by Aliyah Burke
“However, I think you should tell me what you want with her.”
Yep. It was official. He was going to kill the man who would be his father-in-law. Gio itched to reach across the wood and beat him until he told him what he longed to know. Probably wouldn’t work very well in my favour. So he stayed put in his seat, the look on his face one of calm.
“With all due respect, sir, that’s between me and Jaydee.”
“Well, then call her.”
“I have.” Numerous times without anything.
“And? Did she tell you where she was?”
There was this smugness in his gaze that told him he knew damn well Jaydee hadn’t even talked to him. “We both know she hasn’t talked to me. If she would speak to me, I wouldn’t be here letting you get your rocks off by trying to make me squirm.”
“And, yet, here you are.”
“Here I am.” He shifted on the seat. “You said you were busy. Tell me what I came for and I’ll leave.”
The man lowered his head for a second before lifting it and pinning him with serious brown eyes. “Tell me why I should help you.”
Because I love your daughter. “As I said, that’s between me and Jaydee.”
“The first day we met you ploughed your fist into my face. Why?”
He blinked, a bit taken aback by the shift in conversation. “I was drunk and made a mistake.”
One eyebrow rose. “Is that so? Jaydee said something similar and I believe you as much as I did her.” Thompson laced his fingers. “What’s going on between you and her?”
“What do you care?” Gio snapped, at the end of his rope. “You’re the one who raised her like she was a fuckin’ commodity. Only good for one thing and that was making you look good. Do you even know the meaning of family? She’s your daughter, man, would it kill you to show her that you’re proud of her? Or that you love her?”
“Have you told her you love her?” Dr Thompson asked after a brief pause.
“No, but then how can I? You won’t tell me where the fuck she is!” He shoved to his feet and began to pace.
“Such rash behaviour. This is what brought around you getting caught in the bomber.”
He whirled around and stared at the doctor, who had leant back in his chair, fingers beneath his chin. There was a definite sparkle in those eyes but Gio didn’t let down his guard. This was one man who exemplified the word cagey.
“What about the bomber?”
The man flashed a cynical grin. “Don’t even try it. There isn’t anything that goes on surrounding Jaydee that I’m not aware of. I knew about the bomber the day Vice Admiral Fitzroy discovered the two of you.”
Gio released a breath and made his way back to his vacated chair. Standing behind it, he gripped the back and waited for whatever was coming next.
“Don’t look so shocked. After you punched me in the face and Jaydee defended you and asked me to let it go, I knew. I knew then you were something special to her. That told me all I needed to know.”
“But you won’t tell me where she is?”
“No.” Dr Thompson held up a hand. “Let me finish. I’ll do you one better. I’m taking a flight out to where she is tomorrow and I have room for you if you want to accompany me.”
“Yes.”
“Very well. Go get whatever you need and come back here. We’ll be sleeping here and leaving in the morning.” Dr Thompson got to his feet and walked to the door only to pause and turn back. “And while you’re right, I’ve not been much of a father to her, trust me when I tell you this—you hurt her and I will have you killed.” He opened the door and was gone.
Gio swallowed and made his way out of the room where he found a guard waiting for him, armed with an automatic machine gun as well as two sidearms.
“This way, Commander.” The man strode off leaving him to follow.
He spent the night in a remarkably comfortable room. This lab seemed to have it all. He ate breakfast in a cafeteria where people gave him odd looks but never said a word to him. A different guard came and took him out of another door to see the morning sun. There was a landing strip and he found a Cessna Citation X waiting.
Dr Thompson stuck his head out from the jet and hollered, “Here he is. Let’s get going.”
Shouldering his bag, he jogged up the steps and into the eight-passenger double-club seating arrangement. Noting where the doctor had sat, Gio claimed the seat across the aisle from him, not wanting to be directly opposite from the man for however long the flight would be. The pilot came, grabbed his bag from him, and stowed it. Moments later, he could hear the engines powering up and soon they had taken to the sky.
