Meet Me In Monaco: A Steamy Standalone Instalove Romance Read online

  A brief moment that sets me on fire.

  I bite my lip as we wait for the elevator, and when it arrives, I find my legs shaking when I step inside. I lean up against the sidewall for support, hoping he won’t notice. Nico stands beside me and then turns, moving up close towards me, looking at something over my shoulder.

  I can only swallow at his nearness as he puts out a hand, tapping something on the wall next to my head. “That’s good,” he says, with a teasing grin. “There’s a map with the fire emergency information. Now I know where to take you if we need to make a quick exit.”

  “Do you think there’s going to be a fire?” I half-choke out. He’s so close that I can smell him, a deliciously masculine aftershave. If I was to move half a step, our bodies would collide.

  “It’s always a possibility,” he says like we’re talking about something else entirely.

  He holds eye contact for a long moment, his head ducked down towards mine. For a moment I think that he might kiss me, and then –

  The door chimes and slides open on my floor, and he grins that slow smile at me before stepping out into the hall.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Nico

  “Lead the way,” I tell her, gesturing with my body half-turned for her to go out into the corridor ahead of me. Half-turned, so she can’t see the fact that being so close to her in the elevator has me half-hard.

  There’s something about her that I find so intoxicating. I don’t know whether it’s those enormous blue eyes, the curves of her body, the mind that I’m getting to know better and better. Maybe it’s all of it wrapped up in one package. All I know is that it’s a package I want to unwrap – and when she’s mine, I’m not letting her go for one moment.

  She steps ahead of me and leads me down the hall, letting me get a perfect view yet again. The dress she’s wearing hugs her curves, and the fact that it’s cut a little lower in the front hasn’t gone unnoticed. Still, I love that her idea of a dress to impress me is still modest compared to the dresses those stick insect models all over Monaco wear. It actually covers part of her body, for one thing.

  Liliana unlocks the door and turns to give me a look over her shoulder as she steps inside, part nervous and part checking I really am still following her. It gives me one more direct hit to the groin. How can she look so adorable?

  Inside the room, I glance around quickly. It’s not a bad room, all things considered. There’s a large bed right in the middle, a small desk with a chair, and a balcony at the far end. A television, mini fridge, closet, and door to a tiny private bathroom complete the whole space. Still, I could have offered her something so much better.

  “Um, I have the maps over here,” she says, suddenly all fingers and thumbs as she gestures towards the table. Her cheeks are pink, and I know she must be scared. Maybe she doesn’t yet know for sure how much I want her. I can change that. I can make it easy for her.

  “Let’s bring them over to the bed,” I suggest. When she looks at me wide-eyed, I can only raise my eyebrows. “There’s only one chair at the desk, after all.”

  “Right,” Liliana agrees, sweeping them all up into one pile and then sitting down primly on the edge of the bed, next to the pillows. I sit down next to her, leaving a little space between us.

  “Well?” I ask. I want her to feel relaxed and safe before moving this forward any further. It won’t be as good if she’s caught up in her own mind, shaking with nerves like she is now. “Let’s take a look at the first one.”

  She spreads it out between us, and I study it, actually trying to apply my local knowledge. “This one isn’t so bad,” I say, nodding. “We can work with this. Now, I take it you’ve strolled along the marina already?”

  I look up to see her making a face. “It was kind of boring,” she admits.

  “Ah, that’s because you didn’t have a master guide,” I wink. “I can tell you who owns each boat. And how much they cost. Wouldn’t that make it more entertaining?”

  Liliana laughs, a little of the tension easing out of her. “Yes, I guess it would,” she says.

  We go on like that, planning little things for the next few days. When I tell Liliana that I have all my time free and that she won’t need to go around on her own, there is a gleam of gratitude in her eyes that tells me I’ve made the right choice here. She wants to spend this time with me as much as I do with her.

  Which only reinforces in me the desperate need to make this woman mine.

