Some Like It Hotter (Sweet Life in Seattle #3)

by Andrea Simonne

  She moves over so she’s closer to him and caresses his face. There are shadows beneath his eyes, stress lines on his forehead. “Is there anything I can do for you?”

  He opens his eyes and looks up at her, his face softening as they gaze at each other.

  “Do you want a glass of wine?” she asks.

  “No.”

  “A hot shower with me going down on you?”

  He smiles faintly. “You’re not allowed to get your finger wet.”

  “It’s not a problem. Unlike you, I’m right-handed, remember?” She holds up her right hand and wiggles her healthy fingers.

  He doesn’t say anything, only considers her. She senses there’s something else bothering him and soon discovers she’s right.

  “Why is it you never told me you have a Wiki page?”

  Lindsay manages to hide her surprise, though she knew this was coming eventually. She moves away from him and reaches for her glass. “How did you find it?”

  “I Googled your father and it led me straight there.”

  She sips her wine, knowing what’s next. It’s not the first time she’s had to deal with this. “You Googled my dad?”

  “Why didn’t you tell me about your first husband? All you ever said was that he’s a musician.”

  “It’s true. He is a musician.”

  “But the lead singer for East Echo?” Giovanni frowns like he’s still processing it. “I don’t listen to rock music much, but even I know who they are.”

  Lindsay looks down at her bandaged finger. She’s still wearing the splint. “It was a long time ago.”

  “And that famous song they had, ‘Queen of Hearts,’—it’s about you.” He looks at her. “That tattoo on your back. The one I’ve kissed so many times. That’s what he’s singing about, isn't it?”

  She grips her glass but doesn’t say anything. She hates that Wiki page, and she hates that song even more. It’s about a woman who collects hearts and refuses to return them. If only Josh had never written it. The Wiki page has been a plague as well, and she has no idea who created it. It would be one thing if it focused on her career as an artist, but it barely even mentions her art—all it talks about is how she was once married to Joshua Trevant and how he wrote that song about her. “Look, it was an unpleasant breakup, but it was ages ago. More than ten years. They weren’t even famous yet.”

  “I can’t believe you never told me about this.” His eyes stay on hers. “I thought you didn’t want to keep secrets anymore.”

  “It’s not a secret. I was going to tell you eventually. Is it really that big of a deal?”

  “It is when I have to find out about it from a Wikipedia article.”

  She feels her temper flare. “What does it matter? It’s not like you tell me everything.” She puts her glass down. “In fact, you won’t tell me anything.”

  They stare at each other, and both of them know what she’s referring to. He closes his eyes again but doesn’t reply.

  “I got an e-mail from the children’s coordinator who set up your class at the hospital,” he says. “You were a hit. They want you to come back and teach it again, possibly even set up something regular.”

  She nods. Of course, he’d change the subject. In some ways, he’s as impenetrable as Fort Knox.

  “They’ll pay you.” He looks up at her.

  “Great.”

  His eyes stay on her, not looking away.

  “What is it?” she asks.

  He doesn’t speak right away, and she senses he’s choosing his words carefully. “You’ve become incredibly important to me, Lindsay. I need you to know that.”

  She nods, wonders if she should tell him how she’s in love with him. One of her rules has always been to let guys say it first, and it’s been easy until now because they always did.

  “Come here.” He puts his hand out to her, and she takes it, moves over so she’s directly beside him again. His fingers slide into her hair, drawing her close. “Kiss me,” he murmurs.

  Lindsay obliges and puts her mouth over his. He tastes vaguely like spearmint as she breathes in his essence, already wanting him. Always wanting him. She’s not sure how she’s let herself become so vulnerable with a man, but somehow it’s happened. Somehow, all her rules have been stripped away. It makes her nervous, but there’s also a part of her that’s exhilarated.

  “Let’s go take a shower,” he says, smiling with his mouth still against hers.

  They go into the bathroom and Giovanni turns on the water. The room smells fresh and sweet, like the fig candles she’s been burning lately.

