Sunday Smooch with Andrea Bolter

Welcome to another LoveCats DownUnder Sunday Smooch!

Today we have a smooch from Andrea Bolter but first...

... the winner of last week's Sunday Smooch Giveaway is Veronica at Burgeoning Bookshelf

Can you please contact Bronwyn: bronwynjameson (at) gmail (dot) com to receive your copy of No Place Like Home

And now for today's Sunday Smooch from The Italian's Runaway Princess.

Is life outside the palace walls everything she dreamed of?

When billionaire Gio Grassi rescued a beautiful stranger on the streets of Florence, he never imagined she'd be royalty! Princess Luciana's innocence compels Gio to protect her, and her vivacity intrigues him. But Gio's been betrayed before and he can't let it happen again. With Luciana's arranged royal wedding only three weeks away, can this chance encounter charge the course of these two loves - forever?



Scene set-up: While Gio Grassi only intended to protect Princess Luciana during her short time in Florence, they have grown closer and are unable to deny their feelings for each other.

     All Gio could concentrate on was the two kinds of comfort invading his senses. One was the calm presence of the morning sun through the bedroom windows, letting him know that he’d slept later than usual.
    The other lay next to him in his king-sized bed. Her Royal Highness Princess Luciana de la Isla de Izerote slept facing him, her exquisite features in repose without flaw. The blonde hair that bathed her face in gold. If only he was an artist so he could capture her beauty this morning and preserve it for all eternity. Or if Michelangelo was still alive, Gio would commission him to carve Luciana’s likeness into marble.
     Actually, he might not need anything to help him remember this morning, as the recesses of his mind had already snapped pictures he’d treasure forever.
     Gently, Gio brushed away a strand of hair that fell from Luciana’s forehead across her eye. She stirred the tiniest bit from his touch. The ever so small curl of her lips affected every inch of Gio’s body, forcing his loins into an involuntary stretch.
     With the mild temperature, he didn’t perceive the need to pull the blanket over Luciana’s alabaster shoulders. Instead, his eyes traced slowly downward to appreciate the curve of her breasts. He’d luxuriated for as long as he’d wanted to last night with the perfection of them in his hands, in his mouth. With his lips, his tongue, his teeth, he’d taken her entire bod…
     He’d done what?
     Gio scratched his beard stubble as reality blew in the window. Late last night, after the disastrous attempt at cooking pasta and after they’d settled for tomato on toast and a humble table wine, the evening ended here. In his bedroom.
     Where he took the virginity of a princess.
     One who was engaged to be married.
     Who was leaving Florence in a few weeks.
     And whom he’d never see again.
     It was hard to decide which of those truths was more disturbing.
     Last night. With their laughter over their culinary foibles. Her cute yawn and outstretched arms as the evening got later. Finally her, no doubt, impulsive move to lean in and kiss him. He was unable to deny her. The faint voices in the back of his mind that had told him to be careful, to keep his distance, to remember that Luciana was to be a fleeting memory, had no strength last night. They went down without a fight.

In the beginning of this story, Princess Luciana doesn't immediately reveal herself to be royalty. Are there ways in which you conceal something about yourself because you're concerned with how people will view you? I'll out myself - I'm a crazed K-Pop music fangirl!

Come back next Sunday, when the winner of today's giveaway will be announced and a new smooch from Amy Andrews will be posted!

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