  “It’s getting late,” I say, at last, glancing out across the balcony at the darkening sky. Between a little planning and a lot of conversation, hours have passed us by. “You must be hungry.”

  “I am,” Liliana confirms, checking her watch. “I didn’t even realize how late it was. You must need to head out for a dinner somewhere.”

  “No,” I tell her with a smile. “Remember? I have no work until next week. I’m all yours.”

  She bites her lip shyly, looking down at the covers of the bed between us. “Then, should we order some room service? I don’t feel like going out.”

  “We should,” I say, reaching for the menu. After a short discussion, I place the call, making a mental note to myself to pay the room service bill on the way out instead of just leaving it on her bill. Then we hurry to clear away the maps, that done, we sit back down on the bed, and I sense a shift in the atmosphere almost right away.

  Something between us has changed. Maybe it’s that we don’t have the maps between us, separating us anymore. I shift a little closer to her across the mattress and I feel it even stronger. There’s a heat rolling off her, a magnetism that draws me closer. I look at her and see that she’s looking down at my hand on the bed. I watch her face as I lift it with my thumb and forefinger.

  I move my hand to cup the side of her face gently, and her eyes finally move up towards mine – then down to my lips.

  I don’t need to be told twice. I move in, capturing her mouth with mine, kissing her at first sweetly and then deepening it as she responds. When I flick my tongue over her lips, her mouth opens, letting me inside.

  I can’t help but shift closer, pulling her towards me, both hands cupping her face now. She’s so sweet and responsive under me, moaning right into my mouth. It only spurs me on further, and I feel myself getting hard as hell.

  I can’t hold back. I want her so badly, I need to be inside her. I need it now. I shift my weight, laying her down on the bed, settling her head on the pillows as I move over her. I run my hands up and down the sides of her body as the kiss only deepens, feeling how she shivers under my touch. She’s so responsive, it’s driving me crazy.

  I move my hands over her chest until I can fully cup her breasts, feeling the imprint of her bra against my palms. When I hear her moan breathily into my kiss, I slip my hands inside the top of her dress, then down again, inside her bra, pushing all of the fabric out of the way so that I can get access. Her bare skin is hot under my fingertips, her nipples standing at attention already.

  I experimentally flick my fingers over both of them at once, and she arches up towards me, making the most wonderful noises in her throat. I do it again and again, her reaction driving me crazy as much as my touch seems to be doing to her.

  I break our kiss to trail my mouth down her neck, kissing and nuzzling down to her breasts, rolling my tongue around one of her nipples while I squeeze the other between my fingers. Her arms come around me, holding me against her, and I take a moment to pull my head back and take her in. She’s gorgeous, beautiful, sexy as hell. Her breasts are perfect, spilling over my hands as I squeeze them, and the look of ecstasy on her face already tells me that I’m in for a wild ride.

  I slide my hands down towards the hem of her dress, ready to lift it all out of the way –

  “Nico,” she says, breathlessly, making me look up. Why is there something new in her eyes now? Why do I see fear? “Wait – I – I’m a virgin.”

  I freeze, my hands not moving at all. Why didn’t she tell me th
is before? Why did she let it get this far?

  A knock at the door startles me, and I yank my hands away from her as if I’ve been burned. Without looking back at her face, I quickly get up off the bed, heading for the door to collect the room service I had all but forgotten about.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Liliana

  The abrupt change in the room could not be more obvious. What have I done?

  As Nico heads for the door, I breathlessly yank my bra back into place and dress up over it, covering myself up. I feel my cheeks heating up as he opens the door, quickly sitting up and moving to the edge of the bed again so that it looks as though nothing happened. I’m so embarrassed. The way he looked at me as though he was absolutely appalled by what I said…

  I shouldn’t have come clean. I should have just let him have his way with me. At least I would have got what I wanted. Now I just feel like an idiot.

  I was so exposed in front of him – and now he doesn’t even want me.

