Hugging. Me.
I threw my hands up in the air, palms out so Gabe wouldn’t think I was encouraging this act of affection. I didn’t hug. Hugging to me led to sex and this female did not belong to me so I couldn’t make the connection. Gabe thought it was fucking hilarious and the slight quirking of his lips turned into a full-blown grin. I wanted to punch him in his stupid happy face.
“Oh I’m so glad,” Angel said into my shirt, giving me another squeeze before releasing me and stepping back. “You guys have been tiptoeing around each other for so long, I mean the sexual tension has been so obvious.” Angel sat back down in her chair, crossed her legs and clapped her hands over her knees, looking for all intents and purposes like the cat that swallowed a canary. Satisfied. “I mean, Gabe and I were wondering how long it was going to take for you two to just get it over with and have sex, but you actually like her. Like you like her, like her.”
What the hell was wrong with these people?
“Look I’m really glad you two are having such a good time with this, but the danger is real, and I need to find Jeanette and talk to her. Find out more information so we can proceed. If she’s not here where would she be?”
“She took off early because she was pretty upset this morning.”
“Yeah,” Gabe said, adding on to Angel’s statement. “Her car was loaded for bear, like she was going to skip town. We kind of had words.” Gabe’s face lost all color and I wondered just what words they had to have him looking so miserable.
“So what makes you think she is still around?” Shit, if she was a runner there was no telling which direction she would go in. I needed to get to her early. We could work this out if she would let me help her. The thought of Jeanette being gone, of not being in the office to give me a hard time caused my chest to tighten painfully. I didn’t like it. She shouldn’t have to go any-fucking-where.
“I’ll tell you in a second,” said Gabe, pulling out his cell and tapping away at it with a purpose. Damn that guy was fast when he wanted to be.
“What are you doing?” Angel beat me to it and asked the question we both wanted to know the answer to.
“Hm? Oh, all the later model cars come with some form of satellite tracking as a security feature in case of accident or if the car is stolen. I’m just pinging her car to see where she went.”
“You are pinging her?”
“Yeah, uh huh,” he answered without looking up, still swiping around on his phone.
“Why do you have access to that on your phone?” I mean, it was a legit question I thought. Angel nodded at my question.
“When she bought the car, I hacked it.” So matter of fact. Gabe had no idea how creepy stalker that sounded to the other two occupants in the room. One of whom he was currently in a romantic relationship with.
“You hacked the satellite tracking on her car…does she know this?” Angel asked slowly, like she was kind of afraid of what his answer would be.
“Yes I did, and no she doesn’t. You guys, Jeanette lives in a constant state of fear. She won’t give me any information to help keep her safe and alleviate that fear. It’s not like I ping her every time she leaves the office, you weirdos, but if something were to happen…”
I got it. She didn’t want to get him involved but Gabe did what he wanted.
Savior complex.
“She’s at home,” Gabe visibly relaxed at this revelation, like even though she promised she was going home, he was still scared that she might have taken off. I was going to have to tread carefully with her, my little smart-mouthed rabbit.
“Okay I’m heading over there right now. I’m going to try to work something out with her but it’s going to be sketchy. This guy, this David Ashley, he was really intense. I may have alluded to having a closer relationship with Jeanette than I actually have, to excuse the reason I was with her at the auction. The guy kept his cool, but I swear for a minute he looked like he was going to shoot me where I stood just for touching her. I’m telling you, it’s just a feeling. He puts on a good show, but the guy isn’t right in the head.”
Gabe nodded his head in agreement. “What the hell kind of cop goes to the criminal underground for a missing person? The whole thing sounds sketchy.”
“Oh I agree,” I added. “Incredibly sketchy. The guy wanted to rent some muscle to help him bag her if she’s the person he’s looking for. I’m pretty sure he’s already made up his mind, but because Chaz is a control freak, and not really interested in getting on your money’s bad side, Gabe, he kind of has the guy on a short leash while he’s in Chaz’s territory. I wouldn’t put it past this guy to make a quick move without waiting for any of us though.”
Shit, this was going to be hard. I needed to get to Jeanette ASAP. I made a move to go for the door, but Angel stopped me. “Hold on for just a second. I have an idea.”
She may have been an amateur, but it turns out, she was worth listening to.
9
Jeanette
The doorbell rang a third time. I stood there, frozen in my dining slash weight room, unable to make a move for the door. It wasn’t until my phone rang on the table a few feet away that I was able to run and answer it, and even then it was only to silence the noise so whoever was at the door wouldn’t realize there was someone home.
“I’m going to need you to answer the door. And when you do, I need you to not act surprised, or pissed, or any of those other emotions you like to throw at me on any given day. I need you to act happy to see me.”
Dino? What was he doing here? Cautiously I opened the door and smiled, even though I wasn’t sure what I was smiling about. He was a vision of masculinity as per the norm. His eyes though, they were intense, blazing with golden fire and something else, urgency?
“Don’t say anything, don’t look around and for God’s sake don’t push me away. I need you to roll with it, just kiss me back.”
