Lost in Italy (39 page)

“I won’t apologize for being a guy, Halli.”

With one finger, he pulled the lace aside and closed his mouth over the pebbled tip.  The first deep pull of his mouth on her sensitive skin made her arch off the bed.  Her involuntary sound of pleasure quickened his pulse and he took advantage of the opportunity to unhook the bra.

Halli’s hands fisted in his hair after he’d removed the satin and lavished attention on first one firm, warm mound, then the other.  The sensual rub of her bare foot along the back of his calf and up his thigh reminded him to toe his shoes off.  As she continued to rub, up and down, up and down, their hips ground together.

God, she made him so hot.  The sounds and sighs and soft gasps coming from her lips only increased the fire raging within.  Pooled blood in his groin pounded relentlessly, almost painfully, demanding relief.

He rolled off her and skimmed his hand down across her belly to the button of her jeans.  She pushed his hands aside and undid them herself, apparently as eager to have them off as he was.  He braced a hand on either side of her, then lightly dragged his whiskered chin along the same path his hand had taken.  Muscles quivered when he stopped to dip his tongue in her navel.

“I was wrong.”

She lifted up on one elbow.  “About what?”

He ran a finger along the edge of her panties, noting the shadow of dark curls under the silky wisp of fabric.  “White’s just as sexy as black.”

Halli drew in a shaky breath as he removed her last piece of clothing and just looked. Completely exposed to his gaze, she reminded herself Italy Halli lived in the moment.  When he leaned forward and pressed his mouth to the inside of her thigh, she couldn’t help but jerk in surprise.  Heart pounding impossibly hard, she gulped and squeezed her eyes shut.  His warm breath and lips skimmed up her leg, closer to where she ached for his touch.

“Trent…I, ah, I’ve never, um…”

Air chilled her skin where his mouth had just been.  “Never what?”

Heat of an entirely different kind took over her body.  She should’ve kept her mouth shut.  She squirmed, and when he moved to lie beside her, pulled her knees together and threw her forearm over her eyes.

“Are you a virgin?”

The surprised, gentle question prompted a smile, but she didn’t move her arm.  “No.  I’ve done that before, I’ve just never done…
that
.”  She waved her hand in the general direction of her waist and below.

“Well, now that’s just not fair,” he said sternly.  Yet a smile colored his voice.  “What kind of selfish jerks have you been with?”

She shrugged.  Strong, insistent fingers curled around the wrist draped over her eyes.  Face still burning with embarrassment, she let him pull her arm down and opened her eyes.  His gaze met hers, completely serious.

“Do you want to?”

Desire and curiosity warred with apprehension over the unknown.  He must’ve read her hesitation because he leaned forward to kiss her.  Slow, deep, sensual; a mating of their mouths as if they had all the time in the world.  Trepidation had completely receded by the time he lifted his head again.

“You said you trust me.”

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Let me show you how good it can be.”

A nod was the best she could manage before giving herself up to the pure sensation his kisses evoked as they moved back down her body to center in that one spot.  He was right.  It was good.  Better than she could’ve ever imagined.

All sense of time and place disappeared, and for the life of her couldn’t keep quiet.  Biting her lip did no good.  Tension built inside, unlike anything she’d felt before.  He took her higher, and higher still, until she couldn’t take any more, pleaded with him without even knowing what she wanted. 
Needed
.  She gasped his name and then cried out as he sent her cresting on a wave of such ecstasy her world seemed to explode.

Halli lay in amazement, thinking she should be mortified at her loss of control and how uncharacteristically vocal she’d been.  Energy to care deserted her.  Mini aftershocks continued to pleasure as Trent propped on one elbow to grin down at her.

“Good?”

A deep sigh of contentment accompanied her smile.  He roamed his free hand over every reachable inch of her body, following it with his gaze.  Halli’s heart sped up again at the look of appreciation his eyes.  It gave her the courage to reach down and tug on the waistband of his jeans.

“Why are you still half-dressed?”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

He wasted no time undoing the button and zipper.  Halli rolled onto her side and watched, still slightly dazed from what he’d just done to her.  When he lifted his hips to shuck the denim, she splayed her fingers across his taut stomach.

“Damn.  I was hoping for commando.”

His laugh came out low, tense, and completely sexy as her hand slid lower.

“That’s only when I’m surprised from the shower by thugs.  Otherwise it’s too dangerous to zip—”

His words dissolved into a growl when she brushed across the soft material of his boxer-briefs and felt the length of his erection.  Extra large condoms, indeed.

The boxers followed the jeans and, channeling Italy Halli, she took her turn exploring his body.  All hard planes and angles and sinewy muscle beneath velvet skin, with a faint salty taste to compliment his intoxicating male scent.  She kissed each bruise as if she could erase them; ribs, sternum, forearm and even the faint shadow the back of her head had left on the side of his chin.

Heat shimmered off him in waves, spiking with each groan she wrung from his lips.  She’d finally given in to the fact that her life was out of her control, and yet she’d never felt more in control than at this moment.

When Trent couldn’t take anymore of her wicked tongue and teeth, he dragged her up and flipped their positions again.  She continually surprised him.  Shy one moment, wonderfully eager the next.  He took the necessary moment to put on a condom before sliding into her heat.  So hot, so tight.  It took everything he had not to take her fast and furious, but he managed to hold on by a thread.

Slow.  Make it last.

She was beautiful, lying beneath him, hair fanned on the navy bedspread.  Those blue eyes of hers were unreadable in the dim light, but going by her expression, she wouldn’t be complaining any time soon.  He’d make sure of that.

Her hips lifted, taking him deeper with each thrust.  Heat built again, one tantalizing degree at a time.  Soft, breathy moans emanated from her parted lips.  They turned him on like nothing else and his control began to slip.

