She was not expecting him to hunker down at her side, let alone that he would place the palm of one hand very gently on her belly. Dipping his head, he replaced his hand with a lingering kiss. She held her breath, but by the time he pulled back he was once again the brooding lover. Still, for that one moment he had been someone else— someone caring. Someone she would want to be the father of her child.
Marco soon distracted her. Burying his face in her breasts, he took her wrists in one big fist and pinned them above her head, and then he used his hands and mouth to drive her to distraction, forcing her to arch her hips towards him in an attempt to catch more contact from him.
‘Is this what you want?’ he demanded softly as he trailed his fingertips over her body.
‘Yes,’ she confirmed, shivering with excitement, knowing just how long Marco might be prepared to withhold her pleasure if she didn’t answer him.
He eased her pyjama bottoms down and tossed them away, by which time she was going crazy for more and nearly screamed the first time he touched her. He knew exactly what to do. There was no teasing now, just gentle pressure in the right place, and a dependable, stroking rhythm. She had no option but to let go.
‘That was so good!’ she exclaimed, gasping out the words when the starburst of sensation had dimmed enough for her to speak.
‘It seems to me that your healthy approach to life and sex is fully restored,’ Marco observed dryly.
‘Seems it is,’ she agreed.
‘Better now?’
‘Not yet,’ she said quickly.
He smiled. ‘More?’
‘Please...’
As Marco eased one powerful thigh between her legs she exclaimed softly in anticipation of more pleasure. She felt so abandoned and exposed, and so deliciously excited. She loved the way he liked to watch. It always increased the level of her arousal. She didn’t hold back—she couldn’t. She had no reason to, and was still exclaiming in the grip of pleasure when Marco moved over her.
‘I’ll be gentle,’ he promised.
He kept his word, and she discovered how extraordinary this new, gentle sex could be. Marco used it to his advantage as he extended her pleasure for the longest time. She heard him laughing softly when, surprised by her inability to hold on, she wailed with shock and bucked vigorously beneath him. She writhed contentedly, beyond caring now—beyond anything but basking in sensation.
When she finally quieted, he slid slowly into her again and lodging himself deep he rolled his hips so that she lost it again, and then again. Withdrawing with a deliberate lack of haste, he paused, looming over her to stare down. His face was masterful and brooding as he watched her grip his arms and work her body hungrily on his. The last time before she fell asleep was so violent she might as well have been unconscious afterwards, and she only woke when Marco swung off the bed.
‘Where are you going?’ She reached out a hand to bring him back. She was sated for now, but it was lonely in the big bed without him.
‘You need to sleep.’ Dipping down to kiss her cheek, he added, ‘I do too. I have a lot on tomorrow. But don’t worry,’ he added dryly, ‘I’ll be back in the morning to see if you need anything more before I leave.’ His sexy mouth curved in a smile as he strolled naked out of the room.
He was so beautiful, and so totally un-self-conscious—and yet so quick to close himself off. Tonight had been wonderful for her, because her emotions had been fully engaged, but what about Marco? Was she just offering him sex on tap?
She suddenly felt shaky and vulnerable, wondering if she had just unwittingly volunteered for the position of Marco di Fivizzano’s short-term mistress. What else would his part-time gardener be qualified to do in this billionaire’s fast-moving world?
The more she thought about it, the more it seemed that her body’s needs had ruled her head. She was living in Marco’s apartment of her own free will. She was under his protection. She only had the reverence with which he had kissed her swollen belly to hang on to, but even that had started to worry her. A man like Marco di Fivizzano needed an heir. Was she just his convenient womb?
CHAPTER TEN
THE NEXT MORNING Marco left early, as he’d said he would, and he didn’t stop by her room as he had promised.
And why did she want him to? Wasn’t it better to try to keep him at a distance as he was keeping her? She didn’t know any more...
Pregnancy had turned her brain to mush, Cass concluded. She had never been reliant on anyone but her godmother when she was very young—and had certainly never hung around to see if a man wanted sex before she got out of bed. If she had lost her self-respect to this extent, it was time to turn herself back into someone with a pre-pregnancy brain.