Italian Stallions (4 page)

G
abe moved stealthy in behind Gianna as she hurried down the last stairway, then into the open vestibule of Roberto’s. She pushed the doors open and darted outside before one of the doormen could get to it. Gabe followed, ducking behind a concrete pillar as she quickly turned, looking wide-eyed and panicked over her shoulder to see if she were being followed. He caught sight of her a minute later as she ducked into the Kat’s Meow, a seedy topless lounge.

“Jesus Christ,” he muttered as he hurried in behind her. For a Wednesday night, the place was quiet. But he had no doubt that in a few hours, the shrouded cubicles where patrons could have “privacy” would be full to busting. Long before his Fed days, he’d worked the streets of San Francisco, vice to be exact. He was all too familiar with the goings-on in the Tenderloin.

As he pushed open the black furry doors to the club, he heard a familiar voice behind him. “Mario, she went his way!”

Gabe kept his back to the street and stiffened at the other man’s words. “I swear to God, Eddy, if I don’t get my hands on that girl tonight, I might have to break a few heads.”

“You might, coz I’m gonna beat you to her.”

Gabe knew who the two thugs were, and he knew who they were talking about. If there wasn’t so much at stake, he’d turn around and use those bastards’ heads as bowling balls. Gabe pushed into the darkened vestibule of the Kat’s Meow. Sleazy music infiltrated the equally sleazy lounge area. He didn’t have to look far to find Gianna. She sat at the far end of the chrome and black leather bar. She looked like a rare gem in a dime-store jewelry case. Gabe sauntered to the opposite side where he would have an unobstructed view of her profile and contemplated his next move.

Gianna tried to smile at the weasel-looking bartender. Instead she winced. She’d run from Tucci like a ninny! She’d acted like a ninny! She
was
a ninny! Her cheeks flushed warm in shame. She didn’t eat guys like Tucci for breakfast—they ate her!

Tressie would be so disappointed. Lord knows she was with herself. Was this to be her life? Talk the talk but when it came time to walk the walk turn tail and run as fast as she could to the next safe hole and jump in and hope she wasn’t followed?

She let out a long exasperated sigh. Well, she started out okay, the seduction part came a little too natural, but she didn’t fight it. She liked it, in spite of the lech she practiced on. From the moment she saw herself in the mirror after the transformation, she not only acted different, she
felt
different. She would have hung in there if the news of her father’s gambling hadn’t blindsided her. Or the fact that he owed a bundle to the dirty don. But what rattled her most was the man’s sexual persistence. Her sudden sex-kitten act had been played out too well. Tucci’s ardent response at the door terrified her. His proposition disgusted her.

She would decide on who got her cherry—not some dirty don!

Gianna rolled eyes. Who was she kidding? She was doomed to live the life of a spinster. She’d look like Lily Tomlin, with the hair net, long dress coat, and super thick brown knee-highs.

“What’ll it be, toots?” the bartender asked. Gianna looked up, so lost in her thoughts she didn’t remember where she was. She looked around the room and swallowed hard. Another one of
those
places. The topless cocktail waitresses pranced in and out of the lounge into what was the stage area, as if showing their breasts was as common as wearing a hat. Her gaze continued around the dark leopard-spotted room and abruptly stopped when they clashed with dark eyes at the other end of the bar. A slow warmth filled her, and her belly did a slow roll. The guy staring back at her with the intensity of tiger on a deer caused her mouth to go dry. He was big, dark, and intense. He raised his glass in a subtle salute, then drained it.

“Toots?” the bartender prodded.

Gianna dragged her eyes from the man at the end of the bar and said, “A glass of Chianti, please.”

“Chianti? This ain’t Scoma’s.”

“Ummm.” Gianna looked down the bar to the dark-haired man and nodded. “I’d like one of those.”

“You want him on the rocks?”

Gianna smiled, suddenly feeling very bold. “No, I’d prefer him straight up.”

As the bartender moved down to the end of the bar, Gianna suddenly felt foolish. A man like that would never be interested in a girl like her. Suddenly she found her lap more interesting than her surroundings.

“I prefer my drinks straight up as well.”

Warm breath assaulted the back of her neck, and Gianna could swear every hair on her body raised in awareness. Long thick arms, one on each side of her, circled her.

