“Let’s make it for eight since the bakery closes at seven and I need to clean up and prep for opening tomorrow.” I jerked a thumb over my shoulder. “And, it takes Tess about a half hour to growl her way outta here.”
“She’s the Barracuda out front?” Gabe asked, faking a scared face.
I laughed. “Yeah, that’s her.” Concern for my fledgling business and my new customers stabbed through me. “Why? Did she do something? Was she rude?”
“Not to me,” he replied. “But I’m pretty sure she made a little girl cry.”
“Shit!” I brushed past him, but a strong arm snaked out to stop me.
“I was kidding, Allegra,” he teased. “I’ll see you tonight.”
Chapter 13
Gabe sat across from me in the kitchen of the bakery, perched on a wooden stool, his loafer tapping on the bottom rung. I didn’t want to bake for him in my apartment, which was why I’d suggested the kitchen. My personal space was too intimate. Too much. Much more than I could handle right now. This was more like a restaurant and more like a real date, but it still set my skin to tingling since we were alone.
The cupcakes were already in the oven, spreading a delicious chocolate smell through the room. Gabe inhaled and then grinned.
“That’s amazing,” he said, closing his eyes and sniffing again. A dreamy look lit his chiseled face. He was really digging the baking lesson. “So how long have you been doing this? Baking.”
“Since I could walk almost. Mom wasn’t great at a lot of things, but she shared my passion for baking. Well, at first. Before the heroin stole our lives. And her soul.” I twisted my mouth in distaste.
“That must have been rough.”
“Yeah, I went through a lot of foster homes after she was locked away until I landed at the last one in high school, but they were decent. I can’t complain.” I wrung a dishtowel between my hands, so I’d have something to do with them. For some reason, I felt like I had to explain so that everything was out in the open between us, at least from my end. I also hoped he’d come clean about the first date phone call where he’d mentioned me.
Having him just a few feet from the staircase that led to my bedroom brought back memories of the dream I’d had about him. The one where he’d slid his fingers inside me until I’d screamed his name.
“I think you have a lot of reasons to complain. It’s admirable that you don’t do more of it.” He grabbed one end of the dishtowel and stopped my fidgeting. I didn’t let go so he gave a yank and pulled me closer.
“What about you? Tell me more about your career and why you chose it?” I asked, studying the curve of his bicep. It was warm in the kitchen and he’d stripped off his jacket the minute he’d entered. I wasn’t about to complain about that either. The way his tight shirt spread taught across his muscular body should be declared illegal.
He looked at the wall behind me. “I’m a broker,” he said, but didn’t elaborate. Was he hiding something? Why wouldn’t he feel compelled to give details if he actually was a stock broker? Gabe just said the words and sat back, pulling me even closer with the force of his backward motion. “But I’m much more interested in how you managed to set this business up all by yourself. That’s an accomplishment.”
I smiled at the praise. “Yeah, it was. I never thought I had a shot at making something of myself, but I still took my chances with this. It was after the break up.”
“The break up,” he said in a monotone. His eyes flashed and he let go of the towel, which caused me to stumble a bit.
“Yeah. We don’t have to talk about that.”
“No, it’s okay. I’d like to hear about it. If it affected you, then it’s important,” he said, softening his tone.
The timer on the oven dinged. “Oh! The cupcakes are ready. I’d better get them out.” Thank God for the reprieve. The last thing I wanted to discuss was Matthew or my mom anymore. But I’d let both details fly out of my open mouth like shitting birds escaping the nest.
Couldn’t I keep my big, honest mouth shut for once? Over-sharing gaffe noted, but too late to take it back now. There was no quicker way to kill the mood than for me to bring up criminal family members and douche bag exes. Everyone knew that was not a topic for the first few dates. Not that there would be other dates, I reminded myself.
I snatched the oven mitt off the hook beside the oven and opened it, then brought out the cupcakes. Dark Decadence, of course. I placed them on the wire rack to cool.
I turned back and froze. Gabe stood in front of me. Towering and looking down that sharp, sculpted nose.
