by Sienna Parks
“What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in New York by now?”
“I…” She begins to answer, but I’m too impatient. I swallow her words with my mouth, my lips crashing down on hers in a fierce kiss. Her arms snake around my neck, her legs wrapped around my waist as I hold her tight, our tongues exploring each other. She tastes amazing, and her smell… it’s divine.
We’re breathless and blissful, and achingly bereft as we break our kiss; our eyes locking as I slowly set her down on the ground.
“How are you standing here with me?”
She gives me a sly grin. “I changed my flight. Instead of a two-hour wait, I now have a twelve-hour wait, but it means I get to spend two hours with you before your next flight. I figured it was worth the trade-off.”
“You’re incredible. I can’t believe you did that for me.”
“You’re worth the wait.” I can see in her eyes that she doesn’t just mean today, and it slays me. I’ve wanted her for so long, I have to pinch myself to believe that this is real, that she’s real, and she wants to be with me.
I sling my arm around her shoulder, pick up both of our bags, and pull her into my side. “Let’s make the most of our two hours then. Would you like to go for coffee with me, Miss de Rossi?”
A mischievous grin creeps across her face. “I’d love to, Mr. Fitzgerald. Lead the way. I’m yours to command.”
Fuck me! I’m hard from hearing her say those four little words, I’m yours to command. If I didn’t know better, I would worry that she knew about me. She couldn’t have picked a sexier phrase to say to me if she tried. I caress my hand down her side and give her ass a sharp, short, smack. “Be careful what you say, little one, I might just take you up on that.”
We weave our way through the crowds, the tension between us a palpable force; every nerve ending in my body alight with desire for her.
I find a quiet corner for us to sit in, set down our bags and head up to order us some drinks. An uneasy feeling settles in my stomach as I walk away from her. She’s no more than twenty feet away, but I feel the distance, and I don’t like it. I only have two hours with her. I haven’t seen her in months, and that last encounter was a brief tryst outside Xander’s apartment building. I want to be touching her every moment that we have together, even if it’s only holding her hand. Being around her makes me feel… whole. I don’t know how to explain it. I’ve never felt that around another person before. She causes a physical reaction inside of me, like she’s altering my very DNA when I’m in her presence. It’s both disconcerting and completely electrifying.
As I wait in line, I can’t take my eyes off her. The woman behind me attempts to strike up a conversation with some flirtatious innuendo, but she’s not even on my radar. I drag my gaze from Vittoria just long enough to politely decline the woman next to me, and when I find her again, she’s smiling at me, shaking her head in mock disappointment.
When I finally return with coffee and croissants, her first words are, “I can’t take you anywhere without women throwing themselves at you.” She’s mocking me, but I detect a hint of possessiveness. “How do you ever get anything done? You can’t even buy a coffee without being accosted by hot women. It must be so difficult looking like you do. A true hardship.”
I let her ramble, making herself blush with embarrassment in the process, while I set down our coffee and plates and discard the tray on the empty table beside us. I take a moment to enjoy her small show of jealousy, taking a sip of my coffee before I put her mind at rest.
“Firstly, you’re right, it’s a curse being this hot. You understand why women want me so badly, though, you’re one of them!” She leans across the table to slap me on the arm, which is totally adorable. “Secondly, it’s easy to fend them off these days, I just tell them I have a girlfriend. End of story.”
She almost chokes on her coffee, spraying it all over me. “Oh God, Logan, I’m so sorry. She immediately jumps out of her seat and starts trying to clean me up with napkins, but I’m too busy laughing to care.
“You are so cute when you’re worked up. I didn’t realize calling you my girlfriend would get such a… reaction from you. Is it really that big a shock?” Her hands stop dead on my chest, the napkin scrunched into a ball in her fist. I pull her down onto my lap, wrapping my arms around her. “Don’t you want me to call you that?”
