Lucca smelled so wholesome, even the faint smell of beer didn’t put me off. The sweetness on his lips tasted decadent, full of unspoken promises and untold stories. I tried to gauge how drunk he was, I’d never been a good judge of those things, my guess would be way off. Drunk or not, I wanted Lucca Rinaldi. I wasn’t above taking advantage of his diminished senses right now. Was that wrong of me? Most definitely. Did I care? Not a snowballs chance in hell. There was chemistry between us and instead of filling me with abject terror, it filled me with optimism and warmth. The stomach pangs I felt whenever Marc had touched me erred on the side of nauseating, yet standing here enveloped by Lucca, butterflies beat furious wings in my belly - a good kind, sensations that mattered. I liked the strength he exuded, the ease at which he put me.

And his mouth was wicked, I could nibble those lips of his forever and a day and still not tire.

As great as they felt, standing in my kitchen with Lucca also threw me for a loss. I wasn’t sure how to get from here to there. I wasn’t even sure where there was, I knew I wanted to be with Lucca. In the absolute moment. I hadn’t flirted or tried to seduce anyone in years, didn’t know how. With Marc things had fallen into place, no need to overthink it.

I was only half aware of where I stood with this man and what he wanted. Messy divorce, bitch of an ex. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if he just wanted a bit of hanky panky, a woman different from his wife, and then to be on his way. I couldn’t blame him for that. It wasn’t what he’d said last week but really - who was kidding who? I hadn’t seen him all week and was even more confused than ever.

Still, whatever this was, I wasn’t shying away from it. I wanted the connection, for however long it lasted. I’d take what he offered and bow out gracefully when he’d had enough. I was frantic to get over this hurdle first.

I pushed Lucca away from me slightly, he stepped back refusing to let go. Gazing up into his eyes I saw a spark of lust he must surely see mirrored in my own. His mussed hair fell over his eyes and I reached up to sweep it away, lingering a moment, fingers stroking down the side of his face. He closed his eyes and leaned into my touch, an ‘mmmm’ coming from him.

“Stay?” I made up my mind, I took the leap. If I didn’t ask, I wasn’t going to get now. “Stay,” I said again as his eyes snapped open. His whole face relaxed as he accepted the invitation. “How drunk are you?” My conscience wasn’t letting me away with it.

“Not so bad now.” He tightened his hold on me. “You want to take advantage, huh?”

“No. I don’t want you to forget.”

He bent down and kissed me chastely, the touch not enough. “I won’t,” he promised number three. He smiled that mega-watt smile of his, the one that poked out the dimples at the corners of his mouth, those seldom seen. “And no regrets, Laura. Works both ways, yeah?”

“Yeah.” My stomach was doing cartwheels in excitement.

I toed off my boots and moved out of Lucca’s embrace, grabbing his hand and pulling him down the hall. No more time for second guessing, I was taking what I wanted.

I thumped the light switches on the way by, plunging the house into semi-darkness. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, the light from above bathed us in a muted glow. Three steps up and I was tugged backwards, Lucca spinning me around. With him being on the stair below we stood at eye level and I could no longer deny the way he was regarding me. Lucca Rinaldi was going to devour me, make me feel like a woman should. Of that there was no doubt.

“I need to kiss you again,” he moaned, moving his head closer to mine.

Before I knew it, he’d twirled me sideways and thumped me against the stairway wall. His lips crushed against mine and I swear he took all my breath away. My chest heaved against his as he consumed me, big hands holding me steady as he plundered my mouth with his tongue, over and over. I could barely contain the lust zinging through my body. The deep kiss ended far too soon, his mouth never stopped as he nipped and nibbled down my neck, sucking at the crook where my collar bone was exposed through my loose scarf. Goose bumps shivered across every inch of my skin. I clenched my thighs together, the ache almost painful.

His hands moved and travelled the length of my upper body, skimming down the front of me, grazing taut nipples, sweeping across my shivering stomach, resting gently on my hips. I moaned loud for the sensation felt so wonderful. So right. Even over a layer of clothes.

His fingers inched up the fabric of my loose gypsy skirt until it bunched at my hips and then he pushed further into me, his hands finding the skin of my thighs. The heat from his palms scorched as they moved behind. I twined my arms around his neck, my fingers tugging at the short hair at his nape. His eyes snapped to mine as his fingers pressed into the bottom of my backside.

“Wrap your legs around me.” It sounded like a command, his voice gruff, no please. I had no compulsion to care and did as he asked, my bare legs shifting up, my sock clad feet crossed behind his thighs.

As he heaved me further up the wall he wiggled into position and pressed his jean clad erection against the material of my panties, his hips rubbing against me. The sensation drove me crazy and I knocked my head back against the wall, closing my eyes, cursing the person who had invented underwear. Who needed clothes, never mind cock blocking pieces of material?

“Let me see you,” Lucca rasped in my ear as he pushed his upper body away from mine.

I got what he meant, he wanted the shirt off. I ran my hands over his shoulders and down his firm chest, gripping both hems of his sweater and t-shirt, pulling them awkwardly over his head, shuffling the garments off and eventually throwing them down the stairs.

Lord, the sight was fucking beautiful. Supple flesh and the hint of ink had the saliva in my mouth threatening to dribble from my lips. He wasn’t ripped but defined, a softness to him that meant sleeping on him wouldn’t feel like a slab of marble. The smattering of dark hair across his chest did things to me, delicious things. I ran the tips of my fingers through the silky hair until I came across where he’d been shaved in the hospital, the area spiked and coarse.

