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I’d probably feel slightly self-conscious with anyone else, but Rafael’s gaze is always appreciative. Even reverent.

“It is. Courtesy of you.” I drop a hand to my right hip and then pop it dramatically.

He laughs. “Sexy,dolcezza. Very sexy. I like it on you. That color looks amazing with your skin tone.”

Taking me by the hand, he leads me toward his jacuzzi. The water bubbles, the faintest curls of heat rising into the frigid air. He helps me step into the hot tub before he climbs in himself. We settle side by side in time for his maid Mara to arrive with refreshments.

I’ve spent so much time at his place over the last two weeks that his staff know me and I recognize most of them by name. My smile is my thank you as she delivers us some Campari sodas with an orange slice.

“Taste good?” Rafael asks after my first sip.

I go for another, nodding. “Very refreshing.”

“The first time I ever had alcohol, it was a sip from my grandmother’s Campari soda. I was eight and convinced that tiny sip of sugary liquor was enough to get me drunk. I walked around the house like a dizzy fool for the rest of the night.”

“The placebo effect?” I laugh along with him.

“Sure enough. Let me tell it, I was drunk off my ass. Nonna Ornella caught me and then took apantofolato my ass.”

“A house slipper?”

His face becomes even more handsome with the grin he gives me. “Yes,dolcezza. She whacked the hell out of me with it. I learned my lesson fast.”

“The first time I ever tried alcohol, I was fifteen. Beer at a high school party.”

“Bad girl,” he says, raising his brows. “Who gave you this beer?”

“A boy—don’t look at me like that! He turned out to be a jackass I couldn’t stand being around. And if it makes you feel any better, I hated the taste of beer so much, I puked later that night on my way home. Then Mom and Dad caught me sneaking back in and grounded me for two months.”

“I agree with them. Sounds deserved.”

“You know you’re supposed to be on my side, right?”

“I am,dolcezza. But you know how I get when I hear about other men around you. Even some snot-nosed idiot from high school. I get territorial.” He releases a growl that makes me giggle as he closes in and captures my lips.

The kiss silences my giggle as I grab his face between my hands and part my lips. His tongue lashes against mine and the sweetness on my tastebuds explodes.

We taste like the sweet liquor we’ve just consumed, except even sweeter.

We kiss until we’re almost getting carried away, pressed up against the side of the hot tub. The bubbles froth around us, our passion permeating the air. His mouth breaks away from mine and kisses a path down the center of my throat.

My eyes flutter shut and my fingers dig into his dark hair.

He doesn’t stop ’til he’s spreading kisses across my clavicle and then lower, to the edges of my bikini top.

His name leaves my lips in a soft moan as he tugs aside the tiny triangle and then takes a peak into his mouth.

A rush of hot blood floods through me.

It feels so good I arch against his mouth and beg for more.

His tongue flicks against my nipple in patterns that set off every sensitive nerve ending in my breast. The rest of me is quivering before long.

Throbbing.

My pussy pulses in jealousy, slick by the sensations he’s inflicting on me.

It’s clear Rafael is showing me just how talented a tongue he has.