The Italian Billionaire's Disgraced Fiancée (12 page)

‘You have to stop this, Izzy,’ she heard Enzo gruff out. Seconds later she found herself being lifted into his arms, and carried across the room to the bed. ‘You’re killing me.’

He let her sink onto the bed and glared down at her, drinking in her near nakedness.

‘Those knickers have to go.’ He smiled and lowered himself over her to carefully remove them. When his fingers found the moistness between her legs and started circling around her most sensitive spot, Izzy closed her eyes in the sheer bliss of her arousal. She hadn’t known that something even close to feeling like this was possible, something so utterly and devastatingly wonderful.

Her lids flew open when she felt him lick her
there
at the delicate softness of her femininity. It was almost too much.

‘Enzo..,’ she stammered, lost for words. ‘Enzo, please…’

‘I know,
cara
,’ he whispered. ‘I know. Just let go for me and fly to the stars.’

And with a further flick of his tongue he catapulted her right into heaven in a mind-blowing vortex of delight and then slowly back to earth into his strong arms.

‘This was amazing,’ she breathed in wondrous delight. ‘Utterly amazing.’

‘And it’s not over yet.’ He carefully lifted her hair to kiss the tender spot behind her ear. ‘Are you ready for the ride?’

There was only one possible answer she accepted, once again drowning in the sea of desire emanating from his midnight blue eyes.

‘I’m ready for you, Enzo,’ she whispered. ‘I want to feel you inside me.’

His smouldering eyes never leaving hers, he sheathed himself with a condom and positioned himself in front of her moist entrance. Izzy felt the tip of his proud erection rub against the hot secret heart of her and slightly moved her hips towards him as if to welcome him. All she could think about was Enzo and her love for him. Her burning desire. Then, with one smooth stroke, he pushed inside.

Izzy gave a startled cry. She hadn’t anticipated her first time to hurt so much. She quickly braced herself and took a deep calming breath. Maybe Enzo hadn’t noticed her yelp in the throes of passion.

But no such luck.

‘What was that about?’ he inquired glaring down at her with suspicion. Even worse, he had stopped moving although he was still buried inside her. ‘Don’t tell me you were still a virgin.’

‘No…of course not,’ Izzy whispered up to him while hot embarrassment coloured her cheeks. ‘It was just a slight discomfort, nothing to worry about.’

The unbelieving look on his face told her that he didn’t buy any of this.

‘
Dio
, Izzy,’ he bid out. ‘Why didn’t you say something?’

His eyes scanned her face, and it hit her that they’d lost their dreamy midnight colour. Instead they glittered down at her in a bright azure blue.

He wanted to stop!

‘Please Enzo,’ she pleaded. ‘Don’t stop this now. Don’t let it end like this. It doesn’t hurt, I promise.’

To prove her point she started moving under him, and to her own amazement it turned out that she hadn’t lied. The sensation of his erect manhood moving inside her moist core was so far removed from
hurting
that she truly lacked the words.

‘Please Enzo,’ she repeated, her eyes never leaving his. Slowly she lifted her fingers to touch his cheek. ‘Can’t you feel this? Can’t you feel how much I need you?’

His pupils had dilated again, she realised while she kept moving along his rigid length. Groaning something in Italian he gave up his resistance and joined her in a slow forceful rhythm. Nothing could compare to this, Izzy thought while they rode together towards the heavens of desire, absolutely nothing. She felt so close to him, so perfectly in unity, and at the same time something urgent built up within her. Some elemental force that longed to take over, and explode and tie her to him for all eternity.

Her orgasm was the most beautiful thing she’d ever experienced, and as soon as she helplessly cried out his name she felt him spill his seeds into her, shivering under the power of his own fulfilment.

Wow!
With her eyes closed, Izzy relived every treasured moment of their encounter. Every touch, and look and kiss. This hadn’t been mere physical fulfilment. This had been so much more than just sex. A contented smile slid across her face. They had made
love
, at least she had done so, and judging by the tender loving way he had caressed her, Enzo had loved her right back.

Her eyes still closed, she felt the mattress dip when he left the bed and heard him enter the bathroom, presumably to get rid of the condom. In lazy sated bliss she opened her eyes when the bathroom door opened again.

Instantly her heart froze. Enzo stood in the door frame like a dark avenging angel, his mouth pressed into a hard line and his eyes as cold as ice.

‘So let me guess,’ he snarled. ‘Your game is to drive men crazy with your refusal to sleep with them, isn’t it? You dangle your virginity in front of their noses like a juicy carrot, but you never let them close.
That’s
why they keep paying for your expenses – the flat, the diamonds... Is that how you do it?’

She bolted upright, covering herself with the tangled sheets.

‘That’s not true,’ she cried. ‘I haven’t even touched a man before you, believe it or not.’

He didn’t, by the looks of it.

‘Why, I guess in that case congratulations are in order. The way you delivered that blow job certainly felt very
intuitive
for a novice.’ Furiously he picked up his clothes from the floor. ‘Hell Izzy, why do you keep lying to me when I already
know
what kind of woman you are? You don’t need to pretend in my presence and play the little innocent.’

‘Quite right,’ she hurled back. ‘Especially not now, as I’m no innocent anymore, thanks to you.’

Tightly clutching the sheet in front of her naked body, she jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. Blinking back the tears, she held it wide open for him.

‘Get out.’

Carrying his crumpled clothes in his arms Enzo stalked out of her bedroom and, judging by the fierce expression in his eyes, also out of her life.

She waited until the door had closed behind him. Then, sobbing inconsolably, Izzy sunk to the floor and drowned in misery.

