Love by the Mile

by Heather Young-Nichols

  “We honestly never thought they’d do to her what they did to us. She’s their daughter. Who would hurt their daughter?”

  “Who would hurt their son?”

  He ignored me. “We didn’t know they were having her do the things we were until she—” He swallowed. “We didn’t know.”

  Most of the time I thought Sal carried not only his own guilt but everyone else’s as well. It wasn’t his job and one day I’d make him realize that.

  By the time we got back to his house, I was ready to veg out.

  It had been a good day but I wanted to snuggle up into him and squeeze every ounce of enjoyment possible before I had to leave.

  “This place really is too big for just you,” I said taking in the grand foyer once again.

  “I know. That’s why I pretty much stay in my room. It’s weird being alone in such a big place. Even with the staff that comes and goes just to keep it up.” He thought for a moment then decided to go on. “Actually, I had an agent list it yesterday.”

  “Really?” My eyebrow shot up.

  “Yeah. I don’t know why we’ve held onto it this long.”

  We dropped onto the couch in his room after he grabbed us both a bottle of water. Magically that refrigerator got restocked every day. I turned so that my feet landed in his lap. I don’t think he realized it but his hands immediately started massaging up my calves.

  It was something Gio did to Bianca all the time.

  I swallowed down my drink because I didn’t want to admit that they were probably told. To use such an innocent gesture to put a girl at ease.

  It didn’t bother me that he used those moves on me. Whoever their teacher was, they knew what they were doing. I just hoped that deep down, Sal liked having that kind of contact.

  “Do I get to ask questions?” I asked.

  “About what?”

  I gave him the look that said don’t be stupid.

  He sighed. “Go ahead.”

  “Did they teach you that?” I pointed to where his hands worked my legs.

  He froze then snapped his hands away from me.

  “No,” I said. “Don’t stop.”

  “It just seemed natural.”

  “It is. Which is why it works. I was just curious.”

  He nodded but didn’t put his hands back on me.

  “Sal. Seriously. If you don’t do anything that you learned while working for your parents, what’s going to be left?”

  I watched him catalog the things he’d done. He dropped his head to the back of the couch with a sigh.

  “Nothing.”

  “Exactly,” I said. “We’ll just make them our own.”

  Still, he didn’t move.

  I gave his legs a hard kick. “Put your fucking hands back on me.”

  This time he chuckled and began rubbing my legs again.

  “Ok. When Bianca and I were in college, there was this great little pizza place just off campus. Not as good as Romano’s but the best substitute we could find.”

  The uneasy look on his face almost made me stop talking. Almost.

  “Anyway, the guys who owned the placed were great. They were funny, insanely hot—” his body stiffened “—And so incredibly gay.”

  Sal relaxed and allowed a small laugh at himself.

  “So the question would be what would’ve happened if Trinity had wanted their place?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, who would they have sent in? Would you or Gio have to take one for the team?”

  This brought out the loud, unrestricted laugh I’d been looking for.

  “No.” He almost couldn’t answer. “No, apparently even our parents had limits to what they’d make us do.”

  “So what? Would they give up on it?”

  “No. They’d figure something out or have Gemma go in to become good friends with them the way she did with Bianca. To be able to try to sway them when the offers became overwhelming.”

  We sat on the couch for hours before deciding to move to the bed. I wanted to change so I wouldn’t have to get up again before we both fell asleep.

  The guys I’d been with before were more interested in sex, even if they were my boyfriend. We’d talked but not hours at length like I did with Sal. That could be partly my fault because unlike with the other, I had a vested interest in Sal.

  Pulling my shirt over my head, I was about to unhook my bra because really, who wants to sleep in that when a big strong hand stopped me.

  Sal dropped to sit on the bed as I turned around. His eyes stayed on mine until the heat between us had me squirming. When his lips touched the skin between my breasts I felt it somewhere much lower. His mouth kept moving against me while his hands reached around to unhook my bra. Slowly he slid the straps down until my breasts were exposed to the air and his mouth.

