The Italian's Baby Bargain: The Italian's Wedding Ultimatum / The Italian's Forced Bride / The Mancini Marriage Bargain

Her breath coming in short, painful bursts, Sam did as he requested. ‘I…can’t…’

‘Relax…’

Relax! She was in bed with the most beautiful man she had ever seen, who happened to be half naked and about to undress her. In other circumstances she might have laughed. At that moment holding her breath seemed a more appropriate response.

Slowly, his eyes holding hers, he unslid the knot on her robe and parted the fabric. Alessandro swallowed before his eyes dropped.

A reverent cry of, ‘Dio, but you are perfect!’ was torn from his lips.

Sam sagged with relief, then tensed again as his hand closed over first one taut tender breast and then the other, stroking her skin, teasing the straining, prominent peaks to new heights of quivering pleasure with his fingers and then his lips.

She snaked her fingers into his dark hair and said his name, her voice aching with the same inarticulate longing that drenched her body. To see his dark head against her pale skin was so unbelievably erotic that Sam writhed and arched her back, pushing up against him, gasping a little as their naked bodies touched, and then a lot more when his hand slid down the length of her smooth pale thigh.

Levering himself up until his face was level with hers, he looked deep into her eyes before he kissed her, and Sam clutched at him, her fingers digging into the taut golden flesh of his back as she moaned, ‘Please…’ into his mouth.

She had no idea what she needed, but Alessandro was not similarly inhibited. He seemed to know where she wanted to be touched before she did! As his skilful mouth and hands moved over her body she gave a fractured groan and called out his name again, almost sobbing with the strength of her desire.

Sam had no idea how long he touched her any more than she had any idea of at what point she lost her inhibitions about him exploring every intimate part of her. Or being bold about doing the same to him. But when Alessandro finally pulled her beneath him and moved over her she was ready for the next step.

Actually, she was begging for his sensual invasion!

Her body tensed for a moment as he slid into her. Above her she was aware of his doing the same thing. For a moment neither of them moved.

Sam closed her eyes and heard his shocked inhalation, felt his breath warm on her cheek and neck. ‘Just go with it, cara.‘ The sensual rasp of his thickened voice was like a caress. ‘I will look after you. You don’t have to stay in control. Trust me…just let go…’ he urged, sliding his hands under her bottom.

Of all the unexpected things that had happened to her that day, this was perhaps the most unexpected. Sam found she did. She did trust him. Totally. He was the most dangerous thing that had ever happened to her, but she trusted him to keep her safe. It made no sense, but it was incredibly liberating.

As the tension slid from Sam an exultant sigh shuddered through her stretched body.

‘You feel incredible,’ she moaned, grabbing his tight buttocks because she felt as if she was falling. ‘I can feel all of…’ A fractured moan was wrenched from her throat.

‘So good at this…so beautiful…so tight…’ As he moved slowly, hot and hard inside her, sliding deeper and deeper, she was aware of him in every individual tingling nerve-ending. And as he moved he wasn’t just inside her body, he was inside her head. With each thrust and stroke he seeped into her senses.

Alessandro was part of her.

As the rhythm inside her built Sam said some wild things that she shouldn’t have—things concerning his complete and total perfection, things about wanting him to do this to her for ever and ever—but he said some pretty crazy things too.

‘Now, just let go…!’

She did.

As her heart-rate returned to something approaching normal she gave a languid sigh. Alessandro’s leg remained thrown across her, pinning her to the bed—not that she felt any urge to move from where she was. Her body was still rocked with tiny golden aftershocks.

She stroked his dark head where it lay on the pillow and smiled a sleepy, smugly contented smile. Her back arched a little as he stroked a brown finger down the valley between her pink-tipped breasts.

His dark lashes lifted from the sharp angle of his cheekbones. ‘Why didn’t you tell me…?’

Sam, who knew exactly what he was saying, closed her eyes and feigned innocence. ‘Tell you what?’

‘You have never been with a man, cara.’

‘I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.’ She opened her eyes and saw no answering smile on his face. ‘Sorry if I was totally clueless, but…’ She reached up and stroked his lean cheek, feeling the first stirrings of reawakened sexual interest as she recalled the abrasive sensation of his stubble on her burning skin as he worked his way down her body. ‘If you’re willing to bear with me, I think I could be a very fast learner.’ Then, realising that she was making a lot of assumptions she had no right to make she added quickly, ‘Always supposing we ever…you…we decide…’ Maybe he was already regretting it? Maybe he was wondering how to tell her she’d have to find someone else for lesson two?

‘Perhaps we should get out our diaries and see if we have a spare afternoon?’ he inserted, sounding unaccountably angry.

‘I don’t have a diary.’ She held her breath, thinking, That’s his cue to say, And I don’t have a spare afternoon.

He didn’t.

‘You should have told me…’

‘Are you angry?’ She looked at his face, memorising each plane and angle. ‘About the virgin stuff?’

The awkward addition made his lips quiver. ‘I’m not angry. I’m…I would have been gentler…’

‘That would have been a pity.’ She laid her head on his chest and felt the vibration of his surprised laugh.

‘Today was a first for us both.’

She lifted her head. ‘It was?’

‘I’ve never slept with a virgin before. The women I—’

‘I know,’ she said quickly. ‘They’re like you. That’s the way I want to be,’ she told him, thinking, I can do this! ‘If you want me, that is…’ She swallowed, trying and failing to read his expression.

‘If I want you…?’ he echoed, sounding really strange. He rolled onto his back. She watched as he lifted a hand and then just lay there.

Sam stared at his chest, rising and falling. His hand fell away, and as he turned his head towards her she held her breath.

‘Oh, I want you,’ he said thickly, and as he reached for her with a sigh of relief she went to him.

Much later, when the room had grown dark, Alessandro got up from the bed to throw a log on the dying embers of the fire. His tall, lean body was silhouetted against the dancing flames as he walked back to the bed.

My God, he’s so beautiful!

‘A fire in the bedroom is very…decadent,’ she murmured as she snuggled up to him.

Alessandro ran a finger down the supple curve of her spine, and in the dark she smiled.

Her smile guttered when he asked quietly, ‘Should we be worried?’

Sam knew immediately what he was talking about. The second time they had made love she had not known what he was apologising for until he had explained that the condom had broken. Still floating on a blissful cloud after their slow, sensuous, mind-blowing lovemaking, the implications of his explanation had not hit her. Now they did.

She did some speedy mental calculations and shook her head. ‘No, it’ll be fine,’ she said, with more confidence than she actually felt.

‘Well, you would tell me if…?’

Sam frowned. ‘I told you—it’ll be fine. I’m so glad I settled…’