She looked like a picture, posing in his arms, pink and flushed from his kisses and he had an urge to kiss her for hours. But he didn’t. He brought her hands from his head back in front of her and she opened her eyes.
Gabriella was a passionate woman, and Kolson had just unleashed that passion. There was no telling what would happen if he really got down to business with her.
He lifted her arm. Turning it so her scars faced upward, he dropped his head and ran his lips over them, barely touching them. Gabby’s breath rushed through her teeth in a hiss, but Kolson didn’t stop. He took her wrist and rested his stubbled cheek against it momentarily and then let it slide across his face, before moving to kiss it again. This time, his tongue peeked out and painted along the lines of each jagged edge, right before his mouth closed over the group of them and sucked. Gabby squirmed, not from discomfort or unease, but from sexual tension. Her skin grew taut as goosebumps erupted along the soft flesh of her inner arm. Kolson’s lips moved from her scars up her arm to the crease of her elbow, whispering over her sensitive skin, sending shivers through her body. By now she was panting. Her hand moved to his shirt and crumpled a fistful as she moaned beneath the slight workings of his tongue and lips.
How could he turn her on by licking those awful scars? They had always repulsed Gabby and made her ashamed of herself, and here she was feeling more sexually aware than she ever had in her life.
“Gabriella, tell me. Are you wet for me?”
“Yes,” she moaned.
“Has anyone ever kissed you like this before?”
“No,” she breathed. The air rasped through her lungs and she squeezed her thighs together, trying to ease the ache he’d stirred up.
“One day you’re going to tell me all of your secrets.”
His mouth skimmed up to her shoulder and his tongue left a hot, wet trail as he licked.
“You’re a very sensuous woman, Gabriella. Soon, I’m going to unleash that passion. I want to hear you scream my name when you come on my tongue. Have you ever come on anyone’s tongue before?”
“No.”
What she wanted to say was that she’d like to come on his tongue right now. She refrained because was ashamed at her response and she didn’t even know this man, yet he was doing maddening things to her body, wicked things that she wanted more of.
Then he was back to kissing her mouth, demanding everything she could give. And she gave. Without hesitation. He forced his knee between her legs and she rubbed herself against him, but it wasn’t enough to give her relief. Heat burned through her as she gave herself into her desire, letting herself fall into him, but suddenly the kiss ended. She opened her eyes to see him looking down at her with a shrouded expression.
“Some secrets aren’t meant to be kept, Gabriella. Some are meant to be shared. And I intend to discover all of yours. Not only are you going to tell me, you’re going to pant and beg for me to do things to you before you shout them to me. And by the time I’m through, I’ll know all your secrets. Every. Single. One. And you know something else? You won’t regret for one minute that you told me. And that’s a promise.”
Chapter Seven
Kolson escorted Gabby down to the waiting car and lectured her on the way about the dangers of not only running alone but also of not carrying a phone with her.
“Stop lecturing me. I’m not twelve.”
“Then stop acting like it.”
“Who do you think you are? You don’t own me. And you can’t tell me what to do. I know it wasn’t the smartest thing to run when it was so dark out, but …”
“Wait! Did I just hear you agree with me?” Kolson asked.
“You are the most annoying, irritating man.”
“And you are the most stubborn woman who has no concern for her safety.” By this time, they had reached the car. Kolson opened the door for Gabby and told Sam to take her home.
“Good morning, Dr. Martinelli,” Sam greeted her. “Hope you’re well today.”
“Thank you, Sam. I am, now that your bossy boss has relinquished his hold on me. I hope you are also well.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He laughed. “Mr. H. says I’m to wait and then take you to work.”
“You don’t have to do that. Besides, I need to stop and buy a phone on the way.”
“Yes, ma’am, I do. Mr. H.’s orders. And that won’t be a problem at all.”
Gabby people watched as Sam drove through the increasing traffic. Pedestrians were already dressed in suits and work attire, carrying briefcases as they hustled down the sidewalks. Most talked on phones as they walked. The avenue was clogged with a sea of yellow for as far as Gabby could see, indicating the enormous number of taxis in the city.
Gabby figured Sam would be a good source of information for her. “So Sam, tell me about Mr. H.”
Sam’s eyes caught hers in the mirror. “What do you want to know?”
“What does he do?”
“Well, ma’am, he works at HTS.”
“And what’s that?”
“It’s this car service, ma’am.”
“Oh.”
“You know, Hart Transportation Service? It’s the biggest car service in New York City,” Sam said with pride.
“I see. Have you worked for Kolson for a long time?”
“Yes, ma’am. Well, for as long as he’s had HTS. I worked for his father before that.”
“Oh, so you’ve known him a while?”
“Yes, ma’am. Here we are, ma’am.” Gabby didn’t live very far from Kolson.
“Um, Sam, you can call me Gabby.”
“How about if I just call you Dr. M.?”
Gabby laughed. “I guess that’ll work fine. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Take your time, Dr. M. I’m in no hurry.”
