by Milly Taiden
Tracy started to go down on him. “S’okay. I want to,” she whispered.
He gripped her arms. “No.”
A cold ache caught in her chest, each breath more painful than the last. She released him, taking two steps back. Out of all the scenarios she’d thought imaginable, this was not one of them. With nowhere to hide, Tracy stood rejected, holding her stomach and awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck. Shame and remorse trampled through her heart.
Her chin crumpled and she turned away, preventing him from seeing humiliation pooling in her eyes.
“No, I don’t mean no—“
He tried to ease her against his chest, but what remained left of her pride refused to budge. Giovanni cradled her face forcing her to look at him. He tilted her chin toward the moon, exposing her bolstering embarrassment. Tears leaked from her lashes, gathering beneath the mask.
“Merda, please no, do not cry. Of course yes—“ He cupped her hand, urging it to his cock. Compassion riddled his voice, wanting her to understand. “I can-not do this here, not now. You are—“
His breath hissed as she stroked down the hard sprung length.
“I am what?” She asked in an intimate whisper.
“You are…umm…easy.”
Revulsion curled in her stomach. Tracy gave up all pretense of being calm. Nearly blinded by her rage, she yanked her hand away, shoving it hard against his shoulder. “I am not easy! Just because I’m ridiculously attracted to you doesn’t mean I’m like this with everyone! I’ve never done anything like this! I haven’t even been on a date in over a year or—”
He raised his hands as a peace offering, but she was too far gone to notice.
“—I can’t even remember the last time I had sex. Actually, I do remember, but I’d prefer to forget. Regardless it’s been two years.” Her mouth snapped shut. She grabbed her shoes and began to flee.
Giovanni clasped his fingers around her wrist before she could crawl over the wall. “The wine, Amore Mio…you are not used to drinking. How do you say it? You are easy…a light weight? Yes?”
“No.” she protested. “Maybe, yes. I don’t drink very much.”
“Si`, you are tipsy. You haven’t eaten. I couldn’t, it would not be right of me.”
“But, you don’t understand, Giovanni. I never want to. I mean…not that I don’t want to, I just never find the right man.” Tracy twisted, her face averted. She wondered why she found sex much easier to talk about in the comfort of a lecture hall in college.
“I am the right man?”
She nodded. Daring to glimpse, his sexy smile broadened making her go weak at the knees.
He backed her up against the wall, anchoring her to his hard muscles. Giovanni hovered over her, touching her, disarming her with gentle caresses. His mouth roamed to the hollow behind her ear. “I want to take you to my bed. I want to make love to you all night long and never let you leave. Amore Mio, the sounds you make…I want to hear you cry out for me.” His breathing turned coarse, growling against her skin as he bit her shoulder affectionately. “Let’s get something to eat, some water, see how you feel? Yes?”
The feel of his teeth sinking into her skin felt better than anything in the entire world. She grasped his nape, tugging him lower to her mouth. Tracy dragged her mouth up his throat nipping and biting his neck, wanting to give him the same pleasure. “Si`. You should probably eat too. You’re going to need your strength.”
*
“Bout time.” JC grumbled under her breath, rising from a table and excusing herself from two very handsome young men. “I thought I was going to have to send out Search and Rescue.”
“It doesn’t look like you have much to complain about.” Tracy teased nodding toward the dejected looking men. Most of the wedding guests had departed and only a handful remained at the bar. Her gaze shifted, following Giovanni as he entered the restaurant beside the chapel, tracking down a waiter who’d been working the reception.
“Yeah they’re nice, but Nikos,” JC made a sour face pointing to the taller of the two, “Great dancer, but a horrible kisser. How’d you make out with Giovanni? I was starting to worry about you.”
Heat warmed her chest, spreading from her toes to the top of her head. “Sorry I didn’t mean to make you worry. He’s…amazing.”
“Now I know how you must feel every time I run off with a hot guy. I seriously turned into Mom for a minute.”
She suspected even her little sister had never experienced a date like tonight. JC abided to a strict set of dating rules and first dates only got as far as making out. And she dated a lot.
