CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

      SERGIO REALISED RIGHT then and there that his vow to cut back on the sex was almost impossible to keep, especially with Bella lying naked and willing in front of him. Admittedly, he’d been asking for trouble with that leading question about her needing his help to sleep. But he’d never expected her to do what she’d just done.

      The exquisite beauty of her naked body was a powerful aphrodisiac, but the naked desire in her eyes was even more powerful. No man could resist the way she was obviously wanting him. Sergio certainly couldn’t.

      To give himself credit, he did try, using the age-old excuse that he hadn’t brought any condoms with him.

      She blinked at him, then smiled. ‘It’s okay,’ she said, her voice all soft and smoky. ‘I’m on the pill. And before you ask,’ she added, ‘after I broke up with Andrei I had every test known to mankind. All came back negative, thank God.’

      Sergio didn’t need any further encouragement. Neither did he give her any reassurances about his own clean bill of health. Though he could have. Possibly should have. But he was already kissing her, kissing her and touching her, pushing her legs apart and losing himself in the hot, wet silkiness that awaited him there. Her moans brought him to the brink with a speed that forced him to abandon her for a few seconds so that he could strip off his own clothes. No way was he going to come without being inside her.

      She gasped when he entered her, then groaned, her legs lifting to wrap around him, the action giving him room to slide in deeper. God, but she felt incredible, her muscles tight around him. He didn’t dare move too vigorously, knowing that he would come within seconds. So he started rocking back and forth slowly with his hips, bracing himself above her on his elbows to keep contact to a minimum. But she would have none of it, her nails digging into his buttocks, her own hips lifting from the ground to force him in even deeper. It was too much, Sergio groaning as the last embers of his control exploded into a firestorm of raw passion. When he began pounding into her like some caveman, she came straight away, crying out his name quite loudly. His own climax swiftly followed, his release equally noisy and violent.

      They clung to each other like drowning people in a stormy sea, shuddering and shaking, till eventually—after what felt like an eternity—the storm passed. Bella’s legs fell limply back to the ground, Sergio levering himself up from where he’d collapsed across her.

      Her eyes, when they met his, looked stunned.

      ‘Good God, Sergio,’ she choked out. ‘That was... That was...’

      ‘Fantastic?’ he suggested, using humour to hide his fear that he might be falling in love with Bella. For surely just lust couldn’t explain the emotion that had filled him when he’d held her afterwards. He’d never wanted the moment to end.

      She laughed. ‘That’s one way of putting it, I suppose.’

      ‘It’s the only way, sweetheart.’

      ‘Please don’t call me that,’ she said sharply.

      ‘What? Sweetheart?’

      ‘Yes. I’m not your sweetheart.’

      God, but that hurt. Oh, yes, he was falling for her all right. Damn and blast. Bella was the last woman on earth he wanted to fall in love with. The irony of the situation did not elude Sergio. His father had fallen hard for her gold-digging mother, and now he was doing the same with the daughter, who could be just as bad, for all he knew. Sergio cursed himself for being stupid enough to confess he was a billionaire. But it was too late now. The damage had been done.

      ‘What would you like me to call you, then?’ he asked offhandedly whilst calling himself all sorts of names.

      ‘Just Bella will do fine. I’m your friend with benefits, remember, not your girlfriend.’

      ‘True. And might I say I’ve never had better benefits.’

      Yes, this was the way to play it. Cool and casual. No way would he ever let her know his true feelings. Hell no!

      Bella couldn’t understand why she was feeling so put out by Sergio’s attitude. He was only telling the truth, after all. It worried her that perhaps she was trying to put a romantic spin on her feelings for Sergio. Her mother had brought her up to believe nice girls only went to bed with men they loved. Which was why Bella had had only three lovers in over ten years. Of course, that had been long before her mother had confessed the truth about her marriage to Sergio’s father.

      It was hard, though, to abandon such long-held beliefs. For a while there just now, Bella had started thinking there had to be something more between them than just sex. It seemed perverse that she’d experienced more pleasure with Sergio than she had with any of her so-called lovers. Perverse also that she should feel so bereft when he withdrew and rolled away from her. In the past, she’d always been relieved when her lover had been finished with her.

      ‘Is sex always this good for you, Sergio?’ she asked as he reached for his clothes.

      Sergio wanted to weep. Instead, he somehow found a suitably nonchalant voice. ‘Not always.’

      ‘I’ve never felt anything like what just happened,’ she said.

      Against all common sense, her admission thrilled him. But he dared not look at her, lest she see the light of love glistening in his eyes.

      ‘There’s no rhyme or reason to sexual chemistry, Bella,’ he lied as he drew on his shorts and T-shirt. ‘Sometimes it is better than others. I also suspect you haven’t been with a man for quite some time—is that right?’ he asked, finally glancing her way.

      She was still disturbingly naked and made no attempt to cover herself.

      ‘I broke up with Andrei over a year ago.’

      He already knew that, the news having made his day at the time.

      ‘And there’s been no one since?’

      ‘No.’

      ‘No one-night stands?’

      ‘I don’t have one-night stands.’

      ‘What? Never?’

      ‘No, never. I can’t think of anything worse than having sex with a virtual stranger.’

      ‘That’s very...um...’

      ‘Old-fashioned of me?’ she said.

      ‘I was thinking more along the line of unusual in this day and age.’

      ‘I suppose you have one-night stands all the time.’

      ‘Not very often. But there have been times in my life when some mindless sex with a virtual stranger fits the bill.’ Like when I was going crazy after seeing you with that French sleazebag. ‘Look, if you don’t mind, do you think you could put your clothes back on? Unless, of course, you want seconds.’

      Bella just stared at him. ‘I’m not sure I could manage seconds. I feel a bit wrecked.’

      ‘You don’t look wrecked. You look beautiful.’

      She flushed. ‘I think you’re a devil with the ladies too,’ she said, reaching for her clothes. ‘Just like your friend Jeremy.’