An Innocent, a Seduction, a Secret Page 9
She went into the library—the scene of last night’s humiliation. She didn’t look at where she’d been pressed against the shelves by his big body. Where her dress had been open and she’d pushed herself wantonly against his hand.
She went straight over to the drinks table and poured herself a shot of whisky, drinking it down in one go. The warmth slipped down her throat and sank into her stomach. Spreading outwards. Infusing her with a sense of confidence that she could do this.
Instinctively she seemed to know that Sebastio would be in his study—and, sure enough, when she stood outside the door she heard the low rumble of his voice on the other side. He was speaking in Spanish.
Without waiting for her nerves or a sense of rationality to kick in, Edie knocked on the door and went in.
* * *
Sebastio heard the sound and looked up from the tediously boring phone call to see Edie standing in the doorway to his study. His brain went completely blank for a long moment as he absorbed the fact that she was wearing tight-fitting Lycra jogging pants and a cropped vest top. Her hair was damp and her pale skin was glowing from exertion. She had a towel draped around her neck.
Sebastio had put the phone down before he even realised that he hadn’t ended the conversation. All he could see were her slender curves and those huge eyes. For a moment he wondered if he was going mad—conjuring her up.
‘I have something to say.’
She wasn’t a hallucination.
Sebastio stood up. He put out a hand. ‘Please, come in.’
She walked in and he caught her scent—musky. She’d obviously just been in the gym. He imagined how her skin must be warm and damp, as it would be after sex. Blood rushed south, emptying his head.
She stopped in front of his desk. Her face was set with an expression of determination and something else, something more vulnerable. He could feel the control he’d had to exert since last night fraying.
It made his voice curt. ‘What did you want to say?’
Edie almost lost her nerve then. Sebastio looked so remote. Formidable. She wondered if she’d dreamt up what had happened in the library. But, no...she could see it in his eyes. The glitter of heat. Banked. But there.
She swallowed. ‘I want you to make love to me.’
A muscle pulsed in his jaw. ‘I already told you, Edie. I won’t do it.’
Suddenly he’d discovered a noble conscience? Edie wanted to growl with frustration and remind him that he had a reputation as an international playboy.
‘Because you don’t want the responsibility?’ she asked. ‘Because I’m a virgin?’
He put his hands on the table. He looked fierce. ‘There’s more to it than that.’
‘Your sense of guilt? And some misplaced notion that taking my innocence will add to that guilt?’
He went very still. ‘What are you talking about?’
Edie mustered up all her courage and wished she’d taken another whisky when she’d had the chance. ‘You said in the video that you took responsibility for the car crash, so you obviously feel guilty about what happened to your friends.’
Sebastio’s voice was arctic. ‘That is none of your business.’
A lesser woman than Edie might have quailed and run by now, but she’d gone too far. She had nothing to lose.
She pointed at herself. ‘I take full responsibility for my actions. If I want to let you take my virginity then that’s my choice. There will be no guilt involved. Maybe you think that because I’m inexperienced I won’t be able to handle an affair, but, the way I see it, my inexperience is only a very minor physical fact.’
‘It’s more than a minor physical fact, Edie. Emotionally—’
She put up a hand. ‘I can handle my own emotions.’
Now he looked grim. ‘I’m not negotiating this, Edie. I refuse to be the one to take your innocence.’
Not knowing where she was getting the nerve to do this, Edie said tauntingly, ‘You don’t want me enough—is that it? Maybe my virginity is a turn-off?’
‘Edie...’ he said warningly.
She backed away from the desk, feeling a cool chill skate over her skin. Her confidence was draining rapidly. She’d underestimated Sebastio. And maybe she’d overestimated his desire for her.
‘Don’t worry about it, Sebastio,’ she said as loftily as she could. ‘I’m sure I’ll find someone who does want me enough.’
She turned to walk out, but just as she was about to put her hand on the door she heard an indistinct statement that sounded like No way.
It all happened so fast she lost her breath. Sebastio had slammed the door closed before she could open it, put his hands on her shoulders, turned her around and was glaring down into her face with an expression of intensity she’d never seen before.
‘What the hell is that supposed to mean? “Find someone who does want me enough”?’
Edie looked up at him in awe. He was all coiled, taut energy, and for a second she felt sorry for the opponents he must have encountered on the rugby pitch.
She fought not to let him intimidate her. She lifted her chin. ‘Just that... If you don’t want me then I’m sure someone else will.’
He growled. ‘Not want you? You’re the first woman I’ve wanted in four years. I want you so much I can still taste you in my mouth. Damn you.’
And suddenly need met heat and he was kissing her with ruthless precision. The first thing that swept through her system was relief. It had worked. Her very naive attempt to goad him into action had worked.
And then she thought of what he’d just said and pulled her head back, breathing hard. ‘What do you mean, the first woman in four years?’
Sebastio caged her in with his hands on the door behind her. He looked at her. ‘I haven’t had a lover in four years.’
He obviously didn’t relish admitting that, if the bite in his voice was anything to go by.
