Bellissima (12 page)

Lifting his hand to her face, she kissed his palm, circling it with the tip of her tongue, watching his eyelids become heavy.

“I am all yours. I belong to you.”

She smiled, allowing the dream to become her reality, just for a little while. “Exactly what I wanted to hear you say.”

Climbing onto the bed, she knelt between his knees, slid her hands up to his thighs. How hard he was again, as though he were indefatigable, his lust unable to be assuaged. Jane pretended it was only because of her he grew erect, that only the thought of
her
mouth in particular on his body, only the sight of
her
, and no one else, kneeling before him could have wrested another cock-stand from his body.

Pulling her still unbound hair over one shoulder, she trailed the ends across his skin, over his thighs, cock and belly.

“
Dio
,” he groaned, low in his throat. “How did you know I longed for you to do that, sweet Jane?”

She smiled, not replying, only continuing her teasing until his hips rose and rolled beneath the whisk and drag of her hair. It was then she twisted the long strands into a loose knot at her nape to get them out of her way, and bent to nuzzle the crease where one thigh met his groin. With a deep inhalation she drew his musky scent, mixed with that of her own sexual desire and pleasure, into her lungs. With a swipe of her tongue she tasted him, glorying in his growl of approbation. Without touching him with her hand, she rubbed her cheek against the hardness of his cock, enjoying the softness of his flesh against her skin.

Taking her time, she explored the length of him with her lips, sipping at him, fluttering her tongue as she went. Each of his testicles was licked and, after a moment of thought, pulled gently into her mouth. The hiss of his indrawn breath, the way his hips jerked, was her reward.

Aware of his promise to allow her free rein, and determined to relish the experience, make it last as long as possible, she slowed her movements even more. Holding his cock with one hand, she guided the damp tip to her mouth, but instead of engulfing it, she circled it around her lips, the wet slide infinitely erotic.

On and on she played, lost in him, in his enjoyment—signaled with groans and sweet words, the tightening of muscles and up-thrusting hips—until she felt unable to go one more second without taking him fully into her mouth.

With a soft moan of bliss, she fed his length a little at a time into her mouth, loving the sensation of the head against her palate, the salty shaft on her tongue. Deeper, until he was at the back of her throat, his body frozen, trembling with pleasure as she sucked and laved the base of his penis.

“
La tua bocca mi fa impazzire
.” From the corner of her eye, she saw his hand fisted in the sheet, and when she cupped his balls with one hand, they were tight, close to his body. “Your mouth drives me crazy, Jane. So prim and delicate in repose. So wanton and lascivious when you love me.”

Yes. When she loved him.

Perhaps to Sergio it was just a turn of phrase, a euphemism for what they were doing. But Jane held the words close to her heart, knowing they were true, pretending he knew it too.

As much as she wanted to prolong the delight, she knew Sergio was growing close to release. She redoubled her efforts, bobbing her head faster, flicking her tongue against the crown, rocking back and forth to increase his pleasure. Yet just as she was sure he was about to spend, Sergio rose up from his supine position and dragged her head away.

“Why—”

He gave her no time to complete her shocked question, for he had rolled her over and, with one sure, powerful motion, thrust into her cunt. It wasn’t his actions but the look in his eyes that stole the breath from her lungs and caused a hot wash of mingled need and fear to flow from her curled toes to the top of her head.

“I need to be in you again. To lose myself in your eyes and feel your heart beating under mine.” He shifted, rolling his hips slightly, letting her feel his strength and determination. “I can’t get enough of you, sweet Jane.”

It appeared to her he would say more but, so aroused was she by his words, her cunt clenched around his cock and he groaned, began to move. Yet he didn’t take his gaze from hers as he thrust, moving his hips from side-to-side as he did, making her body tremble and strain toward completion. Even when her eyes closed with bliss, she knew he watched her, and it only increased her excitement.

“Sergio,” she cried, on the edge, about to hurtle once more into the churning bliss he created.
I love you
. It was what she screamed inside, while on the outside all she did was writhe and thrash and hold him as tightly as she could.

