Red Hot Romeo (The Royal Romeos, #1) Read online

  Nirvana, he thought as his fingers glided through her slickness. If there had been any question about whether this was arousing her as much as him, at least now he had answers. He swirled his fingers, pressing in deeper till he could thrust first one then two fingers inside her. And just when he thought he’d died and gone to heaven—snake-free—she reached for him and wrapped her hands around his erection, and he thought he’d not be able to hold it, it felt so perfect, her warm hands stroking him in just the right tempo.

  In the darkness, his mouth found hers and their tongues met, tasting, stroking, twining, as their hands busily pulled and rubbed and stroked. Taylor let out tiny sounds of pleasure that made him want to cry out with joy, but he was too busy trying to keep from coming and ending this little surprise party too soon. He was trying to think what he’d done to deserve this, but he couldn’t concentrate long enough to even care, focused as he was on her hands, exploring his cock and his balls and oh God, he was going to explode any second.

  He pulled her panties down, rolling off her for one minute to reach for his nightstand drawer—the freebie condom from his brother being too far to access. He pulled out a condom, tore the packet with his teeth, and rolled it on himself in record time.

  They were both breathing hard now, Taylor thrusting her hips as soon as he moved his hands back down there. In the dark it felt amazing, as if it honed all his senses, the sound of their moaning, the smell of her arousal, the taste of her mouth, the feel of her slick juices on his fingers. He couldn’t wait another second and rolled so he was on top of her, and finally they were chest-to-chest, her breasts rubbing against his own nipples, and he thought he would die from the pleasure.

  He spread her legs with his knees and positioned his cock at her center. “You sure about this?” he whispered between kisses. He didn’t want her to experience buyer’s remorse once they went down this path. Even if it was just going to be for a night, it was going to be mutually agreeable and they would both walk away with no regrets.

  She nodded, licking his lips. “Put it in me now, or I might just change my mind.”

  He could feel her smiling against his mouth. “Your wish is my command,” he said as he slowly eased himself into her, savoring the feel of her tightness around him.

  Once he seated himself deep inside her, he grabbed her knees and spread her legs wide as he began to move with purposeful strokes: in, out, in, out. Taylor wrapped her legs around him, and he leaned forward to catch her nipple in his mouth as their bodies met then separated, his movements getting faster, his cock impossibly harder. He reached a hand down between them and rubbed her just there, right where he knew she needed it, occasionally stretching fingers to feel where their bodies were joined, which made him wild with pleasure. His mind went fuzzy, so focused was he on homing in on the warmth of her body, the glide of his cock as it pressed into her, the squeeze of her body as it closed around him. He bit softly on her nipple as he buried himself to the hilt, finally letting loose with wave after wave of spasms just as she joined him, her muscles clamping down on him as he came hard, then collapsed in her arms.

  If how it began was any indication, this was gonna be a great day.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Maybe it wasn’t fair to compare, being that it had been a long damned time since she’d slept with anyone. But wow. That was like nothing she’d ever experienced before. Making love with Sandro felt like so much more than just sex: it felt like some mystical bond, some unspoken connection that she didn’t understand but wanted to explore more of.

  As she lay there in the dark, just feeling, simply experiencing Sandro’s body exploring hers, she felt like she’d known him, known this feeling, her whole life. He stroked his hands along her body, drew his tongue across the nape of her neck, pressed his fingers inside her slick body. The sensual pleasure of being half-asleep while being aroused was downright amazing. Thank goodness she’d decided to stop being a twit and go for it. Because that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was worth it.

  They lay together, spent, breathing heavily and not saying a word for long minutes.

  Finally Sandro rolled off her, lying on his side propped up on his elbow, facing her in the dark room, continuing to skirt his hands all over her body as if he didn’t want to let go, not even for a second. He reached over and twirled her hair in his fingers. “Lucky me, finding Goldilocks sleeping in my bed.”

  Taylor smiled. “I hope you don’t mind. I was too scared to return to my room last night.”

  “Mind?” he said, incredulous. “Are you kidding? That was the best gift I could have ever found after a night of hardship.”

  “Hardship? I didn’t realize talking beneath the stars with yours truly was such work for you.” She reached up to kiss him.

  “The talking, all good. The snake, well, that was a different story altogether.”

  “Yeah. What is up with your allowing snakes in your house?”

  “Well, if you hadn’t left a personal invitation to the thing,” he said. “Did you leave a trail of baby mice that led to your room? I bet this was all part of your master plan to trap me and lure me into your bed.”

  “Except that I’m in your bed.” She tweaked his nose.

  “Good point.”

  “But now that you’ve got me here,” she said. “Good luck getting rid of me. I quite liked the sneak-attack approach.”

  He leaned over and kissed her before lifting her T-shirt over her head. “I aim to please,” he said, kissing his way down her throat, past her collarbone, finding his way to her nipple and securing his lips around it. Taylor moaned as she scraped her fingers through his hair, then dragged her fingernails along his back in a circular motion.

  “I could do this all day.” She worked her leg between his to press it against his growing erection.

  “I could do it all week,” he said with a groan. “Too bad reality is soon to encroach on our fun time.”

