by Zoey Parker
“I know, babe,” Dante said. He kissed the top of my head. “But I’ll stay here until you’re safe. You don’t have to worry about anything bad happening. I’m right here next to you.”
I nodded. I didn’t feel safe; I felt numb. I knew that I shouldn’t want someone stalking and harassing me, but as soon as it was over, Dante would be gone. I wondered whether or not I’d feel safe after all of this was over. Just because it happened once didn’t mean that it couldn’t happen again, and suddenly I had a flash of fear. What if I spent my whole life falling in love with unavailable men just because they were guarding me?
Dante slipped his fingers under my chin and tilted it up until our eyes met. My heart was racing in my chest, and I moaned as Dante crushed my head to his. Our lips met. He tasted like butter and salt, and slowly, Dante slipped his tongue into my mouth. The sensation of his body against mine and his mouth on my own made me weak in the knees. I closed my eyes and felt them roll back into my head as Dante nibbled on my lower lip and stroked my tongue with his own. He was such an incredible kisser. So desperate, so hungry.
Like he really needs me , I thought as I kissed Dante back with equal ardor.
Dante wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me gently into the air. I wrapped my legs around his strong, muscular abdomen. As he carried me into the bedroom, I was barely aware of moving through time and space. Being held in Dante’s arms was the most comforting feeling in the world.
It wasn’t about being safe; it was more like being completely tucked away and hidden from the world. It was like Dante and I were the only two people left alive, and we somehow had to nourish our connection, make it grow by loving each other.
Dante set me down on the bed with a gentle thud. I tangled my hands in his unruly dark hair and tugged his head close to mine. My lips felt raw, flayed in the cool air of the bedroom before Dante’s hot mouth plastered itself against my own. As he climbed on top of me, my back crushed against the silk of the sheets. They’d cooled since we’d woken up together, but now I could feel the material heating underneath my body with the intense passion that swarmed around Dante and me.
“Mmm, God,” I moaned into Dante’s mouth.
He sucked on my lower lip, sending sensational thrills through my body, and slid his hands down my silky lingerie. My breasts sprang to life at his touch, and I felt my nipples grow stiff and sensitive as Dante brushed against them through the fabric of my peignoir. He knew exactly how to touch me. His touch was both rough and gentle—I closed my eyes and arched my back as Dante’s hands glided over my stomach and between my thighs.
“You’re so sexy,” Dante growled out. He leaned closer and nipped at my neck. Then he slowly began to suck in a tantalizing way that filled my body with erotic fireworks.
I knew I should push him away because I’d have a big hickey if I didn’t, but the sensation was too pleasurable. I began to writhe and twist against Dante’s body. He gripped both of my wrists with one of his large hands and pinned them over my head until my fingers were grazing the headboard. As Dante spread my legs with his free hand, he crawled in between them and pressed a knee against my silk-covered labia. I moaned loudly and threw my head back.
My wet hair clung to my forehead in unruly strands but, for once, I no longer cared about what I looked like. Dante lowered his face to my chest. He nuzzled my stiff nipples through the pink silk, and I groaned, desperately wanting him to take the aroused flesh into his mouth. Finally, he began gently sucking one of my hard nipples through the thin silk of my peignoir. It felt incredible. Tiny fireworks exploded between my legs as Dante continued to gently rub his knee against my crotch while sucking on my nipple.
Straining against his grip, I tried to move my arms, but Dante held me firm. I had the overwhelming sensation of pleasure, enhanced by the fact I couldn’t move at all. Instead, I groaned and shifted my hips against his body. I wanted more, more, more—I wanted all of Dante.
I wanted him to fill me with his cock, to come inside of me until he was drained and dry and exhausted. Growling with lust, I finally managed to free my wrists from Dante’s grasp. Reaching down, I slid my fingers down the waistband of his pajama pants and pulled them away from his skin.
When I saw his hard cock, I gasped again. He was so beautiful. He was the sexiest man I’d ever seen, clothed or naked. Naked, he looked like a statue of a Greek god. His flesh was like sculpted marble, like the finest and most costly material in the world.
As I slid my hands down his perfectly muscled torso, Dante groaned softly in the back of his throat. The sound was just enough to jolt my arousal into overdrive, and I tangled my fingers in his pubic hair and gently tugged until he’d crawled closer between my legs.
I smirked up at Dante as I slid my hands down my body and parted my silk peignoir. As he pressed the head of his hard erection against my soaking labia, I moaned and arched my back. I wrapped my legs around Dante’s waist to pull his cock inside of my pussy. I was so wet that there was already a massive wet spot underneath of me on the silk, and Dante’s cock felt so good. As he slid inside of me, he let out a loud moan of delight.
Dante leaned over my body. He was breathing hard, and I could feel his chest heaving with the effort of his arousal. As he moved against me, his cock slid all the way inside until he was buried to the hilt. I moaned and squirmed; the sensation was overwhelming and incredible. I could barely breathe as Dante began to pulse his hips on top of me, gliding in and out of my soaked pussy with incredible ease.