“Where are we going?” he asked after they’d levelled off.
“Do you always ask so many questions?”
“Only when I’m not getting any answers.”
“Virginia. She’s working with NASA.”
“NASA in Virginia?” He glanced out of the window at the robin’s-egg blue sky.
“Yes.” The man powered up his laptop and got to work.
Gio sighed. He wanted answers. Seemed all he got from this man was more questions. At least I’m getting closer to her. A fact that calmed him a bit more. He reclined in his seat and put in his music before allowing his eyes to drift closed.
It was afternoon when they landed in Virginia and he stifled a groan when he stepped off the jet. Hefting his bag, he trailed behind Dr Thompson and climbed into the waiting SUV. No one spoke. The second their doors closed the vehicle was off and moving.
They halted on a street of houses right before a duplex. Dr Thompson looked askance at him and said, “This is her house. Two-seven-three-one. You’ll have to wait here. She should be home in a bit.”
“So you’re not taking me to her?”
“This is taking you to her. You can’t talk to her at work, she’ll find something to ignore you with. You can have zero audience here and get all your issues worked out. Go on. Like I said, she should be home soon.”
Gio opened the door and stepped back out into the humid and stifling afternoon. Hand on the door, he looked into the interior. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, son. Because, like I said, you hurt her, I’ll have you killed.” The doctor stared him dead in the eyes. “Good luck.”
“Right,” Gio muttered.
The vehicle left immediately after he’d shut the door. So there he stood, early evening, in the street before a building he hoped Jaydee would be back to soon. He glanced up and down the deserted street then meandered up the sidewalk to the porch. Not much later he sat on the bench seat by her front door, feet propped up on the railing before him and bag at his side.
Almost an hour passed before he heard the loud rumble of a motorcycle. He didn’t think anything of it since it didn’t sound like her Ninja. But when he watched it come into view, his breath caught in his throat. It was Jaydee. Just on a Harley. Damn, she looked good on it, too.
She pulled into the drive and shut it down. When she swung one leg over the black machine, he got to his feet. Even from the distance between them, he could see her eyes widen. Seeing her again gave his system a jolt. Electricity powered through him and he felt more alive than he had since she’d left.
She wore medium blue jeans that were slightly baggy, tennis shoes, and a zipped-up leather jacket. Helmet in hand, she strode up the walk, one hand lowering the zipper on her jacket, which allowed him to see the bright yellow shirt she wore beneath it. Her hair fell in a dark silken cloud around her face and shoulders.
He longed to sink his hands in it, angle her head and kiss her like there was no tomorrow. Leaning against the porch pillar, he crossed his arms and waited for her to reach him. He could read her, and knew the minute she began to put up some walls, for her eyes shuttered, the heat he’d seen vanishing behind a cool and composed mask.
Damn but she looked beautiful. He wanted to rush to her side, hold her. Kiss her. Love her.
“What are you doing here, Gio?” she asked, pausing a
t the bottom of the four steps.
“Well, sweets, you’ve been ignoring my calls and, like I said, we have to talk.” He dug his nails into his palms so he wouldn’t grab her. Talk first.
But after…oh God, after they talked…all bets were off.
Jaydee stared up at the man waiting for her on her porch. Giovanni Cassano. A man she’d done her best to forget about, only to fail miserably. He stood there, a black bag behind him on the cement, looking mad enough to fight through hell and good enough for her to want nothing more than to run into his arms.
He wore pale stonewashed jeans held up around lean hips by a black leather belt. A black shirt was tucked in at the waist. He had black boots on his feet and aviator glasses on his face. Hotness personified.
“Talk,” she mimicked him.
In an unhurried motion, he removed the shades and she got to see his eyes. Those damnably gorgeous hazel eyes zeroed in on her face, the browns and greens swirling into an exotic blend of perfection.
“Unless there’s something else you’d rather do first.”
