“Selma.” I love the way her name drips from my tongue. I keep my eyes locked with hers as I lift her foot and run my other hand down her calf. I graze my lips across her ankle and up the smooth skin of her leg, only an inch or so before I put it back down. “Stay with me.”
This time, it’s a command, and she doesn’t respond with words, only a slight nod that I might have missed if I wasn’t watching every inch of her. Before she has a chance to change her mind, I slide my hands under her ass and lift her from the bench.
“Jesus, Luca, what are you doing?” she hisses as she jerks her head around to see who is watching. “Put me down, you lunatic.”
“Not a chance.” I beam at her as I walk down the stone path away from the reception and toward the little villas on the property.
The hotel sits beside a lake, and the rooms are situated around it like private cabins. They’re modern, and the glass wall facing the lake shows the moon and stars bright in the sky. Out here feels like being back at home, and being here with Selma feels nice—really fucking nice.
“I can’t believe I agreed to this.” She says it with so much disappointment that it makes me laugh.
“I’m not making you do hard labor. I’m giving you a nice bed to sleep in until morning.” When she rolls her eyes, I smile wider. “Has anyone told you how adorable you are when you’re angry?”
“Never,” she says coolly, and she looks like she means it.
“Maybe you’re only angry when you’re with me.” I shrug as I scan my card to let us in the room.
“No, I’m generally annoyed with everyone.”
“So I’m not special. Got it.” The heavy door closes behind us, and she shakes her head.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“You have an older brother, Selma. How are you not used to being teased?”
It’s so late that the room is pitch black as I carry her to the bedroom where the glass doors are. From the bed you can look out across the lake and see the reflection of the moon on the water. If this place was for sale, I’d buy it up, but I’m not sure I’d be able to sell it.
“I am, I’m just not used to being teased by…you know.” She shrugs. “Men.”
I place her on the edge of the bed and kneel down on the floor in front of her. I take her shoes from her hands and place them on the floor next to her feet and look up at her. “So you don’t generally go to hotel rooms with a man you just met?” I slide my hands up her silky calves and over her knees.
“Um, no.” She licks her lips, and I smile at how nervous she’s gotten.
“I don’t know if you know this about me, but I like to win.” I move my hands farther up the sides of her thighs until I rest them on her hips under her dress. “And I love being first.” Leaning down, I kiss her bare knees, first one and then the other.
With me on the floor like this and her on the edge of the bed, we’re at eye level. I move closer so that she has to spread her knees, and I wedge myself between them. I reach around the back of her and grab her ass, pulling her forward so that her core is pressed right up against where I need it most.
“So keep on telling me that you’ve never done this before.” My lips are just a breath from hers. “All it does is make me harder.”
5
Selma
I suck in a deep breath, trying and failing to get myself under control. I want this. My entire body is humming with a need I’ve never experienced before. What is it about Luca that’s so different? From the moment I saw him I couldn’t pull my eyes away. I’ve been around plenty of hot guys before and they never gave me a single spark of interest. Would one stolen night be so bad?
There are too many reasons I should say no. Not only because of our family and the chaos that it could cause, but because I worry about my heart. That’s one of the many reasons I keep everyone at arm's length. If I don’t date, my heart will always stay intact. My heart isn't strong, and I learned that early in life. If Luca hurt me, I don’t think I could pick up the pieces and put them back together again. After my mom died, I’m not even sure they’re in the right places anymore. At times I can still feel the ache in the place where she’s missing.
Luca’s hand wraps around the back of my neck as his thumb strokes my jaw. “You think too much.”
“I do.” I lean forward, realizing he’s right. Focusing on what could be, or might be, won’t help me right now. “Tonight I just want to feel. Tomorrow we can pretend this never happened.”
“Trust me, Selma. I’m going to remember every fucking second of this.” His hand at the back of my neck pulls me forward, and his mouth meets mine.
His lips are full and so damn soft, it melts my stiff spine. Without thinking about what I’m doing, my hands slide down his chest and to the buttons of his shirt. It’s hard to do anything when Luca slides his tongue against mine, and I moan.
“Are you going to kiss me back?” He kisses the side of my mouth and then the other.
“Sorry. I was enjoying you kissing me,” I admit.
“Don’t go stroking my ego.” A sexy smirk plays on his lips.
“Right.” I laugh. “Worst kiss ever.”
“Hmm. I guess I need to try that again.”
“Yeah, you really should.”
“All night,” he agrees and then he’s on me.
This time I kiss him back, and when I’m the one to lick his tongue, a loud groan rumbles through his body. His hands go back to my knees as he ever so slowly slips them up my thighs.
“Luca,” I breathe, and he presses a kiss to the shell of my ear.
“Was that kiss any better?” He lazily runs his fingers along the edge of my panties. With each stroke, I get wetter and wetter. Everything is starting to ache, and I don’t know if I love the feeling or hate it.
“Better,” I manage to say as his mouth moves down my neck.
“There are other places I could practice.” One finger finally slips under the band of my panties, and my breath catches in my lungs. Oh god, we’re really going to do this. “Do you want me to kiss you in other places, Selma?” His finger brushes over my lower lips, and it’s like lightning.
“Yes!”
I don’t think there is anything else I want more in this whole damn world right now. That should scare the crap out of me, but all I can think about is Luca’s mouth between my legs, and I rock my hips forward.
“Thank fuck,” I hear him say under his breath. An excited thrill runs through me that he wants to do it and is just as desperate as I am.
“I need you naked for this with nothing in my way.” This time his voice is stern like the one he used on me earlier.
I don’t feel irritation or annoyance at his command, and that hasn't happened before either. It’s like a shot of lust that has me quickly getting out of my dress.
I’m disappointed when Luca’s hand leaves my panties as he helps me unzip the bridesmaid dress. But the way he tosses it over his shoulder and stares at my pussy makes me just as hot as before. He’s still on his knees, but now I’m standing before him, staring down at this handsome man as he grips my hips and presses his face against my sex. I grab his shoulders so that I don’t fall, not trusting my legs at the moment.