“We’re reversing roles. That’s a first.”
“Ha!” JC’s laughter floated over the empty dance floor. She untied her mask and tucked it in her purse. Propping her arm over the back of the chair, she pointing past the gated side entrance toward the street, spouting proudly, “The reception ended thirty minutes ago. I even called for a cab, it’s waiting out front”
Tracy spotted Giovanni through the window. Their eyes locked and Tracy flushed hard, giggling softly.
“The driver’s been waiting for about ten minutes. I knew you’d be impressed, that’s usually your job.”
“I am impressed.” Tracy paused, the glow of hanging lanterns on the terrace illuminating the reality of her situation. “But, I’m going to stay with Giovanni tonight.”
JC’s head snapped in surprise. Her eyes narrowed, glaring at Tracy. “Bullshit!”
“Look, I’m a big girl.”
JC gripped her upper arm, spinning Tracy toward the light, scrutinizing her disheveled appearance. “What the hell have you been doing?”
“I don’t need to spell it out for you. I really like him. I’ll meet you back at the hotel in plenty of time to pack for our flight.” She noticed Giovanni crossing the now empty dance floor with a plate of food and two waters.
“Have you been drinking?”
“What? No!” Tracy shrugged one shoulder, scoffing off the accusation in her sister’s tone. “I had a couple of glasses of wine. I’m fine.”
Giovanni joined them at the table, offering Tracy a water and half of a warm panino made of baguette. He twisted the cap of her bottle. “Did you enjoy the reception?”
JC snubbed him, completely disregarding his question. “You are not staying the night with him.”
Tracy stiffened. Her eyes widened in resentment to her little sister’s offensiveness. Giovanni settled his palm on the small of her back, rubbing in small circles.
“Knock it off. Don’t be rude.” Tracy bit back.
“We don’t do that.” JC stated frankly, flipping her finger back-and-forth between them.
Taken off guard by JC’s highhandedness, her pulse slammed heavily at the vein on the side of her neck. Tracy and JC were only two years apart. She never judged her little sister’s incessant flirting because most of the time it was harmless. But occasionally Tracy needed to act like an overbearing mother in order to keep her out of trouble when they traveled. And it was never the other way around.
“No,” Tracy said candidly in a low voice. She set the water and panino on the table. “You don’t do that. I understand why you have your list of rules to keep you in check, but I don’t need to abide by them.”
JC raked a grim observation over the couple. Tracy squirmed a little, self-consciously adjusting the belt around her waist. JC’s eyes beaded, giving Giovanni a direct hard stare.
“I don’t fucking think so. You are not staying the night with…with Rico Suave.” Thick insolence coated JC’s tone.
Every hair on her arms raised in high spikes. The motion on her back stopped. She heard Giovanni take a long sturdy breath of air and he began rubbing again. Tracy stared, eyes wide and full of disbelief. She appreciated JC’s concern, but it wasn’t justified.
“Don’t talk to him that way. This is my decision.” A thin thread of hysteria lined her voice.
“Can you give us a minute, Giovanni?” JC requested through a sa
rdonic smile and a piercing gaze.
A somber crinkle stretched deep into his forehead. Giovanni’s hand meandered up her back, playing gently through her hair. “Maybe she is right,” he purred reluctantly.
The girls caught each other in a sideways glance. Tracy wasn’t sure who was more surprised, her or JC.
“No. She’s not right. I’m f—“
He lowered his mouth over hers, kissing gently.
Breaking the kiss, she clenched her fingers into the folds of his jacket. “Giovanni. I want to stay. I don’t how long it will be before I’ll see you again.” She cringed inwardly at her neediness.
“It won’t be long. We’re only a day away from each other, a couple of flights, a continent or two.” A sexy smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “I’ll swim if I have to.”
Pressure mounted and her nose crumpled from the sting of disappointment threatening to spill.
JC started toward the cab. Giovanni and Tracy trailed behind, begrudgingly.