“I… I like it. I just didn’t know what we were. We’ve not really defined it, and…” She hesitates.
“And what?”
“I didn’t think you were a girlfriend kind of guy.”
“I’m not. But I’ll make an exception for you. I’m breaking all my own rules with you already, one more won’t make a difference.”
She extricates herself from my arms, smoothing her hair and adjusting her top as she sits back down across from me. She grasps her coffee in both hands, staring into its depths as if it will give her some answers before she opens her mouth to speak.
“What do you mean, you’re breaking all your own rules with me?”
Her gaze is hesitant, her demeanor wary.
“I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I guess I’m just doing things differently with you than I have with anyone in the past. It’s not important.”
“It is if you’re not happy. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t be yourself with me. I don’t want you to change because of me. I like you the way you are.”
I reach across and take both of her hands in mine, caressing my thumbs over her knuckles. “Vittoria, I want to change for you. I want to be better. I want to treat you the way you deserve. The guy I’ve been up until now wasn’t good enough for you, and I intend to be a man that is worthy of you… someday. Trust me when I tell you that you would not want to be with the guy I was before.” A part of me craves the opportunity to make her a part of the lifestyle. She would be an exquisite submissive; but a better part of me, the part that is winning out right now, wants to protect her from it, and never let her see that darker, hidden side of myself.
“I would want to be with you no matter what. I long to be with the man you are, the man you were; every part of you. The parts of yourself that you think aren’t worthy of me, are the parts that draw me to you, the parts that I want you to share with me.” She holds my gaze, as if she’s trying to convey some unspoken understanding to me.
I need to change the subject before I confess everything to her and watch what we have fall apart before my eyes. “You better drink your coffee before it gets cold. So, when are you going to be in New York again after this weekend? I want to make sure that I’m not on another business trip when you fly in.”
“Two weeks.” Her gaze drops; her disappointment at my change of subject, evident. “I’ll be back in two weeks and I’ll be staying for close to three weeks before I have to fly back out to Europe.”
“I get you all to myself for almost three weeks? You’ve made my year with that little tidbit of information. The things I could do to you in that time.” I wink at her, and watch as she melts, her annoyance forgotten, excitement at the prospect of our time together taking over.
“Promises, promises.”
“I always keep my promises, Vittoria.”
“Well then, I look forward to it.”
We fall into an easy conversation, flirting and chatting, and enjoying each other’s company while we can. Our legs tangle together under the table, maintaining some sort of physical contact until the announcement for my flight to board comes over the PA system. I’m devastated that our two hours are gone already, a pain taking up residence in my chest as Vittoria disentangles her legs and stands from the table.
“Guess it’s time to turn back into a pumpkin.”
I stand and pull her into my arms, resting my chin on her head. “You’ll always be a princess to me.” I kiss her hair, inhaling her scent, needing my fix before I have to leave her again. She holds onto me as if her life depends on it, and I can’t make my feet move. I can’t bring myself to
let go and leave her behind.
She’s the one that finally breaks free, putting some distance between us. “You better go. You don’t want to miss your flight.”
I take her hand in mine as I lift our bags. “I want to miss my flight more than anything in the world right now. I can’t stand the thought of leaving you.”
She takes her bag from my hand, a resigned look on her face, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. “Come on. I’ll walk with you as far as I can. I actually need to go in the opposite direction for my flight.”
“How long do you have left to wait?”
“Six hours.”
“Fuck! I feel terrible that you’ve done all this for two hours with me.”
She stops me in my tracks, turns to face me, rising onto her tiptoes, and plants the softest kiss on my lips. Her sweet taste, mixed with the bitterness of her coffee, is a delightful combination. “I would have waited twice as long, just for a glimpse of you.”
I rest my forehead against hers, trying to calm the storm that rages inside me. “Don’t say things like that to me. I’m already fighting everything inside me that’s screaming at me to stay here with you; telling me that where you are, is where I’m supposed to be.” Her breath quickens and I’m lost in her. Nothing else matters in this moment…only her.
