The Commanding Italian's Challenge Read online

  Faye shook her head, unable to comprehend his reaction.

  ‘As for what you believe should be my reaction to you...’ He dragged a hand over his jaw, bewilderment flitting over his face. ‘Why would you expect me to blame you for something you had no control over?’

  Old flames of humiliation and shame washed over her. ‘It’s never stopped most people in the past.’

  ‘Who?’ he snarled.

  Her heart twisted. ‘Someone I was involved with...briefly. He called me an abomination.’ Among many other things.

  His nostrils flared. ‘Then he too was a despicable idiot. And I believe I warned you before that I’m not most people.’

  She wanted to laugh hysterically. Of all the times to remind her he was extraordinary!

  Her insides rumbled, as if the tectonic plates formed of every negative emotion she’d suffered because of the circumstances of her birth were attempting to shift. Simply on the strength of his words?

  ‘Why are you trying to convince me that this isn’t... That you’re not...?’ Completely and utterly nauseated by me?

  He sighed. ‘It seems that, like me, you need re-educating, cara.’ His voice was firm, yet gentle.

  The rumbling intensified. Faye shut her eyes and tried to calm the roiling. When she opened them he was closer. Much closer. Breath-robbing gravity pinned her in place.

  ‘No child should have to bear the burden of the circumstances of their birth,’ he said. ‘Or permit those circumstances to get in the way of what they want.’

  Her head spun. She felt turned inside out. She’d been convinced this would go so differently. And now...

  Now she needed a moment—several moments—to think.

  ‘Can you leave, please? I’d like to be alone.’

  ‘I’m afraid I can’t oblige you, seeing as you are in my bedroom, mio dolce,’ he drawled.

  Heart leaping into her throat, she spun around.

  Sure enough, she was confronted with unapologetic masculinity. Masterful decoration and effortless sophistication created by a man who knew what he wanted and expressed it in his surroundings. Bold greys blended with dark bronze highlights. There were sharply angled shapes and edgier art than she’d seen in any of the Fiorenti properties so far, displayed on the walls and cabinetry. But the massive bed she’d somehow missed when she’d stumbled into the room was what really gripped her attention.

  As she stared at it, dumbfounded, the atmosphere in the room shifted. Morphed and thickened with a different vibe that catapulted her blood through her veins at triple speed. She didn’t need to turn to know he was watching her. She knew the instant he started towards her. Because a raw and primitive drumbeat started at her core and spread like brush fire through her.

  She heard the rustle of clothes and pivoted to find him tugging off his jacket. With casual ease, he tossed it over a nearby seat.

  ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Making myself comfortable.’

  He kicked off his shoes, then walked past her to the bedside table, where he slid off his sleek wristwatch and set it down.

  Somehow those small, intimate, everyday actions were enough to set off several more blazes inside her. She stood there, mesmerised, as he slowly strode past her, positioned himself behind her and cupped one shoulder with his hand. The other lazily threaded through her hair, caressing, shifting, until to her breathless astonishment it was suddenly a loose rope, wrapped around his wrist. Only then did he lean in closer, align his head with hers so his lips brushed her ear.

  ‘“I want you, Maceo.” Your words,’ he reminded her thickly.

  His heat engulfed her. ‘There were other words too.’

  ‘Si, spoken when you laboured under a misapprehension,’ he pointed out. ‘One that made the gross error of assuming I would choose anyone less than an exceptional woman to experience this with.’

  Faye’s core melted, reshaped itself into a form she wasn’t quite prepared to examine. Not when her every sense was fully under his control, a raw lump of willing clay, yearning to be moulded into any shape he desired.

  ‘Do you believe I’m that woman?’ she asked. She needed to know. To be absolutely sure.

  He hesitated for one heart-rending moment. Then, ‘In this moment, when you’re all I can think about, taste, smell, crave? Si...’ he responded thickly, gently tugging the rein he’d made of her hair, exposing her neck to the thrill of his wandering lips.

