“First, I peeled your dress off your flushed body inch by painful inch.” He leaned against the counter. Like he needed fortitude in order to continue. “The bra and panties surprised me. I didn’t know such a little scrap of see-through fabric could cover anything. The moment the cool air flowed over your exposed body, your nipples puckered. Like they wanted me to touch them. Kiss them. Pull the lacy fabric of your bra down and lick and bite them until your sexy eyes opened.”
“Did you?” I could barely croak the question past my parched lips. The same lips that wanted to capture his with everything that I was and everything that I could ever be.
“I didn’t. I wanted to, but I would never disrespect the woman I care about by taking advantage of her when she’s passed out. I didn’t even touch you any more than I had to in order to remain functional.”
“Gabe…”
“Yes, Allegra?”
“I’m wet. I’m so wet I can’t even tell you.”
He didn’t acknowledge my dirty admission. Acted like I hadn’t even spoken.
“Then, I pulled your dress past those curvy hips I love so much and hung it on a satin hanger. It’s in your closet. I had to search through your drawers to find something to make you presentable. Had I left you in just your lingerie in the middle of that bed, I wouldn’t have been able to stay out of it.”
Never leaving my gaze, he reached down and slowly inched those jeans past his sexy hips to fall in a pool of denim on the floor. He could give it as good as I could. “I’m really hard right now, Allegra. So hard I can’t even tell you.”
A mangled groan escaped my mouth.
“Touch yourself, Allegra,” he prompted. “Slide your fingers down between your legs and touch yourself. Then, you can show me how wet I make you.”
I pressed my fingers to the fabric above my clit and rubbed in circles because I couldn’t handle this moment. The intimacy of touching myself in front of him. So I deliberately defied him and kept my fingers outside my panties. Wanting to see what he’d do. Wanting to be punished for my defiance.
“Please,” I murmured, “don’t make me wait any longer. I want you to touch me.”
He stepped out of the jeans and came to me, his massive erection outlined through the front of his boxer briefs. Gabe stopped in front of me and let his constrained cock rub the sliver of bare skin between the hem of my shirt and the top of my PJ pants.
He hooked his thumbs into either side of my pants at the hips, then ripped down, taking my panties with them, exposing my bare flesh.
I gasped at the cold air.
He cupped my pussy in one hand and parted my swollen lips with his middle finger, slipping it past my clit, again and again.
“You didn’t listen to me,” he said. Calm. Determined. “I said that I wanted to see how wet I make you. Touch yourself. Do it now.”
I shuddered and grabbed his shoulders, scratching the naked flesh and leaving my mark. Tracks of white against his tan skin that flamed into red seconds later. He was mine. Even when he melted me to the spot and took control of my body. Gabe was mine.
“Swear to me that you’re not engaged.” Through the haze of my desire and longing, I had to know the truth before this went any further.
He pushed my hair back from my face. “I swear. I swear with every cell of my body that I only love you.”
I nodded and turned my face into his hand, kissing his palm. Then, I took a deep breath and did what he’d asked. Touched myself. For him.
Tentatively, because I’d never done anything like this outside of the darkness of my own bedroom, I slid my right hand down the curve of my stomach to land just above my pubic bone.
“Now, Allegra.”
The heat radiating from my core burned a sensation into my body. A branding. Of pleasure and desire. I’d never felt more in charge. Or more exposed.
“I want more,” I said, meeting his gaze, loving the feeling of power I had over the speed and depth of this interlude. “I want you.”
As I spoke the words, little more than breathless pants of desire, I allowed my fingers to drift lower and part my folds to the ministrations of my own hand. Gabe’s breath hissed and his eyelids fluttered shut. Like he couldn’t watch. Like it would be too much to watch me pleasure myself even though he’d demanded it.
He curled his arm around me and dragged me close, lifting me effortlessly. “I’m going to split you wide open. With my tongue. And my cock.” Gabe slipped his middle finger between my legs and sank it deep, finding my clit with his thumb.