  He helps pull her camisole off and then her little shorts.

  “I can’t believe I’m saying this,” she tells him, “but I think your scrubs are kind of hot.”

  “Do you?” A grin pulls on his mouth.

  She reaches out and puts her hand against the solid wall of his chest, the cotton material smooth beneath her fingers. Part of it was seeing him at the hospital today wearing them. If that hospital were a field of battle, Giovanni would be one of their most capable commanders.

  Once she’s naked, he reaches for the clear plastic bag they’ve been putting over her hand to shower with. He gently slips it on and then ties it closed around her wrist.

  He strips his blue scrubs off next and leaves them in a pile on the floor. Her eyes wander the length of him. He’s healthy, fit, and very male. Every inch of him. And some of those inches are currently jutting out in a way that can only be described as magnificent.

  He follows her into the shower. Hot water streams over them both as they wash each other. Mostly he washes her since she can’t do much with her injured finger. He’s been showering with her every day since it happened, patiently washing her hair for her and then her body. And then making love to her. That’s always the best part. She smiles to herself.

  He soaps up next and she can’t resist sliding her uninjured hand down his powerful back, and then to his front, stroking his cock as he cleans himself too.

  When he’s done, Giovanni immediately turns around and pulls her into his arms, wrapping her in his large body, still mindful of her hand.

  His mouth comes down on hers, and he kisses her, wet kisses mixed with shower water. She senses something exposed about the energy coming off him tonight, something raw. But then maybe it’s just that he had a long day, or maybe she’s confusing it with herself because she’s unraveling in so many ways.

  His hands slide down her spine and then lower, kneading her ass before they move up and grasp her hips, his erection pressing against her.

  “Let me go down on you,” she tells him, wrapping her hand around his hard length. “I know it’s been a while.” Lindsay lowers herself, but he stops her.

  “Not right now.”

  She looks up into his face and discovers his eyes are needy on hers. It’s sexual, but she sees there’s more to it than that.

  He brings her up and presses her back against the cool tile of the shower, kisses her again until they’re both breathless. His hands mold her breasts. Their bodies slide against each other, and it’s all so good.

  “Let’s go to bed,” he rumbles low in her ear. “I want to be in bed with you tonight.”

  He turns the shower off, and they both get out. Giovanni dries her off, patiently helping her remove the plastic bag from her hand. “I should change the bandage on this.”

  “Do it later,” she says. “It can wait.”

  He meets her eyes, considering. “Okay.”

  Once they’re in bed, he pulls her into his arms. They kiss for a long while, his mouth like velvet. Eventually, he rolls her beneath him, his cock hard and pressing against her thigh. Lindsay strokes his cheek, bristly after a full day without shaving.

  It’s late and the room is dark, but they’ve left her bedside lamp on, casting a mellow glow over them both.

  As always, he’s gentle when he takes her, giving her time to accept him. She enjoys it at first, but then she doesn’t need any
more time. She reaches around to grab his back and then his ass, urging him deep.

  “Lindsay,” he gasps, groaning as he invades her to the hilt, pushing up on his elbows.

  She curls her fingers around his neck and lets her breath out in a rush, already intoxicated with desire. A moan escapes her and then another as she arches into him, wrapping her legs around his thighs as he moves inside her.

  He captures her mouth, and they kiss, deep and lush, restoring all the places that need tending, that have ever been wounded.

  “I see you,” he whispers, his words thick with emotion as he gazes down at her. “I see all of you.”

  Her heart beats like a wild thing because she knows it’s true. He does see all of her. It’s not just her surface, but everything beneath it as well. Her true face.

  “I love you,” she says, unable to stop herself. Her breath shakes, but she forges ahead, breaking all her rules. “I love you, and I think you should know that.”

  His movements slow, his eyes searching hers, and then his expression turns to one of quiet amazement. “Baby,” he whispers, cupping her cheek with his hand. “My beautiful Lindsay.”

