"Dad, what are you doing up here? Who's looking after the shop?"
"I closed it for five minutes. Honey, don't worry about it, we're in the pre-lunch lull. Would you listen to her, all responsible now that she's graduated? Taking the family business to heart. That's my girl, huh?"
I feel my jaw pop under the pressure of my clenched teeth. Does he even know his daughter at all? From what I can see, she's always been more responsible than him and he doesn't even do her the credit of realizing her heart is absolutely not in that bakery downstairs.
"Well, you're going to have to figure out a way to do without her for a bit, Kyle."
"What you talking about?"
Maybe it wasn't true a second ago, but it's true now - I'll make sure it is. "That gallery space up town needs someone with Libby's photography experience. They're doing an exhibition of local artists. And they want her stuff headlining."
Libby's eyes widen so much I think they might just pop out her head and Kyle looks more than a little stunned.
"Wow. I never knew you were that good, sweetheart."
"She is. And it's got to be her. Full time. No bakery shifts. I need her fresh."
Libby bites her lip, pressing down on her smile that looks like it's threatening to levitate her right off the ground with all her happiness. I have to look away to stop myself from remembering exactly what her kisses feel like.
"I guess I can do without you. For a bit."
I clap my hand onto Kyle's shoulder, walking past him on my way to the door. "Good. Because I gotta have her. I'll pick you up tomorrow, okay Libby?"
She nods mutely and behind her father's back I blow her a kiss that makes her cheeks flush and her whole face glow.
"See you tomorrow, Tony."
CHAPTER FIVE
Libby
Right like he said he would be, when I peek out of the curtains the next morning, Tony's down on the street waiting for me to come down. He's leaning against the side of his sleek fancy car and he shields his eyes from the sun, looking up at the window and sparing me a wave that makes my heart jump and my smile take over my face.
Last night it felt like a dream. I could hardly believe that he'd kissed me. I would have thought I made it all up except that my lips still felt bruised from the force he'd ravaged me with. I've never been kissed like that before, never been kissed at all in fact and I have no doubt at all that he meant every word he said about wanting me so bad. Just as badly as I want him.
I'm too scared to pinch myself in case I wake up.
When he told Dad about the gallery wanting my photos, I couldn't believe it. But if there's anyone who could make that happen it's Tony. He might look like some kind of hulking, over muscled brute to some people, but to me he's always been a gentle giant. In this neighborhood, he's always looked out for people, and I don't care what people say about him, he's not some kind of heartless mafia man. Around here is his heartland and people under his family's protection feel secure. He keeps everyone in the area in line and makes sure that no one comes in from outside looking to take advantage or start trouble. So where's the harm in that?
I'm more certain than ever that I want to give myself to him completely. I couldn't stand it if Dad tried to say we couldn't see each other. For now it's best he doesn't know.
I hurry down to the curb, pausing just a moment to smooth the skirt of my dress down and make sure I don't lose my grip on the portfolio I'm carrying. I was worried that the creamy white was too much, but Tony checks me out with a lingering gaze that makes me flush all over and I know I look just fine.
"Damn, Libby. You sure you should be wearing that?"
I grin at his compliment, feeling a little coy and way more confident flirting then I would be with before. Knowing he wants me is such a relief. "Why? Don't you like it?"
"I like it just fine, but nobody else better look at you, that's all I'm sayin’."
He holds the passenger door of the car open, and extends his hand to help me down into the low seat that wraps around my body like I'm in a jump jet or a real race car. I don't know a thing about sports cars, but when he slips into the driver's seat next to me and fires up the engine, the rumble goes right through me, straight to my suddenly tingling clit. "Oh."
Tony smiles at me from the driver's seat and for the first time I get the feeling I'm really in trouble.
"If you like that, just wait until later."
"What happens later?"
"Baby, I'm going to rock your world."
Just thinking about the way I felt with his hands all over me yesterday is making me hungry for more. I want him to teach me how to please him the way I know he's going to please me. I have no doubt that after today is over, he'll be my man and I hope he always will be. But I've never done anything like this before, let alone with an experienced older man. All I can do is hope that he doesn't think I'm too young for him because I don't know what I'm doing. A guy like him could have his pick of any woman in this city - the last thing he needs is an inexperienced virgin like me.
When I give myself to him, that's it, I'm his forever. I just hope he sees it that way too.
We pull up outside the gallery and Tony gets out, skirting around the hood to get to my door before I even have a chance to open it. Like the perfect gentleman, he's there to help me out of the low seat and up onto the sidewalk.
I could definitely get used to this.
Tony
The gallery used to be an old warehouse and the transformation wouldn't have taken place if it wasn't for me and my boss. Regeneration of the neighborhood that's our game. The only dodgy dealings my boss wants going on are those that benefit him.
The family's reputation is enough to set people quaking in their boots. These days I don't have to do much roughing up, my size is more than enough to get most moving. I get what I want, it's been that way for years, and the owner here wasn't stupid enough to disagree with me when I told him he wanted Libby heading a new show of local talent.
I didn't have to wait for his say-so to show her the space because I have a key as part of my property management services. No one else apart from us will be here all morning.
