Page 43 of Modern Romance December 2025 5-8

She could live a hundred lives, and he would still be the man she would trust to not mock her or belittle her or wish she was someone she wasn’t and never could be. Opening her mouth, she licked at the tips of his fingers before sucking one inside her mouth.

His sharp exhale was all the encouragement she needed. Wrapping her tongue around the digit, she sucked at his long finger. His jaw tightened, and a curse fell from his lips. Then she released him with a popping sound. “Now, am I allowed to devour you too? Or are you one of those men who demand surrender from their partner but can’t give an inch?”

CHAPTER TEN

The breath punchedout of Renzo at his wife’s pure challenge. With her tart taste still on his tongue, her lush body in his hands, he felt giddy as if he had drunk way too much. Which he never had, even as a young adult.

Because he’d had to be the responsible one.

Suddenly, strong arms and soft curves wound around him in that sweet torment. “Come back to me, Renzo.”

He sank his fingers into her hair, his willpower in shreds.

Cristo, he wanted to own this woman so badly that he was shaking with it. But it was more than just simple lust.

It was the way she challenged him, sought to understand him, saw him as more than the ruthless, powerful billionaire who could give her whatever she wanted. And now this…passionate, bold creature met his gaze with a tilted chin and glistening lips.

“I’m afraid your hand or your mouth would not do tonight,cara. I want to be inside you. And I want to know how you feel when you fight it so much, as if you have to earn the pleasure, and then inevitably fall apart.”

Color streaked her cheeks, and damn if it didn’t get him all hot and hard. Then her eyes widened, as if with dawning realization. “I mean, I have never…so hard that I nearly blacked out, but I thought that was just how I was…”

He liked that she was shy about sex and intimacy and yet bold enough to come to him. To admit to wanting to devour him. To reveal that she wanted him so much that all those little inhibitions fell away.

Now he realized what it had cost her to not only come to him but to offer to soothe him in any way he liked. It wasn’t simply a sexual favor she’d offered but her trust, her hope that she could make a difference in his mood.

He clasped her cheek and took her mouth in a soft kiss. She tasted of her own arousal and something fundamentally her. A taste he couldn’t define but already knew he would never get enough of.

They surfaced from the kiss, arms tangled around each other, their breaths harsh, the tips of their noses touching. Renzo rubbed his fingers over her lower lip, incapable of not touching her even in that state. “I mean, I will make do with your hand,bella,” he whispered at her temple, then slid his mouth to the delicate shell of her ear, “if it’s too much. I don’t want to hurt you or cause you discomfort.”

“I will tell you if it gets…” she blushed again. “The only thing the doctor warned against was to not feel forced emotionally. I told her that wasn’t a worry with us. And then I embarrassed her by admitting that I probably would have to seduce you. I also had an IUD put in. I’m allergic to latex.”

As always, her efficient response both startled and fascinated him. And aroused him no end.

Renzo scooped her off the table. With a squeal, she wrapped her arms and legs around him and buried her face in his neck. The rough strokes of her exhales, the press of her breasts against his chest, the drag of her belly against his cock made his skin burn with need.

He dropped her onto the bed and instantly crawled over her, straddling her hips. The gold highlights in her brown hair glinted in the light. Hair spread like a halo around his pillow, breasts rising and falling, she looked…enchantingly beautiful.

But it was the trust in her eyes, the absolute naked need for him, that made her a goddess in his own.

Pushing her knees apart, he let his lower body press hers into the bed. Her thighs fell away on a breathless gasp, and the heat and dampness of her core seeped into his trousers.

Her hips thrust up in a quick tilt just as he canted his own down. Their groans rent the air, joining in a rough melody. “That…feels amazing,” she said, a dizzy smile curving her lips. “Please. I want to feel more of you. I want…” again that lip-bite as if she was giving away too much “…all of you.”

“Not yet,” he whispered, swatting away her hands when they moved to his abdomen. “You tormented me for weeks, your hands all over me, your curves pressed against me. I mean to avenge myself,bella. Plus, there’s too much of you I haven’t kissed or touched or licked yet.”

He laughed when she pouted and took her in a rough kiss she met with equal ferocity. They licked and nipped at each other, their teeth clanking in a fierce duel.

Then he filled his hands with her smooth skin and lush curves.

The thrust of her clavicle to her shoulders, to the smooth skin between her breasts and then to the lush mounds that filled his hands to overflowing…he rolled the hem of her silk top up and kissed the undersides of her breasts. And when the fabric got into his way too much, he grabbed it with both hands and ripped it apart.

Her breasts fell into his waiting hands. Eyes closed, Mimi arched into his touch as he kneaded them and then kissed around the aureoles, taking his time.

He continued, never touching the aching buds with his fingers or lips. Slender fingers dove into his hair with a rough grasp and pulled. “Please Renzo. No more teasing.”

Just as he was about to lick the hard peaks, a drop of milk appeared.

Mimi stiffened instantly, embarrassed color pouring into her cheeks like hot lava. One slim hand came to cover up her breast. “I pumped before the shower, but—”