The Playboy's Fugitive Bride (32 page)

When she literally saw stars shooting across her universe, Nia knew she’d reached her limit.  She had nothing more to give.  “
Abbastanza.  Abbastanza,
Massimo!”

“
Si,
picolla
. 
Chéri
.”  He dropped his head beside hers on the mattress, his body convulsing like a wave caught in a tempest as he tried to suck air into his lungs.

Nia answered his call by raking her nails across his back and shoulders and sinking her teeth into his chest, punishing him, wanting to inflict the same degree of pleasure he’d inflicted on her.  He groaned deep as he pulled all the way out of her then slammed back in.  She could feel every inch of his shaft trembling, quivering out of control as he gyrated trying to hold on to his passion.  He pulled out one last time and slammed into her, locking their hips together, stamping his claim as he whispered her name.

This time, he stayed and as Nia felt his hot seed spurt into her womb, her teeth sank deeper into his chest.  Her back arched, her body tightened, and she held him close as tremors rocked her, as electricity raced through her, then fizzled out into an arousing blast of release.

He collapsed on top of her, pushing her into the mattress, his stomach jerking, his body shaking as he pumped the last drops of his seed into her.

The harsh sound of their breathing as they struggled for air echoed around them.

Nia couldn’t move.  Her husband had loved her to death.  And it was sweet.

* * *

Massimo was used to awaking to the softness and warmth of a woman in his arms.  So when he opened his eyes to the dawn of a new day, he was not overly enthusiastic until he remembered that the delicate form snuggled up against his chest was his wife.  A wife with whom he’d made love multiple times yesterday and into the night—each time more intense, more rapturous than the last.

His heart raced with blissful memories and he took a deep breath as his mind flooded with visions of Nia twitching about on the mattress as he kissed his way down her body, at her moans of pleasure as he thrust deeply into her over and over again.  Kissing her was like eating fire.  Touching her like holding electricity.  Sheathed inside her like being trapped inside a continuously erupting volcano with thick boiling lava spewing down its sides.

She was so hot, so sensual, much more so than any woman he’d ever known—and just when he thought he was utterly satiated with her sweetness, the delectable taste of her, his body hungered to meld with hers, his soul yearned to connect and soar with hers on inexplicable plateaus of ecstasy, his spirit desired to dance with hers on the pleasurable thresholds of Nirvana.  She aroused feelings in him that Massimo never knew he was capable of.  Feelings he’d heard Bryce and Erik talk about when referring to their wives, feelings he’d jokingly told them were sentimental loads of crap—perhaps out of jealousy at their happiness and contentment at sharing their lives with that one special woman.

Feelings Massimo had sworn never to harbor for any woman for fear of letting them down.  After all, he was an Andretti.  Andretti men were masters of letting women down and blaming it on the curse.  He’d been breaking the curse by keeping his relationships short, making himself different from his forefathers.  But as he’d made love to Nia throughout the night, Massimo had come face to face with the feelings he’d been running from, or perhaps seeking in the multitude of women he’d been with over the years.

His was a different kind of curse.

He was in love with a woman who didn’t, couldn’t love him, who blamed him for her father’s death, and perhaps hated him for it.  A most profound and cruel irony, yet not strong enough to dissuade his feelings for her.

Massimo’s entire body trembled.  He tightened his arms around Nia and a possessiveness and protectiveness he’d never experienced before riveted through him.  She was his wife, his life, the future mother of his heirs, the candle that brightened the dark corners of his heart, the sweet essence of his being where existence and nonexistence merged into one, where the flames of their passion consumed the earth, wind, and sky.

Of all the women he’d had over the years, Massimo had never experienced the kind of optimum passion he’d had with Nia.  His virgin wife had just proven that climbing peaks of absolute sexual gratification and then plunging mindlessly into the twirling abyss of ecstasy had nothing to do with the experience of the woman, but simply the woman herself.

Nia was
his
one special woman and Massimo hoped that one day soon she would come to see him as
her
one special man.

A man who would die for her and kill for her without batting an eyelash.

