Deserving of His Diamonds (15 page)

‗Emilio …‘ The soft sound of her voice was like a caress over his skin. ‗I‘m

here, cara,‘ he said, threading his fingers through her hair. ‗I‘m here.‘ ‗Did

you miss me?‘ she said, looking into his eyes with her grey-blue ones. ‗Did

you miss doing this with me?‘ He pressed a soft-as-air kiss to her mouth.

‗I‘ve missed everything about you.‘ And he had, desperately. His life had

seemed so pointless and empty without her in it. He had worked like a man

obsessed over the past two years but none of it had given him any real sense

of purpose. He had made money—lots of money; more than he had dreamed

possible—but it hadn‘t filled the gaping hole she had left in his life. The

charity helped a bit but it wasn‘t enough. He wanted more. He wanted her.

He kissed her again, a long drugging kiss that stirred up deeply buried

longings that he could no longer ignore. He wanted to feel her convulse

around him again in ecstasy, he wanted to feel her grasp hold of him as if he

was her only lifeline—the only person on this earth who could make her feel

complete. He peeled back the spaghetti-thin straps of her dress to press a

kiss to her bare shoulder. Her skin tasted of summer, an exotic tropical

fragrance he had always and only associated with her. He worked his way

around to her neck, lingering on the sensitive flesh there, delighting in the

way she wriggled beneath him, her soft gasps of pleasure fuelling the raging

fire of his need. It was a blistering furnace of want, hot flames leaping

beneath his skin, making him aware of her in every cell of his body. She was

his nemesis, the completion of him, the missing

other half that he had been seeking for most of his life. ‗I want you,‘ he said,

pressing a hot kiss to the skin just shy of her earlobe. ‗I want you so badly I

can‘t think straight. It‘s all I can think about. How much I want you back in

my arms.‘ He moved his mouth to the soft temptation of hers. ‗I want you

too,‘ she whispered back, her soft lips moving around to play with his in a

cat and mouse game that set his senses on overload. At least he had her

desire for him to build on, Emilio thought. It was the one thing he could

count on. She might say how much she hated him but her touch and the

press of her lips against his told another story entirely. He felt the sexy tug

of her teeth, the way they pulled on his lower lip in a tantalising bite that

made his spine tingle. He nipped her back gently, sucking on her lip and

then stroking his tongue over the plump softness until she whimpered and

did the same back. Their tongues met and mated in a moist duel of wanton

need, each one seeking the other in sensual combat. Emilio slipped the other

strap of her dress off her shoulder and planted a kiss to the creamy softness

of her skin. She tilted her head, her long hair falling back over his hand

where it rested in the middle of her slender back. She made a soft noise of

acquiescence, a murmur of want, of need, of red-hot desire, and his blood

surged in response. No one made him feel more of a man than she did. He

uncovered her breasts and gently cupped one of them with his hand while his

mouth continued to explore hers. She arched up into his palm, her erect

nipple driving into the centre of his palm, her slender hips inciting his to

press down to meet her feminine softness.

He ached to fill her with his presence but this time he wanted to take things

slowly, to savour each moment. He stroked his fingers against her folds,

delighting in the scented moistness of her body that told him she was more

than ready for him. But still he took his time, gently stretching her with a

finger, feeling the tight clasp of her body around him. ‗Please …‘ she

begged breathlessly. ‗Not yet,‘ he said against her mouth. ‗You know how

much better it is when we both wait.‘ She writhed restlessly beneath him,

pushing her body up to meet his, her mouth ravenous as it fed off his. He

kissed her back with the same intensity while his fingers continued their

gentle exploration. He felt her swell beneath his touch, the tight pearl of her

need so delicate and yet full of such feminine power. Her hands began to

search for him and when they found him he groaned out loud in pleasure.

Her soft fingers stroked along his length at first before she made a sheath

with her hand and rubbed him up and down, slowly at first and then with

increasing vigour. He felt all his senses roar for release and had to fight not

to explode right there and then. She wriggled some more, grasping the cradle

of his hips with her hands, positioning herself beneath him. ‗Now,‘ she said.

‗I want you now.‘ He quickly found another condom and applied it before he

positioned himself above her with the bulk of his weight supported by his

arms as he surged into her with a deep thrust that drew a gasping breath from

her body and a guttural groan of pleasure from his. He felt her body wrap

around him, the tight ripples of her flesh massaging him, torturing him,

luring him into the deep

swirling pool of blessed oblivion. He held himself back from it with an

effort; no one challenged his ironclad control more than her. The physical

act of sex always became something more with her. It was not just a joining

of bodies; it reached him on a level he had not experienced with anyone else.

It felt as if each time they made love she reached inside his battered soul

with her soft fingers and soothed the torn and ragged edges until they didn‘t

ache any more. He felt it now, the way she stroked the muscles of his back

with her gentle hands, long, smooth, gentle movements that made his flesh

turn to gravel with goose bumps. He felt it in the soft but urgent press of her

mouth against his, the way her lips were both gentle and insistent, her tongue

searching and yet submissive to the driving command of his. He moved

within her, the slide of his flesh in hers slick and sexy, slow and then fast,

her body rising to meet each downward movement of his, her legs wrapping

around his hips as she urged him towards the edge of rapture. He caressed

her with his fingers to heighten her pleasure. He knew exactly what she

needed to take that final plunge into paradise. She was hot and wet and

swollen beneath his touch. He kept caressing her, softly and slowly, varying

the pressure until he felt her finally give in to the pleasure her body craved.

