My fingers traipsed down her bare arms, relishing the feel of her soft skin. Then traveling across her collarbone, and down to the valley between her perfect breasts. I could not wait to touch them bare and wanted badly to pull the silk nighty right off her, but forced myself to continue slowly instead. I let one finger travel up one soft mound, twinning my finger around her erect nipple. I repeated the same gentle assault on the other breasts until she turned her head and broke our kiss. I looked up into her eyes and say the heat I felt mimicked within her. Shocking me, she then began pulling her nighty off, no easy task in her vertical position. Adjusting myself, I helped her pull the entire thing off and tossed it over my shoulder. My breath caught as I saw the pale pink of her skin just waiting for me to touch. I thanked God we had left the curtains open so that the sunlight filtered in just enough for me to see her glorious beauty.
She reached out her hand to me, ran it up from my belly button and weaved it into my chest hair, slightly grazing my own nipple as she explored.
My body ached for her, but I knew she wasn’t ready yet. I lightly pushed her back so she was laying once more then began to place feather light kisses near her collar bone. I made a path down between her breasts, then up to one nipple and over to the other. This time, I pulled that supple nipple into my mouth. I heard her intake of breath and felt her body arch toward my mouth pushing the nipple further inside. I let my mouth continue its feast and began exploring once again with my hands.
I roamed down over her soft, flat stomach then roamed further still. The gently tickle of her hair made the fire within me burn hotter. She made no move to stop my hand, so I continued to the warm folds of her sensitive skin. Lightly I opened her lips and carefully inserted one finger. She moaned and arched which almost made me lose control. I lifted my mouth from her nipple to look at her.
Her face was flushed, lips a deep pink from our kissing and her eyes bespoke of a fire I hadn’t known was inside of her. I chose that moment to slowly pull my finger out. I relished the slight disappointment I saw on her face, waited a beat then plunged my finger back inside. I could feel her body opening for me, though I knew that she would still feel pain. We played this torturous dance for a while until her moaning and panting were almost more than I could take. When I finally heard, “Please I want to feel you inside.” I almost lost it. Swiftly adjusting us both I poised myself at her entrance and took deep breaths trying to calm myself. This had to happen slowly, and I didn’t want to hurt her any more than she needed to be.
As I inched inside of her, I felt pure heaven. I could see she was struggling a little, could feel her body trying to adjust to my size. Just as I was about to question her she said, “don’t stop.” So, I went further. Crawling deeper inside her at this tortoise pace took the most self-control I had ever exhibited in my life. She was worth it; this moment was worth it.
Finally, I could feel the barrier, “are you ready?” She nodded and I surged forward doing my best to ignore the look of pain on her face. I remained perfectly still until she opened her eyes and gave me a slight smile, “It hurts, but I want to finish” And so we did.
The remainder of the day was a blur after that. I was riding so high on my love for Marie I barely noticed any of the other things we did. She held up remarkably well, and had assured me that other than being a little sore, she was perfectly fine.
The following night, I asked her to be my wife at sunset on a beach in Negril. I knew I would forever remember how her caramel hair blew gently from the sea breeze, and how the sunset exquisitely framed her face. Most of all, I would remember the tears of happiness that seeped delicately from her eyes as she nodded and whispered yes.
Chapter 10
We returned home a week later as an engaged couple. I had been in a state of blissful happiness since the moment I placed the ring on her finger. By the time we walked into our respective houses, our parents had already booked our engagement party for next month. The happiness felt all around me was a surreal feeling. The joining of our families seemed to fill every corner of my life with love. It was amazing how everything felt like it was coming together so nicely.
I should have known. Things just seemed too good to be true, and so they were. When I walked out of the restaurant at 1am and found Joey waiting for me, I knew something was going on. I immediately looked around as I continued walking closer. He was leaning against his car, arms crossed, with a stern look in place.
“Hey Joey, I didn’t expect to see you here tonight. Everything alright?” I was fully expecting him to tell me about some street matter that needed to be handled between us.
Instead he said, “I have to talk to you about your brother.”
“James?” The mention of my brother threw me off completely, “What about him?”
“He’s been spending a lot of time with Gina lately. I don’t like it.” My adrenaline began pumping as I watched the full-grown man fairly pout before me. What was he playing at coming here like this?
“Joey, it’s not my place to get involved in your relationship with Gina. If she is spending time with James, then maybe you two need to discuss why.” Gina wasn’t the kind of girl to do anything immoral. More likely that her relationship with James was similar to the one I had with her.
“Oh, we have discussed it and frankly, I do not accept her answer. She claims I don’t care about her enough. She says we aren’t meant to work out. She doesn’t seem to understand that women don’t get to walk away from me.” Looking at him I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or be angry.
I stood quietly for a moment before asking, “Are you threatening her?” I stood up straighter, my muscles readying for a fight as I noticed a shift in his eyes that went from childlike to menacing.
“No.” He stated coldly. The anger in him became apparent now. “It’s just a fact. She’s my girl. Period. Whether she acknowledges that fact now or not is of little consequence. It’s what I want. I always get what I want.” If not for the lethal edge to his gaze, I would have said he was returning once more to his spoiled child side.
