CHAPTER SIX

V ITO ENTERED THE dark decadent space, lit up by strobing lights. The thumping bass of the music reached all the way down to his bones, but he noticed none of it. He was looking for a wild-haired temptress in a glittering excuse for a dress.

‘Vito, man! Where the hell have you been?’

Vito ignored the greeting.

He got to the other side of the bar where he stood at a railing. The dance floor was below and thick with people, their sinuous bodies moving in time with the music. Heads thrown back, arms around necks, bodies pressed together. It was temptation and sin and decadence and he wondered what he’d ever seen in it. It all seemed a little desperate and tacky to him now.

Full of predators.

Like you.

Vito made a face, scaring off one woman who had been approaching him.

And then, a flash of silver caught his eye and he saw her. She was on the edge of the dance floor, surrounded by a group of men. Of course she’d got in. He couldn’t imagine a bouncer in the world denying her entry. She was holding a delicate flute of sparkling wine. She laughed at something one of the men said but Vito could see that she didn’t look entirely comfortable. They were hemming her in.

Then she looked up and over their heads, straight at him. She lifted her glass in a salute and then downed the drink in one, handing her empty glass to one man while taking another by the hand and leading him onto the dance floor.

The man looked as if all his Christmases had just come at once. Vito was going to kill him. He refrained from vaulting over the rail onto the dance floor and took the stairs.

His blood was pounding along with the music, but with one refrain, Mine, mine, mine. He had forgotten all about his conscience. The minute he’d seen Flora in that dress his conscience had turned to dust.

She was his and he was going to have her, over and over, until he could breathe again.

Flora was feeling a little dizzy after downing that drink in one go. A little reckless, but when she’d seen Vito standing at the railing scouring the crowd for her, she’d wanted to taunt him.

She was done with men trying to keep her in a box. First her uncle’s palazzo and now Vito’s plush apartment. She wanted to live. She wanted to be devoured. The only problem was that the only man she wanted to devour her was more likely to drag her out of here and scold her than devour her.

The man she had pulled onto the dance floor was now dancing energetically opposite her, his avid gaze firmly fixed on her breasts. She smiled weakly. This wasn’t panning out exactly as she’d hoped. It felt a bit tawdry.

But suddenly he was gone and in his place was a man about a foot taller, and broader and altogether more dynamic. Vito.

She stopped moving and looked up. And gulped. His gaze was on fire. His face was stark. Jaw clenched. Flora put her hands on her hips. ‘I’m not leaving.’

‘Yes, you are.’

‘No, I’m not. I’m having sex tonight and if you don’t want it to be with you then please get out of my way.’

‘You will not be having sex tonight with anyone but me,’ Vito breathed.

The music was almost deafening but Flora heard that as clear as a bell. Her heart thumped. ‘What did you say?’

He reached for her and put his hands on her waist. He tugged her closer until their bodies were touching. She could feel the ridge of his arousal. Her heart rate went up to a million beats a minute. He was still wearing his work clothes, white shirt and dark trousers. He should have looked ridiculous. He was the sexiest man there.

He said succinctly, ‘You heard me.’

She had heard him but she didn’t quite believe him. Maybe he was just trying to get her out of this den of iniquity.

‘What are you saying exactly, Vito?’

Vito moved his hands around to her back, hauling her closer. His hands were on her bare skin. She was throbbing. And down between her legs, she was damp.

He said, ‘I want you, Flora.’

‘But you didn’t want to be my first lover.’

‘Let’s just say I’ve reconsidered.’

Flora could see the day-old stubble on his jaw darkening it, making it look even harder. She reached up and touched him there, feeling the short bristles, imagining how it would feel on her skin.

He took her hand and pressed his mouth to her inner palm, darting out his tongue. Flora’s legs nearly gave way. Vito held her up. He took her hand and said, ‘Come on, we’re leaving.’

He started to pull her off the dance floor and Flora’s insides were somersaulting. At the last second, though, she stalled and he looked back at her, impatience stamped all over his face.

For her.

She said, ‘Can we just...stay for one more song? I’ve never been to a nightclub before.’

Vito looked at her and something flickered over his face—surprise. But then he nodded. ‘One song.’

Flora tugged him back onto the dance floor, the beat of the music in time with the pounding of her pulse. For the first time in her life, as she danced—inelegantly, she was sure—in front of a man who was looking at her as if she were the only thing on the planet, she felt young and free. Vibrant. Alive. Seen. That revelation made her stumble a little. Vito caught her. She didn’t want to think about that too closely, how it felt to be seen for herself and not as someone who was just tolerated. It made her feel emotional, and she didn’t want to delve into emotions. She wanted the physicality that Vito was offering.

She looked up at him and said, ‘Okay, I’m ready to go.’

The journey back to Vito’s apartment was made in silence. Once again he drove with a quiet confidence that impressed Flora. Even more so when she thought of those hands and what they would shortly be doing to her .

Her whole body felt as if it were vibrating. Maybe the after-effects of the club and the music but more likely the effects of Vito’s hands on her. His eyes.

