ask her without sounding as if it mattered? But it does matter and you know it. Cursing his own burning need to know, Raffaele forced the words out.
“ You are such a contradiction, bella donna . You go up in flames when we kiss, so eager to share your passion, and yet you blush and try to cover yourself as if making love is a new experience. Tell me, Jenesa, how many lovers have you taken before me?”
FIVE
Jenesa blink ed. How many lovers had she taken? It sounded like a line straight out of a romance novel. Then again, Raffaele Vittorio was perfect for the role of the devastatingly handsome alpha male. As for the shy virgin whose latent sexual passion had been awakened by the hero’s kiss…the description was embarrassingly close to reality. Even now while she floundered for an answer, Jenesa was intensely aware of his potent masculinity.
What possible difference could it make to him how many men she’d slept with anyway? Obviously, he wasn’t asking for health reasons or the question would have been posed long before they’d shed their clothes. An ugly thought began to worm its way into her head. Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with Raffaele at all. Maybe manipulating her into a vulnerable position and coaxing out a confession of promiscuity had been the plan all along.
There was no disputing the fact that Jillian wasn’t a virgin when she’d slept with Luca, but that was hardly proof she made a habit of jumping into bed with men she barely knew. In truth, Jillian had been pure as the driven snow until a brief and disastrous marriage when she was only eighteen had stripped away her innocence and made her wary of relationships. As far as Jenesa knew, Luca was the only other man her sister had slept with.
The suspicion that Raffaele’s motives for seducing her had more to do with entrapment than desire made Jenesa’s stomach queasy, yet she met his gaze with steely determination. The arrogant bastard would rot in hell before she’d give him fuel for the fire he was plotting to roast Jillian over! What right did Raffaele have to judge Jillian when he was lying naked in bed with a woman he believed had slept with his brother only a week ago? Well, she’d promised him the truth and he would get it, although she highly doubted he was going to like the answer.
“ A husband at one time, but no lovers,” she told him. “I was young and in love and I married on impulse. It was over in less than a year. There has been no one since.”
“No lovers?” he repeated, as if the concept of being celibate for that long was inconceivable.
Despite the doubts crowding her mind about Raffaele, she wanted to believe his reason for initiating sexual intimacy was driven by desire. She wasn’t naïve enough to think it was the only reason, but surely he felt some attraction for her, didn’t he? The recent memory of Raffaele stripping down to his bare essentials and the prominent display of his proud erection provided the answer to that. Regardless of the rapid rate in which dishonest words had flown between them, their bodies had responded with instinctive primal candor. Perhaps that was the reason Jenesa’s voice trembled on the truth when she finally replied; because Raffaele seemed just as powerless to suppress his hunger as she was.
“ You are my first. Not that I intend to have a string of lovers after you,” she quickly amended. “What I mean is that you’re the only…”
Jenesa’s breath was snatched away when Raffaele claimed her mouth with a guttural moan. Shock registered first. She’d expected mockery in the form of a cruelly derisive retort regarding her virtue, not this fiercely possessive kiss that seemed to have short circuited her brain! How could this man, who she suspected of having his own hidden agenda, send her senses sky rocketing into the stratosphere with a
“ You are such a contradiction, bella donna . You go up in flames when we kiss, so eager to share your passion, and yet you blush and try to cover yourself as if making love is a new experience. Tell me, Jenesa, how many lovers have you taken before me?”
FIVE
Jenesa blink ed. How many lovers had she taken? It sounded like a line straight out of a romance novel. Then again, Raffaele Vittorio was perfect for the role of the devastatingly handsome alpha male. As for the shy virgin whose latent sexual passion had been awakened by the hero’s kiss…the description was embarrassingly close to reality. Even now while she floundered for an answer, Jenesa was intensely aware of his potent masculinity.
What possible difference could it make to him how many men she’d slept with anyway? Obviously, he wasn’t asking for health reasons or the question would have been posed long before they’d shed their clothes. An ugly thought began to worm its way into her head. Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with Raffaele at all. Maybe manipulating her into a vulnerable position and coaxing out a confession of promiscuity had been the plan all along.
There was no disputing the fact that Jillian wasn’t a virgin when she’d slept with Luca, but that was hardly proof she made a habit of jumping into bed with men she barely knew. In truth, Jillian had been pure as the driven snow until a brief and disastrous marriage when she was only eighteen had stripped away her innocence and made her wary of relationships. As far as Jenesa knew, Luca was the only other man her sister had slept with.
The suspicion that Raffaele’s motives for seducing her had more to do with entrapment than desire made Jenesa’s stomach queasy, yet she met his gaze with steely determination. The arrogant bastard would rot in hell before she’d give him fuel for the fire he was plotting to roast Jillian over! What right did Raffaele have to judge Jillian when he was lying naked in bed with a woman he believed had slept with his brother only a week ago? Well, she’d promised him the truth and he would get it, although she highly doubted he was going to like the answer.
“ A husband at one time, but no lovers,” she told him. “I was young and in love and I married on impulse. It was over in less than a year. There has been no one since.”
“No lovers?” he repeated, as if the concept of being celibate for that long was inconceivable.
Despite the doubts crowding her mind about Raffaele, she wanted to believe his reason for initiating sexual intimacy was driven by desire. She wasn’t naïve enough to think it was the only reason, but surely he felt some attraction for her, didn’t he? The recent memory of Raffaele stripping down to his bare essentials and the prominent display of his proud erection provided the answer to that. Regardless of the rapid rate in which dishonest words had flown between them, their bodies had responded with instinctive primal candor. Perhaps that was the reason Jenesa’s voice trembled on the truth when she finally replied; because Raffaele seemed just as powerless to suppress his hunger as she was.
“ You are my first. Not that I intend to have a string of lovers after you,” she quickly amended. “What I mean is that you’re the only…”
Jenesa’s breath was snatched away when Raffaele claimed her mouth with a guttural moan. Shock registered first. She’d expected mockery in the form of a cruelly derisive retort regarding her virtue, not this fiercely possessive kiss that seemed to have short circuited her brain! How could this man, who she suspected of having his own hidden agenda, send her senses sky rocketing into the stratosphere with a
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