The Gold Collection. Maggie Cox

she couldn’t breathe properly.

      He gave her a wicked smile. ‘Strip me, then,’ he said, spreading his arms wide so that she had free access to his body. ‘I’m all yours, Rebekah.’

      She felt a little pang inside, knowing that he would never be hers. It would take a very special woman to persuade Dante to give up his playboy lifestyle, and perhaps no woman ever would. She knew that all he wanted from her was sex, and that was all she wanted too, she reminded herself. Dante made her feel like an attractive, sexy woman and she needed this one night with him to restore her faith in her feminine allure.

      But, although she was sure of her decision, her hands shook as she tugged his shirt from the waistband of his trousers and started to undo the buttons. When she reached the top one, she slid the shirt over his shoulders and stared at his broad chest and his satiny olive skin covered in whirls of silky black hairs. He had said her body was perfection, but the hard ridges of his pectoral and abdominal muscles could have been sculpted by an artist.

      Her eyes followed the mass of dark hairs lower to where they arrowed beneath his waistband. He had invited her to strip him, but did she have the nerve to slide his zip down and touch the prominent bulge that was straining against his trousers?

      ‘Do you have any idea how much you’re turning me on just by looking at me?’ Dante demanded raggedly. ‘For pity’s sake, cara, touch me.’

      Rebekah obeyed him, hesitantly at first, as she skimmed her fingertips over his chest, but growing bolder as she explored each ridge of muscle with a dedication that made him groan. It was intoxicating to roam her hands freely over his naked torso. His skin was warm and golden, and he smelled of soap and sandal-wood cologne and another subtly masculine scent that tantalised her senses. She had never been as intensely aware of the beauty of the male form and, acting purely on instinct, she pressed her lips to his chest, over the place where she could feel the hard thud of his heart.

      He growled something in Italian as he reached for his fly and yanked it open. ‘Let me help you,’ he muttered, as he pulled off the rest of his clothes.

      Rebekah’s heart lurched as her eyes were drawn to his erection. He was indescribably beautiful, and huge. She was suddenly conscious that it was a long time since she had done this. Her uncertainty must have shown in her eyes, because he said harshly, ‘If you’ve changed your mind, you have twenty seconds to get out of the room before I lose what’s left of my self-control.’

      She could not restrain a little shiver of feminine triumph that he was in danger of losing his control because of her. Desire throbbed hot and insistent between her legs. The notion that soon she would take his swollen length inside her made her tremble with excitement. ‘I haven’t …’ she began, but she had no chance to request that they take things slowly because he pulled her into his arms and she was blown away by the feel of his naked body pressed hard up against hers.

      ‘Thank God for that,’ Dante muttered as he brought his mouth down on hers. Heat surged through him when she parted her lips beneath his and kissed him back with passion and an evocative sweetness that made his gut clench. He loved the softness of her body, the way her skin felt like silk beneath his fingertips and the delicate rose scent of her perfume when he pressed his mouth to the sensitive place behind her ear. Even more of a turn-on were the little moans she made when he stroked her breasts and flicked his thumbs over her nipples.

      He felt as if he were going to explode. The likelihood of him making love to Rebekah with any degree of finesse was zero, he acknowledged derisively. She was too much of a temptation. This first time was going to be hard and fast and he would enjoy taking the slow route later. Right now, all he could think of was burying himself deep inside her. The sofa provided the closest flat surface and would be more comfortable than the floor. He backed her towards it and tumbled her down onto the velvet cushions.

      Rebekah could not restrain a low cry when Dante bent his head to her breast and closed his mouth around her nipple. Exquisite sensation arrowed down to her pelvis and she twisted beneath him as he licked and sucked the taut peak until the pleasure was almost unbearable, before he transferred his attention to her other breast.

      She had known he would be a skilled lover. No doubt his expertise had been honed by experience. The thought evoked a sharp little pain inside her, but she blanked it out. She did not want to be reminded of his playboy reputation. The way he was kissing and caressing her and murmuring soft words in a mixture of English and Italian made her feel that she really was as gorgeous and sexy as he was telling her. As if she was the only woman he would ever want.

      He trailed his hand over her stomach, continued lower and hooked his fingers in her knickers.

      ‘You are exquisite,’ he murmured as he removed the fragile wisp of lace and stared at her naked body.

      ‘Dante …?’ She felt suddenly vulnerable and stupidly nervous. She wasn’t a virgin, of course, but she was not one of the sophisticated and no doubt sexually experienced women he was used to. She was afraid he would be disappointed with her. It would be crushingly embarrassing if he found her relative inexperience a turn-off.

      ‘What’s wrong?’ he murmured when he sensed her tension. ‘Is there something you want me to do? Tell me how I can please you.’

      Oh, Lord, she did not have a list of requirements. She stared at him and thought how achingly handsome he was. With a shaking hand she traced the hard line of his jaw and caught her breath when he captured her fingers and pressed his lips to them. ‘Just … kiss me again,’ she whispered.

      ‘With pleasure.’ His smile was unexpectedly gentle, as if he sensed she needed reassurance. He lowered his head and claimed her mouth in a deep, drugging kiss that banished her last lingering doubts.

      ‘I want to make this good for you, cara,’ he said softly as he slipped his hand between her thighs and gently parted her to slide a finger into the hot silken heart of her femininity.

      Rebekah gasped and instinctively arched her hips. Molten heat flooded through her as he elicited an intimate caress that made her sensitive flesh quicken with excited desire. The dragging sensation in her pelvis became an urgent throb of need to feel more, to have him fill her with his steel-hard shaft that was now nudging against her opening.

      Remembering how earlier he had asked her to touch him, she tentatively closed her fingers around his erection and began to stroke the hard length. She heard his swiftly indrawn breath and felt a little thrill of delight that she was able to arouse him as he had aroused her. She grew bolder and more inventive in the way she caressed him, but after a few moments he groaned and tugged her hand away.

      As Dante lowered himself onto her, Rebekah caught her breath, feeling her muscles stretch around him as he pushed deeper and deeper until he filled her. She had forgotten how beautiful lovemaking was, she thought dazedly. But she could not remember that she had ever felt this sense of completeness with Gareth.

      Dante began to move and withdrew almost completely, laughed softly when she protested, and repeated the process a little faster, thrusting deep and hard so that she gave a choked cry of pleasure and begged him not to stop.

      But her husky plea had the opposite effect. He stilled and, with a savage imprecation, began to withdraw again.

      Disbelief turned to panic when she realised he was actually going to stop making love to her. Was he turned off by her curvaceous body after all? She felt sick with humiliation and disappointment.

      Her voice shook. ‘What’s wrong?’

      ‘I forgot to use a condom,’ he informed her tersely. Inwardly, Dante cursed himself. He always without fail used protection. It was another of his golden rules—never get emotionally involved, and never ever risk an unwanted pregnancy. He could not believe he had been so irresponsible. What the hell was he doing having unprotected sex with Rebekah? Just because he had been blown away by her lush, curvaceous beauty was no excuse.

      But even now his body was battling with his common sense. The lure of Rebekah’s velvet softness made him want to keep thrusting hard and fast into her until he achieved