“Hi,” he rumbled.
“Hi,” I replied, my palms suddenly sweaty. I dropped the black oven mitt on the floor and stared at the dots of flour that peppered the quilted fabric.
He took a step forward and I took a step back. My ass bumped against the counter. Nowhere to go. Just me and Gabe and the expanse of the kitchen.
“I’ve been waiting for those to finish,” he said, thrusting his chin towards the cupcakes in their pan.
“You’re hungry?” I stammered the words out. It was so hot in this kitchen. Sweat dripped down my chest and tiny rivulets pooled between my breasts.
“Oh, you could say that.” But he didn’t look at the cupcakes when he said it. He looked at me, his sultry gaze trailing over my face and down to the gap between the two sides of my cotton blouse. “You’re perfect. I can tell already.”
“I’m not. I’m just an average girl. I know I’m not thin like you’re probably used to -—”
He silenced me by pressing a finger to my lips. “Do you know what I’m going to do to you?”
I shook my head. No. I didn’t know. But I knew what I wanted. What I hungered for.
Please tell me, Gabe.
Tell me exactly what you’re planning on doing to me.
“I’m going to make you come,” he said.
Yes.
Please.
I couldn’t say anything. My jaw dropped and my pulse throbbed in my neck, drawing his gaze to the perfection of the beat. Wetness pooled in my panties.
Gabe slipped his hands onto my hips and held them. Pulled me against him. “I’m going to make you come until you scream. Until you can’t breathe. Until you can’t think. And then I’m going to make you come some more.”
I whimpered as my tongue darted out to wet my parched lips.
“Do you want that, Allegra?” Gabe paused, and locked his blue eyes with my green ones. Searching. Demanding my complete surrender. “Do you want me?”
I nodded, unable to put into words how much I wanted him.
Needed him.
Craved him.
“Good,” he groaned. He took my lips with his and parted them, then circled my tongue with his. It was like I’d been waiting forever for this kiss. For this man. My entire body hummed, all cylinders charging forward at full throttle.
I moaned into his mouth. My hands trembled, so I allowed them to thread through his mass of thick hair. It felt like liquid silk. Like heaven. Like my late night fantasies where he was the star. Was this really happening? Right now, this moment. I’d practically conjured it into life.
He circled his arms around me, stroked his fingers up my spine, stopping to massage each vertebrae into molten heat.
I moaned again, louder this time. I needed him inside me, pounding me. Impaled. I had to feel what it would be like to be taken by this man. Just once.
“I’m going to put my mouth all over your body until you can’t take it anymore. Where there is skin, there will be my tongue. I’m going to feel how wet I make you with my fingers. Then, I’m going to replace them with my mouth until you lose your mind with pleasure. Until your screams echo off the stainless steel of this kitchen. Only after that happens, will I fuck you. Like your sexy eyes are telling me you want.”
I surrendered.
“Yes … please. Now,” I whispered, throwing my arms around his neck to bring him closer. Closer. Not even close to being close enough.
He buried his face in my neck and kissed it, sucking and nibbling my fevered skin. “Fuck, you smell like heaven. But … patience is a virtue. One I don’t possess.”
Gabe ripped my blouse down the center and exposed my lacy pink bra beneath it. The sound of the buttons snapping off pinged across the tile floor. I’d put on my most revealing lingerie so I’d feel sexy and more confident. It was the sexiest one I owned and it pushed my D-cup breasts upward to overflowing. He peeled it back and exposed one of my erect nipples. He took it in his mouth and sucked. Then nipped. Then blew cold air until I thought I’d come undone from that alone.
“Gabe,” I groaned as I leaned back against the counter. Fighting to cool my heated skin against it. I slipped and he caught me one armed.
“Counter,” he grunted. His massive erection jutted against my abdomen. I wanted to touch him. Taste him.
He lifted me as if I didn’t weigh a pound and placed me on top of the work surface, sprinkled with sugar, cocoa and flour. I didn’t speak; I couldn’t. It was like my voice had been ripped from my body and thrown onto the wind to be blown away.
