by Jillian Boyd
“Do you still use those?” Her eyebrows soared and she pulled a PDA from her pocketbook and waved it at me before dropping it back in. “I had no idea. Anyway, darling, I always meant to call you. But there was one mission, and then another. You know how it goes.” She flashed me another bewitching smile and the foot resting in my lap suddenly ground into my very wet crotch.
With an effort, I moved it away and placed it on my knee. I could play hard to get if I had to, and something told me that I would need a few more details before I gave in. “Yet you didn’t until now and I’ve been back in Italy a few times since the old days. So what made you so nostalgic?” I sipped my martini and sized her up.
She leaned forward so that I could see the edge of a lacy bra and more than a hint of ample cleavage. I remembered eating tiramisu from between her breasts and only just managed not to choke on my drink. “I want to take you someplace new tonight, Nash. I think you will like it. That is why I waited to call you; I wanted it to be ready. Can you trust me enough to let it be a surprise? You know I’d never let anything happen to you.”
This time, I stared at her in complete disbelief. But maybe it was just the ache of the shoulder wound she gave me back in El Salvador when she was pretending to be with the FMLN instead of the CIA. Or was it the other way around? Who could remember now? Then there was the scar from that time in Moscow when she was worried that I had blown her cover. A quick inventory brought up a few other nicks and scrapes from other incidents. Finally I replied, “Babe, a girl could be dead three times over from a few of the love bites you’ve given me over the years.”
Gia gave me an unreadable look. “Patricia, if I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead by now. I do not say this to wound you, only to remind you that I have never harmed you more than necessary.” Her mouth was set and she looked very serious, very un-Gialike for a moment.
What could I do but nod? She wasn’t wrong, much as I wanted her to be. I’d gotten her once or twice when a mission required it but I’d never come close to doing serious damage. She, on the other hand, had had plenty of chances to kill me. “All right, you’ve made your point.”
The waiter reappeared again. I kicked myself for not suggesting he make himself scarce. Of course, he brought the food this time so I didn’t have much of an excuse to drive him off. But once we had our dinner, I made up for lost time and slipped him a few Euros not to interrupt us until I signalled. He rolled his eyes but took himself off to wait on a group of tourists who had just wandered in.
Gia tucked into dinner with a healthy appetite, still avoiding my questions. I caressed her foot, letting her move it gently over the inside of my thigh. I thought about taking her here and now, pulling her onto the table and making love to her in the wreckage of our dinner. I imagined her skirt bunched up around her hips, her sweet naked pussy open and wet. I wondered if the tourists would stay to watch or leave in a huff.
“What are you thinking, Nash? You only smile like that when you think wicked thoughts. But then perhaps I too am thinking wicked thoughts.” She gave me a smirk of pure femme power and I started to move her foot away from any area that was going to affect my judgment. She responded by leaning across the table and feeding me a bite of her pasta.
Then she switched feet, running her toes up my thigh until she could see my response in my face. My thoughts got a lot more wicked and we smiled at each other over the candle’s flickering flame. Gia shifted the mood a bit by asking me a few insignificant questions, the whereabouts of old acquaintances and such. But I had read the promise in her eyes and as soon as my dinner was done, I began working my hand from her foot down her calf, caressing and massaging as I went. I even pulled her, chair and all, a bit closer so I reach the sensitive skin above her knee.
It wasn’t the way I remembered it though. Too much scar tissue for that, I realized, once my fingers recognized what they were caressing. I didn’t let it show in my face. She would have seen it as pity and Gia Morelli was not a woman to feel sorry for. I wondered if that was why she called me, hoping to go back to the way she was before the explosion that left her like this.
She didn’t move her leg or change her smile but she did snap her fingers for the waiter. He swept away the empty plates, after giving me a wary glance, and then trotted off to the kitchen for the inevitable tiramisu. She still had her sweet tooth. “Are you seeing anyone, Nash? I suppose I should have asked earlier but I thought you would have mentioned her by now.” She still had the ability to catch me off guard too.
