swept his hand behind my neck and held me immobile.
“It's okay, cara,” he murmured against my lips. “You're not seventeen anymore.”
I parted my lips in an instinctive reaction, and he took advantage of my moment of weakness and slowly claimed my lips with his own, gently deepening the kiss with his tongue. Electric sparks floated in the air around us as I relaxed in his arms and gave in to his kiss. As his hands dug into my hair and drew me even closer, I wanted it to feel wrong. I tried suppressing my response by evoking all those ugly memories from the past, but my mind wouldn't cooperate. Something that had been buried deep within me and almost forgotten yearned to soar to the surface. It was the first occasion in a long time that I was unable to fight it and push it back, so I surrendered to it instead. Alessandro continued kissing me for what felt like an eternity, and it appeared he was unable to let go of me. In the end, I was the one who came to my senses and pushed him away, even though every cell in my body wanted exactly the opposite.
“Cristo, cara,” Alessandro exclaimed in a hot whisper, staring at me with fire in his eyes. “You taste so good I don't ever want to stop.”
Then don't. The thought came out of nowhere, and I quickly looked away before I said or did something I would regret for the rest of my life.
Our eyes met, and we exchanged a knowing glance. Both of our minds slowly descended back into that night when there was no ugliness and no hatred between us.
For a few breathless heartbeats, I was a shy innocent seventeen-year-old and he was my knight in shining armor.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The Present
The magic disappeared together with the rain. As we left the car and entered the house, I tried to discern what madness possessed me to give in to Alessandro's kiss. I had no idea what had stopped my brain from functioning, but I would make sure it never happened again. Alessandro could be very charming when he wanted to be. He had managed to sweep me off my feet back when I was a teenager, using the very same tricks he had employed this evening. It would be so easy to fall under his spell, but an ugly monster lurked underneath that breathtakingly beautiful surface, and the last thing I needed was a reminder of its existence.
Alessandro felt differently about it. He tried kissing me again in the hallway, but I turned my head away, and warned him we could be seen by the staff. Reluctantly, he agreed and I quickly retreated into my own room to shower and get changed.
When I returned to his room, he was already in bed and appeared to be asleep. As I was about to switch off the lamp on the nightstand, Alessandro reached for me and pulled me against the hard wall of his naked chest. Hot, open-mouthed kisses fell on my neck, and his hand closed around my hip. “Alessandro,” I called his name in alarm.
He tugged me even closer and continued laying those feather soft kisses on my skin.
“It's been weeks,” he murmured in my ear. “That's a long time for a man. I’m burning for you, Olivia.” He attempted to turn me toward him so he could kiss me again, but I moved away. That didn't stop him from trying again.
“Alessandro.” There was a note of fear in my voice.
“Shh, relax. I won't fall on you like a sex starved animal,” he reassured me in a whisper, as his hand went under my shirt and paused by my lower abdomen. “I'll go as slow as you need me to. I know this is new to you too.”
My breath hitched. “Alessandro, please.” I gripped the edge of the mattress with shaky hands, using all my strength to break free from his hold.
“I promise I'll make it perfect, tesoro,” he mused in Italian, bucking his hips, so I could feel his erection against my lower back. “I'll make it feel like the first time.”
He must have thought the words were reassuring, but they made my blood freeze. I would rather die than live through another painful repetition of our wedding night. “Alessandro, per favore...fermati!” I cried out in Italian, begging him to stop as I tried pushing him away without success.
This time, he listened and immediately stopped touching me. He gazed at me,