Part 20 (1/2)

Pus.h.i.+ng aside Angelica's clothing, Simon stroked the warm curve of her breast. She gasped and strained a little in his hold. She was so deliciously responsive to him, and he was going to use it to his advantage.

If it didn't kill him first.

”I'm going to ask you your name no more than three times. All you have to do is tell me before the third and final time, and our game of pleasure continues. If you fail to answer by then, we stop. Are you ready to play?”

”Simon...”

He s.h.i.+fted his body. ”Do you know you have the prettiest nipples?” Holding her gaze, he dipped his head, purposely hovering his mouth over one taut peak. ”I especially love them when you're aroused and they are pert like this, begging to be sucked.”

He gave her nipple a gentle flick of his tongue, then brushed the contour of his lips over it, drawing a whimper from her. ”Shall I suck this pretty pink nipple, Angelica? Do you want that?”

Her breaths were already sharp and shallow. ”Yes!”

He smiled. ”As you wish.” He captured her nipple with his mouth, lightly sucking and biting it, making her squirm and strain beneath him, unable to contain the urge. A sweet demand for more. And more was exactly what he was going to give his green-eyed siren. Releasing her nipple from his mouth, he gently pinched and pulled it as he turned his attention to her other breast, and suckled the pebbled peak. The seductive sounds she made swirled though his system, and tightened his sac.

Simon pressed his thigh between her legs, precisely over her c.l.i.t, applying just enough pressure to make her breath catch. And feed her fever.

”Please...” She arched hard against him. Her voice was but a shaky whisper. She was begging him, and he should derive some satisfaction from it, but instead he was unraveling because of it.

He trailed his mouth up toward the tantalizing column of her neck, nipping and tasting the satiny skin along the way.

”Do you wish me to stop?”

”No.”

”Then tell me your name. Say it.”

A strangled sound escaped past her lips. ”Simon...not like this. Don't do this now... I want you.”

He'd heard those three words uttered many times in bed before. Why did they sound so different when they came from her? Why did those three words from her lips send him straight to the edge?

He claimed her mouth to silence her. She parted her lips for him. Unable to resist, he slid his tongue inside.

She returned his kiss, drawing on his tongue, causing his p.r.i.c.k to pulse. With a groan, he kissed her harder. Hungrier. She squirmed against his leg, then began rocking her hips against his thigh.

He tore his mouth from hers and quickly stilled her, unable to withstand her provocatively rubbing against him.

Reluctantly, he removed his thigh from between her legs.

”Angelica...” His breaths were as sharp and quick as hers. ”You want my c.o.c.k, don't you? Deep inside...like before...”

She s.h.i.+vered with excitement. ”Yes.”

”Then tell me your name. And I'll give you what you want.” He cupped her breast, stroking her beaded nipple with his thumb.

He could feel her heart racing, her body yielding, and his will to see this mad plan through slipping away from him.

It shouldn't matter who she was or whom she had ever been with. He shouldn't want to erase former lovers from her mind so she'd long only for him, or struggle this hard against an overwhelming need to claim her as his own when exclusivity had never been important to him before.

He b.l.o.o.d.y well shouldn't want any woman who had this potent effect on his body and mind.

Grabbing the hem of her knee-length chemise, he pushed the fabric up along her thighs, deliberately letting her feel it inching higher and higher up her legs. ”This is what you want, isn't it?”

She gave him a quick nod, her cheeks adorably flushed. He cupped her s.e.x, his fingers covering her damp, downy curls. Softly, she moaned. He gritted his teeth, his c.o.c.k having stiffened to painful proportions. Thoughts of taking her regardless and ending his own suffering were running rampant in his head. He was dangerously close to losing this game of wills and desires. He had to play this out. Quickly.

He couldn't withstand much more.

Knowing she was already close to climax, he was careful not to stroke her c.l.i.t or increase the pressure of his hand. It took everything he had to resist the lure of her wet s.e.x, battling back the overwhelming urge to plunge his fingers inside that heavenly snug heat.

”Mon ange, I am going to ask you one last time-” She thrust her hips up and grazed her c.l.i.t against his palm. They both groaned. d.a.m.n her.

Her s.e.x was warm, slick and so inviting...

On the brink of letting go of the facade of control, he pulled his hand away, his c.o.c.k pulsing stronger, in rhythm with his wild heartbeat.

He took in a ragged breath. ”Tell me who you really are. Tell me something about you.”

Lifting her head from the bed, she pressed a kiss against the hollow of his throat. ”What difference can a name make right now?” she said against his skin.

Her words jarred him.

With a growled oath, he pushed himself off her and sat up.

He raked a hand through his hair, his every muscle taut. Why the h.e.l.l didn't he just f.u.c.k her? She was offering! It was what he would have done with anyone else.

What difference can a name make right now. It made a difference! Merde.

She touched his sleeve.

He turned to face her. ”The game is over. You win.”

Her hand tightened on his arm. ”If you leave, I lose.” Her eyes were without guile, her tone sincere and soft. ”Don't go, Simon. I made you a promise. I will keep it. I will tell you my name.”

He turned his body to face her better. ”Go on.”

She looked at him, then looked away with a sad smile. ”I have not said my own name in ten years.”

He cupped her cheek and turned her face to his. ”Say it now.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. ”It would change everything. I don't want anything to change this...for this is perfect bliss.” She kissed him, her mouth so soft and sweet.

Breaking the kiss, he pulled her arms from around his neck and held her hands. ”Why would it change everything? Who are you? Who do your secrets protect?”

She swallowed as if something was obstructing her throat.

”Perhaps it would be easier if you tell me about your parents?” he suggested. ”Was your father a politician in the Republic of Genoa?”

She bit her lip and shook her head.