After a few seconds, I felt my own breath begin to catch. Tightening my grip around Dante’s waist, I pressed my hips against his and began to rock my body in the same slick, sensual rhythm. We moved together like a well-oiled machine, Dante pumping in and out of me like a piston. His cock filled me so perfectly that it seemed as though we had been designed for each other.
As Dante tangled his fingers in my hair and yanked my neck back, I let out a shuddering moan. His hot lips and tongue found a sensitive spot on my neck, and I cried out with pleasure as his tongue swirled warmly over my skin.
The room was soon filled with the heated, musky perfume of lovemaking. I closed my eyes and breathed in it, savoring the scent of Dante and myself together. His fingers found my nipples and began toying with them; as he pinched one nipple between his thumb and forefinger, I grunted softly and cried out.
The sensations that filled my body were so incredible that I could barely stand it. I was having trouble breathing. Somehow, holding oxygen in my chest made the delightful fireworks between my legs seem all the more powerful, but I gritted my teeth and ground my hips against Dante’s frame with all of my might.
Suddenly, Dante pulled away. Before I could ask what had happened, he dug his fingers into my hip and flipped me over on the bed. Dante slapped the insides of my thighs, and eagerly, I spread my legs again. As Dante mounted my thighs, his soaked cock slid inside me. I gasped at the sensation of being taken from behind; it was somehow even stronger than when I’d been lying on my back, seconds before.
Dante tightened his grip around the back of my neck and furiously fucked me as we bounced together on the bed. My face was buried in his pillow, and I bit the pillow to stifle the moans as Dante’s fingers slid around to the front of my body. Seconds later, I felt his strong grip rubbing my clit.
It was too much to bear. I held my breath until I thought I was going to explode from lack of air. The delicious exploding pangs in my lower belly reached an all-time high, and I let out a loud wail into the silk pillowcase as my fierce orgasm began to tear through my body. Dante could feel it, too. He was shuddering and bucking on top of me, his cock pulsating with the force of his own perfect climax.
I’d had orgasms before, but nothing like this. It was even better than the last time Dante and I had slept together. Our bodies moved in a furious rhythm, milking each other of all energy and lust. I groaned in delight as I felt Dante’s cock spasm once more inside of me. As he pulled out, I shivered on the silken she
ets.
Dante rolled me onto my side, using my hipbones as a handlebar. “Hey,” he said. He smirked at me. “That was incredible.”
I licked my lips; they were salty with my sweat, and the remains of breakfast. A thick musk hung heavy in the air, and I breathed in, saving each moment.
“It was,” I said softly. My face was hot and flushed. My heart was still thumping in my chest, and I was shaking from the insanely powerful orgasm that had just ripped through my body like a hurricane through a small beach town.
“What’s wrong?” Dante frowned. He ran a hand through his dark hair, making it stand on end. I giggled. He looked so silly like that, even with his dozens of biker tattoos. “Is everything okay?”
I nodded. “I need to talk to Anya. You think I could go out to lunch with her?”
Dante’s frown deepened. “That’s not a good idea. Come on, Katia. You know that. Don’t be stupid.”
“I feel better,” I insisted. It wasn’t exactly a lie because I did feel much better about everything after having such amazing sex with Dante. But now I was worried about something else entirely, and it wasn’t something I wanted to discuss with Dante.
“I don’t give a shit if you feel better,” Dante said. His tone was infuriatingly calm, and suddenly I felt a hot burst of anger explode in my chest. “My job is to make sure that you stay in one piece, and I don’t know how sure of a deal that is if you plan on goin’ out all the fucking time.”
“What the hell?” I stood up and put my hands on my naked hips. The chill air in the room was enough to make my nipples grow hard once more, but I knew I had to ignore the way Dante was looking at my body or else things would be even worse. “You can’t control me, Dante!”
“I know,” Dante said. “God help the man who tries to control you.” He smiled with his mouth, but his eyes stared hard and angry. “What the hell is so important about seeing Anya right now, anyway?”
I frowned. “I have a very important schedule, you know.” I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and a sweater. Without putting on panties or a bra, I slid the jeans over my hips and buttoned them smoothly over my flat tummy. Dante’s eyes didn’t leave my body as I pulled the sweater over my head and smoothed my still-damp tangle of blonde hair.
Dante rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he muttered. “Call her and set something up. I’ll stand guard outside while you eat.”
I blinked. I hadn’t actually expected him to agree. Even though that was exactly what I’d wanted to hear, it hurt somehow. It made me think that Dante didn’t even care. It reminded me that I was just a job to him.
A job and a warm hole , I thought as I wrapped my arms tightly around the sweater covering my abdomen. And that’s all I’ll ever be .
With Dante’s eyes still watching me, I picked up my phone and dialed Anya. Bless her, she answered on the first ring.
“Katia? Is everything okay?”
I nodded, forgetting temporarily that Anya wasn’t in the room to see me. “Yeah,” I said. “Hey, do you feel like getting a coffee?”