Since the accident. She didn’t say it. She thought it.
That revelation made something very fluttery erupt in Edie’s abdomen but she had to ignore it and remind herself that he was just talking about sex. Not emotions, just sex. Nevertheless, the fluttery feeling wouldn’t go away.
He said, ‘It’s been a while, Edie. I don’t want to hurt you.’
She shook her head, slightly awed by the look in his eyes, it was so penetrating and intense. ‘You won’t. I’m sure of it.’
Not physically, anyway.
She put her hands on his chest and moved them up to his shoulders. She felt the bunched strength of his muscles and her insides clenched.
Sebastio looked down into Edie’s face. He could see the determination in her eyes. The firm set of her chin. And acres of tantalising pale flesh. The pert swells of her breasts under the stretchy material of her top. The gentle flare of her hips. Slim thighs. And he wanted her. More than anything he’d ever wanted.
‘Are you sure about this?’
She nodded. ‘Yes.’ There was no hesitation.
The anticipation that surged in Sebastio’s blood eclipsed any lingering doubt. He couldn’t turn away from this now if wild horses were trying to stop him.
He took Edie’s hand, wordlessly leading her from his study through the silent hall, and up the stairs to the bedrooms.
* * *
Edie felt the barest sliver of trepidation as Sebastio opened his bedroom door and led her in. She had an impression of a very sparsely furnished room in comparison to her bedroom and the other rooms in the house. Almost ascetic. But that was soon forgotten when he took her over to the massive bed and turned to face her, dropping her hand.
The air was thick between them. So thick Edie could hardly breathe. Her heart was pumping. She wished for a second she’d been less impulsive. She was wearing sweats! She wished she was in the gorgeous green silk dress. But it was too late.
His hands traced her waist and a ball of tension lodged deep in her core. She sucked in a breath as he trailed the backs of his hands across her bare belly.
He said, ‘I want to see you.’
Edie nodded her head jerkily, biting her lip as Sebastio’s big hands came to the front fastening of her cropped top. It opened and he pushed it aside, over her shoulders and down her arms so it fell to the floor.
She was naked from the waist up, and in spite of all her bravado she suddenly felt shy.
He tipped her chin up and she looked at him. ‘Okay?’
Something about his concern unknotted something inside her and she nodded. ‘I want to see you too.’
His mouth tipped up ever so slightly at one side, and with a graceful economy of movement he lifted up his top and pulled it off, revealing a broad muscular chest. Not an ounce of fat. Defined pectoral muscles covered in dark curling hair led down to a taut belly, dissected by a line of dark hair that disappeared under his jeans.
Edie forgot about feeling shy. She reached out and smoothed her hands across his chest. Her hands shook a little as she touched him reverently.
Sebastio was afraid he might explode before he’d even get Edie under him on the bed. The way she was looking at him and touching him was seriously heady.
He’d never seen her eyes so big. His gaze dropped and he took in the provocative view of her breasts. High and firm and fuller than her figure indicated. Small pink nipples. He couldn’t resist. He reached out and cupped her breast, running his thumb back and forth across one hard tip, watching how the skin puckered.
He felt the delicate shiver move through her body and his pulse jumped. She was so reponsive.
The edge of the bed was at the back of his legs and he sank down on the side, drawing Edie in between his thighs. He moved his hands around to cup her behind.
Her breasts were at exactly the right height and he drew one small hard nipple into his mouth, suckled and teased before tasting the other one. Edie’s hands fisted painfully in his hair, but he didn’t even notice the sharp pain...he was gorging himself on Edie’s sweet flesh.
Edie was being tortured, but it was a kind of sensual torture she’d never experienced before. Exqusite pain...delicious pain. The flick of Sebastio’s tongue across her nipple nearly sent her into orbit. The only thing stopping her from falling down was his legs pressing against hers, trapping her. She never wanted to be set free.
But then he shifted, and Edie slid down to sit on his lap, feeling dazed. Her breasts were throbbing and he cupped one, rubbing a thumb back and forth over one sensitive peak.
Any hopes and dreams she’d had of making love for the first time with someone kind and gentle had been blown out of the water. She’d had no idea that she’d connect on such a primal level with a man who embodied such pure masculine strength and perfection.
How could she have not wanted this inferno of desire? The thought that she might never have known this depth of need and sensation made her feel curiously emotional.
Sebastio asked again, ‘Okay?’
Edie hurriedly nodded and blinked rapidly, praying he wouldn’t see anything of the emotion in her eyes. ‘I’m fine...more than fine.’
Sebastio kissed her again. It was long and luxurious, letting her get her bearings while also ratcheting up the tension coiling tight inside her. When she squirmed on his lap, wanting, needing more, Sebastio urged her up so she was standing before him again.
He slowly peeled her leggings down, over her hips and down her legs. She kicked off her sneakers. Now she wore only her panties.
He stood up and snapped open the button on his jeans before pushing them down and off, taking his underwear with them. Edie couldn’t breathe. He was naked. And massively aroused.
If she’d had any sliver of doubt that he wanted her it was gone.