“Why wait until now to ask that? I’d have thought that question was more relevant back before you got me all hot and bothered with your footwork. No, Gia, I’m not currently seeing anyone. How about you? Got a whole houseful of bambinos waiting for you after you have your way with me?”
Her face changed this time, getting older and sadder while I gave myself several swift mental kicks. Finally she murmured, “No. No bambinos, Nash.” She put her foot down and slipped it back into her shoe, leaving an ache in my thighs that ran through me like a knife.
If I could have given her a baby then and there, I would have. “Gia, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” She raised a hand to stop me and shrugged, the gesture pure Italian. I got nervous, making small talk until dessert showed up. There was no point in wrecking a perfectly good reunion; I hoped I hadn’t done that already. She seemed to relax again as we tucked into a marvel of espresso and cream as it could only be made in the land that created it.
Once we finished and I picked up the tab, she let me put her wrap back around her shoulders. Then she twined her arm with mine and pulled me from the café out into the plaza. I kept a weather eye out for surprises but I didn’t look very hard. Mostly I told her entertaining stories about missions she hadn’t been on and watched her laugh as we walked down the winding stone streets. I still loved the way she laughed: head thrown back, slightly crooked teeth gleaming in the occasional street lamp. Except they weren’t crooked anymore. I was going to miss that about her smile, I realized with a pang.
She guided me along gently and I almost didn’t noticed when she paused in front of a door. I scanned it quickly, looking for clues for what it was. Not that the outside of yet another old stone building with an unmarked door told me a thing. Part of my brain registered the address and filed it away for future reference, but that was about it.
There were lights on upstairs, which didn’t worry me much. There was also a little music in the air, a sound that could have been coming from the house or from the plaza behind us, or just from the sheer joy of looking into Gia’s eyes. She grinned at me and pulled me up the steps to the door.
The eyes in the lioness doorknocker shifted to meet mine and I jumped a little. Gia spoke to it in Italian like it was an old friend and the eyes switched back to being brass, just like that. I had hoped for a quiet evening, just the two of us and perhaps some champagne, but it looked like it was going to be a bit more complicated than that. I resigned myself to whatever hopefully non-lethal surprise my charming friend had waiting for me inside.
The door opened slowly, sending a wash of pale golden light out over the steps. I couldn’t see the face of whoever was playing butler and Gia was hanging onto my arm with the gun up the sleeve. If something was wrong, I was in trouble, but I had the feeling it was a little late to worry about that. She pulled me inside with a giggle.
I swore a little under my breath when I saw the woman at the door. For one thing, she was huge. She was also ugly as sin, with an old knife scar running the length of her cheek and a couple of missing teeth. From her expression, she didn’t think much of the way I looked, either. Gia burbled at her in something that sounded a bit Soviet and I caught a few phrases that suggested she was vouching for me. Finally, the giantess nodded and held out her hand. “She wants your guns, Nash,” Gia said helpfully.
Over my dead body. Which, given our relative sizes, it migh
t be. Gia pulled out one dainty little gun, then another. Then pulled up her skirt to turn in a throwing knife or two that she kept in her garter. It was a good thing that it wasn’t anything like old times. The door guard ran a detector over her then nodded as she came up clean.
Then, it was my turn. Reluctantly, I turned in the sleeve gun. The detector beeped in my general direction. I gave up a few more things. It beeped again and Gia rolled her eyes. One pointed high heel tapped my shin and I grinned like I’d forgotten the gun in my ankle holster.
The detector stopped beeping and I got a begrudging nod. Feeling naked, I trailed after Gia into the hallway. She headed for the stairs, not giving me a lot of time to look around. Not that there was much to see: a few generic landscapes on the walls, a plush, velvety chair or two, a staircase and a couple of closed doors. My eyes narrowed as I studied them until she stopped on her way up. “Bathroom,” she said pointing to the left, “Kitchen and library. Open them up if you have to, Nash.” Her tone suggested I’d be doing a lot of atoning if I didn’t take her word for it.