***

After dumping the heap of clothes onto his bedroom chair, Enzo slipped into his pyjama bottoms and went to the living room. Passing Izzy’s bedroom door, he heard her sob. For a moment he stilled. Then, his mouth pressed into an unforgiving line, he went on, straight to the drinks cabinet. A whisky was just what he needed.

Damn, was he angry! The way she’d taken him for a fool…

Furious he downed the amber liquid and poured himself another one. Who’d have thought that she’d be a
virgin
? All this time she had made him believe that…

He swallowed hard. She hadn’t, it dawned on him. She hadn’t taken him for a fool and hadn’t even lied to him.
He
had been the fool all along for believing that she’d slept with her admirers while, in reality, she had never allowed them to go all the way. A clever move, all in all. She knew how to play her cards right.

To hell with the woman!

He downed the second whisky and still didn’t feel better. Restlessly, he put the empty glass back onto the drinks tray and paced up and down the tall windows, ignoring the view.

When they’d returned home and he had kissed her, he had desperately, urgently wanted her.
Dio
, he’d been close enough to just take her against the wall, not even bothering to take off her clothes – or his own, for that matter. To think how easily he could have turned her first time into a frenzied loveless act, because he believed she was sleeping around. But then his lips had touched hers, and his overwhelming need to have mind-blowing sex with her had turned into something else entirely, something sweet and lovely.

He closed his eyes in the exquisite memory of their union. Every touch, every kiss had drugged him like a powerful love potion. Izzy’s erotic little moans and whimpers had turned him on like nothing before, and when he had finally entered her moist sweetness it had felt like heaven on earth – until she had cried out when he’d broken her hymen.
Dio!
He had wanted to stop right then, had wanted to do the honourable thing, but the way she’d pleadingly looked up to him and moved her hips under his weight had completely finished him. In that very moment, he had needed her so much that there had been no going back. Defeated, he had joined her, and together they had travelled to that other place, way up to the stars and back. Never in his life had he felt as emotionally replete as when he’d lain in her arms after they had made love.

‘Hell,’ he said, covering his face with his hands.

He loved her.

How a man could love a woman and want to throttle her at the same time was entirely beyond his understanding.  As soon as he’d remembered her affairs with all these other men after their love making, he’d been engulfed in a bout of jealousy that he hadn’t been able to control. He had said unforgivable things to her. No wonder she had thrown him out of her bedroom and started crying as soon as he’d left.

He returned to the drinks tray, this time to fill his glass with icy water. He needed to get his thoughts straight.

So she
hadn’t
been sleeping around. She had still been a virgin until he had made love to her tonight. He sighed. How could he have got that so wrong? Nevertheless, she was still a gold-digger as far as he could see. When he’d met her two years ago, she’d been wearing self-made jewellery, created from shells and tiny twigs she’d found on the beach. No way could she afford the diamonds she was wearing now from her normal wages.

Enzo checked his watch. Knowing that she hadn’t lied to him about her innocence or at least the physical aspect of it, it was only fair to verify whether her other claims were true as well. First thing in the morning, he’d make the phone call. His cousin’s private investigator would soon find out who paid the rent for Izzy’s exclusive London penthouse. Then he would know for sure.

He looked up, when he heard an unexpected noise from the doorway. Izzy stood there, wearing silk pyjamas and holding out his shoes to him. Her beautiful eyes were swollen from crying.

‘You forgot these,’ she said and softly put them on the floor when he didn’t come to take them from her. ‘And I wanted to thank you for… for making my first time so special. It was the most wonderful experience of my life.’

Dio!
She thanked him, although he had behaved like an ogre. The woman had true grace.

‘Wait,’ he said when she turned to go back to her bedroom. Swiftly, he closed the distance between them. ‘Please, Izzy, I…I overreacted. I should never have said what I said, and I want to apologise.’

She turned back to him, her lips slightly quivering and a wary look in her eyes. ‘Do you really mean that?’

‘I do,’ he admitted huskily. ‘Please, Izzy, can you forgive me? I’d like to make a fresh start.’

‘You don’t even like me,’ she said. ‘Remember? You called me a slut, and a whore and a gold-digger.’

Conscience-stricken, he bowed his head. She was right. How could he ever make good for the insults he’d thrown into her face?

‘
Dio
, Izzy…’ He ran his hands through his hair. ‘You’ve hurt me so much when you spent that night with Samuel Carson, I can’t even start to explain what that did to me. Alone the thought of all the other men you’ve been with since drives me wild. Knowing that Hetherington pays for your flat…’

She stepped closer and took his hand into her own. ‘I told you. Nick does
not
pay for my flat. I’ve never taken money or gifts from any man. Why don’t you believe me, Enzo?’

He stared at her bleakly. Hetherington’s picture stood on the side board in her living-room, framed in silver. Wasn’t that evidence enough that she was lying?

‘I can’t,’ he whispered. ‘I just can’t.’

‘Can you at least promise me to try?’

Starving for her warmth, he took her into his arms and closed his eyes. He would try and give it his best shot, starting right now by
not
phoning that private investigator. Maybe
that
would work, taking it one step at a time.

‘I promise.’

Dio
, she felt so right for him, like his perfect companion, and still… how was there any hope for a future when she was on the rebound? She was in love with his brother and had probably planned to save her virginity for Luca, not him. Only the fact that Luca’s picture with that stunning brunette had shown up online had made Izzy fall for his seduction.

How could this ever work?

‘Thank you,’ she whispered against his chest. ‘Let’s use our time in Italy to give this a chance, Enzo. And if it doesn’t work out…’

He didn’t even want to think about it. All he could concentrate on was the here and now.

‘Will you spend the night with me, Izzy? Stay in my bed?’