I pull open the doors for her and watch her face light up with sheer glee as she strolls inside. I know she's picturing her photos up on the walls and it's everything that she deserves.
"Tony this place is amazing! My pictures would have to be huge."
"That's what I was thinking."
She turns to look at me. "I can't believe you managed to sort this out."
"I'd do anything for you, Libby. I really mean that."
She bites her lip and her eyes lock onto mine. Beneath the fabric of her dress, I can see her nipples harden into tight little bullets, honed right in on me. She steps forward at exactly the same time I do.
The charge between us is magnetic.
There's nothing stopping me now. No one is going to interrupt us. I'm already breathless when I claim her mouth with mine, pulling her in with a hand at the nape of her neck. She whimpers against my lips, pressing bodily in against me like she can't stand to be apart for another moment. I sure as hell can't.
"Oh Tony, I want you so bad."
"Baby, you've got me."
I slide my hand up her skirt and her cheeks flush as I find the edge of her panties. She's breathing like she's been running a marathon and her whole body shudders when I brush my thumb slowly over the seam at her crotch.
The lacy fabric is already damp and I know she's just as primed for me as I am for her. My fingers tug at the thin material, moving it aside and Libby gasps, shuddering against me as I expose her to the cool air and find her clit with the pad of my thumb.
I can't get enough of how responsive she is. Every little touch, she goes off like a firework.
She's dripping from the lips of her pussy and I up the pressure on her clit until she's writhing, half acting like she's trying to get away, but I know that's couldn’t be farther from the truth because when she meets m
y eyes, her hips drive forward, seeking out more pressure for the release she knows only I can give her.
I’ve never wanted anyone more than I want her right now, and there's only one thing for it. I back her up against the wall, and sink down to my knees as I hitch her skirt up higher and trace a line of sticky dampness from her eager fluids along the perfect softness of her inner thigh with my tongue.
"Ohmygod," Libby says, breathless and frantic, and I'm not even close to being done yet. I'm about to show her what a real man can do.
Slowly, I trail my tongue up, taking my time as I lick and suck at her sweet silky skin, until my mouth closes over her thrumming clit. Her knees practically give out as I trace the tip of my tongue over the swollen little bud of her sex, moving slowly, then flickering fast enough to make her groan and shudder.
Her hands find their way into my hair, hovering lightly over my scalp like she doesn't quite know what to do with them, whether to pull me in harder or fend me back. But I'm about to short-circuit her brains so it's not a decision she can even make.
Nothing makes me hotter than the taste of her juices, and I love the sweet freshness of her as I let my tongue slide between her folds. I'm so hard my pants are straining at the seam, but I refuse to touch myself. The next hand on me is going to be hers.
I let out a hum that sets her juddering against me, and then, I'm thrusting into her, using my tongue to fuck her tight walls while the tip of my nose ruts in deep against her sweetly musky folds.
Libby cries out, her back arching in pleasure and I follow the motion in unrelenting assault on her senses. I'm not coming up for air until she's come apart into a thousand different pieces.
Her hands settle against my scalp, gripping my hair, pulling me in and I can feel her begin to get into it, moving her hips in time with little helpless whimpers like she can't believe it's so good. "Oh Tony!"
I ramp the pressure up, seeking deep inside her with the tip of my tongue for the rough patch of nerves that I know will make her go wild.
And when I find it, she leaves me in no doubt. "Tony - oh, yes - yes! Tony!"
Nothing has ever sounded so sexy as my name on her lips. She's everything I want, and right now, I'm going to take the rest of her to prove it.
Libby's cheeks flush and she looks down, as though she's ashamed of something.
"Baby, what is it?"
"Tony… I'm a virgin."
The whole world stops. Everything else except her stops existing for a handful of seconds. The growl rumbling deep in my throat is feral and possessive and I can't stop myself from mauling her neck with ragged, bitten kisses.
Libby squeals out a laughing protest. "Tony!" But there's nothing in the world that has the power to stop me now. No one's ever touched her apart from me, and no one apart from me ever will. She will be mine.
"You're the sexiest woman I’ve ever met," I tell her. "And after tonight, when I make you mine, you're going to know it."
But one thing I'm certain of, it's not happening here. Libby deserves to be treated like the goddess that she is and there's no way that I'm taking her virginity up against the wall of a converted warehouse, even if she does love the space and I'm harder than the concrete making up the floor.
I scoop her up in my arms, carrying her princess style back out to the car, barely resisting the urge to throw her over my shoulder in a fireman's carry. She's mine and I need to take her somewhere I can claim her.
Libby
My knees are still jello from holding myself up against the wall while Tony showed me exactly what he could do with his tongue. I can't stop blushing just thinking about it and there is a little shiver in my gut at the thought that he hasn't even taken me properly yet. What if I can't handle him? What if he changes his mind?
He scoops me up like I'm feather light, like I belong right here, with him, and he has to have me. I know it's true. I want him to have every part of me. There's no room for my little voice of doubt when he carries me over to the car, setting me down in the passenger seat and practically running around to the driver's side to gun the engine.
