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Then again, and again, each thrust driving her closer. She’d expected him to be fast and wild, but he moved so slowly and purposefully, building the pleasure inside her until she was wound up so tight she knew she would shatter with one more thrust, one more grind. But still she climbed higher.

Her whole body was strung tight with need, then one final stroke of his cock and she was flying.

He did speed up then, holding her tightly as he pumped into her, his gaze never leaving her face as the pleasure built again, and this time he came with her, his head coming down, swallowing her scream with his kiss.

Finally, he went still, though she could feel the rise and fall of his breath, the beat of his heart against her.

He kissed her one last time and then straightened. “Thank you.”

She opened her mouth to say something. Closed it again. She wasn’t sure she could speak. Her body limp and boneless.

He grinned. “Have I rendered you speechless?”

She nodded. “I can’t move. I may never move again.”

“That good, huh?”

“Better.”

He pulled out of her, and already she felt bereft, needing him back. Her body was still singing from the intensity of her release. She didn’t want to return to the real world. And there was still something she needed to say. She wrapped her arm around his neck to stop him drawing away, then stroked a finger down over the scar on his cheek. “I came so close to losing you.”

“I’m here now,cara. Forever, if you want me.”

“Forever sounds good.” Cupping his cheek, she stared into his dark, hopeful gaze, and spoke the words she knew he wanted to hear. “I love you, Vito D’Ascensio.”

A smile blossomed on his face. “And I loveyou.”

Epilogue

A year later

“Did you really need the handcuffs?” she asked.

Vito grinned. “I wasn’t taking any chances,cara mia.”

Last night, he’d cuffed her to the bed, and this morning, they’d been married at the church in the village where Vito had grown up. Vito’s friends, Logan and Josh, had been their witnesses. And Vito’s parents had been there along with the whole Scarlesi clan.

They’d had a magical year. She’d moved to New York with the show, and Vito had come with her. He’d made a swap with an American professor to take his place for a year. She’d been a great success in the show and been offered the lead in another in London starting in the autumn. So they were returning to the UK and would live in Cambridge. She was looking forward to it.

It had also been an incredibly busy year, and they’d delayed the wedding until they could both take time off to honeymoon in Sicily.

Now they were on Vito’s yacht. He’d wanted to show her where the cruise ship went down. Where it had all begun. Wrapping one arm around her, he waved a hand toward the rocky shoreline. “That’s where it happened. We sat in the lifeboat and watched as she went up in flames and then sank without a trace.”

A shiver ran through her. “Were you scared?”

“No, there was too much going on. We had to get everyone to safety, and then Josh broke his leg. It was just a matter of keeping going.”

She pressed herself closer. “You could have died.”

“At one point I believed it was a possibility, and all I could think was how I would never see you again. Never know why you had run from me.”

“And now you know.”

“I certainly would never have guessed the truth. But I’ll never regret how things happened.”

“Me, neither. Maybe we both needed a reason to take a closer look at ourselves.”

He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. “Perhaps this is what my grandfather wanted for me all along. You know, the day he died, when he made me promise to take over the company for a year, he told me he wanted me to have what he’d had. I thought he meant the power and the money.”