Grace stared at Vittorio’s brutally handsome face. There was nothing soft or feminine about it, not even the long sweep of lashes that framed his strange, blue eyes. He was utterly masculine yet managed not to be brutishly so. She knew surrendering to him meant giving him everything. He’d laid out very carefully what he wanted in a relationship and expected her to live with his rules.
A million butterflies took flight when he spoke to her in that velvet tone. She craved the life he offered to her. She loved her work and her mind grasped details. Planning dream weddings and fairy-tale parties to fulfill people’s fantasies was the perfect job for her. She needed to make others happy and she was meticulous about getting every detail perfect and right for them. They told her what they wanted, and she found the best way to provide that dream event for them.
It was always at home, when she was alone with herself, the way she’d been her entire life, that she was lost. She had no purpose. No focus. No center to balance her. Now, this man, Vittorio Ferraro, an amazing, sensual, intelligent man, offered those things to her. He was exactly what she needed—and wanted.
Grace sank her fingers into the thick mass of hair spilling onto his forehead. She loved that she could touch his hair. She’d fantasized over doing just that. When she inhaled, there was that elusive, masculine scent that appealed to her. It was faint, but there, all spice and woods, something she found hard to describe, but she knew she’d be able to find him blindfolded, with a hundred other men in the same room.
His hand was on her bare belly, fingers splayed wide, the tips touching the underside of both breasts, causing her breath to come in ragged pants. There was no hiding from him. He knew what he did to her. He’d kissed her and that was all it took for her body to go soft and pliant, melting into his, desperate to have him inside her.
His fingers moved back and forth over her stomach, stroking mesmerizing caresses there that soothed the fear in her yet fed her fierce arousal at the same time. Her fingers curled into his hair as he pressed a kiss to her belly button and then swirled his tongue there. She gasped, and her hips bucked involuntarily when his teeth scraped her skin and then nipped, causing a little sting.
“Are you paying attention, gattina?”
“Yes.” She was, but she could barely get the affirmative past her throat. Flames licked at her skin along the path his mouth took. She was acutely aware of him kissing, licking and biting his way down her body to the tangle of fiery curls covering her mound.
“Vittorio.” His name came out a moan.
“Lay still for me, bella. We have to be careful of your shoulder. If you keep squirming around like that, I might have to punish you.”
Grace couldn’t stop squirming, not when his breath felt hot between her legs. He caught each leg behind the knee and pulled it back, holding each with his arms but leaving his hands free. He slipped off the bed so that his head was between her legs. He turned and licked up her thigh, making her gasp at the sensation. Fingers of desire danced up and down her thighs. Her hips bucked again when his hot breath bathed her sex.
It was too much, and he hadn’t even gotten started. “You said no punishments,” she managed to gasp, her entire body shuddering with need.
“I might have misspoken.” His tongue swiped across her entrance, collecting liquid heat and driving her up the wall.
She cried out and curled her fingers tighter in his hair. Nothing, nothing had ever felt that good. “So, handcuffs are in . . .” She could barely get the words out, air refusing to move through her lungs.
“And ropes. I’ve been studying for several years now, and lately have really picked up the art of shibari from my brother. He uses his skills mainly for art while I . . .” Implying he didn’t. Teasing her.
She laughed because he made her feel as if she was his everything. His mouth. His hands. Those eyes of his moving over her body and then settling on her face when he delivered his playful, but truthful statement. Her laugh turned to a gasp as he kissed his way up her other thigh, using lips, teeth and tongue. Every