He breaks about fifteen traffic laws on the way to his apartment and I swear I nearly get whiplash every time he brakes. When I glance at him, I can see the outline of his erection along the leg of his pants and it looks even longer and larger than it felt when he was pressing it up against my thigh.
Part of me doesn't think he'll ever be able to fit inside of me, the other part is desperate to try.
We're at his building in a matter of minutes and Tony screeches the car to a halt, handing the keys to the parking attendant as he rounds to open my door again. I look up at the building, awed by the scale of it. I always knew Tony's was powerful, but this place is unreal.
His arm slips around my waist, his hand settling firmly into the small of my back, making me hyper aware of his touch and the charge of electricity zinging right through me. This is worlds away from Dad's bakery, but with Tony leading me on, I know it could be a part of my future.
I feel like everyone in the lobby must know exactly what we're up to, but Tony strolls on past the concierge with a confident nod, and I do my best not to look like we're sneaking up to his apartment to have sex in the middle of the day.
Because, oh wow - we are. That's exactly what we're doing, because we can't keep our hands off each other.
He pulls me into the elevator and as soon as the doors close, he's rounded on me, caging me against the back wall with his impressive arms. I’ve never felt so small, or flustered. But damn it, I want him.
"You're sure about this?" Tony asks, looking down at me with such seriousness in his eyes and I know he'd back off in an instant if I asked him to.
There's no way I want that.
I reach up, pulling his head down so that I can reach his lips and kiss him as hard as I can, until I'm breathless.
"You're the only man I've ever wanted, Tony."
"Say it," he demands, lips quirking up at the corner like he knows he's letting his ego get the better of him.
"Say what?"
His lips trail a string of kisses up my neck, and he nibbles slowly along my earlobe, doing something with his tongue that nearly has my eyes rolling back into my head. He's like Kryptonite, and I'm completely totally doomed.
"Say, 'I want you to take me.'"
The rush of breath flooding my lungs is involuntary. My heart is thundering in my chest. "I do."
"Say it."
"I want you to...make love to me. I want you to take me."
"I'm gonna turn you into a real woman, Libby. My woman."
"Oh, yes Tony…"
His knee nudges between my thighs and I spread my legs for him, already grinding shamelessly against the friction he's providing.
"You want this? I'm not so sure."
"I do. Tony, please."
"Tell me."
"Tony. I need you."
"Where?"
"Inside me. I need you inside me...Right now."
He lets out a rumbling growl and the elevator doors ping open on his floor just in time. It should be no surprise that he has a penthouse. Or that he grabs me around the waist to throw me over his shoulder and carry me in like a total caveman.
I could totally be Jane to his Tarzan.
We don't make it to the bedroom. He drops me down onto the first horizontal surface we come across, which just happens to me the large, sprawling couch, right in front of the floor to ceiling windows overlooking the whole city.
Tony pulls his belt off and my eyes lock onto it for a long, solid moment, my mouth watering with anticipation as I wonder just what he's planning on doing with it, but then he lets it drop to the floor and tugs his shirt up over his head in one smooth motion.
He's everything I ever imagined, chiseled and brawny and huge, his broad expanse of chest tapering down to a narrow waist, and holy hell, he's down to his boxers so fast I nearly don't see where his pants went.
"I should be treating you like a princess,
Libby. I know you deserve it, but I can't hold back any longer."
I bite my lip, eyes locking onto his cock that has to be as thick as my wrist and nearly as long as my forearm and I force my eyes back up to his face. "I don't want you to hold back, Tony."
There's no time to second guess myself. I pull my dress off in a hurry, conscious of my round stomach and the size of my breasts, but Tony's over the top of me in a moment. His hands everywhere, stroking warmth right through me, worshipping every inch of my skin as he unhooks my bra. His mouth closes over my breast, kissing hard, sucking harder, and I shiver with the pleasure of it all.
His thumbs slip into the waistband of my panties and I wiggle out of them as he slides them down my legs. It takes a minute before I'm brave enough to pull his boxer briefs off, and when I do, his cock snaps back up against his flat stomach and he leans in, pressing his throbbing mushroom head in against my soft belly so I can feel how slick he is with precome.
I've never known such heat, and the only thing I know is that it's wasted outside of me.
"Tony please. I want you inside me, so much."
There's no more stalling after that. Tony lays me back against the couch and I spread my legs for him as he grinds in against me. My clit is still swollen and thrumming from everything he did to me back at the gallery and I'm slick and ready for him.
All the same, the press of his cock against my entrance takes my breath away. But Tony's right there kissing me, and his magic, magic fingers slide down between us and I grind against the pressure he's giving me. I never thought I'd be so desperate for pleasure like this, but when he touches me it's like nothing I've ever felt. Every venture into pleasuring myself is a weak, pale comparison and I know that my body was made for him and him alone.
He slips one arm under my knee, pulling my leg up as high as I can stretch, pinning me against the couch and I groan, realizing he's opening me to take him. All I can do is slide my arms around his neck and shoulders and arch against him as he drives his hot, steely cock deep inside me.
He goes so slowly I nearly die five times over, but he doesn't let up until I'm panting, practically begging for him to let himself go.
Claiming His Sweet Curves: An Instalove Possessive Alpha Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 171) Page 3