Because Of Love

Rafe grabbed the back of her head and brought her lips to his, devouring them like a man starved. Of what? He couldn’t explain, but there was something about her that made the animal in him want to claim her. All of her. The thing inside him that had been restless for months, wanting to claw out of his body but remaining stuck inside, it wanted her. Like a drug that calmed the storm inside him, he couldn’t be without her, he needed her. Just remembering how that bastard had his hands all over her made him so crazy, as he held her lips hostage with his, he let his hands run over her, replacing the touch of that asshole with his.

Talia broke away from him, gasping for air. “Wait, I can’t breathe. This is way too intense!”

Intense? She didn’t know half of it. Her flushed face and displaced large and loose shirt that didn’t hide the tight pebbles that her nipples had become only made it worse. He was so hard, his pants felt so tight that it hurt. He was ready to explode and not just in that way, something inside him was trying to claw its way out with such force; it made him dizzy with need. As he stared at her chest, moving up and down heavily, his vision began to blur and he could hear the sound of his blood pumping in his ears like a loud echo. The collar around his neck grew tight and he pulled at it. This was what had sent him running out of that hotel room half an hour ago, away from a very willing and naked woman. His feet dragged forward, one after the other, his focus on the barely worn t-shirt on Talia’s body as his heart beat a tattoo in his chest. Someone, someone who wasn’t him, almost got to take that off and see what was under. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat but it would go down.

Someone almost took her from me!

“DeLuca. DeLuca. Rafe!”

He could hear her calling him, but for some reason, it sounded so far into the distance he wasn’t sure if it was really true. How long before he couldn’t trust his own mind? How long before it rebelled against him? This isn’t normal, nothing about the charge rushing through him, making every nerve in his body twitch, was normal. All he did was touch her and it was driving him half crazy.

He felt a light touch on his arms and a barely discernible squeeze on them.

“Rafe, there is nowhere else for me to go. Are you awake? Can you breathe?”

He heard her again, this time more clearly. Maybe it was the shaking that cleared the cotton out of his ears or was she yelling? It was happening again, wasn’t it?

“Cosa non è normale? cosa sta succedendo di nuovo? Stai avendo un attacco di panico?”

His head shot up at that phrase. He heard that loud and clear. The last person to ask him that was his mother. What happened around that was a haze but he remembered those words clearly because his mother was in tears when she said them. Panic attack? No, he wasn’t panicking, he was just losing his mind, all because another man had dared to touch what was his!

His hands shot up and pressed against the wall above her head. “Why are you speaking to me in Italian?” he asked, as his mind journeyed slowly back to the here and now.

Her brows pinched and she said, “What? Did you not hear what I asked?”

He wanted to shake his head to clear the remaining cobwebs to give her a fitting answer, but he needed his mind to work to do even that.

“Are you drunk or high?”

“None,” he answered simply.

“Well something is wrong. I spoke to you in Italian because you were mumbling in Italian!”

Mumbling? He’d truly lost it. He shut his eyes and swallowed hard. Focus on the here and now. Damn it, wake up!

He needed… the painful pulsing in his pants drew his attention. Clearly that hadn’t gone down despite his brain taking a momentary leave of absence. Without wasting another moment, he shed the extra layers he had on, his overcoat, suit jacket and dress shirt, reached down placing his hands at Talia’s thighs, picked her up and pushed her up high against the wall. She gasped in shock, quickly wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

“What are you doing?”

“What I’ve wanted to do for months.”

He freed up one hand, gathered the side of her shirt that wasn’t dangling off her shoulder and pulled it down, baring her breasts to him. Full and large, they made his heart jump and his chest filled with need. He stared at them, wondering where to start, his eyes moving down to the chocolate drops tightly clenched and begging for his attention.

“DeLuca!” Talia exclaimed, pushing at his shoulders.

“Don’t call me that,” he ordered.

When her chest pushed out as she was struggling to push him away, her breasts pushed closer to his face, like an offering, begging for attention so he did just that. He pounced, capturing the pebble between his lips and sucking on it like he would an edible flower before he feasted on it. He heard Talia gasp above his head. She stopped pushing him away, her hand going to the back of his head as she tried to shove more of her into his mouth. This was what he loved most about her, it took the slightest touch to rouse her desire. She wasn’t very experienced, he realized. The lightest touch would bring out the biggest reaction out of her and that drove him nuts with lust.

Maybe this is why he was so attracted to her, he wondered as his hand moved down to find the spot he was sure was already wet, crying for his attention. He remembered the first time he’d had physical contact with her, as he made his way under her wet panties. It was a simple hand shake, but the charge of awareness that shot through both their bodies, he could tell that if he had pushed it she would have willingly followed him back to his yacht and into his bed.

Would the same have happened with that guy in the club tonight?

The very thought unsettled him and he released her nipple with a pop to stare up at her face, contoured with desire. She whined her protest and tried to pull his mouth back by grabbing fistfuls of his hair with both hands and pushing her breast, glittering with his saliva thrust out at him.

No, she wouldn’t. Otherwise, he would have found the asshole here. But still…

“Would you have brought him home?”

“What?” she demanded, her voice strained.

“That asshole from the club.”

Her eyes shot open. “You want to talk about that now!” her voice, echoing the annoyance shining in her eyes.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.

“Answer me.”

She stared at him, looking him straight in his eyes and he watched as the lust began to drain from them slowly. Maybe it wasn’t the best time, but he needed to know.