She tugged at my clothes, urging me to walk forwards as she led me to the sofa. Normally, I would have teased her about being impatient, but I was feeling that way myself. There was no way I’d make it to the bedroom, not when I could feel my cock twitching and leaking precum for her already.
We got to the couch and I managed to get my shirt off while Gina worked on my pants—and then, without warning, she sank to her knees.
I nearly choked on my own tongue. I hadn’t expected that, but then she took my cock in hand and ran her lips along it, her breath hot against it, nothing more than a tease, and I forgot to breathe. I swallowed hard, trying not to jerk my hips forward, desperate to slide my cock between those slick, pink lips.
Gina’s tongue darted out, giving little kitten licks up and down my cock. I groaned, tangling my fingers in those dark curls, cradling the back of her head. Gina’s gaze flicked up to me and she gave me a pleased, teasing smile, then sucked lightly on the tip.
My hips bucked forward and she gave a throaty laugh, backing away so that I was thrusting into nothing but air. She’d learned how to tease in the ten years since I’d last done this with her, and I both wanted to congratulate her and growl at her for teasing me.
Gina licked a long stripe up the underside and I forced myself to keep still, to not take more than she offered. It was the sweetest kind of torture as she only licked and never took more than just the tip into her mouth. This was revenge for the other night when I’d kept her on the edge, I just knew it.
Finally, after what felt like ages, she sank down so that her mouth completely covered my cock.
I almost shouted, biting down hard on the inside of my cheek as she bobbed her head. I wasn’t going to last long, not at all, and I had the wild thought that I wasn’t sure if I’d rather come down her throat or all over her pretty face. She used the perfect amount of pressure and suction as she moved over me, tonguing the slit, her hand covering the part she couldn’t quite swallow down, and I felt my balls tightening—
She pulled away and I almost fell forward, panting hard. I felt my orgasm receding, my skin buzzing. Gina grinned up at me, looking positively wicked.
“Oh, you are so asking for it,” I told her, grinning savagely down at her and hauling her to her feet.
Gina gave a little moan and kissed me, letting me manhandle her and turn her around so that her back was to my chest. I moved my hand down between her legs to prep her, get her slick and open for me. I growled in pleasure when I found that wetness was already pooling there just from sucking me off, and I nipped playfully at her earlobe as I sank my fingers into her.
“You’re a real little minx, aren’t you?” I asked, and Gina moaned deliciously in response. In that moment, she trusted me completely, put herself in my hands, and it gave me a rush like nothing else.
I’d convince her to trust me entirely, soon enough. I’d prove myself.
“Bend over,” I purred into her ear, sliding my fingers out of her and putting my hands at her hips. Gina spread her legs, bending over and bracing her hands on the sofa.
I took myself in hand, stroking a few times before lining myself up.
I slid inside so easily that I almost choked on the sensation. She was so tight and wet for me, and I had to close my eyes and breathe deeply to keep from blowing my load right then and there. Gina gave encouraging little gasps, pushing her hips back against me, urging me to move. I thrust hard, the both of us groaning simultaneously.
Gina wiggled her hips, encouraging me, and I started to thrust in earnest, fucking her properly, using my hips to move until I found that sweet spot that made her cry out in pleasure.
I snapped my hips, hitting that spot, getting lost in the feeling of her, that slick, tight heat. She looked amazing like this, her dark hair, the curve of her back, her gorgeous, generous ass. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I finished, so I bent over her, wrapping my arm around so that I could rub at her clit.
Gina cried out again, shuddering, coming hard, and that was it for me. She tightened as she came and I couldn’t help myself, I came as well, my legs buckling a little as my vision went white.
I pulled out, breathing hard, and she turned around, shaking as she leaned against the sofa and smiled dazedly up at me. Her smile faltered a little, and I saw some of her old insecurity peeking through. “Was that good?”
I grinned down at her, taking her face in my hands and giving her a soft kiss. “Perfect,” I assured her.