My eyes rolled back in my head, the pressure and slow build too much to bear. The waves of the first orgasm ripped through my body like I’d been hit with a taser. Rapid fire pleasure caused my feet to levitate off the floor. If Gabe hadn’t had a strong arm snaked around my waist, I would have become a human puddle.
He continued to hang onto my torso for dear life with his hardness pressed between us, aching and pulsing against my skin and shirt. “Yes, that’s it,” he growled. “Come hard, Allegra. You’re my woman. Mine. Say it.”
“I always was,” I replied in between whimpers. “God, how I’ve wanted to deny it, but I can’t. And it might be the death of me.”
“That’s right.” He took his finger out of me and ripped my flannel shirt over my head with one hand; the pearl buttons gave way and rolled across the linoleum. His eyes grew tight; his erection strained harder. “Fuck, Allegra. These gorgeous nipples.” He rolled them between his fingers. Pinched hard. Then leaned down to soothe the savage move with a soft roll of his tongue.
I shuddered. “Oh god, more, please fuck me,” I breathed. “Gabe, don’t make me wait any longer.”
He marched us to the couch and adjusted me in his arms, turning my body so I could wrap my legs around his waist and arms around his neck.
I caught his bottom lip in my teeth and bit lightly, then sucked. I slipped my tongue into his mouth and took the kiss I’d craved from the second he’d taken those jeans off.
His cock was at my entrance, quivering and sliding past the opening, teasing me.
Gabe sat down and brought me down with him, ramming himself inside and sending a shock of pleasure through my ass cheeks and up my spine, straight into my brain.
“God,” I moaned.
“Fuck me, Allegra. Ride me. Show me how you want it.” He buried his fingertips in the flesh at my hips. “Slide that wet pussy up and down my cock until I blow inside you. And don’t close your eyes. I want to see you. I want to look into your eyes the moment you come and realize that I possess you.”
I grasped my breasts and gripped my taut nipples between the first two fingers of each hand. Then I did as I was told, slipping up his length painfully slow, then down again. My back arched as I grabbed the back of the sofa, brushing my breasts against his lips.
He caught my nipples in his mouth and sucked, letting go of my hips to devour them, suckle and nibble and… oh God, I couldn’t take it anymore.
I changed my rhythm, circling my hips, then bucking them with each thrust, alternating the flow effortlessly, seeking my pleasure instead of his. And he didn’t care. He welcomed it. Becoming more unglued the wilder I became. I placed one hand between my legs and played with my clit, using the perfect speed and motion until I felt that second orgasm building. Climbing higher and higher.
“Yes,” I hissed as I stared him down.
“Fuck, that’s amazing,” he said, between mouthfuls of my flesh. “Don’t stop, don’t you dare fucking stop. I love watching you touch yourself, Allegra. It makes me crazy.”
I couldn’t stop, I needed more motion. More pressure. More. The peak was dead ahead, a crest which I rose upon, burning pleasure lifting me higher and higher. I quickened the pace, seeking more of him inside me, more of that feeling.
Gabe slapped one hand on the back of my neck and forced me to stillness, then moved for us both. Hot skin on skin, driving himself into my warm, wet folds. Sweat dripping down his torso, tracing the lines between his s
tomach muscles.
I circled my clit desperately and reached the peak.
Gabe threw his head back and gave a guttural roar as he erupted inside me, just as I tightened around him, overthrown by the pleasure caressing my body and soul. We didn’t stop moving until he was empty and the last of my orgasmic aftershocks had abated.
I sighed and captured his lips in a searing kiss. There would be time for regrets later Today belonged to us.
Chapter 43
Gabe
I looked at her lying beside me in her bed and couldn’t help but reach out and touch her. I pressed my lips to her temple as I ran my fingers over the curve of her hip. Man, this was how it was supposed to be. Allegra was satisfied, fast asleep and breathing softly, her blonde hair spread on the pillow like a halo.
She was my angel and I wouldn’t let anyone take that away from me, ever again. She made me feel saved. Whole. Like I’d had a damn date with John the Baptist and my sins had been washed clean. I’d go mad without her. When she was angry, when there was the off chance that she didn’t want to see me again, my life became a waking fucking nightmare.