Gabe pulled me forward between his legs so he could grind against my core while he ripped the blouse from my shoulders. He unbuttoned my jeans in one deft move, biceps rippling beneath his shirt.
I grabbed the base of it and pulled upwards. He flung it onto the tile with my pearl buttons, then unbuckled his belt and dropped his pants. He was finally naked and I couldn’t peel my eyes away from him. Fear coursed through me for a moment because I couldn’t imagine taking it all. But, damn, I wanted to try.
I looked at his cock and trembled, lips quivering. I wanted to wrap them around him and suck him until he had nothing left, until he came in my mouth, thrusting and moaning. I wanted him to think of nothing but my lips on his cock in an iron grip until the day he died. The thought wouldn’t be chased away so I slipped off the counter and stood before him.
“Oh my God,” I whispered, then ran my index finger down his thick shaft.
He closed his eyes and jerked from my caress.
I kissed his chest, trailing wetness down his torso and sunk to my knees until I faced the head. Then, I gazed up and found him staring down into my eyes. I didn’t break eye contact because I fully intended to ride him hard with my wet mouth until he shuddered in pleasure. He moaned while I paused and then I put him out of his misery as I took him in my mouth. Deep.
“Fuck,” he groaned, gripping either side of my head. He guided me, forcing himself even deeper. I relaxed the back of my throat. I wanted to take most of him in spite of the length. Would take all of him that I possibly could. My core throbbed until I felt like I couldn’t take it anymore, so I had to touch myself for some relief.
“That’s it, baby. Show me how you like it. Touch yourself for me while you suck me. You don’t even know what it does to me to look down and see your perfect lips nice and tight on me.” I twirled my tongue around the head and he bucked as I hummed against him. Taking his advice, I reached between my legs to play with my wet clit. He tasted so good. I wanted more of him.
Gabe froze and grabbed my head. “That’s enough. You’re going to make me come.”
I ignored him and went deep, until he hit the back of my throat. I could fit half of him in my mouth and that was it.
“Stop, Allegra,” he warned.
I licked some more, sucking and grabbing his ass hard with my right hand, pulling him even closer as he fucked my mouth.
He grabbed me under my arms and lifted me from the floor to set me on my feet. “You’re so fucking naughty. I love it.”
I’d never liked giving head with Matthew. He’d been a selfish lover and didn’t reciprocate. He’d always taken control, gagged me and used me like some kind of human blow-up doll only good for my orifices.
I could already tell that wouldn’t be the case with Gabe. He pushed me onto the counter until my back was flush with the metal, then scaled my body and braced his arms on either side of my head.
Gabe reached down with one hand and took hold of his cock. He rubbed it in my wetness, then slid it over my swollen clit.
I jerked from the pleasure and couldn’t help the pathetic cry that escaped my lips.
“Is that what I do to you, Allegra? Make you so wet your dripping with it?” he asked. “I’m going to taste you now until you see stars. But first …”
Gabe grabbed a Dark Decadence from the cooling rack and stroked a finger through the dark chocolate and cream cheese frosting. He lifted it to his lips and sucked it off.
“Delicious,” he groaned. “You’re a master baker.”
He stroked his finger through the icing a second time and then streaked it across my stomach and downward. Downward until he circled my engorged clit with his sugar laden finger. I couldn’t keep my hips from bucking upward as I cried out his name.
“That’s it, gorgeous. I love the sound of my name on your lips even more than I loved my cock on your lips. I’m going to keep track of how many times I can make you scream it. Moan it. Whisper it.”
“Oh my God.” The epithet escaped on a sigh as his head bent between my legs and his tongue flicked out in one blissful touch. I wanted to grab his head and thread my fingers through his thick hair so I could pull him closer. Increase the pressure since I was already so close, but my current position didn’t allow for it. He held all the power.
Gabe reached his hand upward to knead my breasts and pull on my already erect nipples. With each tug of his magic fingers, I felt an answering tug deep inside me. My hips shot up again, begging for relief. Every stroke, every caress of his tongue drove me to the brink, sending electric shocks to every cell of my body.
