Love by the Slice (Harbor Point Book 1)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  “What do you mean?”

  “You. You’re quiet tonight. What’s up?”

  Gio sighed a long breath, then leaned back folding his arms across his chest. “I don’t mean to be.”

  “Well, you are.”

  “I’m worried, Bianca.”

  I raised an eyebrow demanding an explanation.

  “I don’t want to do anything or say anything wrong. I just … ” he sighed again dropping his arms on the table beside his own plate, “I can’t fuck this up.”

  Cocking my head to the side, I worked my lips together trying to figure out the best response to that. Gio was afraid. Like truly afraid he’d chase me away if I didn’t like something he did or said. It made my heart break a little more knowing that all those months, he’d been hurting, too. To see it etched on his beautiful face.

  Reaching across slowly, without thinking twice about it, my hand landed on top of his. He flinched at the contact, flipping his palm up to be able to hold mine like he’d been waiting for me to make the next move.

  “Gio, you need to be yourself. If you’re not being you then it’s like before. It isn’t going to work. I fell in love with you once, you know.”

  His eyes held onto mine with such intensity that I didn’t dare look away. “Could you again?” His words came out quiet and unsure. “Fall in love with me again?”

  “No.”

  He tensed leaning back so far I almost lost contact with his hand.

  “Because I never fell out of love with you. It isn’t about that. I need to trust this again.”

  He squeezed my hand but didn’t let go until I absolutely needed it to finish eating. After our conversation, he looked much more at ease. Talking about nothing, laughing and joking through the rest of dinner. Instead of driving us back to my house, he stopped at the pier I’d jumped off more times than I could count with Bailey and Nick. We ambled down to the end. The moon shined off the water making the small waves sparkle like stars. The gentle breeze brought with it the smell of the ocean, a salty calming aroma. Beautiful and peaceful, we were the only ones around.

  As soon as my feet hit the wood planking, Gio reached over folding my hand inside his. It felt amazing to be there touching him like nothing bad had ever happened between us two months ago. At the end of the pier, I gripped the coolness. Gio placed his body against my back covering me in such warmth I wouldn’t have needed a jacket even if I’d brought one. His hard chest pressed against my back and his arms threaded? around me, his hands landed next to mine. He was everywhere. His chin rested on my head. Every point we could be touching, we were. I could feel his heartbeat against me, having him close again had me feeling nice and warm and hopeful.

  We stood together, close, for I don’t know how long, looking out over the water. Gio shifted behind me. Now I might be mistaken but I would’ve sworn I got the gist of what was going through his mind by what I felt pressed against my ass. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking the same thing.

  But I had to allow my brain to lead.

  “Bianca.” his soft breath tickled my ear all the way down my neck, lighting every nerve in my body on fire, “I want to kiss you so fucking bad.”

  Flipping around quickly to see his face, he took a half step back in surprise. Wetting my lips slowly, his gaze dropped watching the small movement of my tongue, not even blinking until I was done. Truth be told, I wanted him to.

  I know I should’ve wanted him out of my life after what he’d put me through. If this were a friend of mine, I would’ve told her to put out the trash because the fish started stinking. Yeah, his parents put him up to coming to town to seduce me but he did go along with it. But this was Gio and even trying I couldn’t hate him though it took me a while to understand that he was a victim, too. Worse yet, I couldn’t not love him.

  I liked being in the little cage created by his arms. It wasn’t until then, when I could feel the heat rolling off him I realized how chilly it’d become, my hands felt like little ice cubes. made worse by the death grip I had on the railing behind me. I knew this was the moment. It wasn’t one of those things I’d look back and say ‘yup, that’s it’. I knew it while living it. This moment that I let Gio back in. To my heart. To my life. And if it were to fall apart again, everything would be worse. I might never recover.

  It was a chance I was willing to take.

  Shrugging off his intense gaze, I said, “So kiss me.”