  The drugging desire that swelled through her was almost enough to make her disregard his words.

  Almost.

  But ‘in this moment’ lingered—a tiny but unmissable blemish for a person who’d lived her life intimately familiar with stains. And on top of that he’d made a vow...one whose full details she didn’t know but could guess. Both were searing reminders that this thing had a very limited shelf life.

  She twisted in his arms with a whimper, to confront her desire full-on.

  He tilted her head back, stared deep into her eyes. ‘Tell me you want this, mio dolce,’ he breathed.

  ‘I want this,’ she whispered, urgency powering through her.

  He didn’t waste another second before he slammed her body into his.

  Several salacious facts buffeted her at once. She was doing this—truly experiencing a sexual encounter without shame or secrets for the first time in her life. He wasn’t repulsed by her. He’d chosen her. No matter how temporarily, Maceo wanted her with a fever that blazed in his eyes.

  His hand trailed over her hip to flatten in the small of her back. He tugged her closer until she felt the bold imprint of his manhood. She gasped, tried to pull back when she registered his impressive size. He kept her prisoner in the circle of his arms, his eyes raking her face.

  ‘Stay. Feel what you do to me,’ he urged, his voice gritty with rough desire.

  Feminine power ploughed through her. With almost unnerving abandon she rose on her bare tiptoes and pressed her breasts into his chest.

  He shuddered, and then he was kissing her with the kind of savage hunger that powered those tectonic plates inside her, shifted the centre of her axis just that little bit more. And yet it warned her there would be ripples long into her future. Long after she’d left this...him...behind.

  Faye suppressed the thought. Moaned as his tongue curled around hers. Trembled when his teeth nipped at her bottom lip in a carnal sampling that left her reeling. She might have one experience to her name, but Maceo was the true connoisseur. Within minutes she clung to him, every sinew weak with need.

  One strong arm banded her waist and lifted her off her feet. Long strides placed them in front of the bed. Slowly he slid her down his front, hissing out a breath when her softness moulded against him.

  He raised her arms above her head, caught them in one hand and held them there, in preparation for their own unique dance. His gaze fused with hers; he slowly tugged at her zip and her dress fell to her waist. A firm push and the soft material pooled at her ankles, leaving her in only tiny lace panties.

  Without breaking their locked gaze, he linked their hands, palm to palm. ‘Mio Dio, but I’m going to take my time with you,’ he vowed, in a gravel-rough voice.

  And she was going to expire—she was certain of it.

  He kissed her. Surprisingly softly considering the passion that bristled from him. Heart-stopping. Poignant.

  Faye felt tears prickle at her eyes. He pulled away again and she sucked in a shaky breath as he spun her around to face the bed. Slowly, excruciatingly, he traced the outline of her body from wrists to thighs. Then he followed the caress with his lips, down the column of her spine.

  ‘Il mio bellissimo arcobaleno,’ he rasped against her skin. My beautiful rainbow.

  Faye felt beautiful. Almost...treasured.

  She knew she was getting carried away, but she couldn’t help it.

 
When he placed one hand in the small of her back and nudged her, she teetered forward onto her hands. Firm hands removed her panties, feathered caresses up the inside of her thighs. Before she could draw breath Maceo parted her in the most elemental way, tasting her with a voracious kiss that weakened every atom in her body.

  ‘Oh, God!’

  Shocked pleasure sizzled up her spine as her night of firsts continued. His tongue wrung bliss from her, and when she climaxed he was there to catch her. To hold her close as he drew back the sheets and placed her in the middle of the bed.

  Then he made her wait as he finished undressing. A man fully comfortable in his own skin, he stood tall and proud, content to stare down at her with savage hunger while she fought the urge to squirm with the renewed need flaying her.

  Slowly he prowled onto the bed, positioned himself over her so she was caged in his arms. He kissed her in slow, languorous strokes, as if he had all the time in the world.

  ‘I feel the need to make you come again,’ he delivered hoarsely.