I ran my finger down the line of her jaw and rested it on her chin. She pouted and blew air out of the tiny parting of her lips, then snorted in a breath through her nose.
Christ, could she be any cuter? Like every motion and emotion she exhibited was a musical note in the perfect concerto.
I rolled onto my back and sat up slowly. It was past midnight, but I couldn’t sleep.
My shit was not together, and that meant Allegra could get hurt. I wouldn’t stand for it after nearly losing her for what… the millionth time? Prick Extraordinaire, Donovan Moreno wouldn’t take no for an answer. But I’d make him see sense, even if it meant losing every cent. It was dirty blood money anyway. I didn’t need it. I didn’t want it.
I stood and stretched, groaning at the tightness in my muscles. I grinned — that always happened after a session with Allegra. She worked every part of my body, teasing me to the edge and pushing me over while my nerve endings screamed for more, more, more.
More Allegra. Because there could never be enough.
I walked to the kitchen, enjoying the cold air on my ass. The heat of earlier had me on a low burn, and sweat tracked down my back. I needed a drink of water and to figure out how to approach my father about this.
He had to realize that I couldn’t commit to Faith, and I certainly couldn’t commit to her baby without knowing that it really carried my DNA. Allegra had been right about that. I owed it to myself. Hell. I owed it to Faith too, even though she’d never admit it.
I clicked on the kitchen light and headed for the sink. My ringtone sounded from the living room where I’d left my jeans.
“Shit,” I said, turning on my heel and striding in that direction. This could only be work. I grabbed my jeans and wrestled the phone out of the front pocket.
“Yeah?” I answered, discomfit brewing in my guts.
“We got trouble, Gabby,” Roger roared into the phone. Gabby was his little joke, but I let him get away with it because he was fucking massive and could turn me into mincemeat in a minute or less. Besides, he meant it as an endearment. That three-hundred-pound linebacker loved my scrawny ass. He’d saved it a few times too.
“What kind of trouble?”
“Blaze at the Mill City Museum, man, get your ass down to Second Street before Chief has an aneurysm.” Roger hung up.
“Fuck it,” I said, tempted to dump the jeans and phone on the sofa and go snuggle with Allegra instead. But duty called. I tugged on the jeans and got my shirt out from the sofa, then pulled on my coat and boots.
I scribbled a note on the pad attached to her fridge so she’d know where I’d gone, then bolted out the door.
Fuck it, a blaze? Roger hardly ever used that official sounding word. This shit had to be serious. I hit the street and trudged through the snow. There wasn’t too much of it, but it would make for a cold Valentine’s Day.
Hopefully, Allegra would qualify as my sweetheart. Damn. I needed to get her a present. Something sparkly.
I left my anger at Faith and my father in the snow and got into my vehicle. The car sped through the streets, skidding around corners and heading for the station so I could suit up. Once I was there, Rog filled me in on the details.
“It’s getting real man, glad you made it in time,” he said, hanging onto the side of the truck. “We’ve got to go.”
“Was the museum empty?” I asked, hopping up beside him and adjusting my uniform.
“For the most part. We’ll still have to check it out.” Rog turned his attention to the road.
The siren started up, red lights flashing, and we pulled out of the station. Adrenaline pounded through me, the pre-burn before the fire. Man, I loved what I did for a living, it was so good to do what I wanted to do, instead of what my father wanted me to do.
This was life. The icy wind whipping against my cheeks, the cold bar beneath my fingertips and the uniform. All of it together made me breathe deeper, feel more.
Fuck it, and none of it compares to Allegra. None of it compares to how I feel when I’m with her.
And it wasn’t the sex either, it was deeper than that. Standing in her kitchen and making eggs while she slept was part of it, even if we’d abandoned the food to feast on each other instead.
A haze lined the horizon, orange and red, accompanied by the thick smell of smoke. My eyes watered and I cleared my throat. We rounded the corner and the truck pulled up beside another.
Firefighters ran left and right, setting up hoses, calling out to each other in the organized chaos. The heat, the acrid smog, would’ve been unbearable, but I was accustomed to it.
