access.
“I can’t believe I agreed to give him a week! How did I let you talk me into that?” he asked, his tone hardening for just a second.
Ari simply moved her hands down further, squeezing his flesh as she rubbed up against him.
“You trust your fiancee. That’s not a bad thing, Rafe. I’ve spoken to Rachel a lot lately, and she isn’t as over Adriane as she wants us all to believe. There’s a spark between them. After their week together three months ago, she hasn’t been the same. Let’s give him another week to rekindle the fire. If she still wants to be rescued at the end of that time, then you have my full approval to go in there with guns blazing.”
“So, now I need your approval?” he asked, quickly spinning them so he had her trapped beneath him. “I don’t think I like the sound of that, Ms. Harlow,” he said menacingly.
“Then what are you going to do about it, Mr. Palazzo?” she teased, twisting beneath him in a feigned attempt at escape.
“I have ways of inflicting my own torture,” he warned her. He stretched her arms above her head, pinning them in place with one hand, and rolled slightly off her so he could trail his other hand down her body.
“Mmm, I think I like this torture,” she murmured, as his hand slid inside her shirt and traveled up her ribs, skimming the side of her breasts.
“Really? You enjoy this?” His fingers moved gingerly back down and made a circle on her stomach, causing her to squirm beneath him.
“No. I don’t enjoy that. I would enjoy it if you finished traveling back upward, though,” she said, her body catching fire as his fingers traced over her skin. Her nipples were pointed, pushing against the restraints of her bra, needing his fingers or mouth to tease them, to give her some relief from the ache that was building up unbearably.
“I don’t know. You’re supposed to obey me, remember?”
“There will be no obeying, Mr. Palazzo,” she warned as she pushed her hips against him, sending her heat to scorching levels.
“Well, then, I don’t think I can relieve this tension building inside you,” he taunted her; his head came down and he kissed her throat, swirling his hot tongue across her flesh.
“The payback will be merciless, Rafe,” she gasped as he pushed his own hips against hers, his solid manhood pressing into her thigh. “I want you pressed against a much hotter place,” she said, her body beginning to shake.
“I don’t know…” he said, then took the top button of her shirt into his teeth and tugged, ripping the white circle off and spitting it out.
“Rafe…” she warned, done with the game. Now, she just wanted sweet relief.
“Yes, Ari?” he asked as he reached her next button and quickly tore it away, opening her shirt so he could see her chest straining toward him.
“Lick my nipple,” she begged, not even caring that she was giving in to him.
The next button came off and then the rest, her shirt parting for him, her chest barely contained in the lacy bra she’d bought just for the push-up effect. It was obviously worth the extravagant price, because his eyes darkened as he gazed down at her.
Without another word, he bent and ran his tongue along the upper edge of the bra, wetting her skin, but still not giving her sensitive peaks the relief they so desperately needed.
Then his tongue ran just under the lace, coming so near her peak that she cried out when he retreated. She wondered if a body could actually shut down from frustration. When the tables were turned, it would be her delight to repay him in kind, even if she also caused herself pleasurable pain in the process.
After what felt like an eternity, he released her wrists, and her fingers tingled slightly as blood flowed through her hand again. He reached down, unclasped her bra, and gazed at her breasts.
“So unbelievably beautiful,” he sighed before filling his hands with them, and running his thumbs across the peaked tips.
“Not half as stunning as you,” Ari said as she moved her arms, threading her hands into his hair and tugging him down, demanding his lips on her nipples.
His mouth engulfed one hardened peak and sucked it into the heat of his mouth, making her cry out as she arched into him. She was desperate to lie with him without clothes, without barriers.
“I could play with your body day and night, Ari. You turn me on even more now than the first day I met you, and I didn’t think that was possible. Every time I touch you, it feels like the first time. Every chance I get to sink inside you, it feels like coming home. I always want you, and discovering new ways to make you quiver in need is my new mission,” Rafe said before sitting up and removing the rest of her clothes.
He shed his own clothing, standing at the side of the bed in all his magnificence, his erection standing proudly, making her mouth water with the desire to taste him.
“Wait,” he said as he suddenly turned, making her moan in frustration.
“I’m done with games,” she warned him. “Get back here and fill me!”
Rafe turned with a shocked smile on his face. “I love this new, demanding woman,” he said before turning back and walking to the closet. Ari groaned as she threw herself back against the bed, thinking she might just have to take care of her ache herself if he didn’t hurry.
What a sadly unappealing thought. No one, including herself, could give her body the relief that Rafe could. His touch was better than magic.
He came back, holding something in his hand, and sporting an almost shy smile on his face. It was enough to tamp down her sexual frustration.
“This was supposed to be a wedding gift, and I should wait, but I want to see you wear it,” Rafe said, sitting next to her on the bed as he reached out a hand and helped her sit up.
Ari was a little self-conscious sitting there in the buff with him now that they weren’t touching, but when she tried to grab the blanket, he stopped her.
“No. Don’t cover yourself. Perfection like yours needs to be on display,” he said, leaning over and kissing her again, reigniting the fires in a single heartbeat.
“Then, cover me with you,” Ari said, forgetting all about the box he was holding.
“In one minute,” he promised as he opened the box. Ari’s eye filled with tears as she looked at the stunning necklace placed on midnight-blue velvet.
“I found this in a shop in Italy when we were apart. I walked past the window and there it sat, and several minutes later, I was still rooted to the spot. I had a vision of you wearing this necklace and nothing else, with your beautiful hair spilling across my pillow while the gems gleamed on your porcelain skin,” he said as he took the sapphire-and-diamond necklace from the box.
“I…it’s…oh, Rafe, so beautiful,” she gasped, barely able to speak.
“When I heard the story behind the necklace, I knew I had to get it,” he said as he drew her against him so he could see behind her neck. Ari lifted her hair as he clasped the necklace and then ran his hands down her shoulders.
“Tell me,” she requested as she leaned back against the pillow, no longer self-conscious as his gaze traced every inch of her.
“It was a necklace passed down in a royal family of Italy, dating back to the early fifteenth century. A prince passed the necklace down to his son to give to his bride on their wedding night, as had been done for generation upon generation. Most of the royal weddings were arranged marriages between royal families, marriages of advantage, not of love. This one was no different, except the prince knew his bride. A few years before they were to be wed, he’d been out riding and his horse was spooked by a snake, throwing him down a ravine. The princess was out walking and saw it happen. She rushed quickly to the mountain to see if she could help, though she feared it was hopeless. This same cliff had taken many lives.”
“She saw him below, and heard the cry for help, but she could also hear that his voice was weak. So, risking her own life, she scaled down the cliff, and reached him, tearing pieces of material from her dress to stop the blood from escaping his wounded and broken leg. There was no way for her to carry him from the spot, and she feared attempting to climb back up the cliff, as her journey down had been dangerous enough. She knew her maid would search for her, though, so she held his head in her lap, calling out every hour or so, hoping someone would come to their rescue.”