Swallowing hard and feeling extremely daring, Gianna turned on the barstool and came face-to-face with the man from the end of the bar. His dark intensity startled her; his toxic sensuality enveloped her, and for the first time in her life, she squirmed in her seat over a man. He smiled and she nearly swooned. He slipped a big arm around her waist and pulled her against his chest. Her nipples puckered, her breasts thickened, and she had the unadulterated urge to rub against him.

“Hello, gorgeous,” he softly said. His dark chocolate-colored eyes scanned her face. From her eyebrows to her eyes to her nose and then her lips. Slowly he lifted his eyes back to hers. “You have amazing lips.” Gianna licked said lips. The man groaned. “Baby, you have no idea how sexy that looked.”

Every cell in her body warmed. She closed her eyes and inhaled. He smelled good. Clean. Like soap and lemons and spice.

“You smell really good,” she whispered, opening her eyes to his hot gaze. Not sure what to say or do next, she knew what she wanted to do, and the thought shocked her. Just ten minutes ago, Gianna had been sickened by Tucci’s advances, and here she was in a two-bit strip joint with a stranger who had her so hot and bothered that if he let go of her, she’d puddle onto the floor.

“Let’s get a booth over here,” he cajoled. Taking her hand into his big warm one, he pulled her along to the booth farthest from everyone and slid her along the smooth vinyl. His body slipped in beside her.

He leaned into her and softly asked, “What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?”

“What’s a bad boy like you doing in a place like this?” He grinned like a wolf, and Gianna suddenly had an urge to be bitten. Hard.

Nervousness skittered through Gianna’s body, warming her in a tingly way that was anything but unpleasant. The big man sitting so close to her made her feel things she wasn’t aware she was capable of feeling. His big dark eyes were hooded and framed by thick black lashes. When he smiled, as he did now, a dimple in his right cheek deepened. He reminded her of a very Italian Magnum PI.

“My name is Gabriel. What’s yours?”

His thick husky voice made her squirm in her seat. “Um…I…my name is Gianna.”

He grinned deeper, revealing big straight white teeth. The vision of them laving her nipple shocked her. She gasped and sat back, wide-eyed. He moved in closer. In a slow unhurried motion he traced a big finger across her collarbone. “Don’t be afraid of me, Gianna. I only bite if you want me to.”

Her heart hammered against her chest, and to her utter shock and amazement, his hand slid down to rest just above the swell of her breasts, his little finger resting on the plump rise. “Your heart is beating like a drum.”

She opened her mouth to tell him that she was shocked by his boldness and more so by her reaction to him. Never had a man touched her as he did, and, well, she liked it. The words failed her when he touched his fingertip to her bottom lip. “Your lips are soft.”

Were his? He moved in closer, his warm breath caressing her skin. Her breasts trembled, and she felt herself begin to melt. “Can I kiss them?” he softly asked. Completely under his spell, she nodded.

His lips touched hers, and a hot shot of heat speared right between her legs. Like an electric fizz, her body jolted. Gianna closed her eyes and leaned into him. He tasted like hot sex and aged scotch. Gabe groaned and slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her hard against his chest. His lips parted, his tongue swirled along her mouth, and his kiss deepened. Gianna didn’t know what to do. Quickly she decided she’d let his experience guide her. And Gianna was not disappointed. Gabe swirled his tongue along her lips, his teeth nibbled her bottom lip. His warmth, his scent, his masculinity combined into a heady cocktail. She sighed, loosening against his hard warmth, wanting him to teach her more.

Ever the willing student, tentatively, she touched his tongue with hers and angled her head to get more of him. She grabbed his shoulders, and in a sudden swell of desire, Gianna pushed him back against the padded back of the booth seat, and nearly climbed in his lap.

She felt Gabe grin beneath her lips and he tightened his arms around her. Gianna had a fleeting feeling of embarrassment, but her desire to learn more, to feel more, to do more, overrode it. Gabriel turned her on, and for one living in the dark for so long, she was desirous with the need for light.

Gabe’s hand slid around her waist to her breasts, his big hands softly caressing her. Her nipples were so hard and tight, she had the unexpected urge to pull down her bra and shove them in his face, demanding he kiss them like he kissed her lips.