Faster.  Harder.  She urged him on, her voice desperate, relentless, reaching, until suddenly she cried out, louder than before.  Trent followed her over the edge with a jerk of his body and a mind-blowing release.

His arms trembled from the extended time supporting his weight.  Fighting to catch his breath, he eased to the side.  He couldn’t resist a kiss on her smooth neck and a taste of her sweat-slick skin with the tip of his tongue.  He should be satisfied, tired.  Instead, he wanted to start all over despite the dull ache of his injured arm.

“Mmm,” she murmured, eyes closed.

“Never figured you for a screamer.”

“Never was before.”

Her eyes popped open and a flush spread across her face; a captivating, unexpected return of shyness.

Trent grinned with pure male satisfaction.  “That was all me?”

She quickly shook her head side to side.  “No.”

“You can’t take it back.”

“I can if I don’t want the boat to sink under the weight of your ego.”

He chuckled.  “I special ordered the boat to handle my ego.”

“In that case, your earlier comment about not being good enough is completely unfounded.”

He smiled slightly, but didn’t hold her gaze.  He hadn’t been talking about sex when he’d said that.  Aware of cooler air on their damp, heated bodies, Trent shifted and urged her under the covers.  She curled up on her side, head pillowed on her arm.  He propped up on one elbow, watching her eyelids droop.  “Ready for dessert?”

“Isn’t that what we just had?” she asked with a sleepy smile.

After a heartbeat or two, Trent managed a soft, cocky, “By my definition, we sure did, sweetheart.”

Her brow furrowed slightly, but relaxed as her breathing deepened.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” he said, pretty sure she was already sleeping and didn’t even hear him as he climbed off the bed.  After a trip to the bathroom, he pulled his briefs on, palmed the gun, and took a quick turn topside.

Just past midnight, everything was quiet.  Everything but the panicked, confused, hopeful, terrified tangle of emotions constricting his chest.  He braced his hands on the railing to stare out over the water, drawing in long, slow breaths and letting them out with equal control.  The dull ache in his arm became a painful bite with each clench of his fingers on the smooth metal rail.  An ineffective distraction during the damned hopeless battle to keep the truth at bay.

He gave in with a low groan of surrender.

That last sex-satisfied smile of hers grabbed hold of his heart with the strength of a bald eagle snagging a fish.  He hadn’t seen it coming.  Didn’t want to be caught.

It was more than obvious they were all wrong for each other.  She craved order and dependability; events in his life proved he was far from dependable.  In time, she would resent him for disrupting her neat little life, and he’d succeed yet again in being a colossal disappointment.  And that wasn’t even taking into account his Hollywood lifestyle.

Clear as the star-filled sky above, as opposite as their worlds were, as different as they were, it’d never work.

Wouldn’t it?

That insidious little voice in his head refused to be swayed by logical reasoning.  Earlier, Halli had made a decision to live in the moment before it passed her by.  He understood that sentiment wholeheartedly.

Maybe you aren’t completely different.

He considered that and thought,
maybe not
.  He had no idea how the day would end.  Plans could go awry, as they often did.  Rules could be broken.  Murderers couldn’t be counted on to follow any particular code of ethics.  These moments with her could be all he had.  Did he really want to waste them by arguing with himself as to why they’d never be together?

Though not normally a snuggler, Trent returned to the bed, replaced the gun on the headboard, and snuggled with Halli.  Held her small, fragile, amazingly strong body close to his and prayed to God he didn’t let her down, too.

Chapter 21

Foot twitching a mile a minute, trying to contain his restless energy, Ben glared across his luxurious prison, wondering how the day would unfold and thinking if he was this unnerved, Halli must be going crazy between taking care of Rachel and worrying about him.  If only he could talk to her again.  Tell her not to worry, that someone must’ve decided he wasn’t such an escape threat and untied him from the chair.  He had a guard outside the locked door and on the balcony, but at least he could move around again.  Maybe even make a plan.  Halli loved a good plan.

He surged off the bed and headed toward the window, anxious for the sun to rise above the mountain peaks and get this day over.  Hopefully, Trent Tomlin had reassured his sisters and kept their minds off the whole nightmare.  Halli’d always had a thing for the guy’s movies, and being in television herself, maybe they’d wiled away the sleepless night hours talking shop.

He, on the other hand, had been cursed with erotic dreams of his sexy Italian captor on his lap and woke to discover dawn had yet to break.  Now, fifteen minutes later, the sky was just beginning to lighten to the East.

In mid-reach to sweep aside the curtain for a view of the lake, a low-pitched voice on the balcony made him draw back against the wall.  An
English
-speaking, Italian-accented voice.  These guys didn’t speak English without good reason, and some didn’t speak it at all.  Why was this one?

Ben strained to make out the words.

“…standing guard like one of his fucking flunkies.  I believe he has suspicion, so the sooner this is done the better.  Is everything set up like we agreed?...Good.  After the trade and money transfer, I will finish the job and make sure it looks like a deal gone bad…No, do not worry about him.  It is a simple matter to insert doubt in his mind.”

He lowered to the floor and crawled to the other side of the busted window.  Back to the wall, he peered through the slim opening provided by the curtain lifting every few seconds in the morning breeze.  No lights lit the balcony.  The weak glow of impending day revealed only a shadowed profile, dark hair, and dark rimmed glasses.  A cigarette tip burned bright, providing brief illumination before arcing down out of sight, and a thin plume of smoke streamed into the cool morning air.

Nino.

“No…she poses no more problem than we anticipated…Relax.  I said I will take care of her and Lapaglia, and I will.”