  I curled my fingers into his hair pulling him closer even though he couldn’t get any closer. Cupping my breast then taking each nipple into his mouth one by one, Sal had me moaning and begging for more but I kept the begging silent.

  I wanted this to happen and there was no way in hell I was going to do anything that brought it to an end.

  Instead, I let him set the pace, only encouraging him with small moans of pleasure and tiny groans of approval.

  He undid my pants and pulled them off without breaking his stride. While I was only in my panties, Sal was still fully dressed. Still, he pulled me onto the bed until I was right in the middle. Then he sat back on his heels to yank his own shirt over his head which took me to yet another level of arousal because the man was beautiful.

  “No, you’re beautiful,” he whispered against my ear.

  I hadn’t realized I said it out loud.

  Whoops.

  Moving down my body, the cute pink panties I’d chosen this morning were sliding down my body to be replaced with a few well-placed kisses meant to drive me insane. I couldn’t take the teasing much longer.

  I was going to explode.

  Finally, I unzipped his jeans and tried to push them off his hips. I wanted to release the massive erection I’d felt growing inside. Sal got what I was trying to do so he hopped up then yanked all of his clothes off until he was naked and back on top of me.

  It was almost surreal that I was going to have sex with Sal. Or I thought I was going to.

  Our mouths connected again. Slow, steady kisses where I could taste him. His fingers explored me, scraping lightly across my hip to slip between my legs.

  I’d wanted him since we first met.

  Now I needed him.

  “Sal.” I breathed out hard, pulled back to look him in the eye hoping I wouldn’t see anything other than the desire I felt. I was not disappointed. “Condom… my bag… side pocket… ”

  Complete sentences weren’t going to happen.

  The moment Sal moved away from me, I missed the weight of him pressed against me. I needed to get one of those shirts that said My ideal weight is Sal DeLuca on top of me.

  When he returned, he’d already slid the condom down his entire length.

  Before climbing back onto the bed, he hesitated. He wet his lips and looked at me. Whatever he was wrestling with, he must’ve won because he slowly got back on top of me.

  Before he could second-guess us again, I took his head between my hands and kissed a circle around his face until he opened his eyes for me. Then I kissed his lips softly and, without breaking eye contact, gently pulled on his back.

  He slid into me in one movement sending my already tenuous hold on reality that much closer to the edge. That hold disappeared when he groaned into my neck and I soared out of control.

  He knotted our hands beside my head as he moved over me, every single roll of his hips taking me on a ride I never wanted to end. For a guy who’d been out of practice for the better part of a year, he hadn’t lost an ounce of know-how.

  The way his muscles strained against his skin was a sign that he wasn’t going to last long. And that was all right.
I didn’t need him to go an hour and it’d been a really long time anyway.

  His thrusting turned sharp and his body, covered by a fine mist of perspiration, fell against me. He stopped moving and kissed my shoulder softly, then up my neck until he found my lips again.

  I could’ve stayed in this moment the rest of my life.

  Sal was able to move at a time I was sure I’d never move again. Then again, I didn’t have a condom to get rid of.

  When he dropped back beside me, I was still as speechless as he’d left me. We laid together in the afterglow and a weird buzzing filled my ears. I could hear but it was like he was talking underwater.

  I wanted to tell him I loved him. Wanted him to know it’d never be just him against the world again. That I would be everything he needed.

  But I didn’t. Instead, I said nothing because I didn’t want to scare him off or ruin this perfect moment.

  “Bailey,” he finally said softly. “I… thank you.”

  “I’m the one who can’t feel her legs. I should be thanking you.” I didn’t think he could see the smile on my face which was probably far too big. “What are you thankful for?”

  “Everything. For thinking I’m worth the trouble I guess.”

  My heart clenched.

