Claiming His Secret Love-Child: The Marciano Love-Child / The Italian Billionaire's Secret Love-Child / The Rich Man's Love-Child

The silence pulsed for a moment or two as Scarlett tried to get her breathing back under control.

‘Scarlett…’Alessandro said, lifting her chin with the pad of his index finger, his hazel eyes taking in the creeping colour staining her cheeks. ‘Do not be ashamed of what just happened between us.’

Her teeth began to savage her lip. ‘It shouldn’t have happened. I can’t believe I let things go that far…’

His hands came down on the tops of her shoulders. ‘Listen to me, cara,’ he said. ‘I wanted that to happen. We both did. We are both consenting adults who have a fierce attraction for each other. Why not enjoy it while it lasts?’

She slipped from beneath his hold and, scooping up her dress, fumbled her way back into it. ‘I-I can’t do this, Alessandro…’ she said, her voice catching over the words. ‘It’s not what I want for my life.’

‘What do you want for your life?’ he asked after a beat or two of heavy silence.

She turned to look at him again, her expression so sad it pained him to see it. ‘I want to get married to a man who loves and adores me,’ she said. ‘I want a normal life. I don’t want a short-term affair with someone I no longer…’ she hesitated for a fraction of a second ‘…love.’

‘You might not love me, but you certainly desire me,’ he said. ‘Or are you going to deny that after what we just shared?’

‘No…of course I’m not going to deny it,’ she said, shifting her eyes from the determined probe of his. ‘I am still attracted to you…’ She bit her lip again before adding, ‘Much more than I realized.’

He stepped towards her again and captured her waist with his hands. ‘I want you back in my life, Scarlett,’ he said with an implacable edge to his voice. ‘I want you like I’ve wanted no other woman.’

She lifted her gaze to meet his. ‘But for how long? You’re well known for your fly-by-night relationships, Alessandro. I can’t do that, living holding my breath as if each day could be the last we have together.’

‘I cannot answer precisely,’ he said, dropping his hands from her waist. ‘It depends on how things go with the Arlington redevelopment…and other things.’

‘I suppose by other things you mean your current mistress, Velika Vanovic?’ Scarlett asked with a scathing set to her mouth.

He gave her a level look. ‘I am no longer involved with Velika Vanovic. You are the person I am now involved with, and after what just happened here I am not going to give you up without a fight.’

‘But you said you weren’t going to blackmail me any more,’ she said as the pit of her stomach began to quake in alarm in case he changed his mind. ‘Surely it is up to me whether this goes any further?’

His expression communicated nothing but iron-clad determination as he reached for her again. ‘I do not need to blackmail you. I can see how much you want me. You have already proven it.’

‘No,’ she said, making a vain effort to push him away—but somehow her hands wouldn’t cooperate, instead clutching at him with clawing need. ‘I don’t want to be involved with you again.’

‘Yes you do, Scarlett,’ he said, beginning to nibble on her earlobe in the way that made her spine instantly turn to liquid. ‘You want me again. Once is never enough for you, or for me. I am already hard again.’ He captured one of her hands and placed it on the hard ridge between his legs. ‘Do not leave me in this state, tesore mio,’ he groaned. ‘I want you right now.’

Scarlett’s fingers began stroking him almost of their own volition, the temptation of his body too much to withstand. How could she possibly deny herself the magic of his love-making? It was all she had ever wanted from the moment she had met him—to be in his arms, spinning out of control with the passion that constantly smouldered between them.

He groaned again. His teeth gritted as he fought for control, his head thrown back as she sank to her knees in front of him, her soft breath wafting over him tantalizingly, before she began stroking him with the tip of her tongue. His hands went to her head, his fingers delving into her hair as she slowly tortured him, each moist glide of her tongue taking him that much closer to the point of no return. She felt the power she had over him and it excited her, just as much if not more than it had done in the past.

His fingers dug deeper into her scalp. ‘No, cara, I cannot take any more,’ he said, breathing heavily.

Scarlett kept on caressing him, stroking then sucking in turn, until he exploded with a muttered curse, his body sagging against her once it was over.

She straightened, and was about to step backwards when he stalled her by encircling one of her wrists with his hand. ‘No,’ he said. ‘This is a two-way street, Scarlett, remember? Just like in the past, you do not get to do that to me unless I am allowed to return the favour.’

Scarlett pulled ineffectually at his hold but her heart wasn’t in it, and she could tell he knew it. She drew in a gasping little breath as he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom she had designed only months ago, her excitement building as his eyes burned into hers with sensual promise.

‘You are so very sensual, Scarlett,’ he said as he joined her on the bed, his weight pressing her into the mattress. ‘I cannot get enough of you. I have craved this for so long—to see you again, to feel you again, to make love to you again as we used to do. I have missed what we had so much.’