  “Awww. Can’t we have a couple more minutes?” She moved her foot up to press the top of it against his cock.

  “A couple of minutes, absolutely,” he said. “How do you want it?”

  She pulled him up and rolled him over so that she was on top. “This time I’m in charge.” She leaned over to reach for another condom, then shifted down his body, placing kisses along that trail of hair that led her to the prize. Clasping his cock in her hand, she stroked her tongue up and around and back down again before spreading her lips over it.

  Sandro moaned loudly.

  “You like that?” she said between licking and sucking him.

  “Don’t. Ever. Stop,” he said between gasps, thrusting himself into her mouth.

  She looked up at him in the dark. “But I thought we were in a hurry.”

  He turned to look at the clock. As dark as the room was, it was already approaching nine o’clock. They actually were in a hurry. He had his work cut out for him today. He reached beneath her arms and pulled her up. “Until I can trap you in my lair indefinitely, we need to resort to more timely efforts. He lifted her onto his cock, and she slid down him until they were pelvis to pelvis.

  “My God, that’s perfection,” she said in a whisper, and then she began to ride him, grinding her hips in a circular motion and rising off him, then plunging back down. Sandro lay there, his fingers lazily playing with her nipples while Taylor did the heavy lifting.

  “That’s it, carissimo,” he said, encouraging her. “Oh God, mio amore, si, si, faster.”

  The more he whispered to her in Italian, the more turned on she was. Taylor rode him, her body seemingly with a mind of its own, pumping and thrusting until she felt a tingling sensation start deep in her pelvis and spread in waves as she came long and hard. When she finished, Sandro flipped her over, sliding into her from behind. It didn’t take long for him to get there as he clung to her hips while thrusting into her wet body, yelling out her name as he came.

  The perfect way to start the day yet again.

  Chapter Twenty-T
wo

  Larkin and Luca had just sat down to breakfast when Taylor showed up.

  “Don’t you look happy this morning,” Larkin said when she saw Taylor smiling from ear to ear.

  “What?” Taylor said.

  Larkin shrugged. “Oh, nothing. You just look like you’re in a good mood. Like if you could whistle you would.”

  Taylor wrinkled her brow. “I can whistle.”

  “They why don’t you?”

  “Um, because I don’t have any desire to. Why? Should I?”

  “No, silly,” Larkin said. “I was just teasing you. I guess it was just wishful thinking since you and Sandro seemed to be enjoying each other’s company when we went off to bed.”

  Yeesh, if only they knew how much they’d enjoyed each other’s company. Luckily, she and Sandro had decided to keep that under their hats for now.

  Taylor laughed. “That you even noticed that is rather funny considering the two of you seemed a little focused on your own intentions.”

  Larkin blushed. “Well...”

  “Yeah, well,” Taylor said. “What’s for breakfast, folks?” She smiled the biggest, fakest smile she could, just to throw them off the scent.

  Because she and Sandro decided to keep their little situation under wraps, it meant Taylor couldn’t say anything about the snake, which was a bit of a challenge since the incident pretty much defined the past six hours of her life.

  “So, we have a hard day of sunbathing in store for us?” Taylor said as the maid served her a cappuccino.

  Larkin pretended to yawn. “Yeah, well, it’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it. I think Luca’s planning to do some heavy lifting with the guys though. He’d feel bad not helping out with anything if they needed him.”

  “Aww,” Taylor said. “I’m totally happy to help out as well. I asked if there was anything we could do, but Sandro declined.”

  “Oh really?” Larkin said, lifting a brow in curiosity. “When did you do that?”

  “Stop, weirdo,” Taylor said. “I’ve offered many times over the past couple of days. I feel bad lounging poolside like a lazybones while they’re working hard.”

  “Yeah, but don’t forget we’ll take extra long to get ready, so it’s not as if we have a carefree day ahead of us.” She laughed. “Don’t you love hearing me, of all people, saying such a stupid thing?” Before Larkin had met Taylor, she wasn’t one to give a care about how she looked, but Taylor had helped her gain an interest in fashion and taught her how best to emphasize her strengths.

  Taylor grinned. “Now we just have to figure out what to do until then.”

  “I say a little food, a little wine,” Larkin said.

  “I could hardly argue with you,” Taylor said. “After all when in Rome... or Tuscany for that matter.”

  ~*~

  Sandro stopped in while the women were enjoying their lunch poolside.

  “Taylor, are you still on call for a little last-minute help?”

  “Of course,” she said. “I’d love to contribute. What can I do?”

  “I need you to run into town for me if you could. The caterer sent everyone ahead, and then her car died on her. I just need you to go to her restaurant and grab her and the remaining things she needs to bring along.” He handed her the keys to his car. “My car is parked in front of the house. Just do me a favor and take it really slow.”

  She nodded. “Okay...,” she said, not knowing what that meant.

  “Want me to come too?” Larkin asked.

  “Sorry, Lark,” Sandro said. “There won’t be any room in the car once everything is loaded in. You okay with that?”

  “Yeah, sure,” she said. “I can work on my tan a little longer.”

  “Perfetto,” Sandro said. “Elisabetta is waiting for you now, so if you could get a move on, that would be great.”