“Right now?”
“I have to talk to you. It’s important.”
“Don’t you just want me to come over there? I have some things for you anyway. Katia, you’ll need to go through your closets and pick out some things to donate. Remember, the Youth Charity auction is coming up! Last year, those shoes you wore in the Vogue photo-shoot landed over three hundred thousand dollars, remember?”
I had to laugh. Anya’s excitement, though not infectious, reminded me again how great at her job she was.
“Okay,” I replied. “I mean, coffee first. Then maybe you can come over, and we’ll pick out some stuff for the auction, okay?”
“Okay.” Anya paused. “I’m downtown. Feel like meeting me at The Coffee Shack?”
“I’ll be there,” I said dryly. “See you in twenty.”
Chapter Twelve
Katia
I paced nervously back and forth inside of The Coffee Shack waiting for Anya. Dante was standing guard outside, not even trying to look discreet. He had one hand clapped to the gun holster at his side, and he was prowling around like he owned the place. I licked my dry lips as he crossed from one corner of the street to the other.
“Hi!” I turned around to see Anya standing there, breathless and holding about a million packages. She set them down on the floor, then tried cramming them under the table where I was sitting sat with my most recent designer handbag purchase.
“Hi,” I said. “How are you?”
Anya frowned. She wiped her hand against her forehead and sighed. Her brown hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, and the only makeup she wore was a swipe of terracotta lipstick on her mouth.
“I’m not great. Look, Katia, there’s something we have to talk about.”
“I know.” I nodded. “That’s exactly why I called you here.”
Anya frowned again. “I’m not sure you understand.” I stared at her. What the hell was going on? Was my personal assistant suddenly my personal psychic?
“Okay,” I said nervously. “What did you want to talk about? Besides the charity auction, of course.”
Anya rifled through her oversized cloth purse and handed me a folder. “This came this morning. Someone left it on the seat of my car when I was out earlier getting coffee.”
I glanced over my shoulder. Dante was still there, strolling around with his thumbs hooked in his belt loops. Between his oversized, mirrored sunglasses and his trucker cap, I could barely read his expression. As I watched, he took out a cigarette from a silver case in his hip pocket and lit it with a butane lighter. I frowned again. He was trying too hard to be casual. Was it possible that, somehow, he was actually nervous?
“So, what is it?”
Anya slid the folder over towards me. She bit her lower lip, her brown eyes trembling. “Katia, what the hell is going on with you and Dante?”
“Nothing, nothing,” I told her. I slid my fingernail under the seal of clear tape holding the folder shut. A couple of glossy photographs fell into my lap once the folder had opened, and I felt my jaw drop as I pulled one of the pictures closer, examining it with hawk eyes.
It was a photo of Dante and me. Well, to be precise, a photo of us in bed. In my bed. It was from this morning because I could see my lingerie from the night before spread out over the carpet. Dante and I were both naked, and a flash of my breast was visible in the corner of the photo. The room was dark, but the photo was strangely illuminated, almost as if someone had used a flash or lightened it in Photoshop.
I gasped. “What the hell?” My hand holding the photo had begun to shake so badly that I dropped the glossy sheet of paper in my lap. “What is this, Anya?”
Anya crossed her arms over her round chest. Suddenly, she looked much more like a matronly aunt than my close friend and personal assistant. Anya was a little older than me, mid-thirties to my twenty-seven, and right now, she looked every inch of those years.
“I should be the one asking you that,” Anya hissed under her breath. “Katia, I can’t believe you! What the hell have you been doing?”
“That’s none of your business,” I said loftily.
Inside, my heart sank as I realized I wouldn’t exactly be able to tell Anya how I felt about Dante. Not now, not when she was condemning me for having a relationship with him. Furthermore, I was terrified. I felt icy cold from the tips of my fingers and my toes all the way inside my chest. My heart was beating slowly like a wrecking ball swinging into an old house.
“Katia, I know this is scary, but you have to deal with this.”
“I’m trying!” I wrapped my fingers around my mug of sugar-free hot cocoa, desperately trying to get the blood pumping. It wasn’t even cold inside of the coffee shop, but I felt like I was going to freeze into a huge block of ice just trying to listen to Anya.
Outside, Dante was prowling back and forth. I noticed that he was getting a lot of stares, especially admiring ones from girl
s passing back and forth. I rolled my eyes. Part of me wanted to run outside and pull him into a deep, passionate kiss, but the other part of me wanted to go outside and tell him that we were done and that we’d never be intimate again.
“How was this taken?” In an effort to distract myself, I picked the photo up from my lap and stared at it as clinically as I could. “They must have used a serious lens to get this kind of image.”
“That’s the thing,” Anya said. I glanced up, and though I couldn’t be sure, somehow her voice seemed to tremble as she spoke. “Katia, I don’t think they were taken from outside your condo.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“I think they were taken from the inside of the house,” Anya said softly. She plucked the photo from my hands and stared at it. “Katia, someone had access to your home.”