Gabby didn’t want to take advantage of Kolson’s generosity, so she rushed to get ready for work. By the time she got back to the car, she was huffing. Sam said, “I told you not to rush, Dr. M.”
“Yes, but I am running a bit late.”
“Well, I’ll have you at your office in a jiff.” On the way, they made a quick stop at the cell phone store where she purchased a new phone. It was an unexpected expense that angered her. She cursed Danny as she exited the store, especially since he now had her phone number. She would’ve loved to have changed it, but that was impossible since it would impact all her patients.
Running late had forced her to reschedule her first patient and now her day was going to be all scrambled up. Gabby normally hated disorder, so this further soured her already unpleasant mood. Danny had tossed a damn monkey wrench into what were usually smoothly run days, starting with that stupid hangover the other morning. And it had been downhill ever since.
To make matters worse, upon unlocking her office door, she found a past due notice for her rent taped to it. She was behind on all her bills so she was going to have to figure something out regarding her finances. Last month, her accounts receivables didn’t come close to covering her rental fees. Mentally ticking off all her nonessential expenses, she was down to nil. She had cut out coffee purchases, and the only time she’d spent any extra money recently was the night she’d gone to that bar—and not even then as Kolson paid that tab. She didn’t know what else she could possibly cut. The last time she’d spent money on a haircut had been months ago, and that was at a cheap walk-in place.
A long low sigh escaped her when she looked at her desk. It was piled with medical journals, charts and files, among them one holding the bills that were making her brain hurt. Disarray did not sit well with her, and she never left her desk this messy so she hurried to the mountain of clutter and started to rearrange things. Her life was starting to resemble her desk—cluttered and chaotic. Ever since Danny reappeared, things were topsy-turvy. She needed to pull herself together.
The buzzer sounded, indicating her first patient had arrived. She was surprised because the appointment wasn’t for another hour.
Poking her head
around the corner, she was getting ready to say, “Hi, Mrs. LaRue.” But it wasn’t Mrs. LaRue. Gabby was surprised to see a young woman standing there. Huge brown eyes shadowed by purple half moons stared back at her from a tiny face. Her eyes were sunken and haunted looking and Gabby thought if she got any smaller she would poof into thin air.
“Hi, can I help you?”
“M-my name is Juliana and Case told me about you.”
It was the girl that Case was hoping would show at the NA meeting.
“Oh, yes. Hi, Juliana. Please come in. I’m Gabby. Have a seat.”
Gabby knew the girl was in trouble. She had all the physical signs: sweating, tremors, rubbing the arms, runny nose, and agitation.
“Juliana, is your stomach hurting?”
“Yes,” she whimpered. Her arms hugged her body. “I want to quit. I do.”
“Can I take you some place that will help you? They’ll make your withdrawal easier. But if I do, Juliana, you have to promise me that you’ll follow up with the treatment. And that you’ll go to Case’s NA group.”
She huddled in the chair hugging her stomach and rocked back and forth. “My boyfriend beats me. He doesn’t want me to stop using.”
“Listen to me, Juliana. There is help out there. I promise you there is. I work at the women’s shelter. We can protect you from him. But I need your commitment to get clean first. One step at a time. You can stay at Case’s NA house until you’re clean and stable and then we can put you in the women’s shelter. We’ll keep your boyfriend away from you. But I need that commitment from you before I can help you get off the drugs. Will you give me that?”
“Oh, I’m so sick right now. I need something.”
“We can help you. We can ease those withdrawal symptoms. But I’m not going to lie and tell you it will be easy. It’ll be a hell of a lot easier than this though.”
“Okay,” she nodded.
Gabby grabbed her phone and called Case. “Hey, Juliana is here. In my office. Can you come? She wants to commit to withdraw. In the clinic.”
Gabby pulled a chair over in front of Juliana. She went and grabbed some paper towels and dampened them with cold water and then placed them on her forehead. “I know this isn’t much, but it’s the best I can do for now. How old are you?”
“Twenty-three,” she moaned.
“How long have you been using?”
“Since I was twenty. I never thought I’d get addicted.”
“No one ever does. They always think they can stop whenever they want. That’s how heroin is.”
“My boyfriend says he’ll kill me if I leave. I think I’m going to be sick.” Fear punched Gabby in the face. She understood how this girl felt and knew what it was like to be scared to death of someone.
Gabby showed her where the bathroom was and could hear her gagging. She was curious if she even had anything in her stomach to throw up.
Juliana came out and her skin was waxy looking. “I’m so weak.”
“It’s the withdrawal and they’ll help with that at the clinic. Case will be here soon.”
“Oh, God, I feel so awful.”
Gabby walked to the window to look outside and that’s when she saw him. Danny was standing across the street, looking at her office building.
Shit! What if he comes in here? What will I do?
She prayed that Case would get here soon.
“Gabby, my stomach really hurts. How long will this go on?”
“As soon as you get to the clinic, they’ll give you something for it. I’m going to call them now and let them know you’ll be coming in. What’s your last name and when was the last time you used?”
“My last name is Gibson and I used yesterday afternoon.”