No matter how appealing he looked, there was no turning the eye away from the two-inch scar, pink and raised, on his chest. The knife had missed the tattoo there, only just. I swept careful fingers across the puckered skin, hitching a breath.

“It’s okay, Laura. It doesn’t hurt.”

A tear slipped past one eye as I checked out his upper body, less lustfully than before, taking in all the silvered scars and pinked scratches. Those were Stella’s handiwork, I knew without him saying so. I sucked in a breath that was filled with so much grief I almost choked.

Lucca took my chin in his hand and looked lovingly at me. “I want this,” he murmured.

Another tear escaped, a stray drop of sorrow betraying me. It was the first time seeing what his attacker had done to him, what Stella had done to him and it hurt far more than I thought it ever would. That someone could want to kill this man for the sake of a few material things, was beyond me. That his wife held him in so little regard she felt fit to damage him this way, made me angry.

My eyes skimmed his broad chest, mentally counting the scars that marred his olive skin. My anger subsided when I read his ink - his son’s name - scrawled across his heart. I traced my fingers over the script, a longing subduing me for a moment.

“Look at me.” Lucca still held my chin, his hold gentle, firm. “I’m okay. I’m okay now, Laura,” he assured.

My lips trembled as I accepted his words. He let go of my face and kissed me lightly, his hardness still rocking against my pubic bone. Cool air hit my skin as Lucca unwrapped the scarf from my neck, letting it flutter to our feet. He wrenched open my shirt, buttons pinging down the hardwood stairs in all directions and I gasped as he bent down and bit my peaked nipple through the lace of my bra. He made no mention as to the scars that defaced my own skin while he tugged the loose shirt from my body, throwing it behind him when he finally got it free.

Talking and trepidation were done with, there was no room for anything other than the passionate blood that thrummed through my veins. Like a switch flipping, Lucca growled against my breast as he wrestled the bra from my body.

“Grab on,” he said, his hands disappearing between us. “I need to fuck you, Laura.”

Lucca’s hands grappled at his belt and I heard the loud clang of metal hitting wood as his jeans fell down his legs. Hot flesh hit hot flesh causing my heart to race, his underwear had gone with the jeans.

“Can I?” His hands went back to my arse cheeks and he dug his fingers in, playing along the string of my thong. “Bellissima. Never felt anything like it. Beautiful.”

“Please...”  A foreign word had never sounded so goddamned sexy before. I moaned, sounding desperate. “Please...”

Teeth sank down into the fleshy globes of my breast as he pulled my thong, the tight friction rubbing at my clit as he see-sawed the material back and forth. My body had a mind of its own; I bucked against Lucca, desperate for the contact as he rubbed up and down, sending me half delirious with anticipation. Hitching me up again, his erection slipped between the apex of my thighs, rubbing against the wet material of the thong string.

“Take the fucking thing off.” My patience dwindled with each rub, the friction nowhere near enough to get me where I wanted to be.

He chuckled ignoring my instruction, instead pulling the material aside and dipping his finger into me. In and out quickly, barely penetrating, teasing...and then the contact was gone, and I felt the slippy crown of his cock sliding through the slickness of my pussy. Jesus, I was about to combust.

“I’m gonna make you feel so good, Laura.” His low rumbling voice warmed me further, dick slipping inside before he withdrew. “So good, I promise.”

Number four was one I could get on board with and I was going to hold him to that promise.

I wanted to come like nothing ever before. Lucca sucked on my neck as he pushed into me. Nothing gentle about it. I didn’t want soft, I wanted to be fucked, mauled, ravaged. He pulled back and pushed in again, filling me, spreading me, humming into my neck, standing still as if savouring the moment.

“Lucca.” I moved my hips as much as he would allow. “Fuck me...”

“Oh, I intend to,” he chuckled.

He pulled almost all the way out again then punched back in. I saw stars, my head snapped back, and I arched closer as he shoved into me. I held on for dear life as Lucca pound me against the wall. No apologies, just thrust after thrust after thrust. I wailed, and I moaned, and I gritted my teeth staving off an orgasm that was coming way too soon, barrelling straight for me. With each tug and pull between us, our pubic bones clashed, material rubbing against my clit and heightened the pleasure as I soared.

Lucca shifted, and I saw he’d put one foot on the step below us, driving up into me at a different angle, hitting all the right places. I grabbed great swathes of his hair in my hands and gripped as my body locked tight, my toes curled, and that ache blossomed wildly, pushing me over the last hurdle. My pussy pulsed and throbbed around Lucca as he stilled, his hand reaching between us, his finger flicking at my clit, helping me ride out my orgasm. Erratic tingles assaulted me, my breasts ached, my nipples tightening painfully. I shouted incoherently, loud enough to wake the street, as wave after wave of sensation swept through me. I was vaguely aware of Lucca muttering, I didn’t care, this was all me. I was taking my fill and basking in the glorious feelings washing over me. Only the loud thudding of my heartbeats in my ears penetrated. Sweat trickled down my damp skin as I tripped the light fantastic, headlong into a spiral of bliss and delight.

Lucca pulled his hand away and began moving again, picking up his pace, almost frantic this time. I heard scattered ‘fucks’ and ‘yeahs’ and grunts as he bit down into my flesh and fucked me against the wall with a brutal finesse. Succumbing to his own fit of ecstasy, he came in jarring thrusts and shouts, I held on tighter, afraid of letting him go. My heart was fit to burst.

“Laura...”

Nothing had ever felt so wondrous. Nothing had ever felt so right. I couldn’t let this man go if I tried. I knew I was ruined. I knew I was fucked. I knew...I knew it would only ever be Lucca.