Strokes Read Online Free PDF Page A

don’t know what you are thinking either.”
    She framed his face with her hands. “I think you’re an incredibly talented man—in many areas. You fascinate me and I want to continue getting to know you. I want to spend time with you. I want to become friends as well as lovers.”
    “Ah,” he said and smiled. “I want those same things.”
    “Good.” Tossing a napkin to him, she said, “You can start by being a pal and cleaning up the mess you made.”
    He laughed but took the napkin and wiped his spill. “Oh, cara , I can see that I will never be bored with you.”
    “I certainly hope not, because I intend to keep you very busy.” She winked and blew on her coffee. Her mouth formed an O, reminding him of how she sucked his cock with her willing mouth and transported him to heaven. He was ready for another visit and he knew the direct route to get there.
    * * * * *
     
    “Paolo, I don’t think I can sit still much longer.”
    “I am almost finished, cara . I need only paint the small, curly hairs on my favorite part of you.”
    She snorted. “Some guys are breast men, some are leg men. But you’re the first vagina man I’ve met.”
    He grinned but continued to paint without comment.
    She went for the big guns. “I’ll shave it off if it means I can move.”
    The paintbrush halted midstroke. “ Dio, ” he gasped. “It would make a perfect centerpiece for my showing. You would…” he cleared his throat, “let me?”
    Darcy couldn’t resist spreading her legs just a little wider for his view. It wasn’t like the hair there was going to rearrange itself anyway. “Shave me? Hell no. But I will have it waxed and then pose for you.”
    The splash of the paintbrush hitting the turpentine had become one of her favorite sounds. Second only to what usually followed, the rasp of Paolo’s zipper, the slurp of his tongue and their dual cries of ecstasy.
    Only this time he stopped at the foot of the bed and just stood there, staring at her. Her Paolo, the hot Italian stud with a glorious one-track mind, looked…nervous. He was biting his lip instead of licking it, clearly having something on his mind other than sex.
    And hold the olive oil , when had she begun to think of him as her Paolo?
    They had known each other such a short time, but somewhere between the sittings and the unbelievable sex, long walks and shared meals, she had begun to think of him as hers. Not just her friend but hers . She should have realized it had happened when they curled up together after their bodies were spent, only to wake the next morning to start all over again. The few times she’d tried to stay an entire night with a man had proven those awkward mornings were not for her. With Paolo, it had evolved without a second thought.
    The way he was looking at her now tightened her insides. She wondered if he felt the same way or if he just didn’t know how to tell her the bad news—that he was moving on. Or in his case, changing his mind and moving back-assward toward an arranged marriage.
    “ Cara , I would like you to know that I hold you in the highest regard. You have become…well…”
    Darcy held her breath. If it was over between them, so be it, but there was no denying it would hurt.
    “My muse,” he finished. “There, I have said it.”
    His muse? It was so not what she expected that she burst out laughing.
    “Do you not understand this meaning to an artist?” His tone was incredulous. “I could not give you a higher honor if I called you my wife.”
    “Oh, Paolo, I am honored. I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing at me. I thought you’d changed your mind about staying in America.”
    He looked confused. Confused and incredibly sexy.
    “Why would I change my mind? You are here.”
    Yes, she was. On the bed, naked and filled with warmth from head to toe. “And yet you’re way over there and one of us has too many clothes on.” She glanced down at herself. “I don’t think it’s me.”
     
    Paolo had