Five Dates with the Billionaire - Alyssa J. Montgomery Page 0,31
of impulsive insanity and kissed her.
Stifling the groan that threatened to rumble from his throat when he recalled those kisses, he was frustrated he’d let instinct overtake logic. Their kisses had turned his mind to mush and his body into a raging mass of sexual desire the like of which he hadn’t known since he was a hormone-driven teenager. Damn it all! A powerful spike of lust had made him want to carry her to the nearest bed and drive into her until she came apart in his arms and called out his name in rapture.
Her voice broke into his thoughts. ‘According to my map, the entrance to the palace is over there.’
The palace.
Trying to pull himself together, he looked back out onto the water traffic on the busy Grand Canal before he turned back to her.
They were here to see the palace.
They needed to go and join the line.
As much as he tried to put what had happened behind him, it was impossible. He gave her a brief nod and fell into step beside her.
She’d never been kissed before.
Of course she’d looked all passion-glazed in Peppi’s photos. It was her first kiss for God’s sake. She probably would’ve responded like that to any man who’d kissed her. Even if she had felt the explosion he’d felt, she wouldn’t know how high voltage the kisses were because she had nothing to compare them to.
Connor knew.
Of all the women he’d kissed, none of them had made him completely lose control, drawing him like a magnet the way Mia had. Oh, he’d told himself he was merely playing along with Vincento’s suggestion—that it would be churlish to refuse—but it’d been an excuse.
Deep down, he’d been wondering what it would be like to kiss Mia ever since she’d walked down Gran’s staircase; maybe even earlier when she’d stood up to him in her office. And, when he’d seen her on the jetty this morning, all he could think about was having her in his arms.
On the gondola, he’d cupped her face and told himself he’d only have a small taste. Just enough to satisfy his curiosity.
Nothing in his significant experience had prepared him for how sweet the taste would be. The intended relatively chaste kiss had turned into something else entirely and, from the second their lips had met, sensation had taken over and demanded the kiss be deepened. Sipping at her lips hadn’t been enough. Connor had wanted—needed—to explore the delights of her mouth. The way she’d returned his kisses with unfettered abandon had encouraged him, lighting the fuse to a powder keg of pleasure bordering on sheer delirium.
Mia Simms was a naturally sensual woman.
Mia Simms was also out of bounds.
If she’d never been kissed before, she had to be a virgin and Connor did not take virgins to bed.
Besides, given her age, Mia must surely be holding out for her Mr Right to come along, fall madly in love with her and put a ring on her finger. Connor knew he was Mr Wrong. His lovers were experienced women who weren’t looking for a wedding ring.
‘I thought there’d be more pigeons.’
Pigeons?
She was looking up at the tops of the buildings.
He was castigating his behaviour and agonising over how he was going to keep his hands off her for the next four days and she was thinking about bloody pigeons?
‘In all the photos I’ve seen of St Mark’s Square there’ve been more pigeons,’ she elaborated.
Was she really able to go from those explosive kisses to thinking about crapping bloody pigeons in less than a hundred paces? Obviously, she hadn’t been as affected by their kisses as he had. How could she hint they have an affair in one breath and then accept so easily when he’d told her it wasn’t going to happen?
Fine. He’d follow her lead.
‘The officials banned people from feeding the birds over a decade ago,’ he said. ‘If we sit on the square at Caffè Florian I’m certain we’ll be pestered by them.’
‘I’m glad Violet included the cafe on our itinerary. I did a quick look at “must-do” lists for Venice and Paris and she certainly seems to have picked the most popular tourist destinations for us.’
Good on Gran. He imagined the next conversation he was going to have with her. Well, Gran. So much for you playing cupid. No love, but take better aim next time because your arrow of lust hit me but not Mia.
A few nights of cold showers were going to be his short-term reality.