  ‘Because you like seeing me lose control?’

  ‘Because it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,’ he growled, then flicked his tongue over one nipple.

  Need clamouring through her, she arched her back, presented her other breast and revelled in his unfettered shudder as he accepted her offer.

  He teased and tormented her. And just when she imagined she’d go out of her mind he reached for a condom. After sliding it on, he grasped her knees.

  ‘Show me where I crave to be, Faye,’ he pleaded gruffly.

  Knowing she had him under her spell, even if only for a brief time, filled Faye with a heady power and worthiness she’d never experienced in her life. Every ounce of self-consciousness evaporated as, watching his rapt, breathtaking face, she parted her thighs.

  Maceo inhaled long and deep, hectic colour scouring his cheekbones as he stared at her feminine core. Then his fingers slowly brushed her flesh. ‘Dio mio, you’re so soft,’ he rasped thickly.

  Faye reached for him, unable to stem her need. ‘I want you now, Maceo.’

  He parted her wider, settled between her thighs. ‘Then tell me you’re ready, tesoro.’

  ‘I’m ready,’ she whispered.

  In one smooth thrust, he slid into her.

  * * *

  Maceo felt as if his heart would beat right out of his chest. He’d stepped off the path he’d designated for himself, a path that already burned beneath his feet, because of the woman beneath him. Her scent. Her smile. Her very uniqueness. In that moment, embedded deep within her, he was sure he could search the whole world and never find another close to Faye Bishop.

  But he didn’t need to. The woman who quieted his demons was right here. Her tightness was welcoming him in ways he’d only dreamed about. Now he understood why men went to war over sex.

  He bit back a groan as she gripped him tighter. As she squirmed.

  ‘Please, Maceo,’ she begged.

  His vision hazed. He fought for control, noting the tremors shaking the fingers he used to smooth back her hair. He traced her brows, her cheekbones, her nose and the bottom curve of her trembling mouth.

  ‘Hush, bella arcobaleno. I’ve waited a long time for this. Allow me a moment to savour it.’

  She stilled, her eyes glazing with a look he wanted to distil and devour on a daily basis. Long after they’d parted ways. Long after this moment of madness had passed and he had recommitted himself to his vow.

  Exhaling, he stole another minute. But soon the sensation got too much. He moved. Then groaned as sublime pleasure pulsed though him. The pure magnificence of it merely evidenced why he didn’t deserve it.

  ‘That doesn’t mean you can never forgive yourself...’

  He pushed her tempting words away. Concentrated on her.

  She squirmed again, making his breath catch. ‘Santo cielo, you’re exquisite.’

  Words fell from his lips as he stroked in and out of her. Perhaps this transcendent moment was exactly what he was meant to experience? So he could truly appreciate it and make amends? For how could he suffer if he didn’t truly know?

  Maceo thought a lot of things as the woman beneath him cried out in release. As soul-stirring pleasure overtook him. Most of all he thought about how bleak his life would be after this. And wondered how the hell he was going to survive it.

  But perhaps he didn’t need to?

  CHAPTER NINE

  HE REMAINED AWAKE long after Faye fell asleep, treacherous thoughts weaving through his mind. With a few defiant sentences she’d struck a match that now blazed high, illuminating the dark spaces of his beliefs. The girl with the rainbow hair had offered a different perspective he’d refused to consider before.

  Marriage and family were still out of the question. But perhaps he didn’t need to remain trapped in the shadows with his guilt and regret. Maybe he’d been spared for a reason...

  Dared he reach for it?

  No. Because the kernel of alarm he’d experienced when she’d shown him Pietro’s picture had only been diminished because of the enthralling experience that had followed. In the aftermath its drumbeat grew again, demanding attention.

  He pulled Faye closer, running his fingers through her hair. Her serene post-coital expression drew a very male, satisfied smile from him. The experience had shattered him, and he was certain it had shattered her too. And as much as desire was already reawakening, urging him to relive the event immediately, Maceo denied the need.