I’m pulled from my reverie by a voice over the PA system.
“Could Mr. Logan Fitzgerald please make his way to Gate 16? The gate is ready to close. Passenger Logan Fitzgerald on flight 168 to Berlin, please make your way to Gate 16.”
“SHIT!”
“You need to go, Logan, now! Go, I’ll be fine.” I pull her into my arms, unwilling to let her go, but she pushes me away. “GO!”
She gives me a chaste kiss, turns, and strides away. I can see in her movements that she’s fighting every step that she takes in the opposite direction from me, quickening her pace to stop herself from looking back. I can’t leave her without a proper goodbye. I won’t see her again for two weeks.
I take off in her direction, grabbing her hand in mine, spinning her round to see the tears streaming down her beautiful cheeks. My bag drops to the floor as my hands reach up to clasp her face, my lips descending on hers in a ferocious kiss, claiming her as mine, devouring her tongue with my own. I bite and suck, nibble and lick her, savoring every delicate flick of her tongue. She submits to me, her body going limp against me as she gives herself over to me, to our intense chemistry.
“Don’t ever walk away from me without saying a proper goodbye.” She’s breathless and flushed as I pick up my bag, giving her one last kiss before I have to leave. “Goodbye, little one. I’ll see you soon.”
She’s practically panting as I turn to leave. “I can’t wait.”
“Me either. Now, I gotta go catch my flight.” I give her a quick slap on the ass, much to her delight, before breaking out in a sprint to my gate.
I make it to the gate just as the flight attendant is about to close the door, her disapproving look doing nothing to lessen the high I feel with the sweet taste of Vittoria fresh on my lips. She hands me my boarding pass, and wishes me a pleasant flight. When I thank her for waiting for me, and flash her my best dimpled smile, her stern exterior crumbles and she blushes like a giddy school girl. It makes me laugh, only because it makes me think of Vittoria. Her feisty little jealous streak, and her jibes at me for being attractive to another woman.
As I settle down into my seat for the short flight to Berlin, I find myself lost in thoughts of her, but unlike my flight to London, I have new memories to keep me going, the taste of her on my lips, and the smell of her perfume on my clothes. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that she changed her flight and waited at the airport all that time just to see me for two hours.
She really is amazing. Far too good for me… but I’m selfish. I need her, and I’ll be counting the days until she’s in my arms again.
Carter just messaged me to go to dinner at his place tonight, saying that Xander, Lily, and Vittoria would be there. I feel terrible that I already knew I was being invited. I was sitting next to Vittoria when he called her twenty minutes ago and asked her to go. She didn’t mention me, she gave nothing away when he said he was going to ask me to come along. I feel like the worst kind of friend. Not only have we lied by omission, but the last thing I want to do is go to his place tonight.
It’s been two long weeks since I left Vittoria at Heathrow Airport, and I’ve been counting the days, the hours, and the minutes until I picked her up at the airport an hour ago. We’ve been sitting in traffic, the tension building between us, making it almost impossible to breathe. The air is thick with anticipation, the knowledge that tonight is the night that we will finally be together, in every way possible. It’s a physical presence in the space between us.
I was going to take her straight to my place, but the current twist of events has thrown a wrench in the works. Instead, I find myself taking a detour and heading toward her apartment, where I’m going to have to leave her, again, even if only for a couple of hours. We’ve arranged to meet at Carter’s place. It’s for the best. If we turn up together, the night will be ruined before it begins.
As I drop her off and watch her enter the building, disappearing from sight, a strange feeling of dread descends upon me. I thought tonight was going to be all about us. The beginning of three glorious weeks of exploring each other, learning and loving each other’s bodies, and finding out if what we have is the real thing. I already know the answer to that, but I need her to be sure. Suddenly, I feel uneasy about what this time together will bring us. I know that I have to come clean with Carter before we can move forward. If I lie to his face tonight, it will eat away at me, and I know it will make it harder for Vittoria to focus on us if she feels that she’s somehow deceived her older brother.