I shrugged and headed up the stairs behind her. Sometimes old habits are meant to be broken. Besides, nobody lives forever. At least I’d go out wined and dined. Gia shrieked something in Italian as she got to the head of the stairs. I reached for my empty pocket before I realized that it was a happy sound. There was a chorus of laughter and greetings in response that made me raise my eyebrows.
I followed her up, wondering what I’d find. Two seconds later I found out. A lithe, gray-haired woman rocketed out of nowhere and seized my hand. “Nash, my favourite American, it is good to see you. We feared you were dead, though Gia always said otherwise.” I shook her hand in a daze. Tatiana Tchrenkov. My old foe from the KGB. At least until she became my ally from assorted other agencies.
I glanced over her shoulder and was amazed to see a bunch of familiar faces: Nola Ktana, Li Chen, Maris Cherbourg and a few more whose names I couldn’t remember. Almost every woman agent I could remember from twenty years ago was there, at least all the ones who were still alive. The room was a lot more interesting than the one downstairs too: there was a huge bar for one thing, and a familiar face grinning at me from the other side of it. I grinned back at my ex, Janice, and headed over her way.
Gia caught up with me as I got to the bar and gave Janice a steely smile. “You and Nash can catch up later, no? I want to show her the rest of the club.”
Janice rolled her dark eyes at me as Gia’s head turned and I got towed away before I could do more than mumble at her. I’d forgotten how jealous Gia could be, with or without reason. Still, I couldn’t help but notice that the years had been kind to Jan. I’d be here a few more days. Maybe we could catch up later. Or so I thought until Gia pulled me into the next room.
Or next rooms, really. There was a blur of computers, wall screens and assorted bookshelves, some of which had actual books on them. The latter made me happy. What can I say? I’m old-fashioned. Judging from the speed we were moving at, none of this was what I was brought here to see. In typical Gia-like fashion, she saved the best for last.
We bolted up the stairs to the third floor before Gia stopped in front of a closed door. She gave me a mysterious smile, and then ran one red fingernail down my jaw. Then she pulled my face down to hers and gave me a kiss that warmed every nerve ending in my body. My arms felt like she’d never left them, like they’d been empty for years and were finally full. At that moment, I wanted Gia Morelli more than I’d ever wanted anything or anyone. Except of course, Gia, the last time I’d held her like this.
Then she reached behind her and opened the door. Whatever I’d been expecting to find on the other side, what I was seeing wasn’t it. Mostly I’d been hoping for a nice big bed. What I got instead was a pretty smiling woman wearing a sarong and gesturing us inside. Gia pulled me inside while I fumbled for my billfold, certain I could get rid of the unwanted company if I had enough cash on me.
I stopped when I saw the rest of the room: two massage tables and what looked like the door to a sauna, standard health spa issue. “You’ve gone to a lot of trouble to get me here if all you want’s a massage, babe,” I growled, disappointment in every syllable.
“Silly Nash. We have many more services than this - it’s our club, after all. Anything our members desire, we provide. Anything within reason.” She snuggled up to me and fluttered her eyelashes. “And I think I know what you want.” Her little hands were deftly unbuttoning my shirt while she pulled me along to a door in the far wall.
This time the door opened into an empty room. Empty, that is, except for the nice big bed in the middle of the room. It even had a canopy and curtains. We stepped inside, but something didn’t feel right and I shoved Gia behind me as she closed the door. A blur of motion from the curtains caught my eye. “Down! Take cover!” I yelled as I jumped forward and grabbed the nightstand by the door.
Whatever it was, it picked up speed as I moved and paused when I froze. I dropped to one knee, part of my brain registering that Gia had ducked behind a chair in the corner. Now I could see whatever it was that was tracking us, but the knowledge didn’t make me any happier. The tiniest missile I’ve even seen hovered a few feet away. I wondered if it was set for heat or motion. I sincerely hoped it was motion.