  A breath hitched in his throat because I’m fairly certain he hadn’t expected me to say those words and I couldn’t be sure, but his eyes glistened in the moonlight. I only needed that small action to know that he had as much at stake as I did. If things went sour, his heart would never recover either. Somehow it gave me some comfort knowing we’d both be mindful and careful with the other.

  Gio moved in, taking his time to get where I wanted him to be. I almost grabbed the back of his neck to bring him to me. Instead, I chose patience. The wait would be worth it. He didn’t go in for the kill right away. His lips started on my jaw, dropping tiny little nothings like breadcrumbs toward my mouth then changed course back, doing the same. I shivered— a full body convulsion from the tickle of his breath and anticipation.

  “Gio,” his name came out as a breath. In return, he smiled against the sensitive skin covering my pulse point.

  He drew back, cupped my face, his fingers almost touching on the back of my head to hold me in place, then finally, finally, gave me what we both wanted. When his lips touched mine, a zing of something delicious curled my toes. A soft, barely there kiss at first intensified into a demand for more. My hands gripped his hips pulling him closer. I fell back letting him have total control. He turned my head to the angle he wanted right before tracing his tongue across my lips asking for entry. I gave it.

  I’d give him about anything.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Finally, he pulled back, each of us taking oxygen in small gasps although he looked like it was the last thing he wanted to do. This kiss might have been even more powerful than our, first ever kiss. When Gio rested his forehead on mine, his eyes closed. Mine didn’t. I needed to see everything. I’d gone too long not being able to look at his face that I couldn’t shut it out even for a minute. Once things started to stabilize, I let my fingers curl under the soft fabric covering his golden skin then pressed them against the warmth.

  Gio hissed through his teeth. “Shit, you’re cold.” Nodding, I pushed into him even further which forced him to wrap his arms around me completely to lead me back to his truck.

  At my apartment door, I could see he was itching to kiss me good-night, his eyes kept dropping to my lips and his tongue ran over his bottom one but I wasn’t ready to let him go.

  “Are you coming in?”

  He huffed as a smile split his face. “Hell yeah.”

  Grinning while shaking my head, I got the door opened. I told him to have a seat while I went to change into my comfies. On the way, I turned the furnace on for the first time of the year since the meteorologist forecasted a much colder night. When I came out of my room, Gio had gotten us both a beer from the fridge, an extra bottle of water sat on the table but he was on the phone.

  In those seconds before he kissed me on the pier, I’d decided the time had come for us to get back to being a normal couple. I wanted it. I’d wanted it even when I thought I wasn’t supposed to and he’d made his feelings pretty damn clear. So, instead of sitting beside him or at the other end of the couch, I curled up on his lap laying my head on his shoulder. His whole body flinched before he reacted by pulling me close to him. I’d taken him by surprise which I liked. I didn’t think Gio Diamati got surprised by much.

  A few ‘mmm-hmms’ later, I nuzzled into his neck, kissing and licking my way up his neck before gently taking his earlobe between my teeth. I had no idea who he was talking to and hoped it wasn’t overly important because I’d mastered the art of successful distraction when it came to Gio. Tilting the phone away, while keepin
g the earpiece to his ear, he nipped at my bottom lip with his teeth and groaned quietly when I turned it into an R-rated kiss. My tongue stroking his, my hands wandering further south until he pulled away.

  “Fuck off, Sal,” he said with a laugh in his voice. “Yeah. I said I’d be there.”

  Then he tossed his phone to the other end of the couch to devour me. His tongue slid against mine softly and leisurely, like he had all day to do just this. It was all I could do to keep from moaning like an injured animal. But I wasn’t injured—not anymore. He’d become the salve I’d been searching for. His hands held my face. His fingers curling around my cheeks and his thumbs to rest on the other.

  “You’re leaving?” I asked when I needed to take a breath.

  He took it as an invitation to move his lips down my neck to the swell of my breasts. My breathing hitched. I wasn’t about to stop anything he wanted to do. We needed this. Needed to be together in every way. To show each other how much we loved the other and neither of us was going anywhere again.