  I hear Nico thank the waiter and then close the door, and I manage to stop covering my face with my hands for long enough to watch him bring in a tray and place it on the desk. He hesitates before turning back to me, and I brace myself. Here it comes.

  “Liliana,” he starts, and I can’t bear it.

  “It’s fine,” I say, clearing my throat and staring resolutely forwards. “Really. I’m… it’s fine. I understand. You don’t have to stay.”

  “Why wouldn’t I stay?”

  I look up to see a puzzled frown on his face. I see concern, too. Which all makes it even worse. He’s such a nice guy, he really would stay here with me for no reason other than to fulfill his duty. “Because of what I said,” I reply, wanting to just get it over with. This might be excruciating, but at least it will be over faster if I don’t beat around the bush. “You don’t want to hang around here with someone as inexperienced as me.”

  Nico laughs. The sound startles me so much that I look up and stare at him, my turn to wear a frown on my face.

  “That doesn’t make me want to leave,” he says, sitting down next to me again. Closer this time. Close enough that his thigh is touching my arm where it supports me on the bed. “What do you think of me? You think I would just abandon you after telling me something like that?”

  I bite my lip. “I think it might be better,” I start. “It’s going to be too awkward…”

  Nico shakes his head. “Why would it be awkward?” he asks, seizing my hand and bringing it up to his lips. “Just because you were honest with me?”

  “Because you don’t want me anymore,” I say, looking right in his eyes.

  That’s how I know that what he says next is true.

  “Lili,” he says, a nickname that sends a jolt of electricity through my stomach. “I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anyone in my life.”

  I can only blink. I’m so surprised to hear those words. I can’t doubt them for a moment. But I never expected them to come out of his mouth.

  “I don’t care that you’re a virgin,” he says, his mouth curving around the word in such an exotic way thanks to his accent. “I stopped because this isn’t good enough. Not for your first time. It has to be special.”

  I stare up at him, wondering if he’s joking. “I’m here in Monaco with the sexiest man I’ve ever seen,” I blurt out. “How could it not be special?”

  A moment later, I’m cursing my own mouth for dropping exactly what I feel – not the definition of cool. But Nico grins that sexy smile that makes me want to just die looking at it.

  “It can be even more special than this,” he says. “I mean it. Really special. Baby, I want to make it the best night of your life. Won’t you let me do that?”

  I don’t know in what universe any sane person would be able to say no to that. “Of course,” I breathe.

  “Then we wait until tomorrow, so I can make it all as special as possible,” he says, kissing my hand again – and then all the way up my arm, punctuating between his next words. “For tonight. Will you. Accept. Just. A. Little. Taste?”

  “A taste?” I ask, feeling my eyes fluttering back in my head as his kisses reach my neck. I barely know how I’m still able to talk. “What does that mean?”

  “You’ll see,” he says, pulling back to look me in the eye. “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes,” I can’t help but say, and I’m glad I do because a moment later he drops down onto the floor in front of my feet.

  I don’t even have the chance to ask what he’s doing. Even if I did, I don’t think my mouth would work enough to form the words. He keeps looking up at me from down there on his knees, all perfect tanned skin and white teeth and expensive suit, as he turns his head to kiss the side of my knee.

  His hands follow slowly and softly up the outsides of my thighs as he kisses a trail along the inside, making me shiver. I instinctively open my legs wider and wider to him as he gets closer towards me, feeling his kisses land like falling stars on my skin, each one stinging with electric need.

  His hands reach my hips and then shift under me, making me raise my hips off the bed even as I wonder what he’s doing. When his fingers hook into the waistband of my panties I can only gasp, feeling him pull them over my ass and down in one smooth motion. I rest my weight back on the bed as he draws them down over my knees, dropping them to the floor and away, and only then does it occur to me that I’m even more exposed than before.

  There is a man on his knees in front of me, looking right up my skirt into my spread legs and exposed bare sex.