Shit! And she’d thought the day couldn’t possibly get any hotter. How wrong she’d been. She felt like she was melting beneath the heat in his stare. His comment had been laden with sexual promise and suggestion.
Her belly clenched with the suggestion of having his touch on her again. Nipples tightened and pressed insistently against the fabric of her tank top. Thankfully she still had her jacket on so he couldn’t see that. And, if that wasn’t enough, her clit decided to make its presence known as well and she shifted on her feet so she didn’t squeeze her thighs together in what she knew would be a futile attempt to stem the flow of moisture.
“It’s been a long day, Commander. I’d just as soon eat and go to bed.”
“Bed works just fine for me, sweets, but I promise you I’m not going anywhere until we talk.”
Bed. Him. Her. Lots and lots of sweaty passion. Oh Lord, that sounded divine. She cut off the moan that threatened to escape and bit the inside of her lip as she moved up the steps and past him to unlock her front door.
“Talking is all I’m offering.”
“I’ll take it,” he murmured in her ear as his larger body pressed intimately against hers before the door opened, allowing her some respite from the heat of his physique.
Her knees trembled. Like she needed more reminders of what they had done together, or how often. She shrugged out of the heavy leather jacket and hung it on the coat rack by the door. Her helmet went on another one, then she walked to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. She seemed more than a bit parched.
This place was not as open as her other apartment and so she didn’t see him coming up behind her. One minute she was alone and, the next, his hard body had melded itself to her back, strong arms pinning her in between him and the fridge.
Closing her eyes, she prayed for strength. Somehow, she didn’t think there was enough in the world. Not for her and definitely not when it came to this man.
“You ran from me,” he rumbled in her ear. “Why did you run?”
“I didn’t run. I came to see you but you seemed busy with your guest. So I left.”
Her skin burned as he nuzzled his way along behind her ear and down the side of her neck to her shoulder. A puddle. That was what he turned her into.
“That was Michelle.”
“I know.” She hated that her voice sounded so sharp. “You introduced us”—a slight pause—“in a manner of speaking. I mean, I gathered that’s who she was when you said her name. You remember, seconds before she jumped into your arms.”
“If I didn’t know any better, sweets, I’d say you were jealous.”
She was, damn it. More than she’d ever been in her entire life but the hell she’d let him know that. Many nights she’d lain there cursing over the image of that green-eyed woman jumping familiarly into his arms. Pushing back against him so she could reach into the fridge, she withdrew two bottles of water.
“Well, then, you apparently don’t know any better, do you?”
His rumble vibrated into her back and she shivered at the darkly menacing sound. Before she knew what had happened, he spun her around and slammed one hand against the refrigerator beside her head. She jumped and tried immediately to calm her heart. Fury radiated from every pore of his body.
“So it wouldn’t bother you to know she stayed at my house for a few days, then?”
She shrugged. “Why should it? There’s nothing between us. Can you move back, please?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I’m not moving back. In fact, I’m thinking it’s time for me to move even closer. Eliminate what little space there is between us and see what happens.” The gleam in his gaze nearly unsettled her. He seemed on the edge and yet all too controlled.
She gulped. She was confident of what would happen. Damn if she didn’t want it to again. But she couldn’t…could she?
One hand stroked up along her side, over her hip, and up her ribs. Two long fingers worked their way beneath the hem of her shirt and lifted it. The simplicity of his touch took her breath away. The calluses she felt sent her for a ride.
Shit. Much more of this and she’d be orgasming without him even removing their clothing. As it was, she felt like panting.
“Nothing would happen.” The words were forced out from her lips.
“I beg to differ, sweets.” He nuzzled her temple and she jumped when his teeth grazed her outer ear. “Yeah, I beg to differ.”
Her thoughts were so jumbled she knew that there was no way to straighten them out. She couldn’t seem to focus. Well, not true. She had an intense single-mindedness about each feathery stroke of his fingers along her skin, the whisper of his warm breath through her hair, and the heady and masculine scent of him.
