A Facade to Shatter Read Online Free PDF

ballroom, but she showed no fear whatsoever. Then again, he had been the one to pull her from the water. Perhaps that redeemed him somewhat in her eyes.
    “Why aren’t you afraid of me?” he asked against the soft skin of her throat.
    “I’m only afraid you’ll stop,” she said, and he squeezed her to him in reaction as emotions overwhelmed him.
    He wanted to tell her not to trust him, wanted to tell her to run far and fast, that he could give her nothing more than a night of passion. He wanted to, but he couldn’t find the voice right now. Not when what he so desperately wanted to do was slide his tongue into her mouth and see if she tasted as sweet as she looked.
    Zach drew back just enough to see her face. Her eyes were closed, dark lashes fanning her cheekbones, and her pink lips parted on a sigh. She arched her body into his and heat streaked through him. It had been so long. Too long …
    He shouldn’t do this. He really shouldn’t. He didn’t know this woman at all.
    But it felt like he did. Like he’d known her for ages.
    With a groan, Zach fell headlong into temptation.

CHAPTER THREE
    A S Z ACH ’ S MOUTH came down on hers, Lia’s first thought was to freeze. Her second was to melt into his kiss. She’d been kissed before, but nothing like this. Nothing with this kind of heat or raw passion. He wanted her. He
really
wanted her. This was not a dream, or a fever, or an illusion. This was a man—a hot, mysterious, dangerous man—and he wanted her, Lia Corretti.
    His tongue slid against hers, and she shivered with longing. She didn’t really know what she was doing—but she knew how it was supposed to feel, how she was supposed to react.
    And she had no problem reacting. Lia arched into him, met his tongue eagerly, if somewhat inexpertly. She just hoped he didn’t realize it.
    The kiss was hot, thrilling, stomach-churning in agood way. Her body ached with the sudden need to feel more than this. To feel everything.
    She knew she shouldn’t be doing this with him. Wanting this. But she did.
    Oh, how she did.
    To hell with what she was supposed to do. To hell with feeling unwanted and unloved and unattractive. What was she waiting for?
Who
was she waiting for?
    Zach made her feel beautiful, desirable. She wanted to keep feeling that way.
    When Zach loosened the robe, her heartbeat spiked. But she didn’t stop him. She had no intention of stopping him. When would she ever get another chance to feel this way? Eligible men weren’t exactly thick on the ground in her grandparents’ village.
    And even if they were, they’d have been unlikely to risk Salvatore Corretti’s wrath by sleeping with his granddaughter out of wedlock.
    Zach’s warm hand slid along her bare thigh, up beneath the T-shirt he’d loaned her. His touch felt like silk and heat and she only wanted more. She shifted against him, felt the evidence of his arousal. He was hard, thick, and her body reacted with a surge of moisture between her thighs.
    A sliver of fear wormed its way through her happiness. Was she really going to do this? Was she really going to have sex for the first time with an Americanwhose last name she didn’t even know? Was she going to keep pretending like she knew what she was doing even though she didn’t?
    Yes.
    Yes, most definitely. Today was a new day for Lia Corretti. She was finally going to be brave and decisive and in control of her own destiny. No one would force her to wear an ugly pink dress—or call her fat, mousy and weak—in front of hundreds of people ever again.
    The robe fell from her shoulders and then Zach swept her up into his arms. She gasped at his strength as he put a knee on the bed and laid her back on the mattress. And then she froze as he came down on top of her, his jeans-clad body so much bigger than hers.
    He must have felt her hesitation because he lifted his head, his dark eyes searching hers. “If you don’t want this, Lia—”
    She put her fingers over his mouth to stop him