She threw her head back against the pillows and let out a high-pitched cry as

her body convulsed around his. He felt every milking movement until he had

no choice but to pour himself into her, his body finally collapsing with spent

pleasure against hers when he was done. She continued to stroke his back in

the aftermath. He felt those softly padded fingertips move up and down his

spine as he eventually got his breathing back under control. ‗I‘m assuming

you‘re still on the Pill,‘ he said as he eased himself up on his elbows to look

at her. ‗Condoms are not always reliable, especially putting them on as

haphazardly as I did earlier.‘ Her eyes flickered before moving away from

his to concentrate on a point just below his chin. ‗I‘m sure it‘s not going to

be a problem …‘ ‗Are you currently using contraception?‘ he asked. Her

gaze met his briefly before skittering away again. ‗I‘m on a low-dose pill to

regulate my cycle,‘ she said. ‗It‘s been out of whack since …‘ Her teeth sank

into her lip before she continued. ‗Since we broke up …‘ Emilio felt another

dagger-sharp probe of guilt assail him. Gisele had done it tough since he had

thrown her out of his life. So much had happened to her: the death of her

father and the revelation of her twin sister, all the while juggling the

demands of building up her business. No wonder she didn‘t sleep properly at

night. She had said it wasn‘t his fault but how could it not be? Her life would

have been completely different if he had stood by her. He wanted to fix it all,

to wipe out all the wrongs, but he sensed it wasn‘t going to be as simple as

that. There was a streak of stubbornness in her that hadn‘t been there before.

He understood how she would want to protect herself from being hurt again,

but he wanted to break down her defences so she would come back to him,

not because of her need for money, but because she valued him and the

future they had planned together more than her pride.

He wanted her as the mother of his children. He couldn‘t imagine anyone

else. He had never considered anyone else. He looked forward to becoming

a father. He longed for a family to love and protect. He had dreamed of her

swollen with his child. The images had mocked him over the past two years,

but now it was something that was just within his grasp if only he could get

her to put aside her pride and admit to her own yearnings. She was born to

be a mother. She loved anything to do with babies. She just had to trust him

enough to let go of the past so they could move forward. Emilio played with

the ends of her silky hair, running it through his fingers, watching as her

features relaxed in enjoyment. ‗You know how we talked about having a

family one day?‘ he said. She flinched as if he had slapped her. Then she

pulled her hair out of his fingers and, using the flat of her hand against his

chest, pushed him away from her. He watched in bemusement as she got off

the bed and reached for a wrap, tying it roughly around her middle. ‗Was it

something I said?‘ he asked. ‗I‘ve changed my mind,‘ she said, spearing him

with a glance. ‗I don‘t want to have children.‘ Emilio swung his legs over

the bed and reached for his bathrobe, coming over to where she was standing

with her arms folded tightly across her body. ‗What are you talking about?‘

he asked. ‗You adore children. You own and operate a baby wear shop, for

God‘s sake. You spend hours doing exquisite embroidery and smocking on

baby clothes. What do you mean, you‘ve changed your mind?‘ She gave him

a defensive look. ‗I mean exactly what I said. I‘ve changed my mind,‘ she

said. ‗People do. I did.‘

Emilio looked at her as if she had suddenly turned into someone else. Where

was the young woman who spoke so excitedly of having a family? Two

years ago she had talked to him about baby names, what sex their children

might be, what they would be like, who they would look like. They had even

talked about her coming off the Pill as soon as the honeymoon was over. He

was thirty-three years old now. He didn‘t want to leave it much longer

before he became a father. He had hoped Gisele would settle back into his

life and within a month or two everything would be back to normal. He had

planned that once things had settled down between them they would marry

and start a family. It was unthinkable to him that she wouldn‘t fall in with

his plans. He hadn‘t factored in her refusal to give him the family he wanted

so desperately. That would be admitting defeat.

Failure.

That word was like a ghost that stalked him. That word haunted him like no

other. It was an invisible but all too real enemy from his childhood, the same

one that had followed him out of back alley dumpsters in search of food and

shelter. It had taunted him; it had tortured him with thoughts of not being

good enough, not strong enough, not determined enough to get out of that

hellhole. He had fought it off; he had wrestled it to the ground, determining

he would never allow it back in his life.

He would not fail.

He would find a way to change Gisele‘s mind. Whatever it took, however

long it took, surely she would change her mind. ‗Has this been a recent

decision or one you‘ve thought about for a while?‘ he asked. ‗What does it

matter when I made the decision?‘ she

said. ‗I‘ve made it and I‘m not unmaking it.‘ ‗Gisele, you know how much I

want a family,‘ he said. ‗You‘ve known that from the start. It‘s one of the

reasons I asked you to marry me. I saw a future with us as parents, building

a family unit together.‘ ‗Just because you‘ve made bucket loads of money

doesn‘t mean you can automatically have anything you want,‘ Gisele said.

‗Life isn‘t like that.‘ Emilio tunnelled a hand through his hair. ‗Look, I know

you got terribly hurt by our break-up. It came out of the blue and shook you

badly. Having a child is a big commitment in any relationship, let alone one

that caused you so much pain in the past. But we can make it work. We‘d

make great parents. You‘ll be a fabulous mother. I just know it. I‘ve always

known it.‘ She gave him a glittering glare. ‗I‘m not going to be a breeding

machine for you or for any man,‘ she said. ‗For God‘s sake, Gisele,‘ he said,

frowning heavily. ‗When have I ever referred to you as such? I want you to

be the mother of my children. That‘s an honour that I have never asked of

any other woman.‘ ‗You‘ll have to ask someone else to do it because I‘m not

going to,‘ she said, shooting him a look that would have felled a lesser man.

Emilio felt his jaw tighten with frustration. How could he make her see

reason? Was a month going to be long enough to make her change her

mind? Was she doing this just to get under his skin? If so, she couldn‘t have