Page 266 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

How she felt when Enzo let go of her hand and pinned her against the wall with his body. When his lips swooped down on hers and lightning crackled in her veins once more.

His tongue moved with hers, and his body pressed against hers, but it wasn’t enough. There were still too many barriers between them. She wanted him. She wanted to feel his skin on hers. This was what it was like to be overcome with need. To crave someone. It was a new feeling and a dangerous one, because Charlotte didn’t know how she could go back to living as she had before experiencing this. These heaving breaths. Goose bumps running down the length of her body. Her heart thrumming like a hummingbird’s wings. She never wanted to leave this place where pleasure was such a drug.

And she desperately,desperatelywanted Enzo to take her. To be her first. To brand her soul in that way.

Acting on instinct, she reached between their bodies and undid his coat, but the need to touch him, feel him, was too urgent to bother pushing it away. Instead, she pulled at his shirt until she could slip her hands beneath, tracing the cut planes of his torso, moaning at the body he kept hidden in those designer suits.

His lips trailed to her ear where he whispered,‘Tesoro, mi fai impazzire...’

His voice had grown even lower. Strained. She needed to see him.

Charlotte pushed against him, and he stepped back. His jacket was open, shirt creased and hanging out, bow-tie askew. It was the most unravelled she had seen him, and it only made her burn hotter at the fact that it was she that did this to him. Despite her inexperience and despite the fact that she hid, Enzo reached in and pulled her to the surface. And in front of him, she was every part of her true self even if she couldn’t tell him. So she grabbed his hand and led him to the couch, where he sat back with a smirk.

‘What now,tesoro?’

‘This.’

Through the long slit in her dress, she placed one knee on the cushions, leaned over him and kissed him lightly. Teasingly. And when he tried to follow her lips, she pulled away, making him growl.

‘Would you like me to beg,tesoro?’

‘I want you to make me yours. I want you to take me, Enzo.’

Bold. That’s what he made her. Because when he was looking at her like that, as if she was the very sun, how could she not be?

Enzo slid his hand down her leg and, with his fingertips just grazing her skin, collected her dress up to her hips, making her shiver. Making those butterflies take flight once more. She straddled his lap and yanked on his bow-tie, tugging it free and tossing it over her shoulder, not caring where it landed. She smiled when Enzo laughed, a deep rich sound she wanted to hear again and again. But now? Now she needed his clothes gone, but it was hard to concentrate on his shirt buttons when his thumbs were rubbing circles on her hips under the fabric of her dress. Feeling a sense of great accomplishment when she undid the final button, she pushed the fabric aside to reveal his golden skin. A sculpted body that surely had to have been bestowed upon him by a Roman god. Except she knew of his discipline, knew how hard he worked to become this singularly spectacular man.

Charlotte ran her fingers over the light dusting of hair on his chest that disappeared, only to reappear in a single line below his belly button trailing downwards until it was hidden by his pants.

Just as her finger was about to follow the line and plunge beneath his belt, Enzo caught her wrist and brought her hand up to his mouth, kissing her palm. Making her melt.

‘I will endure your punishment,tesoro, but know that this is truly torment.’

And she knew then how patient he had been with her. And how little of that patience he had left.

‘Then, do something about it.’

Enzo hooked a hand around her neck and pulled her down, kissing her hard, urgently, biting on her lip and entwining his tongue with hers. And Charlotte couldn’t help it: her hips ground against the bulge in Enzo’s pants, looking for relief from the powerful sensations overcoming her.

Enzo groaned, bucking his hips to meet with hers. ‘Take what you want,tesoro. Take it from me.’

There was only one thing she wanted. The one thing she had never had. And it occurred to her that she could simply let Enzo take her to bed and never tell him that she was a virgin. Her inexperience would be her secret, just like she kept her identity a secret. But a much bigger part of her wanted to reveal this to him, wanted to show him that she trusted him. That she trusted he would take care of her. The thought made her already frantic heart beat so much faster.

‘Enzo, I have to tell you something first,’ she said, with their foreheads touching and their breaths coming in pants.

He pushed her back and looked her in the eye, all pleasure replaced by his utter attention. ‘You can tell me anything.’

Charlotte swallowed hard. ‘I...I haven’t done this before.’ She was sure she was beet red. ‘This will be my—’

‘Tesoro, are you a virgin?’ he asked, more serious than she had ever seen him. She nodded, and he replied,‘Dio!’

‘Are you angry? Or disappointed?’

She saw his eyes soften, and he tenderly grasped her chin. ‘Never. I’m just surprised. But thank you for telling me, and now I know this isn’t enough.’

‘What isn’t?’ she asked, afraid of the answer. Wasshenot enough? Of course she couldn’t be. He was experienced, and while she had kissed others before, it was nothing like being with Enzo. She needed to run. She tried to get off his lap. To pull her dress down around her, cover herself up. But he grabbed her hands in a gentle grip.

‘Don’t hide from me. I don’t like it when you hide,’ he said with an intensity that made it impossible to look away. ‘This,’ he said as he glanced at the couch, ‘isn’t good enough. You deserve better. And I can fix it.’