“So, Nia, Bryce told me about how you and Massimo met on Bristol Mountain.  Very romantic.  The first time I met Bryce I wanted to choke him, or slap him, or do something awfully painful to him, but I was too short to reach his face.”

Nia glanced over at Kaya who was sitting in a rocking chair in her first-floor nursery nursing her infant son, Eli—under the privacy of a nursing blanket—while Elyse, his twin sister slept in a nearby basinet.

“The first time I met Erik, I thought he was a stiff-shirted snob, but that didn’t stop me from wanting to rip his clothes off.  He was hot.  Still is, even after two years of marriage,” Michelle murmured as she fell back against the sofa with a soft sigh.

Nia smiled at the two women who were close to her age, and who were married to men as rich and powerful as her husband.  She’d only met them a few hours ago, but already she liked them.

Michelle was tall and slim and wore her straight black hair in a short chic cut.  She seemed to be the wilder of the two.  She had a take-charge attitude with a twist of dry humor and Nia would bet that with a flash of her black eyes, she could convince Erik to do just about anything she wanted him to do.

They’d just been discussing Michelle’s vision for her
Children of the Future Foundation
.  Nia was quite impressed with her dedication to disadvantaged children and her determination to save as many of them as possible.  Nia had also learned that Michelle had written two books based on the lives of some of the children who frequented the youth center she’d pioneered in her hometown of Manchester—a city three hours south of Granite Falls.  She was working on the third and final book in the series.  The woman was an amazing philanthropist with a heart as big and warm as the Indian Ocean.

Kaya was quieter, and petite with brown eyes, and dark-brown curls reaching past her waist.  She looked like a delicate flower—like the orchids Nia had seen in abundance around the house.  It was hard to believe that she was married to a formidable giant like Bryce, whom Nia was quickly learning was nothing but a big teddy bear who thought the sun rose and set on his lovely wife.  He gave her an orchid every single day, even if he had to have them flown in from abroad, Kaya had told her.  Kaya, who grew up in foster care, was also involved with Michelle’s charity.  She was the lead interior designer for the building that would serve as the headquarters of the organization.  They were set to break ground late next spring.

The LaCrosses and the Fontaines were two couples who were very much in love with each other, and with their adorable children as well, Nia thought.  Michelle had three children—a twenty-month-old son, Little Erik, a five-month-old daughter, Tiffany, and a nine-year-old stepdaughter, Precious, who she treated as if she’d given birth to her herself.  In addition to her twins, Eli and Elyse, Kaya was also raising her ten-year-old nephew, Jason, and her nieces, five-year-old Alyssa and one-year-old Anastasia.

Nia had been touched with Kaya’s selflessness in giving up her life and a thriving interior decorating career in Florida to take care of her nephew and two nieces after their parents were killed in a car accident last year.  The children called her and Bryce Mommy and Daddy, and anyone observing that family would never know that Bryce and Kaya never gave birth to those three children.  Their love and commitment to them was undeniable.

All of the children were presently in the home theatre watching a movie with their doting grandparents—Felicia and Philippe, Erik’s parents, and Lillian and Henry, Bryce’s parents who reminded Nia of her own.

The love, trust, and respect that these people shared for each other was phenomenal—nothing like Nia had ever witnessed from people who were so diverse in so many ways.  They were more like one big happy family than friends—especially the four men, who’d disappeared into Bryce’s man cave to watch a game.  Not a bad circle to be part of Nia thought on a ragged breath as she thought of Aaron.  How would he fit in? 
Would he fit in?

“So what was your first impression of Massimo when you met him?” Kaya asked, pulling Nia out of her reverie.

Nia took a deep breath and decided to be perfectly honest.  “I thought he was hot.  The hottest man I’d ever seen and I swore he would be mine one day, and
voila
!”  She held up her left hand and waved it in the air.  “Come on, girls, do you really think my fall in front of one of the hottest, richest, most eligible bachelors in the world was an accident?”

They all burst into laughter.

“You go, girl.”  Michelle her on her arm.  “You lassoed yourself a real Italian Stallion.  I hope you rode him hard and fast and put him away dripping wet.”

“Michelle!” Kaya sent her friend a look of feigned shock.

