Page 83 of Modern Romance October 2025 5-8
Who was this unfamiliar woman, taking such risks, driven only by feelings?
A second later he’d shoved his swim shorts off and rolled on a condom. All the while his eyes ate her up.
She told herself it was impossible to die of excitement. But the sight of him, naked, virile and impressively aroused transfixed her.
She’d never fully understood the compulsion for sex, but if something happened now to stop their joining she thought she might die.
‘I want you, Gio.’
Her voice was unrecognisable but she was past caring about what she revealed. Her whole being was focused on satisfying this desperate craving. She lifted her arms to him, relief in the powerful thump of her heart as he moved to lie over her.
She thought she was ready. Shewasready, desperate for their joining. Even so, she had time to marvel at these new sensations.
The incredible reality of Gio’s naked body, large, powerful, and so alien as he settled against her. He was hot to the touch and weighty, yet she almost protested when he propped himself up on his elbows for there was something delicious about him pinning her to the soft mattress. His skin was surprisingly silky except where crisp hair tickled her breasts and thighs.
Heavy-lidded eyes held hers as he nudged her legs wide and sank between them.
Dimly Stella was aware of her heart racing, of her hips shifting to accommodate him. So many new impressions, so much delight. She ran her hands over his shoulders, rejoicing in their smooth strength, claiming them for herself.
She lifted her head to press kisses across his collarbone and felt his erection move against her belly. Her breath caught in a soundless gasp and she shuffled higher up the bed, needing that weight inside her.
Then Gio moved, not to help her, but to slide down her body, trailing kisses to her breasts, lingering there till she heard a hoarse shout and realised it was her own voice calling his name. His mouth and hands together created something altogether new, drawing ever more potent responses from her.
But too soon he moved again, lower this time, kissing a line down to her navel and past it.
‘No!’
Instantly he stopped, rising on all fours above her. When her gaze meshed with his she read his raw shock.
Stella struggled, only just conquering the temptation to grab his dark head and pull it back down to where she knew he’d give her wonderful, mindless delight.
She was on a knife’s edge, teetering on the brink, and she knew that one touch of his hand or mouth there would send her spiralling into ecstasy. Her whole being was primed to explode.
His voice was ragged. ‘You’ve changed your mind?’
‘No.’ She moistened her lips. ‘I want the first time to be us, together.’
She watched understanding dawn, turning those pale eyes dark. It was like watching a thunderstorm obliterate a sunny day. She’d always loved storms, watching powerful bolts of lightning strike the earth, huge dark clouds turning day into night, while she was safe inside.
She felt the same excitement now, amplified a thousand times. She wanted Gio at a fundamental level for which there were no words.
Finally his taut mouth curled up at the corners and he prowled back up the bed to loom above her.
‘If you’re sure,’ he growled, the rough edge to his normally mellow voice sending skitters of delight through her too-receptive body.
‘I’m sure.’
Letting him pleasure her might have made their coupling easier but some ancient intuition told her this was what she wanted. Just them together.
This time when Gio lowered himself over her, she felt the slide of his erection between her thighs. Felt his knuckles brush her flesh as he guided himself to her.
She sucked in a breath of excitement threaded with want as he paused, the blunt head of his arousal at her core.
Her eyes met his and she saw something shift there as if he’d been waiting for something. Then he moved, slow and sure, and everything changed.
She gasped, fingers clutching smooth shoulders. Breath coming in short pants. But the inexorable slide of hot flesh, the indescribable feeling of fullness went on and on.
He murmured something she couldn’t catch because there was thunder in her ears. A large hand cupped her face so tenderly she wanted to turn into that caress and bury her face in his palm. Instead she held Gio’s gaze and still he slid deeper until eventually they were one.
