LITMIR.BIZ

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that fell made Natalie feel horribly exposed. She couldn’t believe that she had said as much as she had said. It was as if a torrent had been let loose. The words had come tumbling out like a flood. A dirty, secret flood that she had kept hidden for as long as she could remember. Her words stained the air. The contamination of the truth even seemed to still the sweet sound of the tweeting birds in the shrubbery nearby.

      ‘Are you frightened of him, cara?’ Angelo asked with a frown.

      ‘Not any more,’ she said, giving her head a little toss as she reached for a blueberry this time. ‘I’ve taught myself not to let him have that power over me.’

      ‘Has he hurt you in some way in the past?’

      ‘What are you going to do, Angelo?’ she asked with a woeful attempt at scorn. ‘Punch him on the nose? Rearrange his teeth for him? Give him a black eye?’

      His gaze became very dark and very hard. ‘If anyone dares to lay so much as a finger on you I will do much more than that,’ he said grimly.

      A piece of her emotional armour peeled off like the sloughing of skin. It petrified her to think of how easily it had fallen away. Was this his plan of action? To conquer by stealth? To ambush her by making her feel safe and secure?

       To protect her?

      ‘You know, for such a modern and sophisticated man, deep down you’re amazingly old-fashioned,’ she said.

      He reached for her hand. ‘You have no need to be frightened of anyone any more, cara,’ he said. ‘You’re under my protection now, and you will be while you’re wearing that ring on your finger.’

      Natalie looked at her hand in the shelter of his. The sparkling new wedding band and the exquisite engagement ring bound her to him symbolically, but the real bond she was starting to feel with him was so much deeper and more lasting than that.

       And it secretly terrified her.

      She pulled her hand out of his and took one of the rolls out of a basket. ‘So, what’s the plan?’ she asked in a light and breezy tone. ‘How are we going to spend this non-honeymoon of ours?’

      His eyes continued to hold hers in a smouldering tether that made the base of her spine feel hot and tingly. ‘How long do you think you’ll be able to keep up this ridiculous pretence of not wanting me?’ he asked.

      She gave a false-sounding little laugh. ‘You had your chance last night and you blew it.’

      His eyes smouldered some more. ‘I was very tempted to call your bluff last night.’

      Hot, moist heat swirled between her legs as she thought of how dangerous and reckless her little taunt had actually been. Was that why she had issued it? Did some subconscious part of her want him to take charge and seduce her?

      ‘Why didn’t you?’ she asked with a little lift of her brow.

      ‘I don’t like being manipulated,’ he said. ‘You wanted me to take the responsibility away from you. You don’t like the fact that you still want me. You’ve taught yourself not to want or need anyone. It bugs the hell out of you that I stir you up the way I do, doesn’t it?’

      Natalie tried to push her emotions back where they belonged, but it was like trying to refold a map. She pushed back from the table with a screech of the wrought-iron chair-legs against the flagstones. ‘I don’t have to listen to this,’ she said, slamming her napkin on the table.

      ‘That’s right,’ he said mockingly. ‘Run away. That’s what you usually do, isn’t it? You can’t face the truth of what you feel, so you bolt like a scared rabbit.’

      She glowered at him in fury, her fists clenched, her spine rigid. ‘I am not a coward.’

      He came to where she was standing, looking down at her with those penetrating eyes of his. She wanted to run, but had to force herself to stand still in order to discredit his summation of her character.

      ‘How long do you think you can keep running?’ he asked. ‘Hasn’t anyone ever told you that your feelings go with you? You can’t leave them behind. They follow you wherever you go.’

      ‘I don’t feel anything for you,’ she said through barely moving lips.

      He gave a deep chuckle of laughter. ‘Sure you don’t, Tatty.’

      She clenched her teeth. ‘Stop calling me that.’

      ‘How are you going to stop me?’ he asked with a goading smile.

      She stepped right up to him and fisted a hand in the front of his shirt. ‘Stop it, damn you,’ she said, trying to push him backwards. But it was like a moth trying to move a mattress.

      His dark gaze mocked her. ‘Is that really the best you can do?’

      She raised her other hand to slap him, but he caught it mid-air. ‘Ah-ah-ah,’ he chided. ‘That’s not allowed. We can play dirty, but not that dirty.’

      Natalie felt the stirring of his erection against her, and her body responded with a massive tidal wave of lust. The erotic pulse of his blood thundering against her belly unleashed a deranged demon of desire inside her. She lunged at him, pulling his head down by grabbing a handful of his hair so she could smash her mouth against his. He allowed her a few hot seconds before he took charge of the kiss and pushed through her lips with the sexy thrust of his tongue, claiming her interior moistness, mimicking the intimate possession of hard, swollen male inside soft, yielding female.

      She tried to take back control but he refused to relinquish it. He commandeered her mouth with masterful expertise, making her whole body sing with delight. One of his hands drove through her hair to angle her head for better access as he deepened the kiss. His other hand found her breast and cupped it roughly, possessively. Her flesh swelled and prickled in need, her nipples becoming hardened points that ached for the hot wet swirl and tug of his tongue. She moved against him, wanting more, wanting it all.

      Wanting it now.

      Her hands dug into his taut buttocks as she pulled him closer. He was monumentally aroused. She felt the rock-hard length of him and ached to feel him moving inside her. Her inner body secretly prepared itself. She felt the dewy moisture gathering between her thighs. She felt the tapping pulse of her blood as her feminine core swelled with longing. She didn’t think she had ever wanted him so badly. She was feverish with it.

      Her heart raced with excitement as he scooped her up and carried her indoors. But he didn’t take her anywhere near a bedroom. He didn’t even bother undressing her. He roughly lifted her sundress, bunching it up around her waist, and backed her towards the nearest wall, his mouth still clamped down on hers. He didn’t waste time removing her knickers, either. He simply shoved them to one side as he claimed her slick, hot moistness with one of his fingers.

      She gasped against his mouth and he made a very male sound at the back of his throat—a primal sound of deep satisfaction that made all the tight ligaments in her spine loosen. He tortured her with his touch. Those clever fingers got to work and had her shaking with need within moments. She clung to him desperately, her fingernails digging into his back and shoulders as he made her shatter into a million pieces. She sagged against him when the first storm was over. She knew there would be more. There always was with Angelo. He was never satisfied until he had completely undone her physically.

      She reached for the zip on his trousers and went in search of him. Her fingers wrapped around his pulsing steely length. He felt hot and hard and heavy with need. She blotted her thumb over the bead of moisture at his tip and a sharp dart of need speared her. He wanted her as badly as she wanted him. Hadn’t it always been this way between them? Their coupling had always been a frenzied attack on the senses. Always fireworks and explosions. Always a mind-blowing madness that refused to be tamed.

      He pulled her hand away and quickly applied a condom before pressing her back against the wall, thrusting into her so hard and so fast the breath was knocked right out of her.

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