Then I wondered who’d left it for me. Us. Any of the women downstairs might have a reason for it: old grudges, new missions, you name it. Or maybe just orders from on high, nothing personal. Not that that would make us any less dead. I shifted a bit and the missile pointed right at me. Gia threw a pillow into the far corner and it homed in on that. It might be smart enough to figure out that the pillow wasn’t its target though so that might not buy us much time.
I glanced around without moving my head. The bathroom was off to my right, much closer than the window. I liked my odds of drowning it better than my other option of sending it out into the Italian night, possibly to explode in someone else’s bedroom. Gia’s lips pursed in an air kiss and she gestured slightly. She had figured out what I had in mind and was ready to play along. Or at least that’s what I hoped she meant.
The missile had turned and was hovering now. Gia threw another pillow as I dropped and rolled for the bathroom door. I hoped that was enough to confuse it as I uncurled and sprawled my way into the biggest bathroom I’d ever seen. The centre was filled with an opulent bathtub with some kind of whirlpool in the middle. It was my lucky night. I hit the tub’s switch and froze as the missile darted in the open door behind me.
It wove and spun around the room, seeking a target. Fortunately, that was when the whirlpool jets kicked in. The missile hovered for a second, then dove for the water. I hit the tiles and covered my head as a geyser gushed up out of the tub. A second later, I was soaked to the skin but I stayed put another minute just to make sure.
Gia’s tap on my elbow made me uncurl onto my back. “It’s done, Nash. That was marvellous; you haven’t lost your touch.” She slid forward a little so she was lying on my stomach and chest and kissed me again. The tiles sloshed under me as I got my arms around her and kissed her back. She managed to finish unbuttoning my shirt as I rolled over and got her underneath me. I yanked off my wet jacket and shirt and threw them into a corner, then sent the sports bra there a minute later.
Gia murmured an appreciative noise as she kissed my shoulder. I must be holding up better than I thought. I reached up and started unbuttoning her blouse, but slower and more carefully than she’d done mine. I wanted this to last for awhile, just in case I didn’t see her again for a few years. I followed my fingers with my tongue and mouth while she moaned and rocked under me until I ran out of buttons.
Then I pulled her up so she was sitting facing me and reached up to unhook the lacy bra that held her breasts. She was breathing fast and her eyes met mine with an electric shock that burned right through me. Then she glanced over my shoulder and the biggest smile I’d ev
er seen lit her face. “Oh! Look at the tub, Nash!”
I turned, a bit warily, I admit. The tub was still whirling away behind us but now the surface was covered with rose petals. A tiny scrap of paper floated on top of the water. I reached over and picked it up and read “Welcome back, old friends.” No signature. “Who do you think did this?”
Gia had clearly stopped paying attention to our little surprise and was tugging at the snaps of my pants, her thigh rubbing my crotch through the seam of my pants. I decided to worry about it later and slid my hand up along her leg under her skirt. She gasped a little and I pulled the skirt higher. She reached back and unzipped it and together we wriggled it down her hips and off. It joined the pile of clothes in the corner along with my pants and the rest of our underwear.
Then I picked her up, slowly and awkwardly and carried her to the side of the tub. We went in together when I slipped, dropping into a wave of hot water and rose petals. Gia giggled as I stroked her beautiful scarred legs on my way into her pussy. She wrapped her legs around my hips and pulled us both down so we were in front of one of the jets. She had one of my nipples in her mouth by then and I was letting the water pressure drive my fingers up inside her, grinning like a fool the whole time.
I twisted a little and she stretched wider so I could get all my fingers inside her wetness. For good measure, I brought up my other hand and slipped a finger into her ass. Somehow I grinned even more when I heard her moan. She always had the best moans; it was like they started in her toes and worked their way up through a couple of miles of Gia before they escaped her lips. I shoved my hands into her, rocking as much as my old fingers thought they could take, loving how wet she was right now, how much she wanted me.