Dark Demands 03: Totally His (4 page)

Now it was her turn to smirk and taking a piece of toast from the breakfast bar she plonked her backside on a stool and sat down beside him.

“Tea, coffee,” she enquired.  “Either will do.”

He reached for the steaming coffee pot and poured a cup.

“A deeply erotic way to be woken up, though, isn’t it?  I really enjoyed having my wicked way with you as you slept,” he whispered.   “You were so soft, so malleable and do you know you have the cutest little mole right at the very top of your inner left thigh?”

So he’d had looked and had obviously examined her intimately, goodness, how embarrassing, Gina thought. 

He bent over and kissed her, gently, tenderly like a lover would and Gina shivered with pleasure.  Was now the time, she wondered.  Should she tell him the truth about how she felt?

“
Have you thought about what I said to you last night?”  He asked letting her go
and spoiling the mood
.  “I admit I
’m selfish
but I must have your answer
.  M
y passion for you
seems endless
and sex with you is so very, very good.  You have a beautiful body and are easily aroused.  I like that, I like it very much.”

“So
what are you saying Matthew?  Is it that
you might actually like me a little now,” she smiled and flicked him under the chin.

“I think it’s safe to say that I might like you quite a lot, Miss Deverell,” he replied leaning over and kissing her lightly on the lips.  “In fact I haven’t liked a woman
’s body quite so
much in ages.”

Gina sipped at the coffee
, a show of emotion from him at last. 
But it’s your body he says he likes
–
not you
, she reminded herself.

“So exactly what is it you want me to agree to
?”
 

“
You know very well.  You must
do exactly as I want you to,” he replied darkly.  “And I think after last night you understand perfectly what I mean,” he reminded
her.
“You can’t resist me anyway
– can you Gina?  I’ve said it before - you like what I do to you and how I do it and you want more.  No – you
need
more – don’t you?”

“I don’t know what I need Matthew
,” she admitted.  “But although it’s mega embarrassing to have to admit it – you’re right.  You’ve stirred something
in me
– something I don’t really want to acknowledge but being with you I can’t ignore it.  So the answer is yes, I’ll try – I’ll give it a go.”

His dark eyes shone with triumph as he took her in his arms and kissed her.

“We’ll talk about this more later
on today
but for now I have some calls to make and then I’ll
show you
Portofino
and later we can visit my family and have dinner.”

“Sounds wonderful, in that case I’m going to get dressed,” she smiled at him. 

She bounced off happily leaving him still eating breakfast and casually reaching for the daily newspaper with a relaxed smile on his handsome face. 
She’d done it – she’d actually agreed to allow Matthew the complete freedom of her body.
Gina was hoping that things would be good between them
now
and he might grow to feel for her like she felt for him.

It was very warm so Gina dressed in a pair of
linen
shorts and a plain strappy tee shirt.  In the bathroom she found a bottle of sun screen and she rubbed this liberally into her shoulders and other exposed areas of her fair skin.

Matthew had said he’d show her
Portofino
and she couldn’t wait
.  Perhaps a little lunch and a stroll around the marina, then what, she wondered
a
nother
sizzle of excitement snaking through her
.  The thought of his arms around her and his hands working their magic on her body made her tingle with excitement. 
What would he do?  One thing was certain the moment he
came near her
again
she’d melt
.

Matthew
was
wearing a pair of l
ongish shorts that came just below his knees
and
a fitted
tee shirt
when she went to find him again
.  He looked so very different, younger, carefree and quite beautiful as he flashed her wide smile while she just stared at him in admiration.

“You look lovely,” he complemented.

“Unfortunately, so do you,” she replied
lightly and pleased she made the decision she had because
fending of this gorgeous man’s sexual advances w
ould have very
difficult
indeed
.

“Fancy me now, do you, Miss Deverell?  Well don’t worry I won’t put up a fight.  I’ll quite happily roll over and let you have your wicked way with me,” he grinned.

“
I’ve always fancied you
, Matthew,
” she admitted shyly. 

“So dragging you around town might be a bit of a disappointment then.  Perhaps you’d prefer to spend the time in my bed instead,” he grinned.  “But,
you’ve probably guessed
I do have somewhere else – somewhere
else I will take you to play
,” he hinted.  “A place
you will like because in there I’ll
torment you mercilessly
,” he promised.
  He spoke softly, sexily so only she could hear and his voice and his words sent tingles of excitement down her spine and
made her ache deep inside.

“In your dreams Matthew Dark,” she smirked taking his hand as he held it out to her.
  “
Portofino
is where I want to go this morning not into some gloomy dungeon of yours to be chained and whipped,” she joked.

“That has
just
put a wonderful image in my mind and I’ll savor it Gina until I can make it real.”  He squeezed her hand and led her outside.  Gina couldn’t tell from his tone if he was joking
back
at her
or not.

Gina didn’t really know very much about
Portofino
.  She’d heard of it and read about the place occasionally in magazines and apparently it had a reputation for being the resort of the rich and famous.  So as she strolled down the narrow cobbled streets from the villa towards the harbour hand in hand with Matthew she half expected to bump into a
Hollywood
‘A’ lister or two.