He moved, just a bit, and she whimpered at the feel of his erection pressing into her. So close and yet so damn far.
“Tell me the truth,” he said.
“This…this can’t happen.”
He shifted again and she felt her heart speed up even more as his left hand settled upon her side and began lifting that side of her shirt. Higher and higher his touch skimmed, his thumbs slipping along the underside of her breasts.
She gave in and gripped his upper arms, unable to stand on her own any longer. Jaydee wanted him with everything in her. One more time. Tilting her face up to his, she groaned in relief when his mouth covered hers.
It wasn’t gentle—he demanded. And she gave all he asked for. His tongue stroked deep and hitting everything it could reach. The passionate fires that only this man inflamed pushed to an out-of-control raging blaze, kicking into high gear, racing over her and incinerating the last shred of restraint she had. She slumped against his solid physique with a moan of surrender.
Gio broke the kiss long enough to rip her tank top off. She tugged on his shirt, too, and it followed hers to the floor. His hands settled along her waist and, with a deft spin, he moved them from the front of the refrigerator and settled her upon the countertop before wedging himself between her thighs.
God! She could feel the long hard length of him pressing into the apex of her thighs. His fingers dug into the flesh of her ass as he held her to him, grinding slowly, allowing her no chance to escape.
Tilting her head to the side, she gave him more access to her neck. Goose bumps broke out as he nibbled along her skin, nipping and laving. She ran her hands up over his back, hooking her legs around his waist and kicking off her tennis shoes.
“Jaydee,” he mumbled into her ear as he sucked on the lobe.
She felt the flick on her bra, which undid the clasp in the back, and whimpered as his teeth grazed along her shoulder, dragging the satin strap down. First one side then the other.
Her movements grew frantic as she slid her hands around to the front of his jeans and unbuttoned them. His mouth feasted upon hers again as she slowly lowered the zipper, his tongue thrusting deep and licking everywh
ere it could. A purr of contentment slipped from her mouth to his as she curved her hand around his stiffness.
So hot. So hard. Hers.
He bucked against her touch and she began stroking him. It didn’t take long before he was getting her out of her own jeans. He removed her underwear, which was soaked with her desire for him, and he flicked two fingers over her sensitive clit.
She reached for him again and guided him to where she needed him to be. He didn’t make her wait. He powered deep into her with no hesitation. Her eyes rolled back in her head as he stretched her.
“Mine!” he growled as he began to move.
She bit her lip, not responding to his possessiveness. Hell, they hadn’t been apart that long but damn if it didn’t feel like it had been a lifetime since he’d been inside her.
He gripped her hips and began driving hard into her. She hooked her ankles behind him and held him tight. Held him close. Held him hard. She buried her face into his neck and shoulder as her nails dug into his skin. He didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.
“Mine!” he reiterated, his single-word statement punctuated by a powerful stroke that made her gasp and bite him as the pleasure ricocheted through her.
Her slit clenched around him and his rumble of satisfaction would have made her smile had she been able to catch her breath. As it was, everything within her was attuned to the man buried deep inside her wetness. She wanted to climb into him and never leave, for fear of losing the feelings he created in her.
Gio stimulated her clit and she disintegrated around him. “Fuck, you’re so damn tight,” he growled before he pounded into her with unrelenting strokes. A low roar escaped him as she felt him release inside her.
Before her heart even had a chance to slow, he lifted her off the counter, still buried deep, and carried her to her bedroom where he proceeded to start all over again.
Chapter Nineteen
Gio slowly opened his eyes. The room was not familiar but it didn’t matter, for the woman in his arms was. He’d know her scent anywhere. Jaydee slept soundly against him, her body pressed tightly to his, just how they’d fallen asleep. She lay partially on her stomach and part on him. One leg draped over him, her face buried into his shoulder, and one arm rested along his chest.