  Not only that, but he really is the sexist man I’ve ever seen.

  The thought makes me feel terrified and incredibly turned on at once, and I’m left indecisive and still, malleable to his suggestions. When his kisses trail along the inside of my thigh again I can only open wider for him, obedient and pliable. He told me to trust him. Whatever he wants to do to me, I know I’m not going to stop him.

  I can’t help but gasp out loud when his kisses move off my leg – and right onto my exposed flesh, sending a jolt through all my nerves.

  I’ve never been naked like this in front of a man, and now he’s touching me too – and not even with his hands – with his mouth.

  Nico bends his head further and presses his mouth against me, making me gasp and wriggle under him, momentarily tightening my legs before I realize that I might end up crushing his head. I let my legs fall open instead, looking down to see something I just can’t believe is real.

  Nico, kneeling between my legs, his tongue lapping out of his mouth and running over the whole of me until I shudder.

  I want to say something, but my head is completely blitzed. I just can’t think. I want to try to be cool, but instead, I hear myself moaning, reacting to every single movement of his tongue. He laps up and down, every time hitting on a bundle of nerves that seems to set me on fire, sending magic into all of my veins.

  I feel something building up inside me, a pleasure that blots out the whole of the rest of the world. I forget about where we are, who we are, the time of day. I forget about the waiting food and being nervous and all the rest. I lose track of myself, find myself lying back on the bed with no idea how I got there, Nico’s tongue –

  Nico’s tongue buried inside me, as his fingers move to take up the position his tongue left, stroking over me in a circular motion that makes it all build up to a fever pitch.

  Before I know it, all that build-up explodes inside of me, and waves of pleasure roll through me as I jerk and writhe uncontrollably, everything in the entire world destroyed but this one point of pleasure that has become my whole body.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Nico

  I take in the most beautiful sight, Liliana sated and happy in front of me, lying on her back with a flush across her cheeks and her eyes closed in pleasure, a carnal pulse throbbing inside her as evidence of my work.

  I give her more kisses right on that throbbing spot, and get to my feet, discreetly wiping my mouth and ch
in.

  “Nico,” she breathes, her eyes fluttering open, and I can’t help but chuckle. I extend my hand towards her, helping her sit back up, still looking dazed and happy.

  “Shall we eat?” I suggest, gesturing towards the tray of food that sits steadily going cold.

  “Yes,” she agrees, sounding like she’s coming from far away, and I have to laugh at how slow her reactions are as I move to get the tray and bring it back.

  She doesn’t dress again as she sits up on the bed, though the skirt of her dress falls down to cover her up. It’s a shame not to have that glorious view anymore, but I guess I should focus on the food. I’m still so hard it’s almost painful, but it doesn’t matter. Today, and tomorrow, are all about her. My needs don’t come into it.

  I may have to take some action on my own when I get home to relieve this tension, but I won’t demand her help with it.

  “Oh, my god,” Liliana says, at last, blushing deeply. “That was…”

  “Just a taste,” I remind her, sitting on the bed facing her and serving up the food. It’s funny to eat like this, so informal, with only a bed as furniture. It makes me feel like I’m a student again. “Tomorrow, I promise you, it will be even better.”

  “I can’t imagine how,” she says, blushing deeper again and then hiding her face behind her hands.

  “Don’t,” I tell her.

  “Don’t what?” she asks, her voice small and tight.

  “Be embarrassed.” I reach out to pull her hands away from her eyes. “You say what you mean. I like that.”

  “I don’t always mean to say it out loud,” she confesses, blinking her wide eyes up at me in her pink face.

  I lean forward to kiss each of her cheeks in turn, unable to resist that blush any longer. “I like it,” I tell her again. “You should do it all the time.”

  “I kind of do,” she says, laughing sheepishly. “Not on purpose, but it just comes out of my mouth. But, if you like it, I guess I’ll try not to be embarrassed.”