Stealing a glance over her shoulder, Stella laughed as she ran. She was far ahead of a sauntering Leonardo, and her pauses to strip herself free of her bra, shoes, jeans and even her panties did nothing to the lead she had on him. By the time she reached the water’s edge and splashed into its gentle, lapping surf to dive in and come up for air fifteen feet away from shore, she still had plenty of time to watch the show.

Turning around to face the shore, she locked her hungry eyes on the incredibly virile, bigger-than-life man whose attention she had inexplicably captured. Why he was interested in her was a mystery, but it wasn’t one that she was interested in trying to figure out. At least, not while he was pulling his shirt over his head to leave bare his sculpted, muscular chest. He had the body of a swimmer. Unbelievably broad and powerful shoulders. Long arms. Tone, flat abs.

Leonardo wadded up his shirt and threw it to the side with a decisive toss, and Stella licked the salt from her lips with eager anticipation as his hands went to his jeans. Standing a foot from the water’s edge, he toed off his shoes as he unbuttoned and then unzipped the denim at his waist. Laying the flaps open to expose more flat stomach, he then bent double to push his jeans down his strong thighs. When he stood up, Stella did her best to hide her voyeuristically gleeful smile. What Leonardo had, Stella liked!

The cool waters swirled around her naked body as Stella waved her arms back and forth beneath the rippling surface. She anchored herself in place by sinking her toes into the sandy sea bottom. She was fine. She was good. But, her heart thumped hard and her breath came fast as if she had been running a marathon as she watched Leonardo wade into the water. It splashed up his shins before reaching his thighs, and Leonardo was unabashed in his nakedness. He took his time. He was in no hurry to hide himself within the same waters that Stella now wore like a cloak.

By the time that Leonardo reached the spot where Stella stood with water up over her shoulders, that same water only came up to his sternum. But, as she watched, he sank down into it until the water reached the dimple at the bottom of his neck.

“Cara mio, are you cold? You’re shivering.”

Trembling with excitement was more like it. It was taking every ounce of Stella’s willpower not to swim into Leonardo’s arms and wrap herself around him. He was like a celestial body whose gravitational pull she ached to stop resisting. She wanted to fall into him, but the words that came out of her mouth were, “I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not,” Leonardo insisted. He drifted toward her until their bodies almost met, yet he didn’t touch her. “You’re not fine; you’re exquisite.” His eyes stared at her parted mouth, and he leaned in so close that she could feel the heat of his words on her lips when he spoke. “You came to ruin my work, but you’ve only ruined my mind. All I think about is you. All day… and deep into the night. You fill my thoughts, cara.”

Stella gasped at Leonardo’s fearless confession, but her one gasp was all that she had time for before his lips closed on hers. Without her permission, her arms wrapped themselves around Leonardo’s neck and her legs encircled his waist as his powerful arms pulled her in to hold her body against his.

Heat surged through her at their full-bodied, skin on skin connection. Even the cold of the ocean’s waters did nothing to appease the scorching heat of his hands on her. His chest and abs were a solid wall of muscle, and beneath her she could feel the tip of his excitement tease those parts of her that she hoped he would soon claim with ferocious abandon.

She’d spent years of her life simply existing, getting by from one moment to the next and holding on with another breath and yet another weak heartbeat that left her lips pale or even sometimes blue. Getting a new heart had been a rebirth. It was not just an improved life, it was a new life that held no resemblance to the life she’d had before, and this moment—now—with Leonardo was all that mattered. Yesterday was done. Tomorrow didn’t yet exist. There was only now, here, with Leonardo as he took her in a kiss that had her mind swimming and made her body feel as though she might swoon and drown right there in his arms.

When his mouth pulled away from hers, she held him close with her cheek pressed to his as she panted and then whimpered his name, “Leonardo.”

That was when the world moved. Leonardo’s arms tightened around her and he stood. The water fell away from them, dropping to Leonardo’s sternum and Stella’s waist. He pivoted, and Stella felt the sun’s warming rays on her naked back. The warmth of it radiated through her skin and into her bones. It was exactly what she’d needed, and Leonardo had known it even when she hadn’t.

Sighing, she sank further into him. If there were an earthquake that destroyed the world, he and she would still be safe. Leonardo was like a titan, and for the first time in her uncertain life she felt invulnerable.

She felt his body shift as one of his hands slid around to her side. She pulled back in order to be able to look into his eyes, and what she saw was a layered depth of passionate sincerity that left her heart unguarded to his effects.

He slid his large palm over her stomach and up her middle until it covered her scar. Its warmth bore its way into her chest and fueled her with an excited energy that made her want to devour Leonardo… or be devoured by him.