  Tears pooled in my eyes but I swallowed my heart and my tears. The last thing any guy wants is some girl crying in his bed after sex. Especially someone like Sal.

  Pushing myself up just enough so we were face to face, I laid a soft, chaste kiss on his lips. “I feel like I need to say something but I don’t want to scare you off.”

  “Pretty sure you could tell me you were born a man at this point and it wouldn’t scare me off.” He brought a hand to the side of my face stroking my cheek.

  “Well never mind, you figured it out.” I’d never seen him smile quite like that before. “Seriously, Sal… ” Oh fuck it. I was going to do it. “I love you.”

  His thumb stilled against my cheek. His smile fell just a notch.

  I tried to put myself in his place. To be told those words for the first time after the things he experienced. I couldn’t imagine it.

  As I waited for him to get through all the muck going on in his head, I expected some sort of reaction. Honestly, I expected a bad reaction. I wasn’t deluded enough to think he’d say it back. Hell, at that point I just hoped he didn’t push me out of the bed and kick me out of his house in the dark because he was afraid.

  He didn’t do any of those things. Instead, he nudged me onto my back and showed me how he felt without the words he couldn’t yet say. He kissed and nipped his way down my body then back up.

  When he entered me again, this time I knew what to expect. We were so good together.

  I didn’t need him to say it back especially if he wasn’t ready to.

  This was enough.

  Chapter Eighteen

  After the second time, I went to the bathroom and took a quick shower while Sal fell asleep. Without asking permission, I grabbed one of his shirts to sleep in and totally planned on stealing it so I’d have a piece of him with me when I was home.

  I got the best night’s sleep that I’d had in a long time beside him.

  Unfortunately, my eyes popped opened a half an hour before the alarm on my phone was set to go off. Seemed like a waste of time to try to fall back to sleep. Sal looked beautiful and peaceful beside me, lying on his back with one hand across his stomach.

  He looked happy and young. Carefree.

  With absolutely no fore thinking or planning, I rolled myself until I was sitting on top of him gazing down at the face I was going to miss so hard once I was back in The Point. He didn’t move right away. Like he hadn’t felt me there.

  My first tip-off that he was waking up and aware that I’d changed my position was the ever-growing hardness beneath me.

  “Morning.” His voice vibrated to that extra soft place in my body. It was deep, like it always was, but coated with the gravelly grit of sleep.

  “Morning.”

  His eyes traveled down my face to what I was wearing. “Nice shirt.”

  “Yeah, I like it. I was thinking about taking it home with me.”

  He slid his fingers up my legs, pushing the cotton shirt further and further up my body until I leaned forward and lifted it over my head leaving me naked and exposed. I didn’t feel exposed.

  “Make sure you pack it,” he said then pulled my mouth to his.

  There was a brief moment of terror when I thought about morning breath but that went away when I tasted the minty freshness that lingered on his tongue.

  He knew exactly what to do to make me crazy and needy in minutes. He had the tongue of a god.

  Luckily, when Sal went for a condom the second time last night, he’d grabbed a couple and the extra sat on the nightstand so all I had to do was stretch my hand out. Not letting Sal move, I rolled the condom on then lowered myself onto him.

  We came together as if we’d been doing this for years, our bodies moving in sync.

  I rolled my hips. He moaned causing a chain reaction that reached to my most intimate parts. It was a perfect storm of desire and love. Something you couldn’t get just anywhere.

  Falling forward, I braced my hands on his shoulders and continued moving until we were both gasping for air and full of satisfaction.

  “You really have to leave this morning?” He sounded out of breath after I snuggled into his side.

  Giggling into that spot where his neck meets his shoulder, I said, “Sorry. I have to work tomorrow.” I pushed up so I could see him. “Trust me, I don’t want to.”

  “Right,” he said then sighed. “Work.” His eyes never left mine. “This is something we’re going to have to figure out soon.”

  My eyebrows slammed down. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean… ” He tugged on a lock of my hair. “I don’t think this is going to last very long.”

