The Santini Collection 1-4 (20 page)

“
Does this have to do with the guy who was here a couple weeks ago?”

He hated to think she had been involved with both of them, especially after he had specifically told her his feelings on the subject. She shook her head.

“
Colin and I have known each other since kindergarten.”

“
That’s it. No one in the way. No other man?”

She shook her head.

“
Good.”

Then, without a word, he let go of her wrist, sliding his hand up to cup her face. He didn’t hesitate as he leaned in to brush his mouth over hers, then deepened the kiss. He poured everything he could into that kiss. Every feeling—anticipation, frustration, infatuation—he had for the last few weeks as he had realized how attracted her was to her. She sighed and leaned against him. Something squeezed tight in his chest

When he pulled back, she was smiling.

“
So, whatcha waiting for SEAL?”

He couldn’t let the challenge go. He bent at the waist, and lifted her up and over his shoulder. She squealed. He smacked her on the ass, leaving his hand there. Gee had been right. Marco liked a curvy woman, and Alana was definitely that.

“
Just what do you think you’re doing, Marco,” she said, laughing.

“
You should know better than to mess with a SEAL, Alana. You gave me a challenge. This is my acceptance.”

He said nothing else but dumped her on the bed. Her hair was a mess now, but it was spread out over his pillows. He realized he wanted her there. Not just now. Not just for the time he had left in Hawaii. He wanted her in his bed every night. Forever.

“
Marco?”

Touching her tonight, sharing with her in his bed, he knew what that meant to him. Now he just had to convince the woman he was in love with.

“
Time to pay up,” he said, before jumping on the bed ready to rise to the challenge.

Chapter Seven

Marco had to fight the primal urge to plunder. It beat in his blood to take, to taste, to lose himself in the woman. But he wanted this to be memorable. He wanted her to understand just what this meant to him.

He leaned into her and brushed some of the hair out of her face.

“
Marco.” Her voice was barely a whisper and if he hadn’t been paying attention to her, he would have missed it. The sound of it sung through his blood. Her arousal was easy to hear. Another surge of need rushed through him, but he fought it back.

He leaned his head down and kissed her. Slowly, keeping his eyes open as he slipped his tongue into her mouth. He lost himself in the simplicity of it. Her tongue slid against his and she hummed. Tiny little vibrations shook him to the core.

He broke away from the kiss and kissed a path down her jaw to her slender neck. The woman smelled of the ocean and flowers.

He slipped further down her body and pushed her top up. He kissed the golden flesh he exposed. When he reached her breasts, he thanked god for front bra closures. With a quick click, he undid the bra. He didn’t hesitate. He pulled her shirt all the way off as he took one nipple into his mouth. She moaned, her legs moving restlessly against him.

He pulled back and blew on the nipple.

She moaned his name. The sound of it on her sweet lips had his body singing. He couldn’t wait. He should. He wanted to take this slowly. It just wasn’t going to happen. He slid her board shorts and panties off and kneeled between her legs. Damn she was beautiful. The sun seemed to kiss every bit of her skin, leaving a golden sheen to it.

“
Marco,” she said, her voice telling him she was embarrassed.

She moved to cover herself, but he stopped her.

“
Don’t.” The request came out more like a growl. He grabbed on to what little control he had left. “Please.”

“
I’m just not…”

“
What? Not used to being naked that much?”

Her face turned pink as she nodded.

“
You better get used to it around me, Alana. I plan on having you naked as much as I can.”

He didn’t wait for a response. Instead, he settled himself between her legs and kissed her right thigh. She shivered and he took that as a good sign. His kissed and licked his way up to the curls at the apex of her thighs. First, he breathed in the scent of her—flowers, ocean and aroused woman. No liquor in the world could intoxicate him this way. He wanted to stay drunk on it, on her.

He didn’t hesitate. He pressed his mouth against her pussy, slipping his tongue inside her. The taste of her exploded over his taste buds. Soon, she was pressing up against his mouth as she slipped her hands through his hair. It didn’t take long for her to go up and over the edge. She screamed his name as she jolted against his mouth.

The need to share that moment with her as she came again urged him on. He slipped out of bed and tore his clothes off, throwing them behind him, not caring where they fell. He grabbed a condom and joined her back on the bed. When he opened the packet, his hands were shaking. Damn, he hadn’t been this overwhelmed since his first time. Before he could slip it on, Alana sat up and surprised him by taking the condom out of his hands. She placed it on the tip and in no apparent hurry, rolled it down his cock. He had never seen something so sensual. Her long fingers slid against his flesh and the condom and he almost came right there. Marco shivered.

By the time she had it on him, he could barely remember his own name. She looked up at him with one of those little smiles that struck him dumb. She cupped his face and pulled him down for a wet, open mouth kiss.

He gained his bearings then and pressed her against the bed. He slipped his hands down to her waist, rose to his knees, and entered her in one fast thrust. She gasped at the intrusion.