“Tell me what this is.” There was a gentle patience in Leonardo’s gaze as he made his quiet demand.

Stella glanced down at his hand before looking back up at him. She put her hand over his. “They gave me someone else’s heart. They cut mine out because it wasn’t strong enough, and… I was dying slowly. I was mostly fine as a child, but as a teenager my heart stopped being able to keep up with my body’s needs. Then, when I was running out of time, with maybe a week or two left, they gave me a new heart.”

“When?” Leonardo’s expression held an anguish that Stella hadn’t been expecting to see. “And tell me whose heart it is that they gave you so that I can honor their gift.” His normally barely-there accent grew rich and thick as emotion poured itself into his voice.

Stella shook her head, and squeezed his hand. “They wouldn’t tell me, but I sent a letter to the family with the help of the hospital. I let them know”—her voice faltered—“that I was living every minute, that I wasn’t taking anything for granted.”

Leonardo moved his hand to the side to cup Stella’s breast as he dipped his head to kiss her tattooed scar. “And this?” he asked, brushing his thumb over one of the vining blooms that twined itself around her scar.

“A celebration,” Stella said, smiling, “of my life beginning, of being in full bloom.”

“Cara mío,” Leonardo whispered, pulling Stella in and capturing her lips again. She sank her hands into his thick hair and held on as they lost themselves in each other. Stella’s heart soared that Leonardo was not gentle with her. His lips were crushing and his embrace was unyielding. He wasn’t handling her like a porcelain doll, afraid that she might break from all that he had to offer her. And Stella didn’t want part of him, she wanted all of him. She wanted all that he was and all that they could be together, not a watered down version of their potential.

“I want you,” Stella moaned against Leonardo’s lips. “Now, I want you now.”

“Cara, anything for you, but…”

“I’m on the pill… and I’m safe.”

“Cara…” It was a growl of intense want.

“Are you safe?”

Leonardo nodded his head as he traced her jaw with his lips down to her neck, where he gave her a little nip. She squealed in shock and delight, which brought forth a growl so low and deep in Leonardo’s chest that Stella could feel it vibrate through her own body.

Lifting her higher with a hand under her hips, Leonardo teased and tortured her nipple. She felt herself tighten to a hard bud beneath his attentions, and each little nip he gave her there shot an electrical current straight to her clit until she was throbbing and aching almost beyond coherent thought. She thought he might make her reach her climatic peak just by doing that alone, but she was given a small respite as his mouth traversed the valley between her breasts before his lips and teeth went to work on her other nipple.

He was merciless as he worked her. She squirmed in his arms, pulled on his hair, and ground her open heat into his abdomen, but nothing provided her escape from being left on the zenith of want and need without being allowed to topple over into the sweet oblivion that ecstasy would grant.

Moving his hand between them, Leonardo’s thumb dragged its way down her stomach, over her mons, and down the center of her open thighs. He explored every intimate inch of her, every curve, every nestled spot, and Stella felt a heat rise in her cheeks. The way he touched her, taking his time to get to know her, made her feel more naked than she had when she’d been running down the beach to the water. The entire time, his eyes never flinched away from hers. He touched and he watched, and when her eyes would flare wide and she would gasp, he’d touch her there again.

“What are you doing to me?” Stella felt heady, and her core was clenched so tight with the anticipation and need of being filled that it made it hard to think about anything other than Leonardo’s exploring thumb and what she wanted him to do with it. Then, when he traced a trail around her clit—once, twice, three times—her body jerked with an overwhelming need that went beyond her ability to control.

That’s when Leonardo did it. That’s when he sank his thumb inside her, hooked it just right and rubbed and stroked. Stella gasped in surprise at the sudden yet desperately needed sensation of being penetrated, but then her thighs clamped tighter around him and she rode his thumb, grinding her clit against the side of his wrist.

“Tu sì accussì bedda,” Leonardo groaned as Stella flexed and shifted her hips in a rhythmic rocking that had her almost where she needed to be. She recognized the beautiful words that flowed from his mouth, he was calling her beautiful as she fought for the heightened release she needed. Her entire body shook and with eyes closed, she arched her neck and held her breath as the pad of Leonardo’s thumb stroked the swollen spot deep inside of her.

“Leo!” she cried out as her toes curled and her body clamped down around him. Yet, there was still an ache inside of her, still a need to be filled in a hot stretch that seared all her senses, and that was exactly what Leonardo gave her. Her body was shifted, her knee hooked over Leonardo’s elbow, and then something large and unforgivably hard was pushing at her center demanding entrance.