Gabby got on the phone and called the clinic to let them know Case would be bringing her in.
Case finally arrived.
“The clinic knows she’s coming in with you. Here are some bags just in case she gets sick on the way. I don’t think there’s anything in her stomach, but you never know,” Gabby said.
“Hey thanks. You know how important this is to me.” He squeezed her hand.
“It’s important to me too, you know.” She walked them to the door and when they left, she checked outside and didn’t see Danny anywhere, but she did see Sam. That provided her with the comfort she needed. She couldn’t shake the thought of Danny being outside of her office, though.
For as crazy as her morning began, it turned out to be quite a good one. When her twelve o’clock appointment left, it was after one, and she had about twenty minutes until her next patient was due. She looked through her kitchen in search of something to nibble but only found saltines. That would have to do—she was not going to spend fifteen dollars she didn’t have on a pricey lunch. She heard her door buzz and was disappointed that her next patient was early.
When she went out to greet him, she was surprised to see Sam instead.
“Hello, Dr. M. I’ve brought you lunch.”
“Hi, Sam. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know, but Mr. Hart asked me to. He said he doubted you had time to eat breakfast this morning and so, lunch.” He held up a white paper bag and a drink.
Gabby’s stomach gurgled loudly in appreciation. “Ooh, sorry. I guess someone’s happy to see you.”
Laughing, Sam replied, “I’m glad to make your stomach happy, then, Dr. M. Here.”
She took the bag and drink from him, not knowing what else to do. “Um, Sam?”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“Are you still watching me?”
Sam shuffled his feet a bit.
“It’s okay if you are.”
“Then, yes, ma’am, I am.”
“Thank you. I’m glad you are.”
Sam grinned as he walked out of the office. Gabby was glad he was on Team Gabby and not Team Danny. Sam was a large man. No—large was too small a word for him. Sam was gargantuan. He had to be at least six four but he was every bit as broad. One of his hands could easily encompass her neck, and she was quite positive he could snap it like a toothpick. That’s the kind of girth he carried. He wasn’t fat. Simply put, he was a giant.
Gabby carried her lunch to the tiny kitchen and sat down to eat. The paper sack contained a chicken salad sandwich on multigrain bread, a container of orzo salad, and a chocolate chip cookie. At the very bottom was a bright red apple. This was more food than she ate at any meal. In fact, this was an entire day’s worth of food. It was a good thing the sandwich was cut in half, because she would save the other half for dinner. That and half the cookie and orzo salad. She wouldn’t have room for the apple so she could eat that for breakfast the next morning.
Twenty minutes later, her afternoon patient rolled in and she was off to a busy rest of the day. She felt so much more alert, though, after that delicious lunch. By day’s end, she was ready to get home and change. She had to be at the hospital for her moonlighting shift at the clinic, though she had a little free time for herself before then.
As she gathered her things, she grabbed the leftover lunch on her way out. En route to the subway, the skies opened up.
“Dr. M.! Over here.”
It was Sam calling to her from the curb. He sat in the car.
“Come, I’ll take you home.”
She hated to take advantage of him, but it was pouring and she’d be a drowned critter by the time she made it to her place. She nodded and darted to the car.
“I’m so sorry, Sam. I’m making a mess in your car.”
“Don’t worry about a thing, Dr. M. I’ll get it all taken care of after I drop you off. Mr. H. would be upset if he knew you were out in the rain as it is.”
“Why would that bother him so much?”
Sam didn’t answer and his eyes were plastered on the road straight ahead. After a couple of uncomfortably silent minutes, Sam eventually said, “Dr. M., I’m not really at liberty to discuss Mr. H. with you. I’m sorry, ma’am.”
“That’s fine. I
understand. But may I ask why he has you watching out for me?”
“I don’t have the answer to that, ma’am.”
“How much does he know about me?”
“He knows that you work a lot of hours volunteering, besides your regular job.”
“Hmm.” Gabby was curious as to how he knew that. Kolson was a mystery to her, but clearly he knew more about her than she knew about him.
“I can tell you this, though, Dr. M. He’s looking out for your safety so you don’t need to fear him.”
That’s what Sam thought. After this morning, Gabby had tons to fear where Kolson was concerned. He did things to her … made her feel things she’d never felt before and she was definitely not ready for any of that.
# # #
Danny seethed as he stood under an awning in the pouring rain and watched Gabby get into the waiting car. HTS. Hart Transportation Services. He recognized that company. So that’s who Gabby’s new little boyfriend was. It didn’t matter. Nothing was going to get in the way of his plans. He was going to have Gabby one way or another, even if it meant waiting patiently.
He would strike when the time was right, when their guard was down. And it would all be worth it in the end. He smiled to himself and imagined how Gabby would feel as he shoved his dick inside of her again. His cock instantly stiffened at the thought. There was one thing that he loved, and that was hearing Gabby begging for him to stop. His breath came faster as he thought about the fear he would see in her eyes. It wouldn’t be long now, and he would be hearing those sweet words coming out of her mouth.
Freeing Her (A Hart Brothers Novel Book 1) Page 6