We still had to think of a plan. We had to find out a new way to get Gabriele out of the way and away from her. We had to talk more about where she and I stood, and what I could do to help her to trust me again.
But for the time being, I was exhausted, and I could tell that she was, too, and I didn’t want anything more than to hold her.
We’d figure out the rest in the morning.
11
Gina
I left Vin’s place early the next morning. I still had to be at work on time and do my shifts, after all.
It was so surreal. There I was, trying to set up a sting for a mobster one night and then the next morning going into work like everything was normal and mundane.
Half the time, it felt like my life had become insane, ridiculous, like somebody was filming the whole thing with a hidden camera and, at any moment, a guy would pop out with a microphone and say, “Gotcha!”
The other half of the time, it felt all too real. Like a waking nightmare. Like one of those days where you knew you failed that test or you got into a car accident and you just sat there thinking, “Oh please, oh please let me wake up,” but you never did, because it all actually happened.
That was the worst feeling.
But the rest of the world didn’t stop just because your life was falling apart and work was no exception. So, I got up, hopped on the bus, and went in. Vincent said he could arrange for a driver to take me or something while he went to work, but I told him I was fine. It really wasn’t a problem. Plus, I needed to hold on to some of my independence, dammit. I couldn’t let Vincent take care of everything.
When I got to work, though…
I smelled the smoke, but it took me a moment to realize where it was coming from and what that meant.
Then I ran, barrelling into the shelter.
Maria ran out just as I ran in, and we nearly collided. Her arms were wrapped around a box of puppies. “Here!” she yelled. “Take these!”
Neighbors scrambled to help, but some people hung back, looking dubious, and I realized what they were thinking: This was deliberate.
None of them knew about my mess with Gabriele, of course. But they knew that the mob was in charge of this neighborhood and all of their businesses. This fire couldn’t be coincidental. It was a message.
I started organizing the neighbors who were helping, telling them to get makeshift pens set up in their stores, put the animals inside them, get water. Then I darted back into the shelter.
There were so many animals to grab. There were a couple other co-workers there, too, all of us grabbing what we could. I ran straight to the back to see if I could put out the fire.
“Careful!” Maria called as I passed her.
“I have to make sure everyone’s out!” I yelled over my shoulder. I’d never live with myself if I learned there’d been helpless animals still trapped in the flames.
Those bastards had started the fire in the kitchen where we prepped the food for the animals. It was way too far gone for me to do anything, not unless I had proper firefighting equipment. I turned to go, to find more animals, but then I heard whimpering. I dropped low to the ground, trying to find the source of the noise.
“C’mere!” I called out, hoping the animal could hear me. “It’s okay, c’mere baby!”
There was more whimpering, and then the sound of tiny claws, and then a puppy sprinted towards me out of the smoke, rushing into my chest. I scooped him up. “Good puppy. Good boy.”
The smoke made my eyes water and I
coughed, searching for the way out. Smoke and flames were everywhere. The door had just been right there a moment ago, hadn’t it? Had the flames closed over it?
I coughed again, trying to shield the puppy and my eyes. The animal was terrified, whimpering, trying to burrow further into my chest to escape the flames.
Where was the damn door? I hadn’t expected the flames to be so high.
Wind came from somewhere and I caught a glimpse of the door, ran toward it and into the hallway—but now the fire had spread to the rest of the shelter and flames licked at the walls. Which way was the entrance? Where was safe?
I tried to remember all the fire safety things I’d been taught in school as a kid, when we’d had those annoying fire drills. I knew I had to drop down and get on my knees or the smoke would kill me. But how was I supposed to get out when the light of the flames was blinding me? When everything around me seemed to be on fire?
I found myself instinctively thinking about Vincent. About how safe I felt with him. I’d give anything for him to be here with me now. To my horror, I started crying. The tears vanished off my face almost immediately from the heat, but that didn’t make them any less real. I wanted Vincent with me. I wanted him to tell me that it would all be all right, that I was safe, that he would protect me.
