She took the initiative to kiss him, murmuring her affection through swollen lips. When she retreated, he reached over to grab something from the nightstand. She watched as he freed himself from under her, squirting a clear substance into his right hand and rubbing it somewhat roughly up and down on himself.

He noticed the expression on her face and hastened to explain. “It will make things easier for you.”

Julia flushed deeply. She knew about such things, although she had never had reason to use them before. She felt embarrassed that she hadn’t thought to purchase it for herself. She had come to Florence unprepared.

“You’re very kind.”

His mouth curved up into his cocky half-smile. “I told you I’d anticipate your every need.” He kissed her and reclined back on the pillow. “I can use a condom, if you’ve changed your mind.”

“With all the tests you’ve had, I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

“It’s still your choice.”

“I trust that you told me the truth about everything.”

“I’m glad I’m your first.”

She smiled widely at his declaration. “I want you to be my last, Gabriel.”

She kissed him passionately, her heart quick and full because of his words.

Because of his actions. “But I want something from you now.”

“Anything.”

“I want you to be on top.”

When his brow crinkled and he looked perilously close to a frown, she leaned over him in earnest. “You have already shown yourself to be a generous lover. But it isn’t a good idea to put me in control when I don’t know what I’m doing. It makes me nervous. I won’t be able to relax and concentrate on how it feels. Please…” She added the last word as a half-hearted addendum, for she didn’t want to have to plead with him. He’d asked her to voice her desires, and she was doing so.

He realized at that moment how stressful it would be for her to sit above him naked and exposed, responsible for what was to happen. Later on, perhaps, but not the first time. Despite his worries, he could not deny her. Gabriel nodded, a slight tension visible in his jaw, and in one fluid movement she was on her back and he was kneeling between her legs.

Her smile was like the rising sun. For this was how she had always imagined it.

“Thank you,” she murmured against his mouth as he kissed her tenderly.

“It takes so little to make you happy.”

“I wouldn’t say little, ”  she giggled as she rubbed her thigh against him.

He smirked at her, reveling in a moment of levity.

The music changed then, and Julia looked up at him with interest.

“What’s the name of this song?”

“Lying in the Hands of God by the Dave Matthews Band.”

“I like it.”

“Me too.”

She regarded him curiously. “Why did you choose it?”

“The words, the music…” His smile widened as his eyes sparkled.

“The rhythm.”

“Oh, really?”

“Feel it. Focus on the rhythm. It’s perfect for making love.” He gripped her hips and pressed himself up against her, sliding up and down in time to the music, knowing that she would enjoy the contact as much as he.

She moaned, all laughter gone, and began to push herself toward him.

“Take a deep breath, love,” he whispered.

As she inhaled, he pressed inside her just a little. She closed her eyes and drank in the feeling.

Now that Gabriel had the merest hint of how she would feel around him, his body was tempting him to push in hard and fast. But he knew that any thrusting on his part would tear her. He wanted her. He wanted to be inside her. But he cast his desires aside for the moment and remained perfectly stil , distributing his weight to his elbows on either side of her shoulders, lapping and sucking her breasts.

Now that she had an inkling of what it would be like to be connected to him, to be filled by him, she wanted more. Much, much more. She wanted all of him.

“Careful,” he warned, as she lifted her hips, eager to entice him further.

“The next part will be uncomfortable.”

When she didn’t open her eyes, he placed a hand to her face, running his thumb along her cheek.

“Look at me. Look into my eyes.” His eyes fixed on hers as they fluttered open.

“I’ll give you anything. My body, my soul, take them. Take everything.”

They stared at one another as he pushed in a little deeper, nudging slowly, slowly…

Her eyes widened, and she inhaled roughly as he entered her.

Gabriel immediately froze, steadying her with a hand to her hip, ensuring that neither of them moved.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he crooned. He moved his hand to her face and began stroking her. “That’s the worst of it, I promise. Are you all right?”

He scanned her face eagerly for any signs of tears.

But there weren’t any. It wasn’t as painful as she thought it might be.

It wasn’t completely comfortable, either, but the sensation of having him inside her, the emotions she saw on his face, in his eyes, distracted her from the twinges inside…it was almost too much.

She wanted more. More of him. More of this  and them… she wanted to see him come apart above her and know that they had done this together.

She wanted to find their own beautiful rhythm. The music swirled and rose about them, a tempting pace she was eager to match. She smiled, and he felt her smile travel all the way to his heart, allaying his worries. Without breaking eye contact, he began to move in and out maddeningly slowly.

