Our Little Secret by Rachael Stewart (free ebook novel txt) 📕

out until time and circumstance permit. Instead, she’s haunting my every waking thought and, as I tug on my nagging erection with the intention to clean myself, I know how foolish I am, how hooked I am. And I blame it entirely on how we met.

Her body gliding through the water, naked, lithe, captivating. Watching her push up out of the pool, her hair a dark, sleek mass down her back, the water streaming down her front, her outthrust chest, and those nipples, taut and pleading. Cazzo. That’s at the heart of this. That vision. And it was no illusion; it was real.

I’m barely aware of my fist pumping faster, harder, my mind filled with her. I drag in a breath and plant both palms onto the wall, leaning into it as the water pounds the back of my head and my neck. There’s one solution that offers the greatest satisfaction for both of us, because I’m not imagining the way she looked at me outside, the way the colour flooded her cheeks, the way her eyes feasted over me. She still wants me.

She wants me like she did last night, before she learned who I was. And I want her. Want her so much that a hurried hand job isn’t going to cut it.

I push away from the wall and lather soap over my body while my mind focuses on my proposition. I can pitch in my sleep. I’ve just never pitched something of a sexual nature before. My grin lifts to one side. I’ve never met a woman for the first time when she was naked and look where that’s left me. Like this. Hard and dissatisfied.

I’m dressed and at the door with a minute to spare, my cock stiff and throbbing against the zip of my chinos. Idiota. I’m like a loaded gun. I adjust my crotch and unbutton my shirt another notch, not that it’s the cause of the tight feeling in my throat, or the dryness either. That’s all nerves and anticipation, both of which are alien to me and just as frustrating with it.

Diavolo, I don’t let people get under my skin; I don’t obsess over them. Work, si. Working out, si. But people...those outside of my family and close friends...no. Getting emotionally invested leads to dependency, an addiction you can’t live without, a bond that can break you...and the sooner I can get Faye out of my head, the better. And sex will do that. It’s worked in the past and it will now.

Ultimately, people are too self-serving, too mercurial to warrant any more.

Not that Dani and Tyler believe that. I’ve done that conversation to death over the last year, trying to convince them marriage isn’t necessary.

On the plus side, thinking about marriage has the desired effect in the trouser department, just in time for her rap on the door. I breathe over the kick in my pulse, the excited rush that floods my body, and I pull open the door.

‘Ciao.’ My smile lifts as quickly as the ripple of awareness straight to my groin. Have I mentioned I hate mustard? Mustard in any form, but the colour in particular; it’s so unappealing. But on her...that dress...

‘Are you going to let me in?’ She scans the hallway either side, her hands wringing in front of her as she bobs on her heels. She’s worried about being caught. And you should be too!

‘Sure.’ I step back, pulling the door further open and bow my head to her ear as she passes, allowing myself a second’s appreciation of her heavenly scent before I add, ‘Don’t worry, you’re here on official wedding business. Knowing my family, this will become quite the regular occurrence this week.’

And if I have my way...

Her lashes flutter as her lips part, her cheeks flush that delicate shade of pink and she gives me a small smile. ‘They can’t be all that bad.’

I laugh, the sound deep and throaty thanks to her proximity. ‘You better believe it.’

I swing the door closed and watch her carry on into the room.

‘Wow,’ she says, breathless, her eyes lost in the room. She tilts her head back to look at the vaulted ceiling and turns on the spot, taking in the fresco above. ‘Is this original?’

I follow her line of sight to the garden scene above and see it with fresh eyes. It is ethereal, captivating, romantic even. Not that I go in for the latter.

‘It was restored by the previous owner, I believe; this was his private domain.’

‘While the rest of the castle was rented out to guests for holidays, events...weddings?’

‘Si.’

She flicks me a look. ‘Care to tell me why Dani doesn’t know you own it now?’

I shrug. ‘I haven’t told her yet.’

‘Why?’

‘Because she’ll think it a step too far.’

Her smile sparkles with curiosity. ‘A step too far in what, the doting big brother stakes?’

‘Something like that.’

‘So you did buy it for the wedding?’

‘I bought it because I knew how much she wanted to get married within the year and venues like this are booked years in advance.’

She laughs. ‘And what about the people that likely had this one booked before you swept in and took over?’

‘They were well compensated.’

She laughs more, her head shaking. ‘You’re quite something.’

My eyes narrow, the question itching to get out. In a good way or a bad way?

‘Don’t worry.’ She must spy the apprehension in my gaze. ‘Your secret’s safe with me.’

‘That’s not what I was worried about.’

‘No?’

‘I was working out if you thought it was a step too far.’

She looks to the floor as she considers it, her smile soft, and when her eyes come back to me, they’re warm and full of...appreciation?

‘I think if you can afford to take such measures to make a loved one happy, then why not?’ She wets her lips. ‘Though buying an entire castle and its estate does seem...’ she squeezes her thumb and forefinger together ‘...a teensy bit overboard.’

I pocket my hands and shrug.

‘I was going to buy something in this