Page 47

“This body of yours is mine tonight. I am claiming you—as mine,” I pant against her breaths. “Let me work your body into oblivion.”

She smiles and steps back before she takes my hand in hers and leads the way.

We make our way up the stairs as she leads us to her room. My cock strains against my trousers and it takes everything in me not to slam her against the wall and have my way with her.

We arrive at her door just in time. The hunger in me is getting to a point where I can’t hold back much longer. I shouldn’t have this visceral reaction to her being this close, but I do. She is like a siren calling me into her waters, and I am helpless to resist her.

We walk into the room and, without wasting time, I capture her lips in mine and shut the door.

Maria’s lips are plump and swollen from my kiss, a sight so intoxicating I nearly lose myself all over again.

“My God, you are breathtaking,” I murmur, my voice thick with hunger. My thumb brushes along her jaw, the soft skin warm beneath my touch. “Everything about you is… magnificent.”

She holds my gaze, her dark eyes glistening under the dim light, an unspoken challenge flickering in their depths. A slow smile spreads across her face as she reaches up, her fingers barely grazing my cheek, her touch featherlight but searing.

“You always say the right things,” she whispers, her voice husky.

I capture her wandering hand in mine and press my lips to her palm, lingering there, savoring her scent, her softness. A foreign sensation claws at my chest—gentleness, tenderness, restraint. I don’t recognize this version of myself, but the thought of not touching her, not taking her, is unbearable.

“I only speak the truth,” I murmur.

Maria is living artwork—every inch of her designed to undo me.

Her breath catches, and her chest rises, pushing against me, teasing me with the promise of more. I shouldn’t lean into this, shouldn’t lean into her, but I do. I always do.

“I’m going to claim you, Maria,” I tell her, cupping the side of her face, my thumb brushing her lower lip. “I will try to be gentle, but that is not the man I am. I want to ruin every man who came before me. I want to be the only one you think about.”

Her eyes widen slightly, but there’s no fear—only desire, dark and deep, burning as fiercely as my own. She tilts her head, her lips brushing the pulse at my wrist before she whispers, “Then don’t be gentle.”

My control snaps.

A growl rumbles from my chest as I grab her, lifting her effortlessly. Her legs wrap around my waist, her back hitting the wall hard enough to rattle the frame beside us, but she only gasps, her fingers tightening in my hair. She wants this. She needs this.

“Matteo,” she breathes my name, a sound so sweet, so full of hunger, that I nearly lose myself then and there.

I take her mouth in a searing kiss, my hands mapping the curves of her body, tracing the swell of her breasts, the smoothness of her thighs.

Needing more, needing all of her, I lift her into my arms and carry her to the bed, dropping her onto the mattress witha controlled roughness. She bounces slightly, her dark hair splayed across the pillow like a masterpiece.

I kneel between her legs, my hands gliding down her inner thighs. “You knew exactly what you were doing to me tonight, didn’t you?” I murmur, my lips tracing the path my hands made.

She shivers, her fingers grasping the sheets. “I hoped.”

“Clever girl.” My mouth finds her breast, sucking, biting, leaving my mark as my hand slides between her thighs. When my fingers finally touch her, she gasps, arching against me. She’s soaked, ready, desperate.

I smirk against her skin. “You’re already so wet for me.”

“Matteo, please…” she whimpers, grinding against my palm.

I press a single finger inside her, slow, teasing, savoring the way her body clenches around me. Her head falls back, a moan escaping her lips. I add another finger, curling them just so, watching her fall apart in my hands.

“You like that?” I whisper into her ear, my fingers working in slow, deliberate strokes.

“Y-yes,” she gasps, her body trembling beneath me. “More.”

I slide down, spreading her thighs wider as I replace my fingers with my mouth. The moment my tongue flicks against her, she cries out, her hands tangling in my hair, pulling me closer. Her body bucks, but I grip her hips, holding her in place as I feast on her.

“Matteo—” Her voice is a breathless plea. “I can’t?—”