He lifted his head from between my legs and grabbed the cupcake once again. He flicked its pillowy top across my pebbled nipple and then sucked it between his lips until it was a straining point in his lush mouth.
“Mmm … you taste incredible, Allegra. Everywhere. But I knew you would,” he moaned. “I’ve needed a lot of dates with my hand since we met. You smell of musk and desire and I knew you’d taste like honey even though you tried to fight it. I’m so glad you’re not fighting it now.”
He slid back down my body and licked me again, swirling his tongue against my wetness. Then, he lifted his hand and spread me apart to grant himself greater access to my swollen clit.
My blood roared and my entire body quaked with an explosion of heat as he worked me over with his lips and tongue. That was all it took and the most spectacular orgasm of my life rocketed through my body like lightning. The blinding wave of release drowned out any thoughts of worry or heartbreak or anything. Anything but him.
“That’s it,” he said. “That’s my gorgeous girl. I’ve never seen anything as rapturous as your face when you’re coming. More rapturous than Red Velvet Rapture.” Then he entered me in one smooth stroke.
I shuddered and gasped, clutching at him.
“You’re so tight, so wet. Swollen,” he licked his lips. Then he licked mine, and worked his shaft inside me.
I wrapped my legs around his waist and angled myself upwards, so he could go deeper. As deep as I could take him. I placed my hands on his ass, forcing him to go faster, harder.
He bent over me, panting. “Come for me,” he growled in my ear. “Come for me again so I can watch from above you.”
It was as if he had control over my mind. The words left his lips and my pussy clenched tight. Waves of pleasure crashed over me, and I screamed, jamming through the second orgasm, pushing his cock deeper, burying it in me to the hilt. Milking him with each convulsion.
“Allegra,” he grunted. Then his cock grew impossibly big. “I’m coming for you.” He squirted inside me, filling me up with his hot seed.
He collapsed on top of me, breathing hard, still pulsing.
I clung to him and shut my eyes.
Chapter 14
I stood behind the counter and stared at my cupcakes. The Dark Decadence looked the most a
ppealing, but that was probably because of what happened the night before. I’d never look at the kitchen the same way again and Tess would wonder about the smirk on my face. And I swear on the Mother Mary and baby Jesus that I bleached every millimeter of the counter. Twice.
Gabe.
I smiled and pressed my hand to my lips. It’d been the most amazing experience of my life. I hadn’t told Kelly yet. On some level, I didn’t want to share what happened with anyone. The best sex of my life felt too intimate not to be kept close to my heart.
I turned to dust off the shelves behind me.
The bell above the door tinkled and my stomach did a gymnastic flip flop. I wanted to see him again, even though I shouldn’t.
I turned slowly, with a smile I reserved for Gabe, just in case.
But it wasn’t Gabe.
Matthew stepped through the door, wearing his cop uniform. “Hello, Ally, how are you doing?”
“What do you want?” I asked, kneading the worn denim of my jeans and glaring at him.
“That’s hardly an appropriate way to greet an old friend,” Matthew replied as he ruffled his dark hair and strode toward the counter. He took off his cap and tucked it under his arm, then dusted snow off the sleeves of his winter jacket. His gun nestled in its holster. “I came to check how you’re doing.”
“I’m fine. You can go now,” I said. Seeing him brought back memories I’d rather forget. I’d buried the pain of what’d happened under layers of toil and determination.
Matthew glanced at the empty ring finger on my left hand. “So, you finally made good on the whole bakery idea,” he said, twirling his hands to encompass the front room. “Congratulations, I knew you had it in you.”
I raised my right eyebrow and the corner of my lip simultaneously. Matthew had been nothing but negative about my business from the start. “I repeat, what do you want?”
“I came to warn you about something.”
“Huh?” I shrugged swiftly, then looked pointedly at the door of the bakery and back at him. “What’s that exactly?”
“Gabe Moreno.”
“How do you —?” I cut off and gulped air.
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