  “For a few days. Chicago.” His hot breath spread across my skin then he jerked back suddenly. “You should come with me.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I want you with me every moment of every day and just getting back together means even a couple of days will be sheer torture.” He thought for a minute. “We are back together, right?”

  Biting my bottom lip, I gave a quick nod. I couldn’t believe it myself. In all the time I spent inside my own head, I’d never given the thought of us together again any consideration. But now he’d come back and I couldn’t deny it was the one thing I’d wanted every moment of every day he’d been gone.

  “Thank god,” he sighed. “You should come with me. I have to be there Monday morning so I’m flying out Sunday night and will be back Wednesday.”

  “I can’t agree to that,” I said. His brows furrowed as I watched a little doubt and insecurity flash in his eyes. “It’s not long enough.” His head snapped up, poor guy looked confused. “If I go with you, I need to visit my parents.”

  “Ok.”

  “The last time I saw them I wasn’t in the best shape.” His shoulders slumped. I hadn’t told him about my parents to make him feel bad, but I wanted him to know so there’d be no surprises. “And I think they should see me in a better place.”

  “Then we’ll go to Ann Arbor. I’ll make the arrangements.”

  I fell back against him. His right hand rested on the outside of my thigh meeting the left which wrapped snugly around my body the same way he’d cradle a child. I didn’t want to move and got the feeling he didn’t want me to either.

  “Is Gemma going to be there?” I asked softly. I’d only turned on the one light which left the entire room dim. There was something about dim rooms that lent an air of honesty and openness.

  “She has to be but you don’t have to see her or talk to her.”

  “I want to.” My confession surprised him. “She was my friend.” Which should’ve explained everything but I still felt like I needed to say more. “And she’s your sister. If I’m going to be around for a while—”

  “You are.”

  “If I am then I can’t avoid her forever, besides what she did isn’t really any worse than…” I let the words die there. “You know you have to go with me to see Mom and Dad, right?” He nodded. “Just making sure.” Giggling into his chest, my body relaxed.

  We sat there for the longest time, not talking, but breathing and basking in the knowledge that we were together and touching and in love. Gio broke the silence as I started nodding off.

  “Want me to go?” He whispered softly. Shaking my head, I clung to him even harder. “Ok.” After a little while longer, he spoke again. “So during our time apart … did you date?” My whole body jerked up so I could see his face. “You don’t have to tell me.”

  We needed, to be honest. I said, “Yeah, I dated someone, sort of. I needed to get over you. Clearly, it was an epic fail, but I had to try.” Working the inside of my cheek, I turned it around on him. But I felt a bit sick in knowing the answer could be the one I didn’t want to hear. “You?”

  “Fuck no.” He answered almost immediately. “Honestly, Bianca, it never crossed my mind. For months all I thought about is you and how you were. Hearing you cry that night has haunted me every day since then.” He kissed me again. “I’m not stepping on anyone’s toes, am I? I mean, I don’t care because I want you, but if you need to take care of something else first, I can wait.”

  I couldn’t. “It ended a while ago. We only dated a few weeks, kissed once but I wasn’t ready. He got friend zoned before he ever had a chance.”

  “So you’re friends with him?” I knew what he was asking. I guess he figured I’d turn to Nick when things went bad between us. The idea grossed me out because Nick had become the brother I never had a long time ago.

  “Yup. That guy you saw me with in Chicago, Calvin … ”

  “You went to Chicago with him?” His voice dropped and while I knew it was a question, it sounded more like a statement.

  “No. I met him at Grace’s wedding.” I could almost hear the non-verbal lashing he gave himself. He didn’t say a word but his facial expressions and his eyes told me everything I needed to know. “Gio,” his thumb brushed across my cheekbone, our eyes locked making my stomach plummet over and over, “take me to bed.”

  Didn’t have to ask the man twice. He scooped me up into his arms and took me into my room in three steps. Big steps. Somehow he was able to hold on to me while pulling the sheet back yet I was never in danger of being dropped. A kiss hit my forehead before he stood back up and left. What the hell was he doing? I listened for movement which gave me the answers I needed. The deadbolt turned, the lamp in the living room clicked off. Then Gio came back to stand next to my bed. His shirt slipped off quickly then his pants disappeared leaving him in only his boxer briefs. Carefully, he climbed in and folded me under his arm, my head resting on his shoulder.

