Italian Stallions (5 page)

She moaned.

His lips suckled, his teeth nibbled, his hips rocked. “Your skin is like warm velvet.”

Gianna closed her eyes and sighed. His hand on her thigh moved closer to her core, and when he traced a finger along the satin of the panties shielding her pussy lips, she trembled. But still she gave him no indication of how far he could go. And he wanted to go all the way. If she unzipped him, all he had to do was slide the thong she wore aside and fill her to the hilt. The image of that action caused Gabe to surge against her. He pulled her down to him and ground against her dampness. It was the last straw for Gianna.

She pressed her hand to his and cried out. Her hips undulated, and moistness filled his hand. Gianna’s eyes flew open in shock and she gasped. “Take me here, Gabe.”

“Jesus, Gianna,” he whispered. Gabe’s hard-on battled with his shaky sense of propriety. He couldn’t have sex with her. No penetration. He would
not
cross that line. But he could do the next best thing.

Gabe slid a big finger between her panties and her slick wet folds. Gianna nearly died of sheer sensory overload. Her entire body stiffened. Never had she thought another human could make her body feel like it did at this moment. She pressed harder against his hand. She wanted penetration. But his finger only moved along her outer lips. When he slid a fingertip over her hardened clitoris, Gianna cried out. Her wetness lubricated his finger, and in a slow swirling cadence, Gabe moved his finger around her stiff clitoris. His lips latched on to a nipple, and his teeth laved her. His other hand pressed against her right butt cheek, pressing her hard against him. Gianna’s hand locked onto his shoulders. She squeezed her eyes closed and bit her bottom lip, pressing into him harder, spreading herself wider, hoping, praying he would slip a long thick finger into her.

The fact that she was engaging in a sexual act with a complete stranger didn’t faze her in the least. What shocked her more was how good it felt. She was done playing the virgin act. She wanted to live and feel alive, and Gabe was the man to take her there.

Even though he didn’t enter her, Gabe’s hand wreaked havoc with her body. He quickened his motions around her clit. On her knees, she stiffened as he moved back and forth, the slick sound of her juices on his hand heating her more. She arched her back, as a deep hard swell of sensation coiled tightly inside of her. She knew when it unleashed, the sheer force of it would make her want more. And more after that.

T
wo facts slammed hard into Gianna’s conscious. One, she had never felt so lit up in her life, and second, she was allowing a complete stranger, albeit a very handsome, yummy-smelling one, to touch her in places only she had touched herself. And with that realization, she added a third fact: She wasn’t ashamed! Not really.

Her breasts ached, her womb ached. Like a fever, her body ached. She could not sit still. But realization filtered into the fog of her sexual haze. He was a stranger. A stranger with his hands in her pants.

“Gabe, please,” she whispered against his hot lips.

“Tell me what you want,” Gabe said, his lips trailing to her chin, then her neck, then her collarbone. “Anything,” he breathed just as he latched on to a very hard, very excited nipple.

Gianna moaned and rolled her head back, pressing hard against him. Just another minute. It couldn’t hurt….

“I want to see you after tonight,” Gabe said against her breath.

If it were possible, more excitement tore through her body. She’d never been asked out by a man like this before. She melted into him. How ironic, she thought. It took her father’s death for her to come alive. A sudden rush of guilt infused her and reality began to seriously infiltrate the sexual haze. “I…I can’t. I don’t know you.”

Gabe chuckled and pulled back enough to look at her. He slid his fingers from between her legs. She felt her cheeks warm. “I think we’re a bit beyond the acquaintance stage.” His left hand squeezed her thigh, but he did not demonstrate to her just how acquainted they were. She liked that. He was sexy as all get out, but he didn’t force himself on her. Indeed, she had practically jumped him. Gianna pushed off of his lap and suddenly felt very naïve and very foolish. She was not the sexy siren she pretended to be.
If
she saw him again, he’d see past the expertly applied makeup and borrowed clothes and see her for the fake she was. Panic rose, as well as sudden humiliation. Who was she trying to kid? She was Gianna “Madonna” Cipriani. She was too set in her ways to change now. And if she chose to later on? It would be on her terms and at a much slower pace. Gianna looked hard at Gabe. He was the kind of guy who had trophy girlfriends. Not good Catholic girls.

“I…um…I made a mistake. I need to go.” Gianna literally climbed over his lap to get away. As she did, her wrist snagged on his shirt. Her bracelet! She tugged it, freeing herself, then moved as quickly as she could away from him.

A shiver of panic tore through her as realization settled in. Not only had she nearly had sex with a stranger, but she had also been given an ultimatum by Tucci. An ultimatum she could not deliver even if she wanted to.

Gianna almost cried as a cab pulled up in front of her like a magic coach sweeping her away from a Prince Charming who would find out Cinderella was really an imposter. And one with a price on her head to boot.

Gianna looked over her shoulder to see Gabe running from the club, looking both ways for her. She ducked and said, “Lombard and Columbus.”

