Africa. They had had a veritable sermon on the subject the evening before, when they had been shown to their over-the-top luxurious quarters. There was an infinity pool and they had their own magnificent plunge-pool.
Dante had been tempted to tell the enthusiastic lad that the marvels of the décor and the hand-picked furnishings were irrelevant, when his eyes were only programmed to linger on the woman standing next to him, quivering with excitement.
‘Do you ever think about anything but sex, Dante?’ she said lightly, slinging a tee-shirt over her head and slipping into some discarded knickers.
‘It’s very hard when I’m around you.’
‘There’s a ton of things we can do.’
‘I’ll bet you can’t interest me in any of them. Or maybe just one...’
‘We can go hiking. It’s stunning here—breath-taking. The mountains...the greenery... Do you know there are even peacocks in the grounds? It’s amazing.’
‘How do you know all that?’
‘I read the blurb in the information pack in one of the drawers. There’s the hiking, there are day excursions to explore the area, there are cooking courses...’
‘You can forget that particular one,’ Dante said drily, reluctantly abandoning the bed but not bothering to get dressed. ‘I’m not interested in doing something other people are so much better at doing for me.’
‘Lazy.’ But her eyes darkened and she stood still, appreciating the raw, masculine appeal of the guy strolling towards her, totally uninhibited and at ease with his nakedness.
He smiled slowly and she blushed and tried to unscramble her whirring mind. ‘You arenotgoing to distract me,’ she said in a muffled voice, but the closer he came the faster her body revved into fifth gear and, when he stopped in front of her, breathing had become a challenge.
‘Sure about that?’ He eased her towards him, their bodies pressed close, and guided her hand to his erection.
He pushed off the clothes, just. The tee shirt was half-on, half-off, one shoulder exposed, pulling against the soft smallness of her breast. As she caressed him, he played with her nipple, teasing it until she was moaning, head thrown back, eyelids fluttering.
She was definitely distracted.
‘Wait...’ he murmured. ‘I think you’re distracting me more than I promised to distract you. That wasn’t part of the deal...’
He lowered himself and knelt at her feet, easing down the underwear, which she stepped out of and then gently parted her legs and surrendered on a sigh of utter bliss as he dipped his tongue...
Her whole body quivered under the devastating impact of that hot caress. Her fingers curled into his dark hair and her mind went blank. Each flick of his tongue carried her higher and higher until she was tipping over the edge, flooded with pleasure and ecstasy, and then slowly coming down from that high to a glorious feeling of contentment.
When she opened her eyes and looked down at him, gazing at his dark head, never had she felt so at peace in her life before.
A wave of confusion rolled over her.
She knew excitement when she was around him, a feeling of living life on the edge and trying out stuff for the first time. Beingalivefor the first time as a woman.
But this peace? Her heart was thumping as she drew back with a wobbly smile.
‘That was very bad of you,’ she teased shakily. She cleared the fog in her head and things settled back into place.
‘In which case,’ Dante murmured silkily into her ear, ‘maybe you’d like to punish me later...?’
He heard the ping of his phone with another work message and ignored it.
He was getting good at doing that. He had another couple of days here, and so what if he took some time out and temporarily put work on hold?
‘So we’ve agreed to scrap the boring cookery class,’ he drawled. ‘I’m amenable to an excursion but only if it’s followed by a dip in our plunge pool, dinner served in our rooms and all sorts of fun afterwards. Deal?’
