Authors: Tracey Rogers
He resisted the urge to kiss her with every ounce of unrepressed lust, and instead he covered her mouth with his with a restraint he hadn’t known he possessed. He tasted her slowly, moving his lips over her soft ones with care and attention as he seared her taste to memory. His tongue joined the exploration, eliciting a soft moan. That and the feel of plump breasts grazing against his chest pulled his restraint taut to the point of snapping.
He wrapped his right arm around her waist, his fingers meeting the bare skin of her back as he tugged her closer. Izzy responded by tilting her head back, allowing him greater access into the sweet recess of her mouth. She joined him in the slow, teasing dance of mouths, tongues, and desire. Tasting him back as thoroughly as he had indulged in her.
Suddenly their interchange spiked into something more. Exploring became a heated demand, Jack grateful that the frothy layers of her dress disguised the erection forcing its way against his zipper as their mouths became hungry. He groaned at the flick of her tongue and felt her smile beneath his lips.
Temptress.
They both broke apart at the same time as music filtered to their ears. Izzy wore the same expression he was sure he did. The same dazed, hungry look. He trailed a finger over Izzy’s kiss plumped lips and soaked up the look of longing in her eyes, that highlighted the tiny golden flecks within the darkness of chocolate.
He dropped his hand to capture hers.
“W-what are we doing, Jack?” she asked as she resisted his light tug, hesitancy welling in her eyes.
Did he really know himself? “We’re finding perks for both of us.”
Her slow smile warmed him further. Mischief quickly replaced hesitancy. “
And
playing?”
The twitch in his pants was his answer. He smiled and quirked a brow. “As much play time as you want.”
She squealed, and rich laughter sprang from her delicious mouth as he tugged her into a run toward the fountain then twirled her around, making her skirt flare and twirl around her slender legs. He joined her laughter and tried to remember the last time he had. It seemed so long ago.
“What are you doing?” she asked breathlessly.
“Dancing with you. You asked me to teach you years ago and I left before I had the chance.”
“Didn’t we dance together at the club?”
“That wasn’t dancing—that was foreplay.”
“Then what are we doing now?”
“Both.”
Thick lashes blinked. She cleared her throat. “My kind of dancing.”
He twirled her once more before taking her in his arms and moving to the rhythm of the instrumental sounds of traditional Italian music emanating from beyond the courtyard. As the song faded he supported her back and arched her into a dip. She laughed as he took advantage of exposed skin and kissed his way from the top of her bodice up to the column of her neck where his gaze and lips met with her hummingbird pulse.
The chime of the old clock tower made them both look up. The time made him frown. Had they really been here so long? It wouldn’t be long until the square became a hive of activity. But who could blame them, he thought as he looked to the sky, so blue and promising with the sun climbing above the buildings casting beams of light to cut through the shadows. But the vision didn’t match the beauty of Izzy, his Bella.
She broke away from his arms, making them feel emptier than they’d ever been.
He watched as she tended to her cameras, rechecking their exposures and the timers connected to them, adjusting their positions. Hell, he’d forgotten they were even there! If he’d continued along the path of his needs it would be more of a sex tape by now.
As she turned back to face him she broke into another gut-punching smile. She surprised a smile out of him as she hopped quite elegantly up onto the fountain wall as strains of another song began, more up tempo than before. She clutched her skirts in her hands, exposing slender ankles and sexy heels as she dance-stepped her way along the narrow wall edge, enticing him with each foot plant and hip sway.
He folded his arms across his chest and watched. He was finding the perks all right.
The way she looked at him and smiled made him feel...well, it just made him
feel
.
And how long had it been since he’d dared to feel about anything, anyone? He’d shut down those kind of emotions a long time ago. When he’d finally realized that his parents were never going to reciprocate any of the same affection to him as they did his younger brother. It pained him, and he’d always wanted to know why. When he finally found out why his last emotions were sadness and relief.
Now as Izzy danced and smiled her way toward him, he had a warmth in his chest he couldn’t understand. After all, the only feelings he allowed were sexual ones. And he was definitely already feeling those.
