He was looking at me and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. I just had to get through this. Once all of this was out and he left, I could let go and cry as much as I wanted.

“I was going to explain all of it to you, but you were already leaving. It crushed me that I meant so little.”

“Catalina—”

“Please let me finish. This is very difficult for me. When I thought about it, I realized that it was better that way. No messy rationalizations. No false promises. Anyway, there is nothing to be done. Even if Victoria dropped dead tomorrow, I would still stay here. I assumed the responsibility for my House. Nevada trusted me with it. I must see it through. I won’t let our family be torn to pieces by our enemies. I can’t.”

There. I’d said it. I’d gotten it all out before we had a chance to be together. Maybe it would hurt less this way.

“I understand,” he said.

“I know your family’s position on marriage. I read the press releases on your three engagements. Your family is looking for a woman from an established House, wealthy, respected, and able to dedicate herself to being the wife of Count Sagredo. I can’t be her.”

A shadow crossed his face. “What the hell does my family have to do with anything?”

“Your family will want you to return. You will leave again, and I’ll stay right here. It will be painful, but it will hurt worse when you marry, because then I’ll know there is no hope. I’ll never be the other woman. It’s all or nothing for me. I can’t have you for a little bit and give you up. I won’t share you.”

His magic was on fire, but he sounded almost cold. “I’m not leaving.”

I clamped my hands together. It helped me keep my voice from breaking. “I understand, Alessandro. You don’t have to lie to me. You don’t have to promise me platitudes to soothe me. I’m not a child.”

He leaped off the rail so fast, I barely saw it. Our magic collided in a sharp electric burst and he crushed me to him.

“I’m not leaving.” His voice was a ragged growl. “I tried, because I can offer you nothing and you deserve so much more. You deserve someone better, but I’m a selfish bastard and I can’t stay away. I can’t give you up.”

He pulled away from me long enough to look at my face. His amber eyes brimmed with magic. He leaned forward. I knew what was about to happen and waiting for it felt like dying. I couldn’t stand it. My body locked, rigid with anticipation. I couldn’t have taken a single step. It lasted less than a second, but it felt like forever.

He dipped his head and kissed me.

A firestorm raged through me, and suddenly I could move again. I threw my arms around him and kissed him back. I had to taste him, or the world would end.

He kissed me like it was the last kiss we would ever have, like I was dying, and he had to bring me back to life. His arms locked around me, his muscles hard like steel. His hand tangled in my hair. His tongue slid into my mouth. I licked him, dying for a taste, and he made this noise low in his throat that made me shiver.

He broke the kiss and longing swept through me like pain. I almost cried out.

His eyes were molten amber. All traces of pretense fled from him, leaving the real man in their place, focused, dangerous, and driven half-insane by a blinding, irresistible want.

“Don’t stop,” I breathed.

“I won’t.”

“Don’t.”

“I promise.” He pulled me to him and kissed me again. My head spun. I melted against his body.

He kissed my lips, my cheek, my neck, his lips warm, gripping me to him, losing himself in me. “I’ll never stop. I’ll never leave.”

“But your family . . .”

“Doesn’t matter. I love you.”

Mine. Alessandro was finally mine.

I grasped the edge of his shirt, peeled it off him, and threw it away. I kissed his perfect chest, his shoulders, his neck. Each taste was a gift. I couldn’t get enough.

He pulled my blouse off me. His hand caught my back. His swordsman calluses rasped against my skin, sending delicious sparks of lust through me. My body howled to be touched. His fingers brushed me and the hooks on my bra came undone. The bra straps sagged off my shoulders, loose. He grabbed my bra and tossed it aside.

The heat of his skin burned my nipples. Alessandro reached into my bun, dragged the hairpin out, and flicked it away. My hair fell on my shoulders.

He sealed his mouth on mine. His hands roamed my body. He dragged his thumb across my right nipple and a soft pulse of pleasure rolled through me. I gasped into his mouth.

He gave me no time to deal with it. His tongue thrust between my lips, seducing, while his hands stroked my back and lower, unzipping my skirt, sliding past the waistband, into my underwear. He cupped my bare butt and pulled my hips to him, grinding against me. The hard length of him pressed into me. An insistent knot of need formed between my legs, impossible to ignore. I wanted him to thrust into it.