She sneaked a look at his profile as he pulled to a stop outside the building and the concierge came out to park the car. His face was still set in those stark lines. She felt a prickle of unease. ‘Vito, if you’ve changed your mind—’

He looked at her and she stopped talking. He said, ‘I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.’

Flora licked dry lips. ‘What’s that exactly?’ Because if he was about to say that he wasn’t going to do this then she was jumping straight into a cab and going back to the club.

‘You and me. I am the only first lover you will know, Flora. You’re mine.’

A thrill so electric went through her at his possessive declaration that she quivered with it. ‘I... Okay.’

He got out of the car and tossed the keys to the concierge, and came around to help her out. He kept hold of her hand, leading her into the building, to the elevator. The doors closed. Flora took the opportunity to slip out of the shoes, picking them up with her free hand. She muttered, ‘I don’t know how women wear these all the time.’

The elevator doors opened and before Flora could take another breath, Vito had taken her shoes, thrown them aside and she had her back against the wall beside the elevator doors and his hands were either side of her head.

The air sizzled. Or maybe she was just sizzling.

He said, ‘If this evening’s stunt was designed to make me change my mind, it worked.’

Flora frowned. It was hard to concentrate when he was so close. Had she set out to drive him to pursue her? All she could remember thinking was that if she wasn’t a virgin then they could make love.

‘I...hadn’t really thought it through in such detail. I just wanted to get rid of it so that I could...maybe we could...you know...’

‘Make love?’

Flora nodded, relieved that he understood. She looked at his mouth. ‘Can we stop talking now?’

He answered that by putting his mouth on hers and she melted into him, hands fisting his shirt to stay standing. His hands were on her face, in her hair and then on her back, fingers spread over her skin.

She ached between her legs. A physical pain to have him touch her there, but he drew back and said harshly, ‘Not here, like this.’

He scooped her up into his arms and carried her down the corridor into his bedroom. Flora lifted her head and said, ‘Wait! Benji.’

Vito didn’t break his stride. ‘Taken care of. I asked Damiano to keep him in the security room tonight. We’ll get him in the morning.’

We. Flora’s heart turned over. He hadn’t just forgotten about the dog. And now they were truly alone. No interruptions. Vito was going to be her first lover. And she already knew that his mark on her would be indelible. Perhaps fatal. But she didn’t care about that now. She was hungry. Starving. For something she’d never known could exist. Desire. No, lust.

She’d always imagined wanting to have sex with someone would feel a little tepid. But this was like a storm, building and building deep inside, threatening to blow her apart.

Vito put her on her feet. She suddenly felt self-conscious. Very aware that she would be joining a legion of women before her and that inevitably she wouldn’t stack up next to them.

But Vito was looking at her as if he’d never seen a woman before and Flora clung onto that illusion. He said, ‘I want to see you.’

Flora quivered inwardly. No way was she baring herself while suddenly feeling so vulnerable. ‘You first.’

Vito didn’t hesitate. His shirt came off and Flora barely had time to ogle at the hard-muscled perfection of his chest before he was undoing his trousers and pulling them down, kicking them off.

Now he wore just briefs that did little to hide the bulge. Flora watched wide-eyed, fascinated, as he tugged them down and off too, freeing his impressive erection.

Flora’s insides squeezed tight. Then she realised she was squeezing her thighs together as if that could stem the flow of damp heat. Of sheer lust.

Without even making the conscious decision, she reached out and touched Vito’s chest. His skin was warm and firm. Dark hairs dusting his pectoral muscles. A line of hair dissected his abdomen and went all the way down to the thicket of hair between his legs.

Hard, powerful thighs. Slim waist. He was intimidatingly perfect. She dragged her gaze back up. She was filled with a sense of their disparities in everything—but mostly experience. ‘Vito... I don’t know if this is such a good idea. I’m not...experienced, as you know...you’re bound to be disappointed...’

He put a finger over her lips. Then he took it away and said, ‘Do you want to do this?’

Flora couldn’t help but nod. ‘More than anything.’

‘Then let me see you.’

Flora’s heart thumped. She brought a hand to one strap of the dress and pushed it down over her shoulder. Then the other. The dress lowered and clung for a second to her chest.

Vito reached out and, with a flick of his hand, the dress fell under its own weight, all the way to the floor, leaving Flora standing before him wearing nothing but her underwear.

She heard Vito’s sharp intake of breath. She was too scared to look at him, see his reaction. There was a stillness in the air. Eventually, he breathed, ‘You are...more beautiful than anything I imagined.’

She looked up. He’d imagined this? His eyes were so dark she couldn’t read them. He closed the distance between them and cupped her breasts, testing their weight and shape, thumbs moving back and forth over hard nipples.

Flora bit her lip. And then Vito was dipping, capturing her mouth with his again, angling her face up to him so that he could plunder deep. She wrapped her arms around him, opening up her body to his. There was no point where they didn’t touch, breast to chest and hips to belly and thighs. It was intoxicating.

Flora felt weightless for a moment and then she realised that Vito was putting her down on the bed. She was dizzy, with desire. He drew back. A lock of hair fell onto his forehead and she reached up and touched it. It made him seem younger, carefree.