Gabe stood at the curb and watched the yellow cab hurl itself into the brisk traffic. He brought his right hand up and looked at the dangling gold charm bracelet. A soft whiff of musky scent swirled around his nose. Gianna’s sexy applied scent mingled with her natural scent. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. His blood quickened and he smiled. She had turned out to be a very nice unexpected perk. He opened his eyes again just in time to see a black town car take off in the same direction as the cab.

“Fuck!” he muttered. On the run to his car, he pulled his cell phone out and called Gordo. “If you’re anywhere near Ciao Bella, hightail your ass over there and look like a drunk hanging out at the back entrance. Our girl is being hunted. I’ll be there in ten.”

“I’m around the corner at Lucia’s.”

Gabe hopped into his cover car, a sweet little Carerra. Compliments of Search and Seizure. Not his natural style, but for a hot-shot real estate developer, it worked.

Gabe downshifted, taking the corner of O’Farrell and Mission at forty-five miles per hour. His urgency to get to Gianna disturbed him. Not that he wouldn’t break his ass to save any victim, but he realized there was more to it with his Cinderella. In the time between seeing her at the cemetery and her bold moves on him at the Kat’s Meow, she had made an emotional impression on him. She was that fresh breath of air in a stale bar. A clean slate. Normal, natural, and uncomplicated.

His life was a quagmire of complications. From his parents’ acrimonious divorce when he was twelve to his own less-than-civil divorce five years ago, topped by the undercover work these last few years. He’d lost count of how many IAs he’d managed to back out of. At thirty-five, he was tired of all the bullshit of constantly being on, of the lies and the sleight of hand.

He banked the next corner at fifty-five and downshifted. He couldn’t help the grin that broke out across his face. The power of the sports car vibrating beneath him coupled with the sensitive handling and the remnant of the hard-on induced by Gianna Cipriani warmed his entire being. He loved the rush, the feeling of excitement, the not knowing what was hiding around the next corner. He didn’t fool himself; as much as he disliked some things about undercover work, there was more of it he loved.

Gabe pulled up on the opposite side of Lombard, across the street from Ciao Bella just as Gianna inserted the key into the gate leading along the side of the restaurant and back to the door leading to the kitchen and what he knew was a stairway up to her apartment. Two big shadows followed her and Gordo was nowhere in sight.

Gabe slammed the car door shut and rushed across the street to grab the wrought-iron gate as it swung closed. The lock clicked. Damn it! Adrenaline shot through him. When he heard Gianna scream, he was over the spike-tipped gate like a billy goat over a boulder.

The harsh glare of the porch light clearly illuminated Dumb and Dumber, and a terrified Gianna Cipriani plastered against her front door holding her key in front of her like a dagger. Gabe rushed up behind the two gorillas, butted their heads together, and shoved the six hundred pounds of pasta-fed flesh into the door.

He let go and the Roman columns toppled.

Without a word, he grabbed the key from Gianna and inserted it into the door. He pushed her through as it opened, then shut and locked it. He heard the gate rattle and a loud
whoosh
as a body tumbled over it. Gordo, no doubt. He’d figure out soon enough that Gabe had beat him to the punch again.

Gabe turned to a shaking Gianna. Wide-eyed, she stared up at him. He pulled her into the circle of his arms and smoothed her hair. “You’re okay, Gianna. Those guys won’t bother you anymore tonight.”

She pulled slightly away shaking her head and looked up at him. “How did you—?”

He smiled and pulled her tighter against him, feeling more for this girl than just a cop protecting a victim of what would have been a really ugly crime. Gianna’s innocence was refreshing, and in his tainted world, he had the overwhelming urge to nurture it.

“You left so fast, I wanted to get your number. I saw those two guys go after you and, well”—he looked down at her and smiled again, then said in a goombah voice—“a guy’s gotta do what a guy’s gotta do.” He shrugged his shoulders and rolled his head. “You know what I mean?”

Gianna laughed and pulled away. “I should be really mad at you for following me. I…I didn’t want you to know where I live.”

Gabe continued to smile down at her. Her warm scent encompassed him, keeping his senses on high alert. “Yeah, well, sorry about that, but now that I know, whatcha gonna do about it?”

Gianna’s body heated up in his presence. The adrenaline already in her system continued to spike. She felt safe in this big man’s arms. She leaned into him and decided she could just this once show him her gratitude. On tiptoes, she moved up against him. Slipping her hands around his neck, she brought his lips down to hers. “This is what I’m gonna do about it.”

What began as a simple kiss quickly turned into a firestorm of passion.

His lips were warm, they were firm and they fit hers perfectly. For the second time that night Gianna found herself responding with years of pent up passion to this virtual stranger. Gabe pulled her into him and maneuvered her up against the nearest wall. Gianna lit up like a Roman candle. Her previous terror had long since evaporated, to be replaced with white-hot desire. She felt more than grateful to this stranger for saving her from what would have surely been a brutal sexual attack. Instead, she had an entirely different sexual attack on her mind.