  I shot off of him onto the mattress and pulled the sheet up under my arms to cover myself. “Again, what do you mean?”

  If I freaked him out last night by telling him about my feelings, I was going to punch myself in my nonexistent wiener, just like I had Gio. I know my voice was sharper than it had been because the uneasiness of whatever he was talking about took me over.

  “Woah, not whatever you’re thinking I mean.” He scooted up so that his back rested against the headboard. “I’m talking about us living a plane ride away from each other.”

  “Oh.” All the weirdness in my body deflated. “Oh,” I said again.

  “Yeah. I don’t know how long it’ll take but I wanted to move closer to Gio anyway. Gemma said she’s transferring schools in the fall.”

  “Oh, yeah, that totally makes sense. I think you tried to freak me out on purpose.”

  “No, I didn’t. What did you think I was talking about?”

  Instead of answering, I felt my face flush and nervous energy blast through my veins.

  “Ok, honesty, right?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “Well, I said something to you last night and thought it might have freaked you out.”

  Sal leaned in and kissed me tenderly, just the slightest brush of his tongue over my lips. “You did. In a good way, I suppose. It’s just going to take some getting used to. You understand that I’ve never believed those words when I’ve heard them and probably don’t even deserve them—”

  “You do,” I snapped.

  “And I might not be able to say them back. But I want you in my life. I’m trying… so fucking hard to put the past behind me.”

  I nodded. I couldn’t speak without crying like a fucking baby. And I made it a point to never cry like a baby. Instead, I said I needed to get packed, which wasn’t a total lie. Sal popped up to head for the shower, and I got dressed then put everything including his shirt into my one lonely bag.

  I waited on his bed, checking email and Facebook on my phone. The shower in the next room shut off and the door opened back up
as Sal strutted into the room. There really was no other way to describe his entrance with just a towel hanging from his hips.

  “Well, there’s something I’m going to miss.” He leaned against the doorjamb of the bathroom.

  “What?” I asked.

  “The sight of you in my bed.”

  I giggled. “Yes, well, take a picture then because you’re making me leave.”

  “Making you,” he muttered while crossing the room.

  I watched as he dug around in his coat and came out with his phone. Before I could ask what the hell he was doing, he started snapping pictures.

  “What are you doing? Stop that.” I playfully covered my face forcing him to jump on top of me, his knees holding my arms down so he could snap another one. Playful Sal was even sexier than all of his other sides.

  “Ok, I’ll get off you if you promise to stay right here and let me get one good picture.”

  Once I nodded my agreement, he hopped off, righted his towel then turned back to me. I sunk back onto the pillows, brought my knees up then turned to him with the slightest coy smile. Click. He got it.

  “Fuck, Bailey, that’s really beautiful.” He turned it toward me so I could see it. I looked pretty good. “So that’s going to pop up whenever you call me so please call me a lot.”

  “You better get dressed or I’m going to have to call a cab for the airport.”

  Sal frowned and then hopped up to cover his ridiculously beautiful body with much less beautiful clothing.

  Sal carried my bag through the airport when we arrived, walking slower and slower the closer to my gate we got. Our fingers held each other’s tightly not wanting to lose even the smallest amount of contact. He waited in line with me while I checked in and went as far as he could go until security waved him off.

  At that point, we slinked to the side so others could get through the line and we could say goodbye.

  “So Skype is the best invention ever made,” Sal said.

  I smiled up at him starting our goodbye sort of the same way he said hello.

  “It rocks pretty hard.” I agreed and got a smirk back.

  “Ok, so it sucks, but it’s the best we got so, same as before?” he asked. “Eight-thirty works for you?” We’d only been able to make it work a few times before I came to Chicago, but I was pretty sure we were both willing to make the extra effort to see each other. “And if one of us can’t make it, we’ll text because it’s kind of ridiculous to think we’ll both be available at a certain time every single night, right?”