He took her hand and captured it, pressing his mouth to her palm again. Tasting her. Need was like a taut wire inside Flora. She said, ‘Vito, please... I need you.’

He looked at her. ‘I want to make sure you’re ready. Your first time might hurt a little.’

She shimmied out of her underwear, throwing the slip of material aside. ‘I’ll be fine. I’m not made of glass.’

‘No,’ he breathed, his eyes moving down over her body. ‘You’re not, are you?’

Still, he didn’t move fast. He put his hand on her, between her legs. Flora opened for him, trusting him implicitly. He explored her with a finger, then two, seeking where she ached, finding where she was so hot and wet. Moving in and out, making her hips circle and her head go back.

Then he was thrusting deep, massaging her inner mucles, and Flora was helpless to stop a wave of pleasure breaking her apart. She couldn’t breathe for a long moment, absorbing the magnitude of what had just happened.

When she lifted her head, she saw Vito rolling a sheath onto his erection, and then he positioned himself between her legs, holding the full weight of his body off hers.

Even as the last flutters of orgasm were still pulsing through her body, Flora was hungry for more. She tilted her hips towards Vito. He smiled and said, ‘Patience, little one.’

She wanted to scowl but then he was nudging the head of his erection against her body and she sucked in a breath when he breached her entrance. He kept going, watching her reaction, inch by inch, until she felt so full that she couldn’t breathe, but then she did take a breath, and another, and Vito pulled back out, before moving in again and starting up a rhythm as old as humanity.

Flora was no longer human as she was swept up into a vortex of building pleasure—so intense it almost bordered on being painful. She wrapped her legs around Vito’s waist and he sank even deeper, emitting a curse that would have made her smile if she hadn’t been so focused on reaching the pinnacle shimmering just out of reach.

But then Vito lowered his head to her breast and took a nipple into his mouth, sucking deep, biting gently and the peak broke over Flora with no warning, making her cry out, her back arch, and every muscle in her body clench tight. She was barely aware of Vito’s own guttural cry as his big body jerked against hers, both of them falling over the edge and down into an ocean of endless pleasure.

Dawn was lightening the Rome sky outside but Vito was hardly aware. He was standing, with a towel slung around his hips, a few feet from the bed. He’d just taken a shower and was already lamenting washing Flora’s scent from his skin. That made him nervous. This whole situation made him nervous.

He didn’t do this. He didn’t take women in off the street. He didn’t sleep with virgins. He didn’t watch lovers as they slept.

But...she was a vision. On her front, one arm raised. The plump flesh of her breast visible. Enticing. Wild hair spread out around her head, reminding him of how he’d wrapped it in his hand as he’d thrust into her over and over again and had chased a pinnacle of pleasure he’d never reached before.

That’s because she was innocent.

No. It had been more than that. Vito already knew that what had happened last night would only get better. He felt it deep inside. There was something unprecedented about their chemistry.

Making love for him had always been pleasurable but not...transcendent.

A sense of panic clutched at his gut. A sense of claustrophobia. But then he forced it back down. Reminding himself of all that he’d been through. All that he’d mastered. A woman couldn’t undo that, no matter how amazing the sex. And that was all it was. Amazing sex. He wanted to bark out a laugh at himself, for almost losing it. Over a woman. Over sex.

Vito was a loner. He had no intentions of that changing. He would never suffer the awful excoriating pain of loss and grief again.

But first, he had to set some boundaries and make sure Flora knew that, outside sex, there would be no intimacies. He would take her back to her own room. He didn’t indulge women in his bed after sex.

He bent down over the bed, intending to scoop Flora up, but she opened her eyes and saw him. Vito was instantly distracted when that gold-and-brown gaze widened on him.

She moved, and came up on one arm, her breasts swaying with the movement, causing his body to tighten as desire surged.

She looked deliciously sleepy, and well loved. Sexy.

He would move her in a minute, but first, ‘How are you feeling?’

She frowned, as if gauging, and then with a slow, shy smile, she said, ‘I feel good...amazing.’ She looked at him. ‘I wasn’t sure for a second...if it wasn’t a dream. But you’re not a dream, are you?’

She reached out and touched his clean-shaven jaw with a light touch, but it seared Vito all the way to his gut.

She said, ‘You’re real. What happened...was real.’

Vito, quite against his intention to scoop her up and take her back to her own bed, found himself flicking off his towel and climbing back onto the bed beside Flora, breathing in her scent and revelling in the way her body curved against his.

His blood was already pounding, hunger clawing. Why on earth would he take her back to her own bed when she was here now, his , for the taking? He asked, ‘Are you sore?’

She went a little pink. ‘Just a bit tender...but I want you again, Vito... Is that too much? Too forward?’ She buried her head against him as if she was embarrassed and Vito felt something disturbingly close to an emotion fill his chest. He pushed it back down.

It was just amazing sex.

He tipped her chin back up and looked at her. ‘No, it’s not too much at all. I want you too. But this time...we’re going to take it slow...’

He heard the hitch in her breath as his hand moved over her belly and down, exploring her tender flesh and bringing them both back to an urgency that didn’t remain slow for very long.