Rising Stars & It Started With… Collections. Кейт Хьюит
want you, Tina,” he said, dipping his head to place a soft kiss on her cheek. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back as his mouth traced a path along her jaw and down the column of her throat. “Too much,” he murmured against her skin, and the vibration of his voice dripped into her bloodstream like pure adrenaline. “I’ve thought of nothing but this for hours now.”
A thrill rocketed through her. “I should tell you no,” she said on a little half gasp as his lips found the sweet spot behind her ear.
“It’s inevitable, bella. You want me as I want you.”
“I might,” she admitted. “But I’m not exactly thrilled with how you’ve treated me.”
He lifted his head to look at her. “The prenup was necessary. You know that.”
She shrugged, but she didn’t remove her hands from his shoulders. “I do know. But you could have picked a better time.”
He sighed, his palms sliding along her hips. “It wasn’t ready before then. It takes time to put together a document of that size.”
“I realize that, Nico. I’m not stupid. But you could have told me earlier that we’d be dealing with it at some point.”
He dipped his head and ran his mouth along the column of her throat while she tried not to moan or fall apart in his arms. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have mentioned it.”
She sighed. She had an apology of her own to make. “Thank you for getting the dresses. It was nice of you.”
His hands slipped around to cup her bottom. “I thought you were angry over that.”
Tina swallowed as heat swirled inside her belly. “I was. But I realize you were trying to be nice. You just went about it in a typical male fashion.”
He pulled back to look down at her. “A typical male fashion?”
She nodded as she gazed up at him. “Yes. You assumed I would be happy so you proceeded without consulting me.”
“And you would prefer I consult you in the future about decisions of this nature?”
“About decisions that involve me. Yes.”
He dipped his head and ran his tongue along the top of her bodice. “And what about this, Tina? Do you wish to continue? Or shall we say good-night here?”
“Nico,” she breathed.
“You have the power to say no,” he told her. “I want only a willing wife in my bed.”
Tina shuddered as he pulled her against him, the evidence of his need for her pressing into her abdomen. He was hard, ready, and liquid heat slid through her in response.
“I think I’m ready,” she said, a shiver running through her because he’d asked. He’d asked.
“Think? Or know? Because I don’t want any ambiguity, cara. Choose me now, or go to bed alone.”
He was truly asking what she wanted—and she was a goner.
“I know. I know.” Tina wrapped her arms around his neck at the same moment his mouth sought hers, capturing it in a kiss so scorching she nearly melted from the heat. She moaned when he slid his tongue against hers, and her knees suddenly felt as if they were made of water.
She was hot and ready, like a pot that had been on the burner all day—and Nico seemed to know it.
Her pulse thrummed in her ears, her throat, her breastbone, pounding out a beat that made her dizzy while his tongue licked into her with such devastating skill that all she could do was cling to him.
He made her feel so much. So many conflicting emotions crashing through her along with a healthy, hungry appetite for what they were about to do. How could she want him so acutely? And how could he be so very bad for her at the same time?
Nico pulled her hips against his again, until she could once more feel the evidence of an impressive erection.
Tina whimpered. Just like that, it was suddenly too much to wait even a minute more. She’d decided to do this thing, and there was no going back.
She ripped at the studs holding his shirt closed until he laughed deep in his throat and shrugged out of his jacket, letting it fall where he stood. Then his hands came over hers, helped her tear the shirt open as studs popped and flew.
Her hands were suddenly on his hot flesh, her palms sliding along his skin, learning the texture of him once more. He was so hot, so hard and muscular, and she wanted him naked before another minute passed. She couldn’t think about anything but him. He drove her crazy with need.
She tugged the shirt from his trousers and then went after his belt and zipper while Nico fumbled with the buttons at her back. She could feel his frustration mounting with the tiny buttons.
He broke the kiss and turned her in his arms. “Don’t rip them,” she gasped.
“I won’t.” His voice was clipped, rough, and it made her tremble. Soon the bodice began to loosen, but he lost patience and turned her again, pulling the front of the gown down just enough so that her breasts spilled freely into his hands. Her nipples were hard little points that he flicked with his thumbs while a deep shiver rolled through her.
“Dio, you are so beautiful.”
A skein of pleasure uncoiled in her belly, along with the bone-deep need that made her sex ache. Niccolo Gavretti had said she was beautiful. Nico, the notorious playboy, the man she’d mooned after as a love-struck teenager, had just said she was beautiful. It was a dream come true in some ways.
She wanted to tell him that he was beautiful, too, but his mouth captured hers again, driving all thoughts from her head except one: need you now.
His mouth was questing, demanding, and she responded in kind, her heart hammering, her skin on fire as she tried to get closer to him. He gathered fistfuls of her skirts, shoved them up her hips so he could hook his fingers into her panties and push them down until gravity took over and they fell to her feet.
Tina was never so glad she’d not worn garters as she was at that moment. “Now, Nico,” she said against his lips. “Now.”
He guided her backward until she bumped into something. Before she could tell what it was, he lifted her and sat her down on a table. She was so focused on him that she had no idea where they were—dining room, kitchen, living room—and she didn’t care. All she cared about was this man and this moment.
Tina wrapped her legs around him as he pushed her thighs open and stepped between them. His hands were on her hips, holding her in place as their mouths fused again and again, their kisses drunken and hot and utterly addictive. She fumbled with his zipper, jerked it down with shaky fingers. And then her hands were in his trousers, freeing him.
He groaned as she wrapped her hand around him, slid her palm along his hot, velvety shaft. He shoved her skirts higher and pulled her hands away from his body. She made a sound of disappointment, but a moment later she felt the blunt head of his penis pressing into her and every last thought flew out of her mind.
He cupped her bottom, tilting her backward slightly before he thrust deeply inside her—it wasn’t a sudden movement, but it was overpowering in its intensity. One moment she was craving him, the next he’d filled her. Tina cried out in surprise and pleasure, and his entire body stilled.
“Have I hurt you?” His voice was rough.
Yes, she wanted to say. Yes.
But the pain wasn’t physical. “No. Please don’t stop.”
His laugh was ragged. “Stop? Not possible, tesoro. Not possible.” He leaned forward and kissed her again, and she could feel his body pulsing inside hers. Had it been this exciting the first time? Had she wanted him so desperately that she’d been willing to do anything to have him?
Possibly,