She wanted to kiss that look away, to utterly and totally eradicate it so it never returned. Leaning down, she did exactly that, luxuriating in the velvety feel of his warm lips. He kissed her back but she could sense the agitation clawing under his skin and she drew back a little. Caressing his chest and shoulders, she touched her lips to his again in a gentle offer of solace from whatever demons were eating him alive.
A rough sigh rumbled from his chest.
‘Narciso...’
His lips trembled against hers. ‘Release me, Ruby.’
Heart in her throat, she repeated the words he’d said to her in Macau. ‘I already have.’
Shocked eyes darted upward. A split second later he was flipping her beneath him, ripping away her panties and flinging them over his shoulder.
Molten eyes speared her as he tugged off his pyjamas, his gaze settling possessively on her damp, exposed sex. ‘Sorry, Ruby mio, I lied.’
‘About what?’ Her voice trembled.
‘About not devouring you.’
Hot, sensual lips grazed down her cleavage to her navel, the rasp of his growing stubble sending electrifying tingles racing through her body. His tongue circled her navel, then strong teeth bit the skin just below.
Her shudder threatened to lift her off the bed.
One large hand splayed on her stomach and the other parted her legs wider. Watching him watch her was the most erotic experience of her life so far.
She didn’t need a crystal ball to know there was more, so much more in store for her.
He bypassed her most sensitive place, lifted one leg to bend it at the knee. Hot kisses trailed down her inside thigh. Again the graze of his stubble added a rough, pleasurable edge that made her breath come out in agitated gasps.
Nibbling his way down, he soothed his bites with open-mouthed kisses that sparked a yearning for that mouth at her core.
But he took his time. Leisurely, he kissed his way down her other thigh, all the while widening her thighs, those molten eyes not leaving her heated sex.
Ruby wondered why she wasn’t dying with embarrassment. But seeing the effect the sight of her had on him—nostrils flared as he breathed her in, his fingers trembling slightly as he gripped her knee—she had little room for anything but desire.
‘Lei è sfarzoso,’ he muttered thickly.
She felt gorgeous, a million miles from what she’d always feared she would feel when it came to sex. She blinked back tears and cried out as sublime pleasure roared through her.
Lips, tongue, teeth. True to his words Narciso devoured her with a singular, greedy purpose.
From far away, she heard her cries of ecstasy, smelled the heat of his skin coupled with the scent of her arousal as she writhed with bliss beneath him.
Just when she thought she would burst out of her skin, he raised his head.
‘I’d had this thought in my head that the first time I took you I’d torture you for hours with pleasure.’ Still holding her down, he pulled open the beside drawer and grabbed a condom. Impatiently, he ripped it open with his teeth. ‘But I can’t wait one more second, amante.’
‘I don’t want you to.’
Hooded eyes regarded her. ‘I can’t promise it will be gentle. I could hurt you.’
The slight note of apprehension washed away when she recalled what had happened on the deck earlier this evening. Despite the volatile emotions that had raged between them, he’d never hurt her.
She laid her hand over the one he’d flattened on her belly. ‘I’m ready.’
He leaned back and she saw him, really saw him for the first time. The erection that sprang from his groin was powerful and proud. Another testament to how well his name suited him. Judging from the size of him, he had a lot to crow about in that department, too.
Holding himself in one fist, he rolled on the condom and settled stormy eyes on her. ‘Are you sure about this?’ he rasped.
‘Right this moment, my confidence is wavering a little,’ she confessed, her voice shaky with the knowledge that he would soon be inside her.
He inhaled deeply. ‘I promise to go as fast or as slow as you desire,’ he said in a deep solemn voice.
Unable to speak, Ruby nodded. In a slow, predatory crawl he surged over her. Dark hair fell over his forehead in that careless way she found irresistible. She had a second to weave her fingers through it before he was kissing her again.
By the time he lifted his head hers was swimming. The flush that scoured his cheekbones signalled his fast-slipping control. His erection pulsed against her thigh and the very air crackled with sensual expectation so thick, all her confidence from minutes ago oozed out of her like air from a balloon.
‘What do I do now?’