‘Your underwear—take it off.’ He sounded hoarse.
Edie tugged down her panties too. She held her breath, suddenly very aware that perhaps he was used to women who were more...groomed. But she sneaked a glance and the way he was looking at her... She could see a flare of colour across his cheekbones in the low lights and her insecurity drained away.
‘You are more beautiful than anything I’ve ever seen before.’
Edie ducked her head. She was sure that she wasn’t—at all—but she didn’t want to let reality intrude right now. Insinctively she reached out and curled her hand around him.
He sucked in a breath as she tentatively moved her hand up and down, exploring the potency of his body, the glide of hot silky skin over steel. So vulnerable but so strong.
And then he put his hand over hers, stopping her. She looked up, feeling dazed. Drunk.
‘Stop...or I’ll lose it right here and now.’
A very feminine thrill moved through her at the glazed look in his eyes. To know that she was doing this to him... She’d wanted to see him lose control and it was headier than she’d imagined.
‘Lie down, Edie.’
She did as he asked, realising that her legs were feeling seriously weak. Sebastio’s gaze was tracking down over her body and emotion pricked her again. She ruthlessly pushed it down. This was no time for emotion. This was fantasy fulfilment, pure and simple. Karma. Ridding herself of the burden of innocence.
And it had been a burden, she realised now, even if she’d kept it to the back of her mind. Insidious doubt had been growing. What if something was wrong with her? What if something had been damaged during her cancer treatment? Her hormones? Her libido?
But the way she felt now allayed all those doubts and fears. She just hadn’t met the right man. Or she had, but four years ago. And now...
Thankfully he came down on the bed beside her, and her thoughts were fast eclipsed by a surge of lust and need when he skated his hand tantalisingly down over her breasts, and then her belly, and down further to the juncture between her legs.
He applied a little pressure and she opened her legs. She saw intense concentration on his face. She realised she trusted him. Really trusted him.
She quickly pushed away that revelation.
His fingers were exploring now, between her legs, and her breath hitched when they parted the folds of flesh, releasing the damp heat that had been building there.
She could feel herself, slick against his fingers, and she might have been embarrassed if he hadn’t said, with a definite note of satisfaction in his voice, ‘You’re so ready...’
Edie tried not to squirm against him, her hands clutching the sheet underneath her body. Tension rose as his fingers thrust inside her and her back arched off the bed. She bit her lip, trying to lessen the intense pleasure as he moved them slowly in and out. Tension coiled tighter and tighter, until she was afraid she’d explode like she had the other night, exposing her inexperience. She held on with every atom of control she could muster...
Sebastio was so hard he hurt. He was torturing himself as much as Edie by prolonging the pleasure. He could see the mute pleading on her face, feel her body quiver around his hand... He needed to be inside her but he also needed to see her come. Now. Like this. At his mercy. On some level it was restoring a desperate need to feel some semblance of still being in control.
He felt the tremors in her legs, in her whole body, as she fought to hang on and he bent over and kissed her, saying, ‘Let go... I’ll catch you...’ just as he thrust his fingers deep inside her, feeling her body lose its grip on control. She went wild, spasming with pleasure around his hand.
It almost pushed him over the edge of his own fraying control to feel how tight she was. He knew he wouldn’t last much longer.
Sebastio moved over Edie�
�s body, spreading her legs further apart. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes slightly unfocused in the aftermath of pleasure. Her mouth was swollen. He felt a surge of very masculine pride.
He smoothed some damp hair off her forehead. ‘Okay?’
After a long moment she nodded. Her hands came up and circled his biceps. He moved between her legs, notching his erection against the exquisite damp heat of her body. Four years of abstinence had not prepared Sebastio for this overload of anticipation...
He gritted his teeth and clung on to his control just for a little longer. He pushed into her body, feeling its resistance, and rested there for a moment, letting her get used to him. Even if it was killing him.
She brought her legs up around his waist and tilted her body up, making him slide in a little more. Sebastio was lost, drowning in an inferno of need. He needed this like he needed oxygen.
He said, ‘This might hurt a little at first, but trust me it won’t last...’
He gave in to the screaming dictates of his body and thrust deep, aware of Edie’s wide eyes and sharp intake of breath.
He was embedded in the most pure sensation of pleasure he’d ever experienced. He needed to move...or die. He looked at her and something silent passed between them. They were beyond words.
She nodded her head, jerkily, and with as much control as he could muster Sebastio started to move in and out, his passage growing easier as he felt Edie’s body adapt to his...
Edie was in meltdown as she tried to keep up with the maelstrom of feelings and sensations coursing through her. The stinging pain had been indescribable when Sebastio had thrust inside her at first, but it was fading now. He was big...big enough to make her breathless...but as her body got used to his suddenly it didn’t feel that way any more.
She quickly became ravenous, seeking a deeper connection. She wrapped her legs around his waist even tighter, feeling the firm muscled globes of his buttocks under her heels.
Tension coiled to breaking point and the nirvana that Edie had just experienced beckoned again. Except this time she knew it was going to be even better. More explosive.