But the town was surprisingly quiet for a day in mid summer.  A number of people waved at Matthew and shouted over, ‘
Ciao
’ in their rich Italian voices.  One or two came over to talk to him, smiling and pleased to see him back.  He was obviously well known and liked here, not as Matthew Dark the billionaire business man, but as Matthew Dark, a local man who’d made good and hadn’t forgotten his family or his home.  He spoke good Italian to and Gina was impressed listening to him casually chat away to those who stopped him.

Portofino
was a picture postcard of a place, a beautiful half-moon shaped seaside village.  The houses that lined the shore of the harbour were painted in an array of pastel colours and looking down on this pretty sight was an enchanting medieval castle.

Gina was instantly captivated by this lovely place and as Matthew walked her around the harbour full of boats bobbing lazily in its waters she could well understand why this was a place he loved dearly.

“I’ll take you up to the castle another day,” he promised seeing how it got her rapt attention.  “But for today we’ll lunch here then this afternoon we will visit my sister in
Paraggi, if you don’t mind.”

He gripped her tight, his arm around her waist and led the way to a sweet little restaurant a little way round the bay.

“Luigi is
an old friend; in fact he and K
ata
rina went to school together and me too for a short while.”

“Somehow Gina couldn’t imagine Matthew going to school.  She looked up at him, his skin was already taking on a golden sun kissed glow and they’d hardly been here five minutes.  Before long he’d look even more wonderful than
ever and
she shuddered pleasurably at the prospect of him wanting her again.

“Italian food will make me fat,” she decided once they’d eaten a feast of spaghetti and Matthew was trying to ply her with ice cream.

“This is real ice cream, real Italian ice cream,” he emphasised.  “And we make it better than anyone,” he announced spooning the delicious confection into her mouth. “Open, Gina.  Open that sweet mouth and try this,” he tempted.

Gina tried to squirm away but he laughed caught held her arm until she’d eaten the lot.

“I will get fat, Matthew Dark then you won’t want me anymore,” she threatened.

“You know that won’t happen,” he murmured gently.  “I can’t get enough of you, Gina.  I’ve already told you that and I meant it.”

He kissed her hand in that special way again taking her finger tips into his mouth and making her gasp.

“
And you want me just as much – don’t you,” he tempted?
  “Go on Gina, tell me
you don’t -
and mean it,” he chuckled watching her.  “You can’t, can you, because you feel it too.
  This strange
chemistry has us both in its thrall.”

Gina looked into his dark, chocolate eyes, so he couldn’t get enough of her and she could see from the look in his eyes that he wasn’t joking, he meant it.  Was this her chance, could she talk to him now about her own feelings?

“Do you really care for me Matthew?”  She asked him seriously half dreading the coldly casual reply he might give her.

“Yes Gina I care for you a lot,” he replied his eyes full of an emotion Gina hadn’t seen in him before.

“You surprise me I didn’t think you cared at all.”

“Well you’re wrong,” he assured her.  “Right now you are a little bit of magic in my life.  A little bit of magic I badly need.”

“I think you’re quite magical too, Matthew,” she admitted back.  “In fact I could become very fond of you.”

The words had been hard to say but now that she had said them they seemed to hang in air between them.  She was being stupid, she hadn’t professed undying love she’d merely said she could become fond of him, but even so, it had taken a great deal of courage to say even these words to Matthew Dark.

“Only
could
, Gina,” he frowned.  “Well there’s a disappointment.  So for you it really is only about the sex then,” he teased still caressing her fingers.

“No, of course not,” she flustered back at him.  “It’s just – you are so hard to talk to about emotional stuff, and you know that.”

“My fault I’m afraid.  It’s a thick skin I’ve developed and my casual, cavalier attitude towards women stinks at times, I know it does.”

“Well I am fond of you
-
I like you a lot in fact.  But you have to understand that’s a scary situation, Matthew, because you are so volatile, so likely to just disappear out of my life and leave me heartbroken.”

“Heartbroken,” he winced.  “So it’s that bad but I’d never knowingly do that to you, Gina, so please try to trust me a little.”

“But what happens when you tire of my body, what then
-
what happens to this bit of magic then, Matthew?”

“But we haven’t got there yet and we might never get there so I don’t know,” he replied at once.  “But
you shouldn’t
worry, Gina, I’m certainly not tired of you yet.  Hell, we’ve only just scratched the surface.”

Then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply.  Gina kissed him back while trying to bite back the tears.  This was progress, of sorts and at least now she knew how he felt about her.

“Let’s go back to the villa and we’ll scratch a little deeper, what do you say?  Fancy spending the afternoon shackled naked to my bed?” 

He said
it
jokingly but as Gina knew very well that was exactly how he wanted things to be between them.  This aspect of Matthew’s sexuality wasn’t going to go away and if she wanted him then she
had to be prepared to accept
Hardcore Matthew
too
. 

He was smiling, at her, that half smile that made Gina’s tummy churn.  And those eyes, they were boring deep into hers.  No he wasn’t joking, she could tell from the fire in those dark eyes that he meant it; he really did want to shackle her to his bed.  The realisation sent a
delicious little tremor flam
ing
through h
er
body
. 

“You shouldn’t joke about that sort of stuff,” she nudged him in the ribs.