I need to approach this the right way if I want to convince him that I’m not going to hurt his little sister. I know that tonight, something is going to go down between us. I’m hoping beyond hope that he’ll see how serious I am about her, that he will see past his preconceptions about the way I treat women, and give me a chance to prove him wrong.
As I head back to my apartment alone, I can’t shake the feeling that something bad is coming my way. I just hope that I’m overreacting, that I’m just upset that our plans for the night have been derailed after two weeks of waiting and wanting.
When my cab pulls up outside of Carter’s building, I can feel the tension in my shoulders. I didn’t even notice my hands balled tightly into fists; my knuckles white with the strain. I tell myself that when he sees how I feel about her, he’ll understand.
I ring the doorbell and wait... Addi answers the door, looking radiant at six months pregnant, searching the hallway for, I don’t know what.
“Well hello, sexy. Where is the latest drone? I know you have one!”
As I step inside, I can feel her before I see her. Vittoria’s already here. She’s chatting with Lily, laughing and smiling, but I see the almost imperceptible tremor of her lips and the narrowing of her eyes at Addi’s words. Our eyes connect for the briefest of moments before she turns her head, her body language screaming her discomfort.
I lean in to kiss Addi on the cheek and hand her the flowers I brought for her. “No drones. There is a new lady in the picture, but I’m not ready to share her with you yet. She’s… important.”
“O.M.G!!! Lily, Vittoria, did you just hear this??? New York’s very own Casanova has found that special someone! Hearts will be breaking all over town tonight.”
“Oh shut up! You and Carter weren’t exactly monks before you got together, and look at you now!” I brush my hand against her growing belly, her cheeks blushing with pride. “Give me a break, will you? I don’t want to mess this one up.”
“Okay. Just this once, but I expect details later though.”
I say hello to Lily and Vittoria, but it feels strange not to touch her. I want to pull her into my arms and feel her heartbeat against
my chest. Instead, she hands me a beer, her fingertips brushing mine as she tells me that the boys are in the den. My dick twitches at even this smallest of interactions.
I leave the ladies to their chat, a smile pulling at the corner of my lips as I hear Lily talking. “What do they put in the water around here? All three of those boys are super-freaking-H-O-T! You should have snatched that up, Tori!”
“I’m pretty sure he’s the one that makes those kinds of decisions. I don’t think any woman would be able to snag Logan Fitzgerald. Not really. Like Addi said, who will the next drone be?”
My heart sinks. Is she playing a part? Trying not to give anything away about us? Or is that what she believes? That she’s just the next in line.
I open the door to the den to find Carter and Xander having a heart-to-heart. I can’t take anymore ‘feelings’ tonight so I decide to lighten the mood.
“I knew it. I leave you two alone for a few months and you’re butt buddies.”
“Hey, dickhead! How the hell are you? Long time no see!” The guilt washes over me. I’ve been avoiding him like the plague since the wedding.
“I’m good. Your sister’s here and colluding with your women while you guys have been busy having your lovefest in here.
Carter’s face lights up. “Vittoria’s here? When did she arrive?”
“What am I, her damn keeper? I don’t know. I just got here.” That came out so defensive. Could I be any more obvious?
“It was a simple question. You need to get laid, loosen up a bit.” He has no idea how fucking true that is. I’m going to explode if I don’t get inside of Vittoria soon. My dick is hard just at the thought of it. “Where’s your latest victim? She out talking to the girls?” I stiffen. He’s so close to the truth, and yet a million miles off the mark.
“No. I didn’t bring her. It’s… complicated.”
“Complicated? Does she actually have opinions, instead of blindly doing whatever you ask?” I can’t help but laugh. He hit the nail right on the head without even knowing it.