“What happened?” she murmured, giving her head a shake to try to wake herself up properly. “Did I faint?”
“Sì.” His voice was a soft rumble as he carried her through her open bedroom door.
“I’m sorry. I must have had more to drink than I realized,” she muttered with embarrassment, and flushed with more embarrassment when she glanced down to see that her sexy nightie was now nothing more than a wad of cloth around her waist about the size of a belt. She’d barely taken note of that when he released her legs and then set her on her feet beside the bed. Her nightie belt immediately dropped to pool around her feet.
Pet stared down at it blankly, and then lifted her gaze to the man who had just given her the greatest pleasure of her life.
Santo reached for his shirt, hesitated, and then asked, “Do you want me to leave?”
“Oh, God no.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, but Pet didn’t regret the admission much. They were true. She didn’t want him to leave. Now that she was waking up and remembering what had happened before she’d passed out, that was the last thing she wanted.
Santo smiled and then tugged his shirttails out of his jeans and pulled the shirt up his chest to remove it.
Pet gasped as he did. The man was absolutely gorgeous. Exquisite. His muscles, his skin, the hair on his chest . . . all of it was perfect. He was a marble Adonis come to life and she fell on him like a slavering dog, her hands moving over his lovely skin even before he had the shirt off over his head.
She felt his hands come to rest on her hips once he’d finished with his shirt, but ignored them in favor of trailing her fingers over his six-pack stomach and then letting them glide up to explore his pecs. The man had a body to rival Dwayne Johnson’s when he played Hercules, all muscle and power, and dear God, he was beautiful.
“Thank you,” Pet whispered suddenly and pressed a kiss to the very center of his chest.
“What for?” The question was a husky growl that made her shiver and squeeze her thighs together.
“For the pleasure you gave me,” she answered. Moving her head to the right, Pet gave the areola around that nipple a quick lick and added, “Now it’s your turn,” before closing her lips over his nipple.
Santo grunted in surprise and then let his breath out on a moan as she gave the small hard nib the attention he’d paid to hers earlier. She felt his hands glide into her hair and clasp her skull, but was distracted by the pleasure sliding through her own body as she drew on his nipple. It was almost like their roles were somehow reversed and he was doing the licking, nipping, and suckling to her body again. Or like she was experiencing his pleasure, Pet thought, which was impossible. She couldn’t read minds.
When one of her questing hands drifted over to pluck at and toy with his other nipple while she continued to attend the first, her pleasure increased and Santo groaned, his hands dropping to her back and urging her tighter against him. The hardness that pressed against her stomach drew her attention then, and she released his nipple and glanced down as she reached for the snap of his jeans.
Santo immediately reached down to help, unzipping his pants himself. Her eyes widened incredulously when his erection immediately shoved its way out of the tight jeans. Oh, yeah, he was perfect . . . and the size large condoms she had definitely weren’t going to fit.
No problem, Pet told herself. He’d given her pleasure, now she’d give him pleasure, and tomorrow she’d buy the largest condoms she could find and invite him over for dinner again. If he was still in town. That thought made her frown, but then she pushed it away to concentrate on what she was doing as her hand closed around him.
Her touch made Santo hiss through his teeth with shock, but Pet was too distracted by the jolt of pleasure that shot through her to notice. Fascinated by her body’s reaction to touching him, she dropped to her knees and immediately took him into her mouth. Santo’s hands knotted in her hair, and he groaned loudly as her lips closed over him. Pet groaned in response as her own body was assailed by pleasure and for one moment she froze, but then she went with it. She began to explore, moving her mouth slowly, then quickly, wrapping her hand around the base in front of her mouth and tightening, then loosening her grip experimentally as her hand followed her mouth’s movement, and finally lashing him with her tongue too as she found the rhythm that caused the most pleasure in her.
Santo was alternating between groaning and muttering words to her in Italian that might have been endearments, praise, or a recipe for all she knew, but they sounded beautiful to her ears as she gave them both pleasure. Unlike Santo, she did not have the stamina to prolong this interlude. She wanted the release again, so when Santo pulled on her hair, trying to make her stop just as she was reaching that pinnacle of excitement before the tumble into ecstasy, Pet resisted him. In the end, he let her take them both over the edge. She heard him shout something in Italian that she was quite sure was a curse, but caught up in her own, stunning orgasm as she was, Pet barely had the presence of mind to remove her mouth to keep from biting him as she started to convulse before losing consciousness.