Reading her mind, Gabe trailed his lips to her chin, then to her throat. Gianna cried out when he pressed his mouth to her nipple, only fabric separating them. Slick warmth infused her thighs. She wanted more. Her hands moved across the hard planes of his chest. Gabe pressed back warm and hard.

“Touch me harder,” Gianna begged.

He’d awoken Sleeping Beauty and Gabe obliged. He wanted to lose himself deep between her thighs. To feel the warmth of her bare skin against his. He wanted to take a nipple into his mouth and lick and suck it to the roof of his mouth until she screamed for him to stop. He slid his hands up to the top button of her sweater and deftly unbuttoned several. Her full luscious breasts heaved beneath his hands and he squeezed. She moaned and thrust harder into his hands. He slid a finger beneath one bra strap and slipped it down her shoulder. Then the other one. The only thing holding the bra in place was the hardened tips of her nipples. Her skin was creamy smooth and flushed in excitement. He looked into her deep hazel eyes and smiled. She was like a child in a candy store for the first time in her life. A quick stab of guilt raced across his consciousness. It was quickly replaced with two things—his libido and his sense of getting the job done. And while he would never do Gianna in a place like this, or any place for that matter, he wasn’t above some serious petting to find out what Tucci wanted with her. He had no doubt that whatever it was, it was illegal and a means to the dirty don’s end.

So, he felt no guilt. Not really. It wasn’t like he was going to pop her cherry.

“Gianna, you have beautiful breasts,” he breathed as he drew down her bra, exposing the cherry-colored nipples. He traced a fingertip across each of them. The skin pebbled, and he felt Gianna tremble in his hands. He lowered his head to one and licked the tip, and she reared against him. With his hands, he slid her across his lap so she was now straddling him with her knees on the seat. He took her nipple into his mouth and slowly sucked while his other hand palmed and caressed the other. Gianna threw her head back, and her long hair cascaded around her shoulders, her hips gently thrust forward, her soft perfume intensified in the warm confines of the booth. His dick hurt it was so full, and he knew that unless she was numb, she could feel the length of him against her panties.

Gianna held on to his shoulders and moaned, thrusting her breasts into his face. “Gabe,” she breathed hard, “I’ve never felt like this before.”

Her innocent confession stopped him cold. Guilt washed across him, as effective as a bucket of cold water. He stiffened. And stopped his assault.

“No, don’t stop,” she begged.

“Gianna,” he softly said.

“No! Don’t say no to me. Not tonight!”

Gabe looked at her moist eyes. He brushed a strand of hair from her cheek and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Gianna, this isn’t the place—”

“I don’t care!” She pushed his head into her breasts, and Gabe, being a man, could not resist. He gave in to her demands but controlled the situation.

He licked and kissed her breasts, his hands molding to her ass, his fingers digging into her luscious skin. His dick swelled again, and if she kept moving against him the way she was doing, he was going to make a mess on them both.

“Gianna,” he said, caressing her ass and licking a taut nipple. “Why are you here?”

“I was looking for you,” she breathlessly said.

“Baby, I’ve been looking for you all my life.”

Gianna unbuttoned his shirt and shoved it wide open, her hot hands caressing his equally hot skin. “I like the way you feel,” she said, then kissed him and rose up. With her legs spread on either side of him, her skirt was hiked up her thighs, and her warm musky scent drifted to his nostrils. Gabe groaned and pulled her harder against him. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to take her right there. When her hand reached down to his crotch and pressed his raging erection, Gabe about came on the spot. For one who supposedly was inexperienced, Gianna Cipriani was one aggressive girl. She grabbed his hand and put it on her thigh. Then proceeded to thrust her hips against him. She had yet to sit back down in his lap. Instead, she spread her thighs wider. He couldn’t resist her invitation. His hand slid up her thigh, her skin warm and smooth like velvet. When the tip of his finger touched her damp pantie Gianna flinched. Her thighs tightened, and he felt her body go rigid. He didn’t move. He pulled his head back and looked into her hooded eyes. He saw fear, excitement, and trepidation.

“It’s your call, Gianna,” Gabe said. She closed her eyes and threw her head back.

Her tits were in his face, her ass in his hands, and her pussy wept for him to touch. When she failed to give him the green light or even the red light, Gabe pressed his lips to a nipple. “You have the breasts of a goddess, Gianna.”