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“All of these.” He pointed to a panel with six different controls.
My eyes opened wide.
“Now, you know how I felt the first time I tried to use the espresso machine.”
While the water swirled around us, Zep and I relaxed against each other. He drizzled bodywash on my chest, then cupped my breasts, toying with my nipples until I began to writhe. I closed my eyes when he trailed both hands down between my legs. The weight from his powerful arms held me still as he brought me to another orgasm before lifting me, my back still to his front, and entered me from behind. Weightless in the water, I put my hands on either side of the tub and moved up and down on his cock. It wasn’t long before Zeppelin put his hands on my waist, grinding as deep as he could inside me, and both of us hit the pinnacle again.
My body warred with wanting to eat or sleep. Filling my stomach won out when, after drying off and donning our robes, Zeppelin led me into the main room, where the food he’d ordered waited.
Once he lifted the silver domes to uncover margoogat—a spicy and tomato-y stew made with chicken—vegetable samboosas, and luqaimat for dessert, I was ravenous.
“Tell me about your family,” I said between bites of some of the best food I’d ever tasted.
“I have two brothers and one sister, all older and none of whom went into intelligence. One brother and my sister live in Wargrave, not far from my house. My oldest brother, the one I’m closest to, lives in America. It was one of the reasons I requested the CIA assignment. Given he lives in California and I worked on the other side of the country, I didn’t see him as often as I would’ve liked.”
“What about your parents?”
“My father passed when I was eighteen. My mum lives in Wargrave, in a cottage on the same property where my sister and her family live. What about you?”
“I grew up in Primrose Hill. My parents were older and are now both deceased. I have one brother, but we aren’t close.”
I covered my mouth when I yawned, sleepier due to my now-full stomach.
“We should sleep,” Zep said after we polished off all the food he’d ordered, including the luqaimat.
I pointed in the direction of the other suite. “Should I…”
“Regardless of where you sleep, I’ll be with you, so you choose.”
“You did bring my things over here,” I said, covering my mouth when I yawned a second time. While it was zero two hundred in Dubai, it was three hours earlier in St. Moritz and four in London. Still, the last couple of days were so intense, my body had hit a wall of exhaustion.
After he’d moved the room service cart to the hallway, we dropped our robes and crawled into bed. Within what felt like seconds after he curled his body around mine, my back to his front, I was sound asleep.
21
ZEPPELIN
By the time I woke, later that morning, Nemesis had sent a brief stating Godwin’s body was on the way to the UK. Our itinerary for the trip to Tropea was included, and she said Fucile and Sognatrice were headed to Calabria from Florence.
“Why didn’t you wake me?” Verity asked, joining me in the main room, where I was checking emails and reading the brief.
I raised my arm from my side and motioned her closer. Her cheeks flushed, but she walked near enough for me to hug her. “I haven’t been up long, and our flight isn’t until sixteen hundred, so there was no reason not to let you sleep. Especially since I woke you so many times last night.”
Her cheeks turned pink a second time, making me wish she wasn’t wearing the robe and that her hair was down rather than up in a bun.
“The water should be hot in the electric kettle, and I also made coffee.”
“No breakfast?” she said, winking.
“On its way.”
“I was joking, but thank you.” I watched her make her tea, paying attention to how she took it. “You’re very sweet, Henry.”
I grinned but stopped myself from saying she would’ve known that quite some time ago if she’d been nicer to me. On the other hand, I hadn’t exactly been pleasant to her, either.
Had someone told me four days ago that Verity and I would be starting our morning together after spending the night alternating between making love and sleeping in each other’s arms, I would’ve called them a liar.
“We received a brief from Nemesis with information about our flight and accommodations in Tropea,” I said instead of being contrary.