She blinked rapidly at the feel of Gabriel inside her. Her hands slid down the tensing muscles in his back to his behind, smoothing over his curves and feeling his rhythmic thrusting beneath her touch. He balanced himself on one elbow, tracing sensual patterns up and down her ribs and over her shoulder. She was magnificent: her long, dark hair spread out across the white pillow, her brown eyes full and deep, locked on his, and her mouth, red and open, as she began to groan with every thrust.

Gabriel moved a hand to splay his long fingers across her ass, guiding and moving her, but following a gentle pace. He had waited so long.

She watched his eyebrows come together and his teeth clamp down on his lower lip. They were moving, moving, not fast but with determination, the synchronized connection of two lovers who would not look away.

Julia saw so many emotions in his eyes: love, concern, passion, adoration, affection, erotic desire…He looked at her as if she was the only woman on earth, as if there was nothing else in their private universe but the two of them and the sensual music that floated in the air as Gabriel made love to her, punctuated as it was by the noises escaping their chests.

Julia heard herself moan and pant, casting aside any embarrassment at hearing sex sounds fly unbidden from her throat. Gabriel loved her cries, and they spurred him on, arousing him even more, as if that were possible.

He reached in between them, and as his speed increased, he began to pet her in time to his thrusts. Her tightened grip on his ass indicated her pleasure, as she fought to keep her eyes open.

“Look at me.  I want to see your eyes when you come.” The intensity of his voice matched his expression.

Her eyes grew wide, and she cried out as his fingers sped. Julia tightened like a knot pulled just too tight and suddenly, gloriously fell.

Erotic whispers and murmured adorations filled her ears. He had not cursed. She was far too distracted to focus on this surprising fact. She could not know that he was a vocal lover who groaned and shouted expletives to match his urges and satisfactions. But in this space, sacred or otherwise, his spontaneous utterances had been clean and pure.

“I love you. I love you. I love you,” he chanted above her, in time with his movements.

Julia was enjoying the feeling of intense, unparal eled fulfil ment  as it flowed through her. It was like nothing she had ever experienced before.

And before she could find her way through her orgasm, she felt him push in deeply and cry out her name.

Gabriel collapsed, careful to distribute his weight to his elbows, a wave of emotion coursing through him as he came down from his climax. He held her close, whispering sweet words in Italian, waiting for her to open her eyes.

I love this woman. More than I love my own life…

His beautiful Beatrice was not a virgin anymore. He’d taken — and given — what Dante never had. He prayed silently that she wouldn’t live to regret the decision that brought her to his bed, or her choice of first lover.

He shifted so that he was beside her and reached a finger to trace her chin. Only then did he notice the flush that had spread across her neck and chest and further down. The skin of her inside thighs had bloomed pinkish red, and Gabriel choked back a sick regret.

Oh God, I’ve hurt her.

“Julia?”

Now her eyelids opened. At first her gaze was wide and unfocused.

Then in an instant it shifted. She saw him and the prettiest slow smile played across her lips, exposing her white teeth. She felt like she was a feather coasting on a summer breeze. It was so much better than anything else…

to see and hear him, to touch and taste him and then finally, gloriously, the naked, raw, and rare climax.

He exhaled and kissed her deeply. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she purred.

“I love you. I just want to make you happy, to watch you smile. Forever.”

“You’ll make me cry.” Julia couldn’t continue; she was beyond words.

She kissed him, eyes closed, reveling in the arms of her lover. Her first.

And last.

“Don’t cry, my sweet, sweet girl.” He kissed her eyelids, caressing her cheek with his hand.

Suddenly, he was gone, and Julia found herself alone in the large bed, made larger still and colder by his absence. The aching loss was immediate, but her mind was still slow, numbed as it was by her first taste of this ecstasy. Before she could slide a hand across the sheet to reach for him, he was pressing near her.

“Just let me look, darling.” His whisper was hesitant.

She had no idea what he was asking, so she simply hummed her permission. Then tentative fingers grasped her knees and a gentle hand lifted one, angling and spreading her wide, but not too wide. Now her eyes were open.

Gabriel froze as their eyes made contact. “Just a quick look to make sure you’re all right.”

When he’d attended himself in the washroom, he hadn’t noticed any blood. The realization had relieved him more than he could express. His eyes flickered down, and soon he was sighing, his shoulders relaxing. He pressed something warm and soft between her legs.

She flinched.

“I’m sorry.” Again he pressed the damp cloth to her sensitive flesh. There were a couple of pinkish spots on it, but nothing alarming. In truth, he wished there had been no pink at all, but pink was infinitely better than red.

“I’m fine. You just surprised me.” Julia’s voice shook, but only because she was still floating, and the feeling of him touching her there  had intensi-fied her sensations.

Gabriel picked up a glass of water from the nightstand and placed it in one of her hands, shaking two a little white pills from a medicine bottle into the other.