TONY: Slow Burn (Raging Fire Book 1) by Kallypso Masters (the false prince TXT) 📕

His? For how long?

Tony came up behind her where she stood in front of the dresser pulling out clean underwear. He pulled back her hair and nuzzled the side of her neck. “Did I hurt you, principessa?”

“Oh, no! I mean, there might have been a little pain, but it hurt so good at the time that I hardly noticed.”

Tony wondered if she might not enjoy a few sex toys to explore the pain-pleasure dynamic, but then remembered he was thinking about Carmella D’Alessio, who had probably never even heard of kink. He didn’t want to scare her off.

Not yet anyway.

“Be careful. I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”

With another lingering kiss, he left her and returned to his own bedroom. After what they’d just shared, he worried that tonight she might expect him to spend the entire night with her, but he’d worry about that when the time came. He could always plead the need for sleep and that being anywhere near her would prohibit any sleep on his part. Sure, that sounded plausible.

Chickenshit.

Maybe he could get some advice or tips from Lisa.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Two days later, Tony concentrated on the roar of the outboard motor and the feel of the spray of saltwater hitting his face as the boat sped out to the coral-reef dive site. Carm sat on the padded bench next to him at the back of the boat. His arm was wrapped around her back, and he couldn’t keep his eyes off her. The sheer joy on her face over the upcoming dive was infectious.

Tony had never been on a dive like this before, but the dive guide had said it wouldn’t be all that challenging for anyone with his open-water certification. Seeing how he and Carm couldn’t keep their hands off each other, their guide even suggested that the two of them feel free to lag a little behind the group if they wanted the illusion of being alone. Tony intended to do just that. There were only six people diving today not counting the guide.

Tony wore an ACFD charity T-shirt and shorts, but Carm was rocking a hot-pink crop top and short shorts that could pass as a two-piece swimsuit. His thumb idly brushed her bare lower back.

Tony glanced at her tanned, shapely legs, picturing them wrapped around him while he buried himself inside her as he had so many times since Tuesday afternoon.

Carm turned to him and smiled, as if she’d known he’d been lusting after her. Busted.

“Excited?”

Hell, yeah. “That’s putting it mildly,” he answered. He couldn’t wait to get her back to the villa and find new ways to explore each other’s bodies.

“So am I. There’s nothing more beautiful than coral swaying in the water, or discovering all the creatures hiding amongst them.”

Hold on. She’s not talking about where your mind has been the past few moments.

Recovering himself, he said, “I’m looking forward to having our first dive together.” He leaned in to kiss her cheek, but she turned her head to meet his lips. She placed her hand on his leg and squeezed, and he decided it might be a good idea to break off this kiss before they embarrassed themselves in front of the others on the boat.

“I’m glad you’ll be able to join me for Friday’s nighttime dive, too. That’s a bucket list item for me.”

“You’re too young to have a bucket list.”

“Nonsense. Some may call them life goals or something, but I don’t believe we can ever start too early ticking off those important moments.”

Did she feel that her life might not be a long one, or did she just want to live life to the fullest? Perhaps her brother being killed at such a young age affected her outlook on life, but it certainly didn’t keep her from taking risks, from what he could tell. Regardless, Tony had never thought about making a bucket list or setting lifetime goals for some nebulous future that might never come. If he wanted to do something, he did it—like coming to the islands to be with Carm on the spur of the moment. Call him impulsive, but it was the way he rolled. Besides, in his profession, anything could happen. With the inherent risks his job presented, he chose to grab life by the horns.

But Carm didn’t have that kind of threat hanging over her.

“Whenever something comes off the list,” she continued, “I add something else to it. I just hope I have lots of time to accomplish everything I want to do.”

His curiosity was piqued again. “What else is on your bucket list?”

“You’ll just have to stick around a while to find out.”

Clearly, she had him pegged as the kind of guy who wouldn’t stick around. Not that she’d be wrong. He’d been with at least five women since they’d begun planning for Angelina’s wedding a year ago, including that one-night stand after the drownings.

There also was the fact that the past two nights he’d made excuses for not spending the entire night in her bed. If she thought that was a sign he couldn’t commit, so be it, but he wasn’t ready to tell her about his state of mind since the bad call when he’d failed to rescue the victims.

Of course, he certainly hadn’t shown any signs of commitment to any woman who’d come before Carmella. He wasn’t sure how much she knew about his dating life, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Angelina occasionally mentioned the dating lives of her brothers when talking with Carm. Didn’t women talk about stuff like that?

But what if he simply hadn’t met the woman he wanted to spend more time with?

Until now.

Until Carmella.

Before he could say anything more about bucket lists or commitment, the motor cut, and the crew hooked the boat to a mooring line with a thick rope.

The dive guide demanded everyone’s attention and started his dive briefing. “We’ll be diving to a maximum depth of sixty feet. Because we have some newer divers with us