Everything was happening too fast. They hadn’t discussed tomorrows or dating or anything in the future. There was so much she needed to say to him, starting with her name, but there wasn’t enough time. It would sound ridiculous if she blurted it out now. Her stomach coiled with cold jabbing pains. Waves of hopelessness tore through her, terrified of never seeing him again.
“But,” her voice croaked and she couldn’t carry on. Tracy’s vision blurred, but she continued in the soft hush, “I wanna take my mask off.”
The back of Giovanni’s knuckles coasted along the underneath of her cheek, the ball of his thumb tracing the edge of her mask. Every touch brought a new emotion to the surface of her heart, lust in the rawest of forms. All her feelings muddled together, overwhelming her with panic, dejection, and desire. She trembled from head to toe.
A small sound of compassion seeped out of his exhale.
Dropping her forehead to his chest, she said in a taunt whisper, “I’m afraid I’m going to regret this moment if I leave.”
JC opened the car door. “You’ll regret this night forever if you don’t get in the car, Maggie.”
Tracy ignored her sister’s headed advice. She clutched at his jacket, silently probing the easy creases near his eyes for the certainty. His hungry grey stare mimicked hers, attentively absorbing each and every question sifting through her mind.
“Save the mask for when we see each other again,” he simmered into her hair. The virile undertone filled with promise.
JC cleared her throat. “Give him your number.” She instructed sardonically as if she’d done this a dozen times.
He reached into his pocket and handed Tracy his phone. Her fingers trembled, fumbling the numbers into his cell phone. Her chest expanded with each breath coming in anxious pants. Giovanni captured her face in the palms of his hands, claiming her attention. “I will come see you. Prometto.”
Her heart soared. Those were the reassuring words she needed to hear. I promise. She smiled wide and full, and a heated blush prickled her cheeks. She felt the strength of his fingers thread into her hair, gently gripping. Giovanni bent, grazing her lips, teasing slowly enticing her to open. A shaky gust of laughter climbed in her throat and he pulled back to flash a grin before descending.
Blindly, she dropped the phone into his pants pocket, and curled her arms around his back. The tenseness in her bones unraveled with the penetration of each searching stroke of his tongue. Tracy clung to him, digging into the rigid muscles flanking his spine. The intensity of the kiss thickened, rising into a pleasure strung erotic act like nothing she’d experienced in her life.
Sagging against him, she let go, rejoicing in the ripe exotic flavor of his kisses. Warmth from his palm spread down the slope of her neck, the pad of his thumb turning circles over the thin skin throbbing at the base of her throat. Tracy groaned, feeling the weight of his hand descend down her chest, gripping at the ribs beneath her breast.
Giovanni pulled back, the smile evaporating from his face. Anguish notched between his brows and shadows played against his masculine features. A flush of anticipation swept through her. His arms closed around her and Tracy melted into his powerful frame. The sweet taste of wine filled her senses, tender and consuming. He devoured the hums of her desire, possessing her with his kiss.
The sounds of JC rambling off a short list of garbled remarks, full of awe and sarcasm, echoed through the evening air.
Tracy pulled back, panting, saturated with need and distress. She brought her hands to his wrists, clutching the thickness. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips and then another. She couldn’t force herself to let go, leaning against the comforting contours of his body.
Folding her hands in his, Giovanni brought the pale flesh of her palms to his lips. He gave her a short nod, conceding that it was time to go and escorted her to the open door of the taxi. He kissed her one last time, dragging his mouth over her forehead, hairline and the sensitive spot behind her ear. “Buona notte, Amore Mio.”
“Good night.” Breathless, she nipped the lobe of his ear. Tracy whispered her own promise as she kissed him goodbye, “I’m saving this mask for you.”
JC ducked into the taxi and slid across the seat. Tracy followed.
“Giovanni —“ She beamed up at him, “—best date ever.”
A sultry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he shut the door.
The taxi pulled away from the cathedral and Tracy closed her eyes sinking into the back seat.
“What. The. Hell. Was that?” JC exclaimed.