  The subject looming at the back of his mind couldn’t be ignored. But that didn’t mean he wanted to dissect it with Faye.

  Too much had happened tonight. He wasn’t ashamed to admit he needed a reprieve. Reprieve in the form of sex would be ideal but, glancing down at the sleeping woman in his arms, he knew he needed a different avenue.

  With a sigh of regret, he slowly extricated himself from her. Her murmured protest prompted a smile, which disappeared as he headed into his bathroom.

  Powerful jets cleansed his body, but they did nothing to allay the growing certainty that Luigi hadn’t married Faye Bishop’s mother under normal circumstances. The connections were too strong to deny, and the possible reasoning behind Luigi’s first marriage very much pointed to the actions he knew his godfather would have taken.

  More secrets in the name of protecting the famiglia.

  More covering up of the misdeeds of Pietro Caprio.

  But even as Maceo’s suspicions hardened he couldn’t help but speculate—with the benefit of Faye’s own words in his head now—if there hadn’t been a best-case scenario behind the act. Whether Luigi hadn’t acted with the well-being of his family at heart.

  For the first time since his teenage years Maceo could almost accept that explanation without rancour.

  The woman in your bed did this for you.

  There was no mistaking Carlotta’s voice in his head, prompting him down another path. Had this been her intention all along? For Faye to throw doubt on his goals? And what of him? What was he supposed to do for her besides hand over her inheritance and the letter that still burned a hole in his desk drawer? A letter that might well answer a few of his own questions, never mind hers?

  Regardless of Carlotta’s expectations, Faye in his bed was a delightful bonus, and the thought triggered a predictable reaction in his body—one he welcomed simply because it stopped him thinking of Luigi and Pietro. Of their possible connections to Faye.

  Tomorrow. The day after. Perhaps even next week would be time enough to chase the answers he sought.

  Aware he was hiding, taking the easy way out, he straightened abruptly from where he’d leaned against the tiles.

  And then, like a breathtaking rainbow emerging from the stormy clouds of his thoughts, Faye appeared in front of the fogged shower screen. She looked a touch tentative, then she smiled.

>   During their encounter in bed he’d surprised a few expressions on her face—enough to convince him that while he might be marking his first true experience, she was almost equally unschooled. The thought triggered a primitive pulse of satisfaction. Against every better judgement, he reached out and drew her into the shower.

  Her gaze swept hesitantly over his face before meeting his. ‘Are you sure you want me in here? You looked as if you had the weight of the world on your shoulders just then.’

  He slid his hands over her silky skin and cupped her delicious bottom, allowing himself the reprieve of completely pushing the subject of Pietro to the back of his mind. ‘Not the whole world, cara. Just one small dilemma.’

  ‘Which is...?’

  She slid her arms around his neck and he bit back a hiss at the effect of her nipples grazing his chest.

  ‘I was debating how long I should allow you to sleep before waking you.’

  ‘Then it’s a good thing I only needed a ten-minute power nap.’

  Maceo felt his smile widening. Even that strange lightening in his heart didn’t surprise him. He’d experienced sublime physical intimacy for the first time in his life tonight. On top of myriad shocking revelations. What was one more ground-shaking reaction?

  ‘Is that a challenge to my manhood?’

  She reared back. ‘What?’

  ‘That sounded suspiciously like a complaint for not adequately wearing you out.’

  She blushed and, Dio mio, he wanted to taste every shade of it.

  ‘If that’s the case you only have to say the word if you want more.’

  Her delicate nostrils quivered, but her gaze was bold as she stared into his eyes. ‘I want more, Maceo.’

  What are you doing?

  He sealed her in his arms, ignored the inner harsh, demanding query and gave her more.

  Until he shattered from head to toe once again.

  Until her cries filled his ears and warmed parts of him he’d been convinced would remain stone-cold for ever.

  Until the only thought that remained in his head as he carried her back to bed was how quickly he could seek oblivion in her arms again.