As sexy as that was, I needed her naked and ran my hands behind her to unclasp her bra. Bringing the straps around with my hands, I exposed her to my hungry gaze and then to my hungry mouth. I resumed nibbling, sucking, licking, and devouring her tits.
I wanted to devour her from head to toe, and I would. There was plenty of time for that later. The most pressing thing I needed to do first was to sink into her warmth, to connect with her, to release the pressure that had been building inside me for months.
Forcing myself to pull away, I removed the rest of her clothes piece by piece. It was her turn to do the same, and she stared at me through hooded eyes. With flushed cheeks and parted lips, she helped me undress, placing random kisses on my exposed skin.
When my hard cock sprang free from my boxers, she gently took hold of it, driving me insane.
“Liv.” She met my eye expectantly. “I need to be inside you.”
“I need you to be inside me.” She pushed me until I was flat on the mattress and straddled me until I nestled against her folds. Her sexy, wavy hair cascaded around us when she looked down at my face.
She lowered to kiss me at the same time as she lowered her hips to slip over my long, hard length. The exquisite feeling of being inside her after all that time immediately sent white-hot pulses shooting through every part of my body. During it, we swallowed each other’s breaths, each refusing to break the kiss. Every pump of my hips sent us both closer to nirvana.
All too soon, she clenched around me, her fierce orgasm squeezing every drop I had to give and hurtled me toward my own explosive release.
The only word I managed to utter once we both calmed was “Finally.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Alivia
His stomach rumbled somewhere around 4:00 a.m.
“Oh my God,” I said on a laugh. “That was loud.”
“I haven’t eaten since the plane…” His sexy smirk that I loved so damn much appeared. “Actually, I’m wrong… not since I ate you ten minutes ago.” To add insult to injury, he ran his tongue over his lips to emphasize the point.
Instantly, my insides clenched at the mention and the memory. “That doesn’t count.”
“I respectfully disagree.” He twisted our bodies to where I was now beneath him. “If that actually could sustain me, I’d never eat anything else ever again.”
“Well, it can’t. So what would you like to eat food wise? I don’t have much here, but nothing is open at this hour. Your choices are Nutella on Italian bread, pancakes, biscotti, olives, mozzarella, figs. Or… I can make pasta with butter and parmesan.”
He chuckled. “That’s quite a varied list.”
I offered a shrug. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting company tonight.”
A pucker appeared across his forehead. “I’m company?” Before I could take his question seriously, he began tickling me. “That’s insulting to hear… company. I’ll show you company.” Within seconds he had me gasping for air and begging between giggles to stop. “Say I’m your world, Liv…”
“You’re my world, Liv.” His fingers moved faster until I screamed, “You’re my world!”
Suddenly, he stilled, the smile falling off his face as the moment went from silly to serious in the blink of an eye. “Am I? Still your world?” he asked, and I understood the change in demeanor.
Wasn’t that my problem all along? Wasn’t that the reason I came to Florence, to find something other than him to fill my world?
“You’re a very important part of it,” I admitted cautiously.
He regarded me and then nodded. “As I should be.” His mouth lowered over mine, and with that slow, languid, lazy kiss we got lost in the one world we never had a problem owning… the physical world.
Somehow twenty-four hours went by, and except to eat or have the necessary human moments, we never left my bed. But when morning came again and we realized we were completely out of food, we reluctantly showered and dressed to head out into the real world.
Shane really had no interest in seeing the sights, claiming photos of being in Florence when we were younger supplied enough memories to last him. He was more interested in spending every moment with me.
We had yet to have a conversation about how long he planned to stay. I also waited with bated breath for the next logical question to be asked—what day was I flying home? With Christmas nine days away, I didn’t know if he assumed we would go home together, or he’d suggest we stay in Italy. Surprisingly, those questions never came, and I cowardly hoped it didn’t happen during our meal.
The fact that I was nervous about having dinner with the man I’d known practically my entire life was ridiculous. He’d been through everything with me, and I with him. Three or four hellish months eclipsing more than ten years of happiness shouldn’t have played a factor. For the second time in all those months, I needed to do something strictly for me and not for us.
But as we ate the pasta primavera that I’d whipped up for us, being away from my bedroom undoubtedly allowed logic to creep back into his mind, and with that, questions began to be asked.
My time to avoid was up.
“I’m surprised you haven’t started packing,” he said around a mouthful of pasta. “Don’t you have finals this week?”
“Yes… so you’re not allowed to distract me,” I deflected, raising my fork at him for emphasis.
“I’ll try not to. Actually, if you direct me, I’ll pack for you.” I watched as he twirled another clump of linguini around his fork, hating myself because I was about to ruin his meal. He had no clue while happily devouring more pasta until his eyes met mine and the fork laden with his next bite remained suspended midair. “What’s wrong?”
Bile rose in my throat, making the remaining part of my dinner impossible to stomach. Lowering my fork, I tried to avoid his questioning gaze, but Shane wouldn’t allow it. “Alivia.”
“I… um… need to tell you something.”
That prompted him to drop his fork. “Okay.”
“My flight home is not until the twenty-third.”
“Oh… okay. That’s fine. I thought we’d leave a few days sooner than that, but I left mine open-ended until I knew for sure.”
“That’s not all… my flight back is on the tenth of January.”
“Flight back?”
I took his hand in mine, and forced a swallow before admitting, “I decided to finish the school year here in Florence.”
He yanked his arm away, but it was the silence that hurt more than the rejection.
Shane
Never would that possibility have crossed my mind. I knew she loved Florence. I knew she had discovered a passion for the art world. I even knew she loved living on her own, as she had these past three months. So, really, her announcement shouldn’t have been a shock.
Then why was I stunned silent? Hurt that she’d made this decision without me? Annoyed at myself for assuming we would slip right back into our norm?
“Say something,” she prompted. And still, I couldn’t find my voice. “Shane, it’s just a few more months.”