Page 81 of XOXO, Valentina

The zipper gave way under my clumsy fingers, and the straps of my dress fell off my shoulders. I shimmied, pushing the dress over my hips.

His hand drifted to his shirt as he watched me step out of my dress. His strong fingers flicked the top button open and then the next. I saw the scripted M of Maria’s name, and jealousy flared again.

“Keep going.” His voice was a deep rumble that caressed my bare skin.

I slid the straps of my bra off my shoulders and unhooked the clasp. My lace bra fell to the floor, and the humid air kissed my naked breasts. Goose bumps spread along my skin despite the late afternoon heat.

He shrugged out of his shirt. “Panties too.”

My eyes strayed to his tattoo, and an angry spark had me yanking down my panties. I wanted to make him forget Maria completely. Part of me wished I’d never seen her, so I didn’t picture her face every time I looked at the tattoo. She had pretty eyes, a sprinkling of freckles across her cute button nose, and rosebud lips. I was more jealous of her than ever after I’d met her.

Joey unzipped his shorts and shoved down his boxers. His heavy erection sprang free. Desire thundered through my veins as he stroked himself idly, watching my every move.

The sun was perched on the horizon between sea and sky, and a golden glow spread across the terrace. Joey’s skin gleamed bronze, his muscles rippling as he stalked toward me. His hands snaked around my waist, and I lost my balance, falling against the hard wall of his chest.

“What do you want from me, Gabriella?” His voice was sandpaper against silk. His teeth nipped my jaw, and his scruff scraped my cheek. He gathered my hair in one hand and tugged my head back, exposing more of my neck to kiss and bite. “Do you want this?” He spun around and walked me backward until my back hit the wooden railing on the terrace. His hard length nudged my thigh, and I squirmed, desperate to get closer. “Words, Gabriella.” He tugged my hair again, hard enough to make my eyes water. “I need to hear your words.” His voice was a guttural groan that sent a rush of hot liquid pooling between my thighs.

“Yes.” The word tore from my throat. “Yes, I want you.”

He gripped my hip, his fingers scorching hot against my flesh. “You want sex.”

“Yes.” My voice was all breath, barely audible.

His fingers dug into my hip and tangled in my hair. “Hot sex?” He yanked. “Dirty?” His knee pushed my legs apart.

“Yes,” I cried, arching against the wooden railing, on fire for him.

“You want orgasms from my mouth and my cock.” His eyes burned into mine. “My fingers.”

I nodded.

“Say it.” His growl made my belly flip and my knees weak.

“I want—” I couldn’t speak when his hands shifted to cup my sex. One long finger dragged across the seam of my wet folds. “That,” I said, taking the easy way out.

I heard the low rumble of his laugh. “Then I will give it to you,” he said, plunging a finger inside me. “I would give you the world if you wanted it, baby.” He pushed another finger inside, and I bucked against him. “But you just want sex, so I’ll give you that.”

Every nerve ending came in my body alive when he stroked me, his confident fingers finding the secret spot that only he’d ever found. I almost lost it and came right then, but he pulled his hand free.

“Not yet,” he said with a wicked grin. Then, his mouth was on mine, and he was kissing me with rough abandon, his mouth taking everything I had to give.

I kissed him back, desperate for more. I opened my mouth to the sweep of his tongue and slid my fingers through his hair. He kissed me as if this were the last time our mouths would meet, and I met every thrust of his tongue with a demand of my own. There was nothing gentle about the meeting of our mouths. We were devouring each other, kissing with a passion I hadn’t known existed.

He’d said he’d give it to me rough and dirty. It was what I needed to convince myself that sex was all there was between us. I didn’t want room for that four-letter word he’d dropped in my lap like a present I couldn’t accept.

When he ripped his mouth from mine, I chased his kiss, yanking his hair and grinding against him. I’d never seen anything so sexy as the devilish gleam in his eyes when he broke free and spun me around so my back was to him. He pushed me against the wooden railing and suddenly I was bent over and exposed to him. His hands gripped my hips, and I felt him drop to his knees.

I tried to close my legs, feeling vulnerable in this position, bent over the railing with my legs spread wide and him behind me, but his hands were firm, preventing me from moving. His palm moved to the small of my back and held me firm to the railing, pinned and spread for his pleasure. He dragged a finger along my slick folds, tracing me from top to bottom. The velvet warmth of his tongue followed.

I writhed against the railing, gripping it with white-knuckled fingers. An un-ladylike sound tore from my throat. Real cuss words, not the cutesy ones, tumbled out of my mouth. “OhmyGod,” I groaned.

He paused, and I felt the rumble of his laugh against my inner thigh. “That’s it, baby,” he said, coaxing me with his sexy accent. “Come for me.”

It didn’t take long before I obeyed his command. I had never had it like this before from behind, trapped and unable to escape the onslaught of licking and sucking. He devoured me, pressing his nose into me and flicking his tongue against my clit until I was a mass of nerves, trembling against the wooden railing.

He wiped his mouth against my thigh and crawled up my body, placing wet kisses everywhere. Over the curves of my cheeks, along my spine, between my shoulder blades… His mouth was all over me, kissing, biting, and sucking until flames licked through my core, threatening to consume me.

Joey leaned over me, and I felt the iron length of him nudging my entrance. He was so hard, and I was so wet that he almost slipped right in. I rocked against him, desperate to soothe the ache inside me. My body was one giant, pulsing throb that needed him.

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