I saw what looked like someone running towards me down the hallway, but I thought I must have been getting delirious, that it must have been a hallucination caused by smoke inhalation and heat and thoughts of Vincent. No one in their right mind would have come back in, not with the flames this widespread.
“Gina!”
Vincent?
“Over here!” I coughed. “Vin, I’m here!”
He crouched down in front of me, lifting me easily. I clung to him. The tiny part of my brain that was still able to think about something other than fire had the thought that Vincent must really work out if he was able to lift me like that.
“You’re okay,” he rasped. “I’ve got you.”
If this was a hallucination, I thought, it felt like a pretty damn intense one. I felt Vincent’s body jostling under my own as he carried me through the flames, the puppy whimpering against my chest. He kept talking to me even though it must have burned his throat, soothing me as he hurried me through the flames.
I wanted to tell him that I could walk if he wanted to lead me, but that just led to another coughing fit. To my hazy mind, it felt suddenly like the flames were a hallucination and Vincent was the only real thing.
Then I could feel it—cool air, a breeze.
Maybe none of this was in my head, I realized. Maybe it was all really happening.
We burst out onto the street just as sirens from the fire truck sounded, the truck itself rounding the corner a moment later. Vincent laid me down on the sidewalk and took the puppy from me, handing it off to Maria as she yelled at me in Spanish, probably for being stupid. I didn’t know a whole lot of Spanish, but it didn’t take a language expert to know when someone was angry with you.
Someone handed Vincent a bottle of water, which he then passed to me. “Take small sips,” he warned.
His hand was warm and reassuring between my shoulder blades, anchoring me as I slowly drank the water. It tasted amazing. Nothing had ever tasted so good in my life. It was so hard not to gulp it down, but even the little sips made me cough, so I could only imagine what drinking it too quickly would do.
Paramedics came to check me over and give me a blanket, although why I needed a blanket when I’d just been exposed to the heat from a fire, I wasn’t sure. Vincent stayed with me the whole time, answering questions, rubbing my back soothingly, making sure I kept drinking the water.
“She can go home, right?” he asked Maria when the paramedics and firefighters were finished asking me questions. “Can I take her home?”
“I think that we’re all going home,” Maria said, weariness making her voice heavy.
“I’ll arrange for the animals to be taken in,” Vincent assured her. “You won’t have to worry about a thing.”
“Other than the men who started this, and why.” Maria gave me a warning look. Not like she was angry with me—more like she was worried about what I’d gotten myself into.
“I’m so sorry,” I told her. My stomach roiled and I honestly felt like shit for doing this to her. It was my fault that Gabriele had retaliated this way. What kind of monster did this? Attacking animals, putting a woman out of business, putting the businesses and buildings on either side at risk just because a woman said no to him?
Thank God for Vincent. I leaned into him as he helped me to my feet.
“Don’t worry about it,” Maria replied. “This is not your fault. It is only the fault of the people who do it. You’re lucky you’ve got a good man to support you.”
I blushed, and I felt Vincent go a little stiff with surprise. “Thank you,” I told her, for lack of anything better to say.
Vincent led me away. “I’ve called us a cab,” he said. “Better than a motorcycle in your condition.”
“How’d you know to come?”
“I just… didn’t feel right being in the office while you were on your own. Not after last night. So, I rode down here and saw the flames, and Maria said you’d gone back in and I…” He swallowed, his eyes dark. “I was terrified,” he admitted quietly.
“You risked your life for me.”
“And I’d do it again, in a heartbeat.” His voice was firm. “I’d do anything for you.”
In that moment, I really felt that he would. I was finally starting to understand just how far Vincent would go for me. Whatever he had done to me in high school, he was definitely making up for it now. He’d tried to help me with Gabriele, to protect me from him, and he had just now yanked me out of a fire, probably saving my life.