  He didn’t make a move. He was content to lay there next to me all night. I wasn’t.

  Climbing on top of him, my knees touched the sheet on either side of his hips so I could lean down to cover his chest with my body. His hands pulled my face to his, the movement creating a friction with his erection making him groan. My hips moved as if they had a mind of their own, bringing him to even fuller attention.

  Out of nowhere, he turned me completely over onto my back with Gio hovering above me. Everywhere he touched, every kiss, every slow caress was the best kind of torture pushing me closer to the edge. Even when I wanted a firmer hold or rougher touch, he kept the pace. Like he didn’t want to rush through and miss anything. I know I didn’t. For whatever reason, I noticed this time was like the first time we’d been together. Gentle touches, soft kisses. Nothing like the guys I’d been with in college.

  It hit.

  Hit me hard, my eyes stinging with the threat of tears. He’d made love to me from the get-go. It had never just been sex to him. I didn’t know it then but I knew it now. After months of doubting whether he really loved me or not, now I knew. He had. Knowing helped not only bring me to the edge but pushed me over so I’d tumble slowly down the best cliff in the world. His name fell from my lips like a whispered prayer he wasn’t meant to hear. But he did. And it brought on a satisfied groan from his chest.

  Because then, as if he’d always been here, he grabbed a condom, had it on and started moving inside me, bringing me back up the cliff again, only to give a gentle push then pull me back again. He was doing it to himself as well. My finger dragged up his back to curl in his hair. I wanted to kiss him. Kiss him like my life depended on it. but I was breathing so roughly I couldn’t do it without the risk of fainting from lack of oxygen.

  I had no sense of time by then so when he lifted off me, made a quick trip to the bathroom then came back to hold me to him, I had no idea how long he’d been gone but he did hit the switch on the small bedside lamp which gave off enough li
ght to barely illuminate the two of us let alone the entire room. I was tired with the best sort of muscle soreness and content to have him beside me. His hard muscles against my soft body were more comfortable than it should have been.

  “I wasn’t expecting that,” he said against the hair at the top of my head while gently stroking his fingers up and down my neck.

  “Ha. I wasn’t either. That hadn’t been part of my plan tonight.”

  “What changed?”

  Propping myself up to lock my gaze with his, I told him the truth.

  “I love you, Gio. I didn’t see the point in waiting.” I raised the corner of my mouth playfully. “Plus I thought getting you naked would be a good way to see your new tattoos.”

  “You could’ve asked.” I raised my eyebrows and deepened the turn to my mouth. “But I like your methods better.” He sat up with his back against the headboard. “You already saw this one.” He indicated the ‘Love by the Slice’ under his bicep. He leaned forward and twisted away from me to show his back shoulder blade. “Then there’s this one.” A geometric shape of interlocking circles about the size of a baseball. There had to be dozens of them. After I ran my finger over it, he sat back. “And this one.” He tapped his chest above his heart.

  “Is that a…” My finger traced around the curving letter. Only one letter stood out against his olive skin.

  “Yup.” A huge B in a script font with curls on each of the ends took up a large space of his chest. “I wanted you close to my heart.”

  What’s a girl to say to that? Nothing. That’s what I said anyway. Instead of talking, I forced him to lie back down then cuddled into his warmth and fell asleep happy.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Gramps didn’t seem at all surprised the next morning when we ran into him coming out his back door, all on our way to work. He said good morning with this little shit eating grin and went on to his car. Gio insisted I ride with him but he dropped me off and said he’d be back because he needed to change. He hadn’t anticipated staying at my place. Inside I found Gramps in the office and stopped to talk to him about the trip to Chicago. He agreed I should go and apparently already knew about it. Of course, he did. Gio would’ve needed those days off and would’ve told him about it right away. Since things were slowing down, the restaurant could get by without us.