I didn’t even have time to think, wait what, before he swooped in and captured my mouth with his, lips pressing against mine while his busy tongue urged them open. Spearmint and sugar, that was the taste he left in my mouth as one hand snaked behind my back, touching bare skin because I had been planning on hitting the heavy bag in just my sports bra and leggings. Somehow though, I felt completely exposed as he walked me back into my apartment. He didn’t stop kissing me even after I heard the door shut and the lock click. I lost myself completely in his searching mouth and didn’t even think to question him until I heard the distinctive sound of zipper teeth and broke apart just in time to swat his hand right before he reached the halfway point of getting my bra undone.
“What the hell are you doing?” I was panting but I was hoping he would think it was anger and not because I had been really into what he’d been doing.
Because I had been.
Into it.
That smug asshole was completely composed as he leaned against my closed front door and looked down at me through hooded eyes. “I kind of wanted to see how far you would let me go,” he said with a grin. Then a wistful sigh as he added, “Not far enough but I’ll take it.”
More shaken by that kiss than I wanted to admit, I didn’t want to make a bigger deal of it than I needed to because inside my body was on fire. I had thought about what it would be like to kiss Dino, dreamed about it even, but it didn’t even come close to mimicking the real thing. That fresh minty taste that lingered in my mouth. I licked my lips without thinking about it, trying to recapture the flavor and I bit my lip when I realized what I had done. Dino saw though, his eyes followed my every move.
“I thought you were doing some secret agent shit, you horse’s ass,” I said before I swatted him in the shoulder. Mostly to break the tension of the moment but also kind of to get him to stop looking at my mouth like he wanted to try for round two. His eyes traveled lower and I realized that I was still standing about two inches in front of him with my sports bra half unzipped and I quickly stepped away from him. He stayed in his leaning position against the
door though. The position was relaxed but there was something about him that screamed tension, as every muscle in his body was flexed and ready to explode. His light brown eyes still raged with intensity and I wondered again, not for the last time I was sure, what the hell he was doing here.
“Dino. What is with the act? Who are you right now?” I might have been imagining the flash of pain that crossed his face, it was there and gone so quickly, but then the normal mocking grin was back, and he was moving away from the door and further into my condo, even though I had not invited him to do so.
“You know, it’s funny, Jeanette, normally you call me a knee-breaking thug, or a wiseguy or some mean-spirited shit like that.” Dino wandered through the open floor plan of my condo, peeking into the few small rooms before eyeing the heavy bag on the frame in my dining room and grinning in appreciation. “But today, you said secret agent shit. Is your opinion of me changing?”
No, my opinion of him wasn’t changing, he just kissed me stupid and in my addled state I forgot about our normal pick - until one of us is emotionally bleeding -relationship. There was something weird about him right now, I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was just…off. Was I actually worried about Dino? Maybe.
“Dino, I know you are more than what you claim to be. You forget I’ve worked with you and Gabe before. I know you have a history with the FBI. I may not know what it is, but you don’t just flip your middle finger to the government payroll to work small time for a hood like Chaz Malone. It’s below your pay grade. I just give you a hard time because you give me a hard time, and you always do whatever the hell you want to do anyhow. I wish I had that kind of freedom.”
I’m not sure what exact part of what I said tripped his trigger, but Dino looked sad for the first time in all the years that I had made his acquaintance, and I felt a deep sense of grief over the loss of his cocky smile. But it was fleeting. His frown and my grief, because suddenly Dino wasn’t standing next to the heavy bag anymore, he was approximately one inch in front of me and I found myself with my back and legs pressed against the wall with nowhere to go.
I should have been terrified. If it had been anyone else, they would have had my knee in their groin and the heel of my hand firmly shoved up under their chin with every ounce of strength I possessed because that is what I had been training for the last few years for. That I wouldn’t let anyone ever put me against a wall or have that kind of power over me again. If it had been anyone else they would have been howling in pain on the ground, but this wasn’t anyone else. This was Dino, and damn it if I didn’t want him to come just a little bit closer.
He didn’t though. Just stayed that one inch in front of me, looking down with that sexy as sin half smirk that never failed to get my panties damp even though I always acted like I hated it. I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted to trace the outline of those way too sensual full lips with my tongue and taste that spearmint and sugar again. I was fire, he was ice. I wanted to make some steam.
“The part of me that is always in character wants to tell you that I wish you would let me give you a hard time, Jeanette, but I don’t feel like being funny right now. I don’t get to do what I want. Ever. If I had that kind of freedom I would have been buried inside of you already. I would have imprinted the feel of your smart mouth on mine into my brain to remember for always, I would have acted on the urge that I have had so many times to rip off those snobby little business suits you wear and run my hands over every inch of skin that’s under it. I have held myself back from doing all those things, Jeanette, because I have to, and I hate it, and just once I wish I could let go and have something that I want for a change.”
I was trying to remember all the reasons why I wasn’t allowed to touch Dino but fuck me I couldn’t think of a single one. All I could think of was that his body was right in front of mine, and he had just admitted to wanting me – me – and the amount of self-control he had to exert to keep from touching me.
Fuck self-control.