When the first wave of release struck, arching her off the bed, she thought she heard him say, “
Ti amo
, sweet Jane. I love you.” And although she knew it was her imagination, she couldn’t stop her body’s reaction, for it shook, thrown into deeper bliss.

Sergio thrust once more, spilling his seed inside her. Every pulse of his cock added to her pleasure, until she thought she might incinerate from the heat between them.

For a moment, he rested on her, his face in the crook of her neck, his breath hot against her skin, and she held him, stroking his back as though to soothe him. Then he rolled to the side, lying on his back, obviously trying to catch his breath. Despite the delicious lethargy weighing down her limbs, Jane knew this was the end and, just as he reached for her, she slipped off the bed.

“I must go.”

On trembling legs, suddenly devastated by the knowledge their stolen afternoon was over and she could never afford to risk another like it, she stumbled to the drafting table for her pins.

“Even though you haven’t given me what I need yet?”

Chapter Twelve

His words froze her in place, the pins digging into her palm with the strength of her grip. Taking a deep breath, not looking at him lest she lose her resolve, she forced her words to come out calmly, coolly.

“I have given you everything I have, Sergio. Even more than I should, for it is past time for me to be back at the Lowells’ house.”

“Indeed, you have given me much,
cara
.” He spoke softly, the words a caress. “Everything but your heart. Your promise to be mine.”

She didn’t reply, couldn’t reply. The pins fell from her nerveless fingers as his words struck her like a lash. Pain, exploding in her chest, galvanized her into motion. Grabbing her clothing, she began to pull each piece on, hardly caring whether they were straight or going on the correct way.

How could he be so cruel? So heartless as to open the door of paradise and let her see the landscape, knowing it could never be hers?

“Jane.” He was somehow beside her, although she hadn’t heard him move. “Jane.
Cara mia
. Why won’t you answer me?”

Furious, she flung his restraining hands away, reached once more for the ties of her drawers and carelessly knotting them in her haste. “Don’t!” she cried, twisting to the side when he would have touched her again. “Don’t touch me!”

He stepped back as though he’d been slapped, stood watching as she dragged on her chemise and reached for the padded waistcoat. She had it on and buttoned before he spoke again.

“I see you, Jane Rollins.” The words, redolent with more caring than she had ever heard in another person’s voice, drove through her like spikes. “I see you running away, and I know what you’re thinking, what you refuse to believe.”

“You know nothing,” she snapped, not wanting to hear another word, wanting only to get her clothes on and get away as quickly as she could. Allowing her pain-filled rage to flow, she snarled, “Just because you
fucked
me doesn’t mean you
know
me.”

“I know you’re afraid. You’re thinking I will be marrying Lucretia Bertuca because it is what my father wants, and therefore I am only toying with your affections. That it would be easier for us both to pretend what we feel, what we did here, is unimportant and transient.” He stepped closer, and she spun away, desperately trying to get her corset hooked, uncaring that it was fastened crooked. “You want to ignore my words of love so as to protect yourself and, perhaps more importantly, to protect me.”

She wouldn’t listen to him. Couldn’t allow herself the luxury of absorbing his words—believing them. No matter what he said, Jane knew the truth. Sergio Fontini may be looked down upon by everyone in the Lowell house as a foreigner, an outsider, nothing more than a dance master of questionable pedigree. But she knew. He was leagues above her. So far above she couldn’t even begin to comprehend how he could bring himself to say these things to her, much less mean them.

If she didn’t care, she’d offer him her half-days, her one day off a month. They’d roll together on the bed, fucking and sucking and screaming each other’s name in ecstasy. But that was impossible, because she loved him with all her heart, and to do that, week after week, month after month, would kill her as surely as a bullet to the head.

“You can try to convince yourself of all the reasons we cannot be together, sweet Jane. My
cara mia
.” Despite the endearments, his voice had dropped low, become rough. “But while you do, remind yourself of these words, for they are the truth. I will not bow to my father so as to maintain the relationship with my family. I will make peace with him, should he desire it, but it will be while I live life as I choose, not as he chooses for me.”