Thirteen
“Here you are, sir. Miss.”
Pet managed a smile for the man holding out her chair, took her seat, and murmured, “Thank you.” But the moment he moved away, she cast her eyes around the room he’d led them to with something approaching alarm. Santo had brought her to one of the finest restaurants in Albany, one where you usually had to book well ahead. She had no idea how he’d managed to get them in, especially in this private room, but knew it must be costing him a mint. It was a room that included a good-sized cooking area separated from the dining side of the room by an island. It also included a private chef who cooked where you could see the action. It was meant for smaller parties to have private celebrations. Smaller being ten to eighteen people, not two.
Shaking her head, Pet turned helplessly to Santo, feeling like she was heading for a cliff at top speed and not going to be able to save herself from going over. But then she’d been feeling like that since waking the second time last night. She’d woken up cradled in Santo’s arms in bed rather than on her bedroom floor, which had been a nice surprise. But that surprise had soon been followed by concern as she acknowledged that she’d fainted again. That issue was soon pushed aside, however, by the memory of how her kissing and touching him had given her so much pleasure.
Pet had just decided it must be some immortal thing and raised her head to ask him about that, but the moment she lifted her face to his, Santo had kissed her. That’s all he’d done, however. He’d given her a hungry, hard kiss that got her all worked up and then slid from the bed and began to dress.
“Where are you going?” she’d asked with dismay.
“I have to get back to take my shift watching the Purdy house,” Santo had said apologetically.
Pet had been terribly disappointed but had climbed from bed to see him out, her mind fretting over whether she’d see him again. It wasn’t until they were at the door that he’d said he’d be back today if that was all right with her. When she’d nodded in mute agreement, he’d cracked his first smile since waking and said not to worry about dinner. He’d take care of it.
It was only once she’d crawled back into bed and found her mind going back over the night that she’d realized she was obsessing like a teenager with a crush. Pet had reassured herself it was just the new sex. That always made it spicier and left you jonesing for more, she’d reassured herself. After the next night, she’d calm down.
Pet had spent the whole day at work today excited and looking forward to seeing Santo and getting to experience more of the pleasure she’d found in his arms. She’d even stopped at a drugstore after giving her last lecture of the day, and picked up the largest sized condoms she could find. Tonight, she planned on finally having him in her, and she’d thought of nothing else but that as she’d driven to Parker’s school to pick him up. They’d go home, Santo would come over, they’d have dinner and watch another movie with Parker, then her nephew would go to bed, and she and Santo would play.
It was when she and Parker had got home that her plan had started to unravel. They’d arrived to find Santo, Julius, and Marguerite waiting. The presence of the other couple had been alarming enough, but Santo in an expensive and beautifully tailored dark blue suit with a pale blue shirt and bloodred tie had nearly had her hyperventilating as she worried over what was happening.
What was happening was that she was going on a date. It was Marguerite who had announced that tidbit, saying Santo had mentioned he wished he could take her on one, and so she and Julius had volunteered to keep Parker company while he did. A table was booked, he was all dressed, and Marguerite was going to help her prepare so they would make their reservation in time.
The woman had kept up a constant chatter as she’d fixed Pet’s hair and makeup and then picked out her dress. Marguerite had chosen Pet’s favorite. One she’d bought late last year but never had an occasion to wear. Or perhaps the nerve, she acknowledged. It was an off-the-shoulder sheath cocktail dress in bloodred satin. It was beautiful, and made her feel beautiful, and perfectly matched Santo’s tie.
“What is wrong?” Santo asked quietly, taking in her expression.
Pet lowered her gaze as she began absently fiddling with the silverware next to her plate. “Nothing. This is lovely.”
“But?” he prompted.
She hesitated, but then met his gaze and said, “But this is expensive, and you didn’t have to do it. I would have been perfectly happy with fast food and a movie with Parker.”
Santo nodded solemnly. “But then I would have missed seeing you in that gown.”
When Pet’s eyes widened in surprise at the compliment, he asked, “Do you not realize you are the most beautiful woman here tonight?”
Pet blinked and then grinned and pointed out, “I’m the only woman in here tonight.”
Santo glanced around the room and scowled as he realized his compliment was ruined. Sighing, he said, “Sì. But you truly are beautiful, Pet. To me, you are the most beautiful woman in the world. The only woman in the world.”