He slipped my skirt off my butt with a sure, possessive stroke. He was stripping me bare on the roof and I didn’t care. He smelled of sandalwood, citrus, and vanilla, and there must’ve been magic in it, because I couldn’t get enough.

My skirt and underwear fell to my ankles. I tugged at his pants. He let go of me long enough to yank them off.

Wow.

He raised his hand. His magic flashed. His fingers were holding the small foil packet of a condom. He slid it on, saw my face, and halted. “Do you want to stop?”

I dropped my defenses. Every last barrier chaining me in place collapsed. My magic tore out of me. My wings burst into life, glorious, glittering with peridot and gold.

He stared like he’d been struck with lightning.

Look how much I want you.

I opened my mouth. “Do you want me, Alessandro?”

“God, yes.”

He picked me up, holding me like I weighed nothing, and the magic swirled around us, singing. I buried my hands in his hair and licked his lips.

He spun with me in his arms and then I was on the couch, on my back. He loomed over me and kissed my neck, setting my nerves on fire. Goose bumps broke on my skin. My nipples tightened, begging to be touched. I moaned.

His hands caressed my breasts, stroking, teasing the tight peaks. My breath came out in quick gasps. My nipples were so tight, they hurt.

His mouth closed on my left breast. His tongue licked me, wet and hot, and the sudden surge of pleasure rocked me. I cried out and clamped my hand over my mouth.

He kissed my other breast, kneading me, switching back and forth. His teeth worried my nipple. He sucked again and again. My head was spinning. The knot between my legs pulsed. Hot liquid slicked me. If he kept going, I would come before he ever started.

He slid lower, painting a line of kisses down the center of my stomach. I didn’t know if I wanted to pull him back up to my breasts, or to let him go down.

My body needed more. The wait was unbearable.

His fingers brushed the inside of my thighs, pushing my legs open. I jerked.

He raised his head to look at me. “Have you done this before?”

“No.”

“Are you scared?”

“No.”

He leaned over me and kissed me again, deep and long. I felt drunk.

“Trust me.” His voice was a rough promise in my ear.

I nipped his jaw.

He made a noise that was half growl, half groan, and moved down. His hands stroked my thighs, his warm skilled fingers caressing, coaxing . . . He lowered his head.

He licked me. A jolt of pure ecstasy flooded me.

He licked me again. Oh my God.

He sucked on the small bundle of nerves, licking, caressing, stroking me. My thoughts dissolved. The knot between my legs tightened, aching, until it was the core of me, impossible to ignore.

Another lick. Another wave of bliss. Again, again, again . . .

I was still empty. I desperately needed more. I knew I was arching my hips and moaning and clawing at his shoulders, but I couldn’t stop. The pleasure was too much.

He slipped his fingers inside me. My body gripped him, and I came. The climax melted over me. The pleasure crested, and crashed, and crested again. I slumped on the couch, soaking in bliss, boneless and happy.

He loomed above me. The blunt head of his cock pressed against me, right where I wanted it most.

He thrust.

Yes. This. This is what I wanted. To be full of him.

Pain flashed through me, quick and sudden. He stopped.

I wrapped my arms around him and arched my hips, sliding more of him in. Alessandro swore.

I arched my back, wound my arms around him, kissed his jaw, and whispered into his ear. “Faster . . .”

He groaned and thrust into me again, the glide of his hard cock turning pain into liquid heat. The ache was still there, a sharp pinch, but I wanted him too much. He thrust into me again. The feeling of his body on mine, the harsh strength in his arms, the way he looked at me, the way his shaft slid into me, all of it was intoxicating bliss. I matched his thrust, molding my body to his.

He pumped into me, hard, fast, exactly how I wanted.

The ache began to build again, demanding, unstoppable. My breath came in ragged gasps. I wound my legs around his hips, trying to take more of him in. He was so big, and I wanted him so much . . .

We moved together as one.

Don’t stop . . . Please don’t stop . . .

Someone moaned and I realized it was me.