The top of his plain black button-down dress shirt was undone, like it always was. And like always I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the smooth tan skin of his neck. How just a bit of his collarbone was showing, and my hand was there before I could blink, or tell myself not to do it. My fingertips just barely touching what was showing through that open collar, skimming the surface. Light touches. Feather touches. Just a little.
Dino froze. Every part of him so still the air around our bodies didn’t even move. I didn’t want him still. I wanted him to touch me back but the only part of him moving was his Adam’s apple while he swallowed down something, probably his desire. Because he did desire me, I knew that, he had just said as much. So why was he not fucking touching me?
“Dino,” I whispered, afraid to break whatever moment we were having. “If you are waiting for some kind of permission, this is it. There are a thousand reasons why I shouldn’t be doing this with you, and I want to be able to tell you every one and I can’t. But if you want to have me in any kind of capacity, I’m giving myself to you now. Whatever you want, take it, because this moment may be all that we have.” I wasn’t going to cry, but it would have been appropriate if I did. The lies, this moment, everything I said was true. At a moment’s notice I might have to run, and I would never see him again. There was something about Dino’s urgency that made me ache, and suddenly there was nothing more important in the entire universe than getting his hands on me. I would need this good memory, I just knew it.
“I’m afraid if I kiss you, and you find out my secrets, you will never let me touch you again.” Both of his hands were on the wall above my head, like he needed to brace them there to keep from putting them on me. His head bowed low over mine, so low I could feel his breath on my forehead and in my hair.
“Then touch me and keep your secrets,” I whispered, before I took matters into my own hands, and my feathery touches turned more impatient as I skimmed the front of his shirt and pulled, as hard as I could. The satisfying pop of buttons spurred me on, because I only got it half undone, but one more tug and he was free of the confines of that piece of cloth, and I was able to run my hands up under his white undershirt, feeling the smoothness of the skin underneath.
I’d missed my workout. I had energy to spare.
It was like the thread of his self-control had been connected to the buttons of his shirt, because once I ripped that off of him he was galvanized into action, taking my mouth again with a fierceness that I welcomed. For the first time in years I was blind with lust, and I barely recognized the voice as my own but couldn’t be shocked at my words because I felt them with my entire body and soul.
“Touch me, Dino.”
His answering groan was an aphrodisiac, music to my libido as I moved my hands lower, to the zipper of his dark jeans. Now it was me taking liberties as I hurried to free that part of him that I wanted inside of me desperately. His hands on mine stilled me, just for a moment.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he murmured against the skin of my neck. Hurt me? No one in my entire life had ever worried about that before, and I would think about the implication of his words later, tomorrow, next year. But right now, I wanted him to bite the skin of my neck that he was breathing on. Lick it, suck it into his mouth and leave a mark so I would remember. But I didn’t say that. Instead, I moved his hands out of the way, reached inside of his jeans and holy shit there was nothing under them but skin, grabbed his cock and stroked it hard, probably harder than I should have.
“Then make it count.”
There were no more words then, just the sound of the zipper on my bra as Dino made quick work of sliding it down my arms. With a shake of my shoulders it hit the floor and I was standing there in nothing but my workout leggings, which were going to be fun to get out of considering they were pretty tight, as workout leggings are supposed to be. I didn’t need to worry. If I had thought that Dino would stop to touch my breasts once they were bare I was wrong, because he continued his downwa
rd motion with his hands and peeled those suckers straight down, never stopping until he reached the ground, even kneeling on the floor to do so. He took my panties with my pants and all I had to do was lift my feet one by one and I was laid completely bare. I hadn’t been wearing much to start with but was still impressed by the speed at which he disrobed me, the man was on a mission – and in a hurry apparently.
I had given him permission, and those words that I had whispered so boldly were all that he needed, but before I could do more than grab the sides of his head to steady myself he slid one finger between my already swollen folds to test my desire and then buried his tongue deep inside. No teasing nibbles, no soft touches. Dino was starving for me, and he went right for the feast.
And God it was so good.
I couldn’t stop the sounds of pleasure being ripped from my throat; it had been so long since I had been touched – at all – in any way. My own choice of course, but still, it was magic. And Dino liked hearing me too. I could tell by the way he changed intensity in response to my moans, like he was listening to me, to my wants. To be loved in such a way, by this hot man’s mouth was something I had never experienced and before long that splintering feeling began in my thighs, spreading like electricity to my fingertips and toes. I screamed my release into the air above his head, fisting my hands in his hair, trying not to fall as my legs quivered through the orgasm.
And still he didn’t stop.
It wasn’t fair. Dino was here, on his knees and touching me, and I couldn’t reach anything below his shoulders. I wanted, no I needed more of him under my hands, and I tugged mercilessly at his hair to get him to stop his ministrations. Reluctantly he raised his head, and looking at me with passion-glazed eyes that accused me of taking his prize from him, he grunted. I kissed him then, a purely animalistic act considering I was essentially smearing myself all over his face, but I didn’t care, he didn’t care. We were animals right now, held back from what our bodies had craved for far too long, trying to cram years’ worth of sexual tension in one frantic encounter. There wasn’t time for gentle caresses, there wasn’t time for tender loving – I wanted him inside of me.
Dino Page 9