‘I’ve missed it too,’ she said in a soft whisper as she stroked the lean line of his jaw. ‘You have no idea how much.’

He traced the point of his index finger from her belly button to the tiny landing-strip of dark-blonde hair that shielded her femininity. ‘I have never forgotten the taste of you,’ he said in a low growl. ‘God, the nights I have lain awake thinking of the taste of you.’

Scarlett drew in a ragged breath as he bent his head to her moist warmth, his tongue moving against her swollen point of pleasure with exquisite expertise. She had no control over her response; it shook her from the inside out, each movement of his tongue sending her into a vortex of feeling that reverberated throughout every part of her body.

He moved back over her, his thighs entangled with hers in an erotic embrace as he entered her silken warmth in a strong, gliding thrust that sent sparks of pleasure from her head to her curling toes.

His mouth came down on hers, the sexy saltiness of her body mingled with his warm breath as he played with her lips, tugging at them with his teeth, teasing her tongue into a passionate duel. She nibbled at his bottom lip, sucking on it, pulling at it with her teeth and then sweeping over it with the tip of her tongue, the deep groans of pleasure he was emitting from the back of his throat thrilling her, and inciting her to do it all over again and again.

He responded by increasing his pace, his body driving into hers with tender force, the thick, hard length of him caressing her in all the right places. She only had to tilt her hips upwards to feel the first flicker of release, the second and third quickly following, until she lost count as she shuddered her way through another mind-blowing orgasm.

Her body was still pulsing with the aftershocks when she felt his whole body tensing above hers in that final second or two before he finally lost control. His face contorted with pleasure as he sucked in a harsh breath before releasing it in a rush as he spilled himself with explosive power.

In the silence that followed Scarlett felt her conscience begin to prod at her. She wasn’t a sleep-around sort of woman, she never had been. She had only had one lover apart from Alessandro and now, with the responsibilities of a small child, she could never treat any relationship with a man as just physical. And certainly not this man—the father of her son.

Alessandro propped himself up on his elbows to look down at her. ‘This feels so right,’ he said with a wistful look coming and going in his dark, intense gaze. ‘This part always felt so right between us.’

She compressed her lips, trying not to show how emotionally affected she was. ‘But I want much more than you are prepared to give…’

He got off the bed, reached for a bathrobe, and tied it around his waist. ‘I have told you the rules,’ he said with a curt edge to his voice. ‘This is all I can offer you, Scarlett. Believe me—you should be content with that.’

Scarlett reached for her wrinkled clothes and struggled back into them, hoping she wouldn’t betray herself by crying uncontrollably. ‘I need to go home. It’s getting late.’

He came from behind and held her against his solid, hard male warmth. Her breath whooshed out of her lungs as she felt his growing arousal behind her, the thin barrier of her clothes not enough to stop her from responding with a soft whimper of pleasure as his mouth began to nuzzle against her neck, and his hands cupped her already tingling, peaking breasts.

‘You do not really want to go home right at this very minute, do you, Scarlett?’

‘No…’she whispered huskily as he turned her to face him, his mouth coming down to hers. ‘God help me but, no, I don’t…’

CHAPTER EIGHT

ROXANNE WAS out on a call at a client’s house when Alessandro arrived at the studio the next morning. Scarlett heard his car first, and a ticklish feeling ran up her spine as she swivelled on her office chair to look out the window.

She watched as he unfolded himself from the vehicle. His hair looked like black satin in the morning sunshine, his lean face cleanly shaven, his dark pin-striped trousers emphasising the length of his legs and trimness of his waist, and his light-blue business shirt highlighting the olive tone of his skin.

Her stomach flipped and then flopped as he stepped onto the pavement, his eyes meeting hers through the window. She pushed herself away from the desk and stood up as he came in the door, her hands going to her thighs to smooth down her skirt.

He moved across the small space of the studio and, cupping her cheeks with both hands, kissed her thoroughly. Scarlett breathed in the heady fragrance of musky male, sharp citrus and tortuous temptation. All her carefully rehearsed reasons for not agreeing to a resumption of their relationship were suddenly deleted from her brain as his tongue flicked erotically against hers.

Still cupping her face in his hands, he lifted his mouth off hers and smiled down at her. ‘I knew you would be here waiting for me,’ he said.

She screwed up her mouth at him. ‘It is my studio after all,’ she pointed out. ‘Where else would I be?’

He tucked a strand of silver-blonde hair behind her ear, the brush of his fingers against her face making her tremble deep inside. ‘You are still fighting it, yes?’

She lowered her gaze. ‘I don’t want to get hurt…’

He brought her chin up. ‘I am only involved with you, Scarlett. You have my word.’