A smile curved his lips as Izzy began to twirl on the wall. She didn’t do anything in half measures. Everything she did involved exuberance and passion. But in those heels and unable to see her feet if she wasn’t careful she was going to—
Leaping forward as her arms began to windmill, Jack reached out and caught her before the spray of the fountain reached her and she found herself dancing
in
the fountain. Now with her warm body gathered in his arms, pressed against his chest, he could no longer separate the rush of water from the rush of his blood as it surged through his body. Now he wanted her a different kind of wet and a whole lot closer.
Izzy’s released breath of surprise snatched inward again, taking his with it. Her laughter halted as the intensity of his gaze looped a tight hold on hers. No movements were made, no breaths were taken as she seemed to read his thoughts as openly as he read hers. Holding her as though she weighed no more than a bag of sugar, but with a lot more sweetness, he pleaded with his eyes for her to find the answers he knew were hidden somewhere deep inside.
A frown arched her brow as something began to fall over them. Something white rested on her cheek.
What the hell! Snow in Italy? In summer?
“
Quanto è bella, molte congratulazioni!
”
They both fought to drag their eyes away to look at the elderly Italian woman showering them with rose petals. Her now empty hands clasped together showing her joy. At her feet rested a wicker basket containing bread and a bunch of roses, some of which were now the empty stems plucked free of the petals she’d just decorated them with. Her wide smile lifted her plump, olive-skinned cheeks.
With some reluctance, Jack allowed Izzy to drop to her feet though she remained fixed at his side. At her look of confusion he translated.
“She says ‘how beautiful’ and gives her congratulations to us,” he said as he offered the woman with kindness and warmth in her eyes a smile of thanks.
Izzy craned her head, showing her full smile. “Oh, how lovely.
Grazie!
”
“
Possono le vostre vite siano benedetti con la felicità.
”
May your lives be blessed with happiness.
“She wishes you to be happy,” Jack translated uncomfortably. He wished that for Izzy. But for him?
Izzy reached out to the woman and rested a hand on her arm, giving her a grateful smile before she dashed over to the church doors to retrieve the bouquet he hadn’t noticed was left behind. Walking quickly back, Izzy offered it to the woman. “Please take this,” Izzy prompted as she gave a pointed look at the naked stems in the basket at her feet.
The old lady in the navy cotton dress wrapped her plump arms around Izzy before surprising him by giving him a hug that was a lot stronger than expected. She then took his hand and one of Izzy’s and pressed them together.
“
Vorrei che l’amore e il dono di tanti bambini!
” she said as she gave their hands a squeeze and gave thanks for the bouquet which she carried in her hand and scooped up the basket in the other as she walked across the square.
Breath froze in his lungs. Love? Children?
“What did she say?”
“She said we should make the most of our wedding night,” he swiftly lied.
She eyed him with suspicion. “Oh really?”
“Yeah.” He forced his lips into a smile. “She said we should have lots of sex.”
“Hmm...” she said with brows arched high in mock belief. “A wise lady,” she said with a teasing grin.
“Do you have what we need?”
“Huh?” she responded, as though he’d interrupted the depth of her thoughts.
“The photographs. Do you think we have enough?”
Her chocolate eyes flared as though she’d too forgotten about the reason for being there. “I’ll...erm...just check.”
Relief dropped the tension from his shoulders. There was no way he wanted to share that ‘wise’ lady’s wishes of love and children for them. It was a conversation Izzy needed to have with someone other than him. Someone more able to provide those things. But if Izzy was content to play along with the sex inference then he wouldn’t disappoint.
They needed to get each other out of their systems, and if sex was the way to go for just this one day then so be it. He would deal with the repercussions later.
* * * *
Equipment checked and gathered, the only sound between them was the roar of the engine as Jack drove them back to the hotel. Izzy closed her eyes and tilted her face to the sun as she replayed their ‘wedding’ through her mind. If it wasn’t so fake it would be so perfect. A glorious setting with the warm fingers of sunlight reaching into the courtyard enough to warm her skin on the outside as Jack heated her on the inside. He seemed so open as they danced on their private cobbled dance floor and then scooping her up into his arms. He made her feel...
special
.