We all were. This was just another day at the office. The fire chewed through the historical building in a fury. Flames licked out of windows, blackening the sills and reaching for the roof.
It would tear the place down if it got a chance. And that would be a huge loss for this urban area. Hell, for the whole state really. Every time we fought a fire, I had the same thought, got the same feeling. The fire was as alive as we were. It was as hell-bent on destruction as we were on preservation. On occasion, it felt like it could think and move at whim.
Roger jumped down from the side of the truck and I followed.
“Told you it’s a shit storm, Gabby.” Roger began unraveling the hose and I went over to help him.
A cry rang out from a window overhead. Young and feral, filled with terror. My nerves tingled and I looked up immediately. A woman hung out of a top story window, waving furiously. The scream brought a wave of nausea with it. Reminding me of the night I’d saved my Allegra from the fire in her bakery. The night my entire life changed.
Flames tumbled out of the window beside her, just a couple feet to the right.
“Get the ladder up,” I yelled, slapping the side of the truck. Nothing could stop me from saving this young lady.
I clambered onto it as it was raised, riding the bottom half until it hit the brick on the side of the building.
“Don’t be a fucking hero, Gabby,” Roger called up after me, his flame retardant coat barely concealing his huge belly. I glanced down, but I’d already started the ascent. I wouldn’t let a soul die in that building. Not a fucking soul. Not on my watch.
Our station was famous for its save rate. We hadn’t had a single death in over five years, an ongoing record we would uphold. I monkeyed up the ladder and called for the woman to back up a step, then I put my outstretched arms through the window to capture her and help her out on to the ladder.
Smoke engulfed me as I gripped the damsel in distress and lowered her down on to the top rung. She clung to me a moment longer than was necessary out of fear, and I shielded her from a fall with my body, standing behind her as she climbed down.
“Are you good to go, ma’am?”
“Yes, I’m quite all right, thank you,” she said in a British accent. Probably a curator of the museum.
“Great. Keep looking at the building, all right? I’m behind you all the way, you won’t fall while I’m here.”
She nodded but didn’t say a word. Her mousy brown hair hung in sooty tangles down her back. She resembled Mrs. Bradshaw, my librarian back in high school. She used to give me her sternest look and censure me about my lack of reading the classics. I didn’t have the heart to tell her the only thing I ever read was my dad’s Playboy. It took us ten minutes to get all the way down, and we paused halfway when the window we’d come from erupted in a plume of smoke and fire.
When I reached the bottom, I’d made up my mind. There wasn’t a slim chance in hell I’d ever let Allegra go, and that meant growing a pair and standing up to my father and to Faith. Once and for all.
Chapter 44
Gabe
I stood on the stairs of the mansion on Summit and clapped my hands. A sharp slap to warm the skin beneath my gloves. Ice covered the front as usual, and the lawn was hidden beneath the snow.
George Callahan, fuckwad that he was, had decorated the lawn in ice sculptures and the trees in twinkly lights to celebrate Christmas, apparently. Or the heaps of money he had lying around. Usually, gardeners would have brought that shit inside by New Year’s, but Faith had let it slip that she’d demanded the grounds crew leave it up until Valentine’s.
I pressed the pearly white button and gritted my teeth. The colored glass reflected the morning light.
Faith opened the front door, gripping the underside of her belly. “Hey, honey, I’ve been trying to get hold of you for hours. I heard about that fire on Second Street.” She grasped the doorjamb with her left hand, twiddling her engagement ring.
It was a massive rock, something my father had picked out, bought and given to me for Faith. I’d left it on the kitchen counter and come back to find her wearing it. The minute I’d confronted her, Donovan had walked in and congratulated us on our engagement and my hefty inheritance.
It was all staged. My entire fucking life had been staged like some Tennessee Williams play.
“What’s the matter?” Faith looked out at the lawn. “Do you like the sculptures? Daddy had them put up yesterday and I think they’re just to die for.” She placed a hand over her breasts and heaved them theatrically. “I wish I could spend more time outside, but Mom says I might slip and hurt myself. Wouldn’t want to hurt the baby.”
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