Happiness radiated off her in a glow of energy. She shrugged like a giddy schoolgirl. “He is amazing!” She squealed in delight grabbing her sister’s hands and wiggling her bum in the seat.
“Thank God I don’t smoke! I would’ve burned through a pack of cigarettes just watching the two of you.” JC flopped back in the seat, throwing her hands in the air with orgasmic magnitude. “That was like…like…fucking hot!”
A rush of heat scorched across her chest and face. Tracy held her hands out. “I’m shaking.”
“No wonder you wanted to go home with him! Have you been making out like that all night long?”
“Hmm?” Tracy delayed, pondering how many details she should share with her sister. No. No, no. I can’t tell her that. The scent of him filled her nose as she searched for the ribbon in her hair. Tracy knew she wouldn’t wash her hair in the morning just so his memory would keep with her on the flight home. I might even wear my damn dress on the way home.
“I said, how long—“ JC narrowed one eye raking and inquisitive glare over Tracy. “Holy shit! Did you have sex with him?”
“Shhh.” Tracy wrinkled her nose pointing at the driver.
“Oh calm down, he doesn’t even speak English. Did you?”
“No. We didn’t, I only, we just kissed.”
“I call bullshit! There is no way you only made out with him. You look like you just had an extreme case of Cirque du Soleil sex!”
Tracy felt as if she’d been slayed by Casanova himself. “You saw the way he kisses. I feel like I just had sex with just my mouth.”
JC mouth dropped open with a gasp. “We call that a blowjob.”
“No, no!”
“He went downtown?” JC screeched, her enthusiasm spiked to an all-time high. “Oh my God! Was he Cherry Garcia?”
Growing up, the girls shared every important detail in their lives. JC was the yin to her yang. Tracy dated vicariously through her little sister. JC categorized her boyfriends like ice cream and never had a problem divulging the delicious specifics of her dates. Vanilla was boring, Butter Pecan stood for so-so, chocolate chip mint meant the end came too quick, and Cherry Garcia ranked as a ten.
JC leaned closer for privacy, frothing at the mouth waiting for juicy details. Tracy gnawed on the inside of her cheek, contemplating. There was no way she could admit the intimacies of her evening, not even to JC. It was going to be hard enough to look in the mirror.
“Oh he was
Cherry Garcia, all the way, but no, no downtown.” Tracy frowned and threw her head against the back of the seat. “I wanted to stay with him. I can’t even imagine how good of a lover he’s gonna be.”
“Judging by the kiss…” JC mocked, dragging her fingers through her hair, imitating their passionate lip-lock. “He’s going to be fantastico. What does he do?”
“Huh?” She sat up tall, recollecting their conversation. “I don’t know. We never talked about it. I think he started to mention it, but we got sidetracked talking about Greek mythology and astronomy.”
“Seriously, mythology? You’re killing me, sis! And you talk about me! At least I would’ve asked what he did for a living.”
“I would’ve asked.”
“Umm hmm, I’m sure you would’ve. With his tongue in—”
“I have to explain the whole name thing when he calls too.” Tracy grasped her sister’s knee. “He will call, right?”
“Oh yeah. I’ll give him three weeks.”
“Three weeks?” She shrieked.
“To be knocking on your front door!”
The reality of the situation started to close around her. She had so many questions, so much more she wanted to know about Giovanni. She wanted to know everything about him. Hysteria mounted with her accelerated breathing.
JC patted her hand. “Trust me, he’ll call.”
***
CHAPTER FOUR
All of the stars fell out of the sky that night. After experiencing the most euphoric high she’d ever endured in her life, Tracy crashed into a bottomless pit of downheartedness.
Giovanni never called.
There would be no more trust. No more passionate kisses. No more feeling anything except despondent, heartbroken and lonely.
The long flight home from Greece and the days that followed had been occupied with delirious smiles and long delicious daydreams of seeing Giovanni again. Tracy couldn’t add the lustful words to her audible vocabulary, but certainly managed to let them roll silently through her thoughts.