“I’ll take you back to your apartment,” Vincent said, bundling me into the cab that pulled up. “You can shower, get lots of rest, drink water.”
“Will you stay?” I asked, surprised at how small my voice sounded. He’d have to meet Tabby if he did, but I figured it was worth putting up with my roommate’s squealing to have Vin cuddle me.
He made a face. “I’d love to, but I have to go back to the office. There’s too much to take care of.”
“How dare you be responsible,” I teased.
He smiled. “Exactly. I can stop by this evening, though? If you’d like?”
I nodded, leaning my head against his shoulder. “Yes,” I said. “I’d like that.”
He helped me up to my apartment when we got there. Tabby was, understandably, worried and a little freaked out.
“Are you okay?” she demanded, pummeling Vincent with a thousand questions once she realized that I wasn’t really in the best place to answer.
Vincent explained quietly while he put me to bed. “She needs a lot of rest and water,” he finished up.
“Of course. I work from home, so I can sit with her.”
“Thanks, Tabby,” I mumbled, already starting to fall asleep now that the adrenaline was wearing off. “Thanks, Vin.”
The last thing I felt before I slipped into a deep slumber was Vin brushing a kiss to my temple.
12
Vincent
I was at the office, but my mind was with Gina. I knew that she was safe, that I had tucked her into bed myself, but it was still difficult not to text Tabby constantly to make sure that Gina was okay.
We’d exchanged numbers and I’d made her promise to call me if anything went wrong with Gina. I didn’t ask her to, but she texted me updates throughout the day, letting me know that Gina was eating, watching TV, napping, and drinking plenty of water.
I was just about to leave the office when I got the phone call.
“Tabby? Everything okay?”
Tabby was crying so hard I could barely understand her.
“Whoa, slow down. What’s wrong? What’s happened?” My heart climbed up into my throat.
“They took her,” Tabby gasped out. “
They came in—this guy—I tried, I tried to fight but they knocked me out and when I woke up, she was gone. Gina’s gone and I think—I didn’t call the police because the way they talked and Gina—I think they’re mafia, Vincent!”
My blood was boiling.
Gabriele was going to pay for this. Nobody, nobody was going to take Gina and hurt her and get away with it.
I put in a call to Anthony.
We’d exchanged numbers, as well. He’d been pissed after last night hadn’t gone well, but I’d convinced him to try again. Now, he wasn’t going to have a choice. He was going to move on Gabriele and help me with Gina or I was going to find a way to bury his entire family.
“He’s taken Gina,” I said the moment that Anthony answered the phone. “Help me get to her and I’ll make it worth your while. Other than the benefit of taking him out, of course.”
“He’ll be in his own territory,” Anthony told me. “I could—”
“You could be risking yourself, yes, I’m fully aware. But consider this: you could get your uncle pissed off at you, or, you could have a billionaire with politicians in his pocket bearing down on your ass for the next ten years. Which one sounds better to you?”
Anthony agreed right away after that.
I didn’t bother waiting for him and his men. The moment he told me where Gabriele lived, I was out the door and swinging onto my motorcycle.
That bastard was going to pay for this.
The apartment was a fancy high rise, like mine, which was good. I just strode in like I lived there. The lobby guy recognized me and didn’t even bother to ask who I was there to see. I’d quickly learned, when I was still just starting out, that was a great way to get your foot in the door: just act like you belonged there and people would accept that you did.
There were a couple of goons, just basic hired muscle, wandering around in the hallway. Things got… I wouldn’t like to say ugly, but I definitely wasn’t looking as pretty as usual by the time I got into the apartment itself. My suit was probably ruined, for one thing, which kind of pissed me off. Suits weren’t my choice—I’d wear a t-shirt and jeans when I could—but I looked damn good in them and that suit wasn’t cheap.
Take Me Home_A Billionaire Protector Romance Page 7