Now it seemed he wasn’t playing anymore. All mischief had been sucked out of him the moment love and children had been mentioned. Sure, she was no linguist but she’d read enough romance novels to know that was what
amore
and
bambini
meant. But if playing dumb meant he had to show his next move then so be it. If he was moving them on to the next step then she would follow if that was the only way to get him out of her skin and out of her head. Hell, if she could fake a wedding, she could fake a wedding night.
When they arrived at the hotel, Jack helped her out of the car, then grabbed her equipment. As he walked ahead of her, she had doubts ringing like alarm bells in her mind. Her breath caught as they approached his room, then released with a force that took oxygen from her toes when he stood outside her room. The bridal suite. Wordlessly, he opened the door.
“Wait here,” he said as he stepped inside then closed the door in her open-mouthed face.
Just as she was about to plant her hands on her hips and pout, he opened the door and scooped her into his arms again.
“What are you doing?” she gasped. “We have no camera or audience now.”
“Humor me.”
She snaked her arm over his shoulders, feeling the play in his biceps as he maneuvered her and the frothy full skirt of her dress over the threshold. Emotion clogged her throat as she realized he was doing all of this for her, not for some fake photographs. Mr. I-Hate-Weddings was a closet romantic still in denial. And when he set her on her feet her emotion almost poured with more force than the fountain she’d wanted to drag him into. Tears stung the back of her eyes so she blinked them away. On the bed were scattered red rose petals, and a table of food had been set up, complete with champagne on ice, but what caught her attention was the huge wedding cake by the balcony doors.
“You got cake,” she said dully.
Jack frowned and cocked his head to search her eyes. “Did I get the wrong type?”
“No.” She gave a small head shake. “It’s perfect,” she sniffed.
“Are you crying over cake?” he asked with concern in his eyes, reaching out to sweep his thumb under her moist eyes.
“No. Yes. No.” She sighed. “It’s not just the cake—it’s everything.”
“In a good way?”
“A very good way.” Like in a he-must-have-seen-my-wedding-scrapbook way.
“Then would you like some food? Cake?”
She took a steadying breath and shook her head.
“Not hungry?”
She didn’t dare look up, her gaze fixed on the wall of chest that she ached to touch. Skin to skin. “Not for food,” she whispered.
His cupped hand forced her chin up. The look he gave dissolved her insides, making her suddenly aware of all the parts hidden by the dress. “Then what do you hunger for, Bella?”
“You.”
Chapter 8
Izzy’s honesty stole the breath from his body, until he was a shell of hardness
everywhere
.
“Is that really what you want?”
“It is. You know it is. I think you’ve always known it.” Her brown eyes were unflinching, open to the point of absorption. “But I don’t want it to be fake.”
Jack shook his head slowly. “Oh, it will be real. Very real.”
“Just the way I like it.” Again with the honesty. Did she have any idea what she was doing to him?
“Then let’s make it a night to remember.”
Izzy lifted her face to the ray of sunlight streaming through the balcony. “In the day?” She smiled.
“I’m very thorough.” He grinned back.
But she wasn’t entirely confident. He noticed her run her tongue over her full pink lip. Noticed the way her pulse beat in her throat. And the curve of his lips dropped. “I can’t give you more than today, Izzy.”
“I know.” She looped a hand through his jacket, clutched his tie, and tugged it down until he lowered his head. “So let’s not waste time.”
Minx. He would make her pay with that tie later until she begged for release in more ways than one. Obeying her easy command, he covered her lips, smiling with satisfaction as she moaned and released her grip on his tie. He wrapped one hand around her compliant body, and used his other hand to push his fingers through her silky hair, releasing every pin and dropping them to the floor. When her locks were finally freed into a careless tumble of waves he took a step back to survey his handiwork. God, she looked amazing.