  Taylor was dying to talk more, to find out how his morning had gone, to see if everything was shaping up for the party, but she didn’t dare for fear of Larkin picking up on the vibe. She threw on a sarong and slid into her wedge sandals, then walked up to the garden at the front of the house.

  Funny how much had changed since the three of them pulled into that parking area a few short nights ago. Damn, things could change in the blink of an eye. Not that she was anticipating anything life-altering between her and Sandro, but if nothing else, what a fantastic weekend it’d been and promised to be still.

  She took one look at the only car there and shit a brick.

  “Oh no,” she said out loud. “Uh-uh. No way. I’m not touching that thing.”

  Before her was a brand-new Lamborghini Huracán sports coupe. And there was no way in hell she was going to try to figure out how to drive that thing. She’d rather hop on a horse and ride into town. Or hitchhike. Plan B would be Uber, and she grabbed for her phone and saw she had one whopping bar. She hoped for the best as she entered her request for a ride. She didn’t want to insult Sandro by refusing to drive his veritable spaceship of a vehicle. This way Sandro would be none the wiser, but she would be a lot less stressed and not responsible for the demise of a very expensive car.

  Her Uber driver, a woman named Liliana, arrived in no time flat and was happy to chat with her the entire drive into town. “So you’re staying with the Romeos, are you?”

  “Yes, I’m a guest of Sandro Romeo—he asked me to fetch Elisabetta since her car broke down.”

  The driver arched her brow. “Ahh, so you’re with Sandro then?”

  Taylor, not picking up the nuance, nodded.

  “Huh. Strange that he’d have someone new so soon,” the woman said. “Considering how awful he was to Gia, leaving her standing at the altar like that.”

  Taylor squinted at her. “I’m sorry, my Italian isn’t that great. Did you say that Sandro left someone at the altar?”

  The woman nodded. “It was incredibly cruel,” she said. “Her name is Gia. She’s a famous model, and she loved him to the depths of her soul. She wanted nothing but the best for him.”

  “Really?” Taylor said, curious. “Why did he break up with her?”

  “It’s hard to say really,” she said. “I heard she was pregnant and Sandro didn’t want to be a father. But then I heard too that he just got bored with Gia and got rid of her.”

  “But on their wedding day?”

  The woman shrugged. “It happens. Someone told me he had another woman lined up. It was all over the tabloids. I hear he’s quite the player.”

  Taylor’s brow knit. Quite the player. She’d heard that line before about him. But where had she heard it? It looked like where there was smoke there was fire.

  Now that she thought about it, she had heard rumors of some guy named Alessandro, she just hadn’t made the connection. A model named Gia had been telling everyone that he’d burned her pretty badly. Taylor wasn’t aware that he’d left her high and dry at the altar though. Not to mention possibly pregnant. Wow. From what Taylor had heard at Fashion Week in Paris, the guy had been keeping someone on the side, and Gia heard about it. Gia said that instead of apologizing to her, he’d conspired to get the police involved just to tarnish her name and make her go away. Now it was all making sense. Alessandro—Sandro—wasn’t quite the nice guy she’d been led to believe. Seems instead he was a complete jerk.

  “Oh well, I don’t know anything about that,” Taylor said. “I’m just a houseguest visiting for the weekend. I hardly even know the man.”

  Except in the biblical sense, but that was going to change prontissimo. She was not going to be some patsy that he would use and abuse and ditch like he had with this Gia woman. No, thank you. She was in a drama-free zone in her life and intended to keep it that way.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Taylor, dressed in a stunning formfitting metallic silver halter evening gown with a slit to her hip was putting the finishing touches on her makeup when she heard a knock on her door. She was still a bit squeamish about being in the snake room, as beautiful as it was, but she now
had no choice: no way was she going to bed down with someone as heartless as Sandro. It was a good thing she hadn’t gotten too invested in things with him; easier to cut the cord now before things got too intense.

  She opened the door to see Sandro standing before her in a tuxedo. God, he looked so damned amazing. There were some men who were born to be in tuxedos, and Alessandro Romeo was one of them. For a second he took her breath away, standing before her in his black Brioni tux and crisp white shirt, looking like an Italian James Bond. But then she remembered she was not going to play his game.

  “Cara mia,” he said, reaching for her. “You look stunning.” He leaned in to give her a kiss, but she turned her head away so his lips only caught her hair. He frowned, his brows knit in concern. “Is everything okay?”

  “Look, Sandro,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about it now. We can save it for later. Let’s just pretend that this morning never happened. Please, go have a lovely time this evening, and I’ll be sure to steer clear of you all night.”

  He grabbed her wrist. “Taylor, why this sudden change of heart? Things were fine at lunchtime.”

  She shook her head. “I need to finish getting ready, and I’m sure someone needs you somewhere. Why don’t you go find them and don’t worry about me?”

  He tried to clasp her hands in his, but she turned away.

  “Thanks, Sandro,” she said. “It’s been an interesting weekend.”

  As she closed the door, she pressed her body against it. She knew she was doing the right thing, but why did it feel like it was the completely wrong thing to do?