With his anchoring arm low around her waist, Stella felt Leonardo’s hips thrust. She cried out with the shock of being opened to capacity as he surged his way inside of her, and then she shivered and sighed as her body released all of its tension to fully accept his heavy, thick intrusion.

“Oh, Leo…” she whimpered as she surrendered her body to his strength and his forceful need. Just as before when he held her tight and kissed her mouth, he held nothing back. His powerful thrusts could be felt throughout her entire body and each one brought a tiny moan to her lips. The muscles of Leonardo’s arms, shoulders and pecs bunched and shifted, and his jaw was tight but his eyes were blazing.

“Cara, come for me again. Come on me. I want to feel you.” His words were gruff and his voice was harsh. They didn’t come from the man that Stella had met in his office. They came from a man for whom rules didn’t matter. They came from a man who did as he pleased, no matter what the cost. They came from a man who would stop at nothing to get what mattered most to him…. And from everything that Stella saw in his face, his eyes, and his body, he wanted to feel her pleasure come undone on his long, hard shaft.

His jaw was clenched and there was a slight tremble in Leonardo’s body. Stella could tell that he was near, so near, to losing himself inside of her, but he wasn’t allowing himself to let go. He was waiting for her, and she was getting closer with each fierce thrust he made. His arm around her hips held her snug against him so that her throbbing nub rubbed against him with every move he made. Her core pulsed with each beat of her heart, and a pressure built deep inside of her as if her very womb needed the wave of pleasure destined to override all her senses.

Then, Leonardo made the entire world shift. He pulled her in and bit her earlobe. In that instant, all conscious thought ceased for Stella. Replacing the thought was overwhelming sensation. Her channel where Leonardo stretched and stroked her. Her pulsing clit that rubbed against the scratchy hair of his base. The splash of water as it pulsated around their joined, crashing bodies. The ache and throb of both her nipples where Leonardo’s mouth had teased and tormented them. And finally, the tingling swell of her lips from Leonardo’s demanding kiss. It was everything she needed.

Stella cried out as her body clamped itself around his swollen rod. She held on to him as tight as she could, refusing to let go. Leonardo’s hips bucked. He lost his pace, and then there was a torrent of thrusts that had every muscle in Stella’s body clenched and shaking as gasped breaths tore from her body in rhythm with Leonardo’s hips. Inside of her, a wave of pleasure bloomed at her core and then rolled up her spine. In that moment, she was completely at Leonardo’s mercy. Without him, she wouldn’t have survived, but he held her body aloft above the water as she gave in to an ecstasy that blotted out the whole universe and left only her and him in existence.

Leonardo groaned as heat bloomed inside of her depths. His hips stopped thrusting and instead he held her on him, in place. His. Coming back to her senses, Stella stroked Leonardo’s hair and kissed his cheeks beneath his eyes as his own pleasure worked its way through his senses.

She felt the hard muscles of his body relax and knew that he was back in the world with her. Together, they sank into the Ioanian Sea’s embrace, but their bodies stayed merged even though their dance was done.

For the longest time, saying nothing, Stella snuggled against Leonardo’s chest with her cheek pressed into his neck. He kissed her hair and held her with arms that could protect her from anything, she was sure.

Finally, Leonardo shifted and their body’s joining broke, but Leonardo continued to hold her tight as he walked with sure steps toward the shore. The water fell away from them, leaving the sun to warm Stella’s skin, and soon she found herself laid down on the sandy beach next to Leonardo.

Leonardo laid on his back, and Stella used his shoulder as a pillow.

“This beach is beautiful.”

“Mmmm, you’re beautiful,” Leonardo mumbled as if half awake.

Stella laughed as she sat up. “No, really! This is… paradise.” There was awe in her voice. “How did this place stay so nice?” She looked around her. The stretch of beach, sandwiched between two rocky cliffs, was over a hundred meters wide. The white sand was soft and gentle to the touch, and it looked as though they were the first ones to visit it in many years.

Leonardo opened one eye and glanced around them before closing it again. “My family owns this stretch of beach. We have for generations, and we’ve protected and preserved it.”

“Preserved it?” Something in the way Stella had said the words had Leonardo opening up both of his eyes. She let a heartbeat or two pass between them before continuing. “Has it been worth it?”

Leonardo’s eyes stayed locked with hers. He didn’t answer right away, and Stella could see the gears of his mind turning. Finally, he said, “Undoubtedly.”

Stella smiled. It was small at first but it grew quickly. “Can you think of anywhere else that would be worth preserving?”

Leonardo’s lips thinned and his eyes narrowed. Then, in a flash of movement he had her in his arms and pinned under him. There, he nuzzled her nose with his before taking her lips in a kiss. “Undoubtedly,” he whispered.