I hesitated. “Rocco? What are you doing?”

“I’m doing you, Bella.” Just hearing him say it sent a jolt straight to my clit, and I grew wetter. I wanted him, but what I needed more was not to feel so emotionally bereft and utterly alone. My body eased into submission, giving him no more protest.

His touch was confident, electric, and possessive as he slid his hand down my legs and spread them wider. The backs of my legs brushed his broad shoulders as he boldly placed himself in the gap. My heart hammered so hard I could feel it in my ears as I held on to the headboard, my body sinking into the mattress and his will.

Rocco’s thumbs hooked the sides of my thong, pulling it down my legs, and I shuddered. My breath staggered and held as his soft lips kissed higher on my thigh. His nose moved up my slit and inhaled me. It was so intimate.

I gaped, my mouth shuddering, “Ohh, Rocco….”

His tongue slid up my slit, and my hand clutched the headboard hard enough to hurt as I shivered. “It…it feels so good, please Rocco….” My hips lifted higher for more, and he groaned, licking my clit with long sensual strokes and flicks of his tongue.

“I can’t get enough of you,” he whispered, his voice a silent plea. A low moan followed as his grip tightened, heating my skin as he lapped my clit harder. My body climbed, and my breath labored. I didn’t know if I could take much more.

But then he plunged his tongue inside of me and swirled, then I cried out. “Oh my God.” My inner walls clenched, and my thighs shook. He let go and pushed his fingers in, curving as his tongue lapped me faster.

“I’m…oh, Rocco. Oh, yes. Fuck,” I rasped between heavy breaths. My body shook hard as the orgasm took hold, with ecstasy flooding my body. My inner walls were still spasming when he flipped me over and pulled my hips closer, to take me on all fours.

His cock was hard and thick, stretching me as he thrust into the hilt, hitting the end of me.

I stifled a moan.

“Let it out. Let me hear you, Bella.” He glided his cock out and grabbed a fist full of my hair. I moaned unrestrained as he pulled it enough to make me cry out as he shoved his cock back in with a powerful thrust.

He became rougher since Cannes. And I hungered for it.

“It feels so good,” I moaned. He knew my body well already, flexing his hips, hitting the erogenous zones inside me that made me explode. My body tightened, my climax close.

“Ohh, ohh yes,” I moaned between fast breaths.

He groaned and reached around to my clit, stroking, lightly squeezing, and I lost control. My body buckled, trembling in ecstasy.

“Fuck, you’re so tight,” he drawled out, rolling his hips, taking me faster. Then, I felt it; his body jerked, and his cock flexed as he came hard inside me.

As my body calmed, a battle with my head began. A part of me wanted to push him away and demand answers, none I was prepared to hear. However, the other part of me had feelings for the strong man who had been good to me.

Rocco and I both groaned as he pulled out, then he turned me over, settling between my legs again. His head lowered to rest on my stomach. “I can’t believe he’s gone,” he whispered hoarsely. “It feels like a part of me has broken off.”

It was then I understood that sex wasn’t the only thing he wanted from me. Since we arrived back in Florence, he had put his family’s feelings ahead of his own. He needed the space to feel, to mourn.

“I’m sorry, Rocco…you meant the world to him,” I murmured, my tone soft, soothing. Luca loved him dearly. I was sure of it.

“Mom, Dad…all my relatives tonight looked at me for all the answers. Fuck, it caught me off guard….” I could hear theuncertainty in his voice, and I knew being pushed suddenly into such an elder position had been hard on him.

“You don’t have to be perfect, Rocco. You just need to be there and listen.” It was what I’d expected.

He sighed. “But it’stheLuca Marini. As you know, he was a great leader of our family and so many other things. Business mogul, award-winning philanthropist….” I could feel Rocco’s admiration infused in his tone as he reminisced on every success.

“Yes, I do,” I said softly.

“Did you know he was sick years ago?”

“No, not really. When?” I asked.

“When I was seventeen he collapsed at work. I thought…I’d have to take his place. I was terrified. But then he recovered.” He exhaled long. “I wasn’t ready.”

I palmed his head. “You were a child, Rocco. It’s okay to be scared of death.”

“It wasn’t death I feared, Adelina. It was peopleseeingmy fear. Something my grandpa taught me never to show. And I failed that test that day. But I worked hard never to do it again.” Rocco was always so expressive of his feelings with me. I never thought he held anything back. And my heart ached hearing he had to be so strong all the time.