Total pages in book: 159
Estimated words: 157450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 630(@250wpm)___ 525(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 157450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 787(@200wpm)___ 630(@250wpm)___ 525(@300wpm)
She is all over me.
And fast asleep.
And my cock is wide awake and rock hard.
“Oh, God,” I whisper, and brush my nose against her hair.
Lavender and roses.
Intoxicating.
My heart rate flips into overdrive as I make a mental list of all the possibilities this scenario presents: Alessia in my arms. Ready. Waiting. She is so tantalizing, so close…too close. If I roll over, she’ll be on her back, and I can finally bury myself in her. I stare up at the ceiling, praying for self-control. I know if I move, she’ll wake, so I torture myself some more and lie still, enjoying the sweet, sweet agony of having her sprawled all over me. I gather a lock of her hair between my fingers, surprised by how soft and silky it feels. She stirs, her fisted hand flexes, and her fingers splay out on my belly, tickling the beginning of my pubic hair.
Fuck!
I’m so hard and want nothing more than to grab her hand and wrap it around my erection. I’ll probably explode if I do.
“Mmm,” she murmurs. Her eyelids flicker open, and she looks dreamily up at me.
“Good morning, Alessia.” I’m breathless.
She gasps and scrambles to put some space between us.
“I was enjoying your visit to my side of the bed,” I tease.
She pulls the covers up to her chin, her cheeks rosy, her smile shy. “Good morning,” she says.
“Sleep well?” I ask as I roll onto my side to face her.
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Hungry?” I know I am. And not for food.
She nods.
“Do you really mean yes?”
She frowns.
“You said in the car yesterday that in Albania it’s the opposite.”
“You remembered.” She sounds pleased and surprised.
“I remember everything you say.” I want to tell her that she looks very lovely this morning. But I refrain. I’m behaving.
“I like sleeping with you,” she says, confounding me.
“Well, that makes two of us.”
“I did not have bad dreams.”
“Good. Me neither.”
She laughs, and I try to recall the dream that woke me. All I know is that she was part of it. As usual. “I dreamt about you.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure it was not a nightmare?” she teases.
I grin. “Quite sure.”
She smiles. She has a bewitching smile. Perfect white teeth. Pink lips that are parted possibly in invitation. “You look very desirable.” The words come out of my mouth in an unguarded moment. Her deep brown eyes dilate, captivating me.
“Desirable?” Her breath catches.
“Yes.”
The silence stretches between us as we gaze at each other.
“I don’t know what to do,” she whispers.
I close my eyes and swallow while her words from last night echo in my head.
I have never slept with a man.
“You’re a virgin?” I whisper, and open my eyes to study her face.
She blushes. “Yes.”
Her simple affirmation is like an ice bath to my libido. I’ve only slept with one virgin, and that was Caroline. It was my first time, too, and it was a disaster that nearly got us expelled from school. After that my father took me to a high-class brothel in Bloomsbury.
If you’re going to start fucking girls, Maxim, you’d better learn how to fuck.
I was fifteen, and Caroline moved on….
Until Kit’s death.
Bloody hell.
Alessia’s a virgin at twenty-three? Of course she is. What did I expect? She’s different from every woman I’ve ever known. And she’s looking at me all big eyes and expectation. I wonder again at the folly of bringing her here.
Alessia frowns, anxiety etched on her face.
Shit.
Reaching forward, I brush my thumb against her pouty bottom lip. She inhales sharply. “I want you, Alessia. Very much. But I want you to want me, too. I think we need to get to know each other before we take whatever this is any further.”
There. That was the grown-up response. Yes?
“Okay,” she whispers, but she looks uncertain, and possibly a little disappointed.
What does she expect of me?
And I know I need to put some distance between us to think about this. Here in my bed she’s a distraction, a pouting, soft-lipped, and beautiful distraction. I sit up and cup her face in my hands. “Let’s just enjoy this holiday,” I murmur, and kiss her, and clamber out of bed.
Now is not the time.
It’s not fair to her.
And it’s not fair to me.
“Are you leaving?” Alessia asks as she sits up in bed. Her hair tumbles down around her small frame like a veil. Her eyes are round with concern; she looks effortlessly sexy, swamped in my pajama shirt.
“I’m going to grab a shower, then cook us breakfast.”
“You can cook?”
I laugh at her shock. “Yeah. Well, I can cook bacon and eggs.” I give her a sheepish smile and stride into the bathroom.
* * *
Bugger.
More self-abuse in the shower.
Water streams over my body, and with one hand spread on the marble tiles supporting me, I come quickly, thinking of her hand on my stomach and her hand wrapped around my dick.