Stefano pounded into her, letting the thunder roar in his ears, hearing the music of her cries, feeling the absolute paradise of her sheath and he just gave himself up to that ecstasy. He took her up over and over, forcing her to shatter around him three times before he finally emptied himself in her. Before he collapsed on top of her, driving her down to the mattress with his heavy weight.

It took a long time before he could catch his breath enough to ease off of her. She moaned but didn’t move. He cleaned her up and then himself before falling into bed beside her.

“I swear, bella, a couple of more times and I’ll be able to find my gentle and take you slow and sweet the way I should have done the first time,” he promised, curling his body around hers. He pinned her by draping one thigh over both her legs and then cupped her breast in his hand, his thumb lazily strumming her nipple. He pushed his semihard cock into the sweet crease between her cheeks, so that it nestled there, all warm and happy.

“A couple of more times and I won’t be able to get up and go to work tomorrow,” she pointed out with a small, whispery laugh that played along his nerve endings. She pushed her buttocks back into the cradle of his hips, driving his cock deeper into her.

He fucking loved that. “I meant to talk to you about that, dolce cuore—there’s no need to work anymore. It might be a good thing if you let me tell Pietro that you aren’t coming back.”

She leaned down and sank her teeth into his arm. Hard.

“Dannazione donna! Seriously?”

“I’m working, and don’t you dare talk to Pietro. I mean it, Stefano. You do that, and I won’t be sleeping in this bed or this apartment. You don’t get to dictate to me.”

She didn’t lift her head from the pillow again; her tone was mild, but she meant it. That didn’t sit well with him.

“First, Francesca, don’t ever threaten to leave me. You won’t make it out the door. I want you very, very clear on that. Second, something matters to you, it matters to me, so just say so without the drama. The bite, okay, I get that, but not the threat. Are we clear?”

“Yes, honey, we’re clear,” she said softly. “Now I really have to sleep.”

“I was going to let you sleep,” he pointed out, “but now you fucking made my cock hard again with that bite. You have to take care of that before you can sleep.”

“You’ll have to do that work.”

“Fine by me. I wanted to fuck your breasts and cover you in me. That okay with you?”

“Everything you do is okay with me,” she said, and rolled over onto her back. “I might be a little afraid sometimes, Stefano, but I’m always willing to try.”

“Dio, bambina, you make me almost humble. I’m too fucking arrogant to actually be humble, but it’s there.”

He was rewarded with her laughter. He straddled her body, rubbing his balls along her belly. She felt so little under him. So soft. He cupped her breasts in his hands before leaning down to give them attention. “I’m going to see if I can make you come without doing anything but using my hands and mouth on your breasts and then I’ll fuck you right here. I won’t be cleaning you up, Francesca. You’re going to go to sleep with me all over you.”

“Why do I find that so hot? You’re making me wet all over again,” she accused. “Can you really do that?”

He proceeded to show her he could.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Fortunately, or unfortunately—staring at herself in the mirror, Francesca couldn’t decide which—she had had the weekend off. She couldn’t get up and go to work after she’d practically thrown a tantrum fighting for the right to do so. That meant Stefano stayed in his apartment with her and they’d barely made it out of bed. When they did, that didn’t seem to matter to him. He took her in the kitchen on the table. On the counter. On the floor in the hall. Up against the wall in the living room. On furniture. In the shower.

Stefano was creative and he’d seemed determined to know every inch of her body and claim it for his own. She was fine with that at the time. Now, looking at the marks on her, the ones she’d loved him putting there, she thought maybe she was a little crazy. The necklace of purplish bites on her neck had barely faded and she doubted if she could find anything to cover them when she went to work.

She swore she could still feel him deep inside her. She was fairly certain she had skid marks on her butt and floor burns on her back. She touched one of the bite marks on her left breast. Just that, the sweep of the pads of her fingers, made her shiver. That was how sensitive she was. That was how awake he made her body.