  He brings his mouth to hers again. Gentle at first, kissing her softly, but then there’s heat, and it’s doing crazy things to her. His body thrusts hard. She gasps because it’s like a roller coaster plunging down from a great height. Her throat goes tight, and her eyes sting as she trembles all over, hugging him fiercely.

  That’s when she realizes he’s trembling too, and she understands they’re on this ride together.

  Afterward, Giovanni is lying quietly beside her, breathing deep. She senses he’s not asleep, though, which is surprising considering the long day he’s had.

  The bedside lamp still glows, both of them too lazy to reach over and turn it off.

  Lindsay closes her eyes as her mind tumbles over what she’s just told him, giving up her trust like that. But she doesn’t regret it. In fact, she’s glad she told him.

  “Her name was Olivia,” Giovanni’s deep voice cuts through the room’s silence. “We had an affair. It lasted nearly four years.”

  Lindsay opens her eyes. She’s on her side facing him and can see his profile clearly. She puts her hand on his chest, and he takes it, lacing his fingers through hers. “And you loved her?”

  “I did.” He licks his lips. “It was a mistake, though, and one I deeply regret.” He turns his head and looks at her, his eyes filled with emotion. “I’ve never told anybody about this. Not my parents or my brother . . . friends, lovers. No one.”

  She squeezes his hand because she understands what he’s saying. He didn’t return the ‘I love you,’ but he’s doing it now. He’s showing her.

  “Why?” she asks softly. “Why the big secret? Just because she was married?”

  “Yes.” He nods. “That was part of it. Olivia always insisted we keep it quiet, said no one else needed to know. That is was just between the two of us.”

  She takes this in. “Did she love you?”

  He doesn’t answer for a long moment. “In her own way, I believe she did. But it was complicated.”

  “How?”

  He doesn’t reply though. She sees this is difficult for him, but senses he needs to talk. That it will help him to finally release it, the same way it helped her to share her secret.

  “How did you meet her?”

  “Her husband worked at the hospital with my dad. He was a cardiac surgeon. The first time I met her was at a party, but it was just briefly.”

  She tries to make sense of this, and a prickle of unease settles over her.

  “After that, I ran into her at a pizza place in our neighborhood and then at the park.” He snorts. “Later, she admitted she’d followed me. She was very attractive, and I took it as a compliment at the time.”

  “Wait a minute.” She sits up on one elbow. “How old were you when this happened?”

  Giovanni doesn’t say anything but then meets her eyes. “I was seventeen when it started, a senior in high school.”

  “And how old was she?”

  “In her thirties.”

  “My God.” Lindsay’s stomach turns. She had no idea it was something like this. “She was a predator.”

  He frowns. “I don’t know if I’d go that far. Like I said, at the time, I took it as a compliment. In fact, I was interested in her.”

  “She stalked you when you were seventeen years old.”

  “I know how it sounds, but that’s not how it felt. And it’s not like I was a virgin or anything.” He lets out his breath. “I didn’t look seventeen. Hell, I was nearly as big as I am now. I basically looked like a man.”

  “But you were seventeen.” She stares at him with amazement and is surprised he doesn’t see what’s so obvious.

  “I wanted her as much as she wanted me,” he insists. “I blame her for a lot of things, but I don’t blame her for that part.”

  She rolls over so she’s on her stomach facing him, taking his hand again. “What if it were a seventeen-year-old girl with some guy in his thirties? Would you say the same thing?”

  “No. I’d say nail the bastard to the wall.”

  “What about another seventeen-year-old boy—let’s say our nephew, Luca. Would you want that for him?”

  Giovanni scowls. “Of course not. But that’s different.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. It just is.” He rubs his forehead. “I understand what you’re saying, but it didn’t feel like that to me. I fell totally in love with her.”

  Lindsay meets his eyes, and she sees he believes it.

  “I grew to hate her though,” he says, his voice hard. “Because of the lies. All the secrets. I’d see her husband occasionally, and I’d feel sick knowing what we were doing behind his back.”

  She doesn’t say anything, only watches the pain on his face.