“
Sorry,” he said.

She wrapped her legs around him. “Don’t be sorry.”

He laughed and leaned down to kiss her. Then, he moved. His fingers dug into her skin as he continued thrusting in and out of her. Soon, though, he knew he could not hold back any longer. Still, he wanted to feel her orgasm as he came. He wanted her there with him.

“
Come again, baby, do it for me,” he ordered in a growl. She opened her eyes slightly and looked at him. In the next instant, he watched as another orgasm lanced through her. Her eyes went blurry with satisfaction before she closed them. It was the single most erotic sight he had witnessed in his life, it pulled his own orgasm from him. With one more thrust, he let pleasure take control as he lost himself in her.

* * * *

“
Well, that was interesting,” she said a few moments later.

He laughed and a warm feeling that had nothing to do with the sex stole through her. Rising up, he rested his weight on his elbow. “That’s a helluva way to describe making love.”

Her heart lurched at the words he used. She wanted it to be love, but Alana didn’t know if she would recognize the emotion. Her one dip into that pool had proven she didn’t know much about it.

“
I couldn’t come up with any other words. My brain melted the second you touched me.”

His eyes softened and again she felt that suspicious warmth. She didn’t want that. She
couldn’t
want that. Falling for him would be a big mistake. She lusted after him, that’s for sure, but she couldn’t let herself fall into that deep pool again.

“
Well, it was kind of fast, so I promise to take longer next time.”

Her eyes widened at that comment. She glanced at the clock then back to the man to see if he was joking. He wasn’t.

“
Really? Longer?”

He smiled. “I plan on feasting on you, so I hope you’re up to it.”

Just the way Marco said it had her body tingling. She was definitely lost if he was getting her hot with sex talk. Usually it embarrassed her but when Marco said it, her body reacted. Maybe it was because she was positive he meant it.

“
I’m not sure you could top what you just did.”

His smile turned devious. “If you think that was good, just watch this.”

Before she could react to that statement, he had her on her stomach and he was straddling her hips. His cock was already hard against her buttocks.

“
You have the most amazing skin. All golden brown everywhere.” He brushed her hair aside. Leaning down he kissed her earlobe.

“
It makes me wonder if you’ve been naked over there at the pool. And just how I would love to see you out in the sun, nude.”

His voice had deepened and she hated to admit how wet it made her. Marco was a man of few words and when he spoke to her like that, she couldn’t seem to think of anything but giving him what he wanted.

He took her earlobe between his teeth, then he sucked on it. Marco continued to tease her like that. His mouth against her flesh, his tongue sliding along until she was a quivering mess by the time he pulled her up to her knees. He entered her from behind. It only took him a few thrusts until she was screaming his name. He took her up and over so many times she lost count before he finally followed her.

He collapsed on the bed next to her, their breathing the only sound in the room. He slipped his hand beneath her body and pulled her closer.

“
Now, give me a few, and I’ll see if I can top that.”

She laughed and looked up at him. His mouth curved.

“
If you top that, you might just kill me, Santini.”

Marco opened his eyes and cupped her face with his free hand. “I have a powerful need for you, Alana. I’ve been ignoring it for months.”

“
Months, you say?”

He nodded as he started to play with her hair. “I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you.”

“
Really?”

“
You tested my control, but I’ll say seeing my brothers flirting with you was what sent me over the edge. I hope I don’t scare you off.”

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him. “Don’t worry, bra, I’m made from hearty Hawaiian stock.”

“
I like the sound of that,” he said.

His eyelids were already drooping and she herself yawned then settled her head against his chest. There was something so soothing about having his body heat surround her as she listened to his heartbeat. It was her last thought before she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Eight

Alana woke to the sound of birds the next morning. She was accustomed to nature waking her in the mornings, but usually it was to the sound of waves. She opened her eyes and looked around.

Marco’s room
.

She smiled and closed her eyes, letting the memories of the night before wash over her. Then, she realized he wasn’t there. She opened her eyes again and sat up holding the sheet to her chest. She wasn’t that modest of a woman but she didn’t sleep naked all the time. Okay, never.

She found the bed empty beside her but saw a note. She picked it up.

Out for a run. Rest up. M

She smiled. He was such a creature of habit. It was one of the things she could handle. Her father had been military and ran her family like his own battalion. They had set hours for everything from when they were supposed to eat breakfast to bedtime.

She realized she had a pressing concern to visit the bathroom. She spied one of his t-shirts on the chair beside the bed. She grabbed it, hoping he didn’t mind that she wore it and then found her panties that were lying unceremoniously on the floor. She slipped them on and went into the bathroom.

Like the man, it was neat as a pin. Sparse like the rest of his house, but not truly lacking. She looked at herself in the mirror and stopped. The woman staring back at her was not someone she recognized. Her hair was a mess, her lips were still a little swollen and there was razor burn on her along her jaw line.

“
I look like I’ve been ravished.”