He came closer, and she tried to move away again, but he had her trapped against the drafting table. His hand came up to cup the side of her neck, and she shivered, wanting to push him away, wanting to turn into his arms. She did neither but instead stood trembling, her skin soaking in his heat, her racing heart begging her to believe what he was saying.

“Once you asked me to translate everything I’d said to you in Italian, so I will tell you now,
cara mia
, my darling.
Ti adoro.
I adore you.
Ti desidero.
I desire you.
Giorno e notte sogno solo di te.
Day and night, I dream only of you.
Mi hai stregato.
You have enchanted me.
Per te farei di tutto.
I would do anything for you.
Tu sei un dono del cielo.
You are a gift from the heavens.
Io sono tuo
. I am yours. All of these things are true, but none as true as
ti amo
, I love you.”

The breath clawed in her chest, and she flung herself away from him, grabbing her petticoat and struggling into it. “No. No. No.”

“Yes, sweet Jane. Whether you would have it so or not. It is the truth, and no amount of running from me will change it. So hear me, and believe. I will not marry Lucretia Bertuca.”

He paused as though wanting her to reply, but she wouldn’t. Only shook her head in negation as she dragged on her bodice.

Voice low, firm, commanding, Sergio continued. “I will marry no one but you, Jane Rollins.”

That almost took her to her knees, and she had to clutch the back of the chair beside her for a moment. Then sanity returned, and she shook her head again, firmly, decisively. Bending carefully, suddenly surprisingly calm, she picked up her discarded skirt and shook it out. As she pulled it over her head, she said, “You will go back to your family, Sergio. You will marry the woman your father wants you to, because otherwise you will lose the people closest to you. And you will forget me, for I am nothing,
nothing
, in comparison to your family.”

She was dressed now, although she had forgotten her stockings and pushed her feet into her boots without them. Bending, she tugged at the laces.

“You are everything I need, Jane.” He didn’t move, but she felt his words like a touch, could imagine the feathering of his breath over her skin. “You alone can fill the loneliness in my heart, make me complete. If I cannot have you, I want no other.”

“You will not be alone.” One boot tied, she started on the other. “You are beautiful and talented and lovely. Your family loves you. Needs you. And even if you do not marry Lucretia Bertuca, there will be another beautiful signora for you to wed.”

From her vantage point, she realized she’d dropped her pins on the ground and scrambled forward to pick them up. Ever the gentleman, Sergio also gathered some of them, then held them out to her. Unwilling to let him see how she hesitated to touch him, she tried to pluck them from his palm and found her hand clasped firmly in his.

“Tomorrow I will go to the registry office and sign the book, stating we shall marry in three weeks. I will then go to my father and tell him I have met the only woman I will ever want to share my life with and no matter what he says I will have her, or no one else.”

Dragging her hand away, Jane struggled to her feet and scraped her hair back, working quickly, hoping her hat would hide the sloppiness of the job.

“You will do no such thing.” But her voice wavered, and she had to fight not to allow the welling tears to flow. “You cannot do that.”

He smiled slightly, his hands gracefully rising and falling in a gesture indicating the end of the discussion. “I will, sweet Jane. And then, three weeks from tomorrow, I will be waiting for you at the registry office, ready to make you my wife.”

“Nonsense.”
Get away
. She had to escape before this brittle façade broke, leaving her devastated before him. Her gloves were by the fire, her hat and coat by the door. “Such nonsense you speak, signor. I won’t listen to one more word.”

The gloves were in hand, the door only steps away when he said, “Do you think I would have spilled my seed inside you if I didn’t mean to make you my wife,
cara
? I knew I would have you for my own and wanted my child growing in your belly.”

She spun about, cold spreading from her stomach, making her feel ill. “You did that on purpose? Trying to get me with child?”

“No.” He shook his head, his face tender and appealing. “Not on purpose. But when it happened I knew my joy would be complete to see you big and round with my baby.” He stepped toward her, holding her gaze, his expression turning stern and serious as he said, “I will love you, care for you, be the family you never had. Together we will make a new family, and I will never abandon you nor leave you unprotected. Even after death I will be with you, loving you, needing you as I now need air and food and water.”