  “I hated lying to my family the most.” He closes his eyes when his voice shakes. “I’m ashamed that I lied to them for so many years.”

  She could see how it must have been terrible for him. That kind of subterfuge is hardly in his nature. In a way she’s surprised this bitch Olivia convinced him to do it, but then manipulating a hormone-driven seventeen-year-old probably wasn’t that difficult.

  It occurs to Lindsay how she and Giovanni have something in common. They were both preyed on when they were younger, but hers was only one night, while his lasted for years.

  She moves closer to him and strokes his jaw, kissing him. What happened to him hurts her deeply. She now sees the kind of monster that’s sunk its teeth into him, and how it’s far uglier than she imagined. How it stole a part of his youth.

  His eyes are drifting shut from exhaustion.

  She continues to strokes his handsome face. “You should go to sleep, Olaf.”

  He nods slowly. “I think I have to.” He opens his eyes to look at her. “I promise I’ll tell you more about it later.”

  “Okay,” she whispers, and it breaks her heart.

  “There’s something else.” His eyes are still on hers, taking her in. Despite everything he’s told her, there’s something joyful in his gaze.

  “What?”

  He smiles. “I love you too.”

  Early the next morning, Lindsay wakes up groggy to the sound of Giovanni speaking on his phone to the hospital. She hears him talking about his patient from the OR last night and about a few others. He sounds like his normal self—completely in command with a dash of control freak thrown in for good measure.

  After he hangs up, he turns to her, noticing she’s awake. “Sorry if I woke you. I need to go in for a few hours, and then I’m on call tonight.”

  “It’s okay. I have to get up soon, anyway.” She’s working at the bakery this morning, and when she gets home wants to plant some more flowers in front of the house.

  He moves closer to her on the bed. He’s still naked beneath the covers and wraps his warm body around hers, grinning. “I don’t h
ave to go in right away. I could probably carve out a few minutes first.”

  She raises her brow. “A few minutes? That’s all I get?”

  “All right, maybe ten.”

  “They better be an incredible ten fucking minutes.”

  “I assure you, they will be,” He kisses her then nuzzles her neck. “Are you still in love with me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Say it again.”

  She looks at him, tenderness coursing through her. “I love you.”

  He takes in her words, and she can tell he’s pleased. He runs his thumb lightly over her brow. “I want you to stay that way forever.”

  Her breath catches. “Maybe I will. But only if you do the same.”

  “Don’t worry,” he whispers. “I already know I’ll love you forever.”

  And with that mind-blowing statement out of the way, he pulls her close and proceeds to show her just how incredible ten fucking minutes can be.

  Afterward, as she lies there in bliss, letting her fingers trail down his back, she smiles. Ten minutes turned into twenty, and they were certainly incredible. He kisses her again, but then pulls away reluctantly and gets out of bed. Morning sunlight streams through the window, allowing her to admire him walking naked through the bedroom.

  “I can’t believe you don’t have a single tattoo.” She rolls onto her side and props herself up on her elbow as she studies his body. Those thighs and that fantastic ass. “Not even one.”

  He opens the closet to pull out a shirt. “That’s okay. You have enough for the both of us.”

  Her brows go up. “Did I hear you correctly? Are you complaining about my ink?”

  “I’m not complaining,” he says, reaching in for a pair of slacks. “But don’t get any more.”

  “I’ll get more if I want to. In fact, I’ve been thinking about getting an Ampelmann from Berlin on my shoulder, or possibly my ankle.”

  “You have beautiful skin, Lindsay. It doesn’t need to be adorned.”

  “It’s my body, and I’ll adorn it if I please.” She goes quiet, trying to understand his resistance. “Is this about the ‘Queen of Hearts’ thing? Is that still bothering you?”

  Giovanni comes over, carrying his clothes before he goes to take a shower. He sits on the bed next to her. “I admit, that did bother me, but only because I felt like you were keeping another secret.” He takes her hand. “Let’s not have any more secrets between us.”