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If he had not loved her, he had certainly been physically obsessed by her Unsuitable as she was, he had stayed with her five months and he had asked her to marry him The sensation of what he had termed an 'entirely superficial hurt' to his male pride had been a er sustain Her refusal to o must have absolutely devastated him, and the belief that she had immediately turned to another ery hich he had condeed to soothe that rawness Evidently only theaway that slur on his manhood

'Is it possible for us to start again?' The abrasive demand was literally wrenched fro at the taut edge of his wide mouth 'This is not how I meant it to be'

'Blood and gore every five e for me to have an accident?' Ashley enquired shakily 'It would be so much quicker and cleaner'

The long brown fingers knotted into the fiery strands of her hair The ferocity of his brilliant gaze stabbed into her like a knife 'Hate and love are but two sides of the same coin'

'You'd better watch out, then This much hate comes uncomfortably close toin her dry throat

'And you should knohy,' Vito traded, his fingers tightening with the raw tension that smouldered from him

In his grip, she gave a tiny coly aware of the intis combined with her nudity and his white-hot sexual te round her like invisible lightning bolts,it incredibly hard for her to breathe 'Because I said no? Because I had the incredible bad taste to find anotherto douse the dark flames of arousal in his intent stare

Vito didn't even flinch True, a htened his facial ht consolation was evidently so ingrained that she could not shock hirated, and she was the one most inconveniently shocked by that confession 'You look surprised, but why should you? Do you really believe that lust rejected would still incite ertips of his other hand up along the line of her extended throat in a caressing gesture that was curiously chilling 'Love? I believed it couldn't happen toI enty-eight years old and, in ht I saw you on a dance floor and I wanted youI had ever wanted in my life…'

Ashley was tre to accept the truth of what she had once believed 'Infatuation,' she said fiercely 'And it burnt out for both of us'

'But this didn't…' One forceful hand welding to her taut spine, Vito lowered his dark head His breath fanned her cheek and then he let his teeth nip playfully at the soft fullness of her lower lip, soothing the tiny assault with the teasing tip of his tongue until involuntarily hera deeper invasion

The hard heat of his body against hers was a powerful entice at every pressure-point where his lean an to shake, struggling to deny and to fight the insidious weakness stealing through her limbs She could stop this, she would stop this, the little voice in her head screahted stasis was holding her still in his e before she could actually act in her own defence

'No… no, not this!' Her voice was hoarse with the effort it took to break the spell He clenched both her hands in his and held her back frole evasive lanced down at herself, she saw the revealing thrust of her nipples against the fine percale sheet still draped across her breasts, and her translucent skin burned with the heat of her own betrayal

A dark flush accentuated the harsh set of his features 'If you can't live without a hly

Fury speared through that all-pervasive physical frailty Between clenched teeth, she spat, 'If rape turns you on, go ahead!'

A glimmer of black humour softened the hard set of his sensual mouth 'How you do love to dramatise yourself Why can't you be honest about this at least? You saw me for the first time in four and a half years last week and withined, Ashley shrieked, 'That's a filthy lie!'

Vito dealt her a flashing smile of all-ht that if you hadn't looked at rave, cara'

With a superhue of his loosened hold and, dragging her hands free, leapt off the bed Snatching up the dress she had earlier discarded, she fled the room The rest of the apartment was unhelpfully in darkness and she skidded in the direction of the hall, uncertain of her bearings

Vito caught her hand and in her deterers free so violently that she fell back against the wall 'You're out of control!' she gasped strickenly as he trapped her there, one hand squarely planted on either side of her head in the depths of her hair

'And so are you,' he breathed unsteadily 'Exactly the way I like you'

Scarcely able to believe that this was happening to her, Ashley atteh pinned the recalcitrant li down on hers

It was like a naked flame thrown on tinder-dry straw; a corily probed the moist recesses of her mouth, a hoarse moan of pleasure was forced from her Her taut body went into ht ceased as though he had thrown a switch She braced her hands on his shoulders and answered that kiss with complete abandon

Ti All that existed was a fierce world of al else He was lifting her up to his level, burying his face in the ripe swell of her aching breasts until he found a taut nipple to tease with his s that had been held in too tight for too long suddenly exploded in a fiery gush of response Her fingers dug into the springy depths of his black hair and she wanted to screa Vito choked out a curse as he cannoned off a door and then he found herforce of his own He didn't break that contact for a second as he brought her down heavily on a bed somewhere in the darkness

He was struggling out of his shirt and the assistance he got was negligible as her hands wandered in a helpless need for reacquaintance over the broad expanse of his chest, fingertips skating through the dark whorls of hair and down to the smoother skin at his lean waist He felt hot, as if he was burning up, but the same flames were in her and she was lost, irretrievably lost in the scent and the feel and the touch of him

Abruptly he wrenched back from her and ripped off the re in Italian and then he groaned, 'How the hell do you do this to me? It wasn't supposed to be like this'

Cooler air briefly washed her damp skin and for a split-second a shard of reason alht could forasped as long fingers slid between her thighs and found the moist centre of her desire, cried out and arched her back beneath the hot onslaught of his mouth on her taut breasts

'Tell me how you feel,' he demanded between clenched teeth as he hs, his body a heavy but blessed weight on hers

'Vito, please… oh, God, please…