Page 51 of The Lies We Tell

Tugging the sweater over her head in one swift motion, Matteo leaned in and scored her breast with his teeth, smiling when she gasped. His hands skimmed up her thighs to the button of her jeans, undoing them and tugging the denim down just enough for him to get his hand inside.

“Fuck,” he groaned. “You’re wearing the panties that match the bra.”

“You bought them. I figured you wanted me to wear them.”

“I want to see you in them,” he corrected. “Stand up and take your jeans off.”

She stilled. “What?”

“This is my favorite set.” He traced a finger over the teal bow between the black lace cups. “And I want to see what you look like wearing it.”

“Matteo.” She moved to stand when he planted his hands on her waist and eased her off his lap. “I’ve never…”

He grinned when her words trailed off. “Another first for me. Excellent. Come on, piccola. Let me see.”

Biting her bottom lip, she hooked her thumbs in the waistband of her pants and shimmied them down over her hips. She’d been naked in front of the man plenty of times, but somehow stripping down to her underwear and putting herself on display for him made her more self-conscious than anything else.

His eyes were hungry as they roamed her from head to toe, his hand moving to rub his cock through his suit pants. When they were pleasuring each other, she knew what to expect. She could make up for where her body felt lacking with her hands or her mouth, but there was nothing to be done standing in front of him like this—vulnerable, exposed.

“Cold?” he murmured, reaching out to trace a fingertip over the goosebumps gathered on her stomach.

She flinched, but he didn’t seem to notice, slipping his fingers into her panties and easing them slowly down her thighs—torturously slowly—until they pooled at her feet. Curling his fingers into her skin, the drag of his nails up her calves and over the back of her thighs made her shiver.

He traced the round globes of her ass, squeezing roughly while he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her belly button. His beard both tickled and set her on fire at the same time. Heat raced along her skin as her awkwardness slowly subsided the more he touched her.

This she knew what to do with. The giving and receiving. She could actually feel sexy as long as he wasn’t studying her, as long as she could escape from her own head instead of incessantly listing all her flaws.

He brought his fingers up to trace over her slit, slipping one easily inside her and instantly curling it up to tap against her G-spot. Her legs wobbled, and he took her hands and placed them on his shoulders before adding a second finger.

Not a single fucking toy in the world could replace how Matteo touched her. Like she was everything. Like he never wanted to stop. She knew enough about her own pleasure before sleeping with him to ask for what she wanted, but Matteo showed her things she’d never even dreamed about.

Or maybe it was just nice to be touched by someone else after convincing herself for so long she would never be with a man who actually wanted her. Not with the matches her father had been trying to set up her entire life. Men who saw the alliance or the money or the proximity to her father and not her, not Tessa, the woman.

His lips trailed across her stomach, the scratch of his beard adding a new layer of sensation as he pumped his fingers in and out, using one hand on her ass to guide the rocking of her hips. She dug her nails into his shoulders, capturing her lip between her teeth as he urged her closer and closer to the peak.

It wouldn’t satisfy him, her release. The man was never satisfied until she was a heap of limbs, unable to move or think or speak. He enjoyed leaving her boneless in the middle of his bed so he could collect her in his arms and run his fingers through her hair until she fell asleep. Then he’d wake her up a few hours later by sliding his cock inside her, and they’d do it all over again.

He nipped her hip, pressing his thumb against her clit until she gasped before rubbing quick circles over it, need sparking over her skin like electricity as his fingers thrust deep.

“Matteo,” she whispered, afraid her legs would give out the second she let go.

“Good girl,” he crooned, eyes locked on hers. “I’ve got you. Come for me.”

The second those words left his lips, she followed his command, pussy clenching around his fingers as she let go, the orgasm washing over her in waves.

He drew her into his lap, claiming her mouth as his hands fumbled with his belt buckle. When feeling rushed back into her body to replace the numbing euphoria, she reached between them and pushed his hands away. Fighting to pull down his zipper, she finally freed his cock, wrapping her hand around it and making him groan.

Shifting beneath her, Matteo pulled her higher up on his lap, flexing his hips to slide the head against her slit.

“Tessa,” he ground out when she squeezed the base of his cock. “I need to be inside you.”

“Okay.”

She gauged the width of the couch. Not big enough. The carpet didn’t look all that soft, but she was too desperate to feel him thrusting into her to care about how much her knees would protest later. When she started to slide off his lap, he stopped her.

“I want to watch you ride me, piccola.”

“But I—”

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