Gabe’s hands and lips were everywhere—her breasts, her waist, beneath her skirt on the hot flesh of her thigh. He moved his knee between her knees and parted them. In the club, he had only pressed against her; now his fingers gently probed the moist fabric of her panties, the tip of one pressing slightly into her. Gianna arched and hissed in a deep breath. Her thighs parted more; her hips moved in a slow sensual undulation against him, pushing her hot wetness down and around his finger. His thick erection pushed hard and insistant between them. Gabe’s big hand slid around to her buttocks and squeezed, lifting her from the floor. Gianna wrapped her right leg around his thigh and pressed harder into him. When he slid a finger into her, she caught her breath and closed her eyes. “Oh, God, Gabe, that feels so good,” she moaned.

Gabe froze. Her hot sweet muscles clamped desperately around his finger. His dick flinched. God she felt so damn good. So innocent and this situation was getting away from him. He didn’t mean for it to go this far. Her hand slid boldly over his erection. He closed his eyes and grit his teeth. Jesus Christ. “Gianna, don’t. I’m going to come all over us both.”

“I have a towel,” she offered.

He wrangled his libido into a semblance of order and, he pulled back from her, looking hard into her eyes. His belly did a slow roll. Raw innocent desire radiated from her dark eyes. He wanted to take her upstairs to her bedroom and make love to her all night long. But he couldn’t. He’d managed to get himself in hot water once. It nearly cost him his job. “Gianna, I—”

Her face clouded with sudden embarrassment. He felt her ardor cool and her body tensed. As much as he wanted things to cool off, he was disappointed. She pushed his hand from her and slipped out of his arms, rearranging her mussed clothes and hair. “I’m sorry. That’s twice I forced myself on you tonight.” She walked to the door and peeked out the window, then unlocked the dead bolt. Head down, she pulled open the door. “Thank you for helping me tonight.”

Gabe stood beside her, resting his hand on hers. “Gianna, if you hadn’t been so bold, you would have been fighting me off.”

She looked up at him and smiled. “That’s nice of you to say.” She pulled her hand from the knob and stepped back. “Good night.”

He stepped through the threshold, his heart not in it. He reached out to touch her, but she stepped away. In the glow of the porch light, he was sure he saw the twinkle of a tear. He felt like a pile of shit. “Gianna—”

He was answered with the door closed firmly in his face.

Shit! Not only had he managed to make her think he wasn’t into her, but he’d also managed to make it so she wanted nothing to do with him. How the hell was he going to stick close if she was water to his oil?

Gianna felt like a fool. A complete and utter fool! What guy turned down what she was offering? Either a gay one or one who was not into her at all. Heat infused her cheeks, shame infused her heart and sexual frustration trumped them both. Was she destined to be a virgin? “Madonna?”

She ran up the narrow stairway to her apartment, double locked the doors, and strode directly into her father’s bedroom and pushed up the mattress. His handgun. She hadn’t a clue how to use it, but if one of those thugs came back, hopefully she’d learn real quick or she’d scare them away. Or maybe, she’d use it on Gabe!

For a long moment Gianna concentrated on calming herself down and tamping her rabid libido.

There was more at stake then losing her cherry. She laughed harshly. Her cherry! It’s what Tucci wanted and was willing to pay for it. Never! After what Gabe had made her feel, there was no way that even if she had considered Tucci’s proposition, which she had not, she would allow him to touch her. Not after she knew how it was supposed to be. Her body, still warm from Gabe’s touch, warmed hotter. He wasn’t so easy to shake.

She strode into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Despite the lack of lipstick, thanks to Gabe, and her subtle makeup, she looked the same. Yes, her hair was cut more stylishly, and her eyebrows had the perfect arch of a
Vogue
model and she’d acted like a sex-starved loser. No wonder Gabe bolted twice. Maybe if she kept up the makeup and bought some new clothes, she could gradually work her way into the butterfly Tressie had created. Maybe a guy like Gabe would come around.

Gianna washed her face and crawled into bed, the gun within reach on her nightstand. For long minutes different emotions swirled in her head. She stared at the shadows on the ceiling, listening to the distant rumble of traffic. She closed her eyes and inhaled, and could not help smelling Gabe’s lingering scent on her. It smelled good. Potent. Her skin warmed, her nipples tingled, and heat speared between her thighs moistening her. Biting her bottom lip, Gianna moved her hand down her belly and over the flannel fabric of her nightgown. Slowly she hiked up the fabric.

When she touched the moist spot between her thighs, she gasped. And moved her legs farther apart. She pushed the covers off and lay exposed from the waist down. She pressed her fingertips to her mound and caught her breath again. Sharp spears of desire pierced her skin, heating her hotter. She pressed her other hand to her right breast and squeezed. Her back arched and her hips rose against her hand.

Closing her eyes tighter, Gianna pressed a finger between her slick folds. She was so wet, so warm, so aroused. A soft cry escaped. She wanted Gabe’s hand there, not hers. She wanted more of him than his finger. She wanted to feel him inside of her. She wanted wild, wanton, sweaty sex with him. She pressed her finger deeper into herself and moved against the pressure. Her tiny nub jutted out from its hood, demanding satisfaction.