But shivers ran up and down Nia’s spine and her whole being throbbed as she remembered doing exactly that—riding her Italian Stallion all day yesterday and all night last night.  They’d taken short breaks to refuel with food and sleep before reaching for each other again and again.

“What?” Michelle cut her eyes at Kaya.  “Like you and Bryce don’t get freaky and dirty in the bedroom?”

“Who said we keep it in the bedroom?” Kaya’s mouth twisted mischievously.  “As a matter of fact, Bryce gave me my very first orgasm right there on that sofa.”

“Eww!”  Both Michelle and Nia jumped up from the sofa as Kaya doubled over laughing, interrupting her son’s feeding, which caused him to whine in protest.

“You’re nasty,” Michelle said, traces of humor still ringing in her voice as she sat back down.

“Sex is a freaky, messy business, girl,” Kaya said, her eyes brimming with obvious steamy memories with Bryce.

“Hmm. 
Gooood
sex,” Michelle acquiesced, her eyes glazing with apparent equally steamy memories of Erik.

Nia sat down again, flushing at the women’s openness about sex.  “So was Bryce your first?” she asked Kaya then immediately realized her forwardness.  “I’m sorry.  That was too personal.  Forget I asked.”  What the hell was wrong with her asking this woman such a private question just hours after meeting her?  But it felt as though she’d know her and Michelle for years.  She’d never felt this instant connection with women before, not even Amber, one of her two best friends.  It had taken her a long time before she could warm up to Amber, who used to run a flower shop beneath the Manhattan apartment of a child Nia used to tutor, and then to Amber’s friend Josie who frequently visited the shop.  She was happy she’d formed the friendships though, because it had given her a place to hide Aaron from Eddie.

“No, it’s okay,” Kaya responded with a tender smile.  “Bryce
was
my first, but not because I had some hang-up about sex before marriage.  It was just circumstances, but I’m glad I waited for him.  Can’t imagine sex being better with anyone else.  The way he loves me…  Ohhh.”  She shivered.  “I know I’m not missing anything.”

“Erik was my second,” Michelle offered without prompt, “but I wish I’d waited for him because I really hadn’t made love until I made it with him.  And amazingly it gets better between us as time goes by.”  She glanced at Nia.

“Massimo was…is my first,” Nia responded to the question in her eyes.  She felt a hungry tug between her thighs and she could feel moisture gathering in her panties at the memories.  “I had sex for the very first time yesterday and I absolutely love it, but Massimo is so experienced, I’m afraid he might think I’m…naïve, maybe even boring.”  That’s why she’d been so uninhibited with him.  He was an Andretti and although he’d promised never to cheat on her, the possibility worried her.

“I felt the same way about Bryce’s reputation with women,” Kaya said.  “It’s one of the reasons I kept him out of my bed for a month after we got married.”

“A month is a long time to wait to consummate a marriage.”  Nia said.

Kaya chuckled.  “Yeah, he called me his reluctant bride.  It was a waste of time.  When we finally got together, it was just simply amazing.  I have no doubt that I bring him far more pleasure than any of the experienced women he’d had in the past.  As a matter of fact, he has told me so.”

“I wouldn’t worry about Massimo thinking you’re boring,” Michelle piped in.  “I’ve seen him with a lot of women in the past two years, but from the way he’s been watching you all day, I could tell that you are special to him.”

Nia doubted that, but she couldn’t voice her thoughts without going into details about her relationship with Massimo—why she’d come looking for him, and how he’d tricked her into marrying him.  She liked these women, and believed they would eventually become her newest best friends and confidants, but not yet when she suspected that they told their husbands everything.  If Bryce and Erik knew the truth about her, they would deem it their honorable duty to tell Massimo.  She didn’t want him hearing it from anyone but her.  So until then… 

“I never thought Massimo would ever settle down,” Kaya said, switching her son to her other breast.  “Marriage wasn’t something he ever wanted.  I was surprised when he became engaged to Gabrielle Berkley, but not surprised when it fell apart.  But he surprised me again when he dropped that bombshell on the reporters at the country club.  That was the talk of the night during Michelle’s fundraiser.  But now…” She shrugged.  “You must be a very special woman to make him change his mind, Nia.”