Forcing myself to find reason, “Not for nothing Joey, but be reasonable. She’s a person too, with her own set of feelings. If she feels like you two are not working out, then just amicably go your own way.” This seemed so simple to me. I really was not sure why he was insisting on keeping Gina when she clearly was not happy with him.
“Don’t you get it? It’s public knowledge. Everyone knows she is mine.” He uncrossed his arms and pushed away from the car causing me to take a step back.
I shrugged as if it was no big deal, “So make her your past. Easily done. Start dating someone else; take her to all of the places we know that have people who talk. In a few weeks Gina will be forgotten. This happens all the time; especially at our age. It’s not like the situation brings any shame on you.”
“It shames me because she thinks this is her choice. It’s not. I choose who I want, and they should feel lucky that I want them.” He finished this, his nostrils flaring. After a moment he states, “It’s your brother, that’s who she wants.”
“Listen, I don’t know anything about that.” This sounded ridiculous to me, and I really was not sure what he wanted me to do about it.
“Still I am coming to you as a show of respect. Make your brother back off or things are not going to go well between us.” His eyes had hardened again and he lost that little boy aura he’d had moments before.
“Joey, we’ve always had a reasonable relationship. We’ve always managed to work things out when there’s been discord, and we’ve always gotten great results for the bosses. Don’t blow that up over a woman. Gina is like family to me. If she isn’t happy with you for whatever reasons, then just let it go. It happens. Sometimes it’s just not meant to work. But to cause tensions between you and I over this? To threaten my brother? I’ll ask you one last time to be reasonable.” I had kept my voice calm and un-antagonistic, but my body was ready should he make a move.
He looked
at me hard for moments then said, “I can see we aren’t going to agree on this.”
“I guess not. But I really do think it’s a simple fix on your end Joey. Don’t let pride create a bigger problem than needs be.” I had always known him to be a completely rational person; this change in temperament was something new from him. I wasn’t sure where it was coming from, but it made me edgy.
“Pride? You haven’t see pride, friend.” The last word was said with a deep sarcastic bite and I knew I now had an enemy. A very dangerous enemy.
“I am sorry you see it that way Joey. Let me remind you before you leave, James is my blood, my family. And Gina, though not of blood, is likewise. Threatening them might not be the best way to go especially since the slight you assume isn’t likely one that the higher ups will deem worthy.” It was my one last attempt at appealing to his previously rational sensibility.
Joey just looked at me, then turned around and walked around to get into his car, “I won’t forget this.”
I took a breath trying to calm my body down. What the hell had my brother been up to? After checking the street once more, I turned to continue on my way home resolved to wake him as soon as I got there for some answers.
Chapter 11
“Wake up, we gotta talk.” I said abruptly as I pushed his shoulder to rouse him from sleep.
“What?!?” He exclaimed, then got a look of my face and held his explicative back. He swung out of the bed and followed me downstairs to the basement. I did not want my parents to over hear us, and it was well after 2am.
I settled onto the couch and waited for James to settle beside me then broached, “Guess who I just had a visit from?”
“Who? Why the hell did you wake me up?” He was pissed. Good, I thought, now his mood matched mine.
“What the hell are you doing with Gina that’s causing Joey to visit me in the middle of the night?” His ire seemed to sober up at this, his shoulders slumped slightly.
“Nothing. We aren’t doing anything.” He looked genuinely confused, although slightly guilty.
“Oh really? I’ve caught moments of you two looking a little too comfortable together. So how about we try that question again, but this time you give me the right answer.”
“Really, nothing is happening, yet. Can’t say I don’t want something to happen. We have become quite good friends. I don’t know all the details about her relationship with Joey, but it’s not good, Tony.”
“Yea, I know.” I said running my fingers through my hair in frustration. “I’ve known for months that something was not right. It was not my place to get involved, and since she really did not open up about it, my hands were tied with what I could do.”
“I want to be with her though, and I think she feels the same.” His face softened at this, I could see his emotions for her right there in his eyes.
Still though he had to know it wasn’t right to try to put moves on a taken lady, “But she is with Joey.”
“I don’t know about that. I mean I know she is dating him, or was dating him. They have not gone out in more than a month. He makes plans, and cancels on her all the time. I know they argued pretty badly recently. She refused to tell me about it, but she answered the door with tears in her eyes the other night.” I could see he was really upset about this. Despite that, I had to try to get him to see how proceeding was detrimental.
“Well, Joey wants her. He wants me to warn you to stay away so that he can keep her.” I heard my lack of emotion as I said this. It felt idiotic to be warning someone to stay away from someone else all because Joey had too much pride to deal with a relationship that did not work out.
“What?” James exclaimed incredulously.
“He wants you to stop hanging out with her so that you do not interfere or interrupt their relationship.” There, that was clear enough.
“I’ll tell you now, Tony, if all I am is an interference for her, then I will step back.” I began to sigh with relief until he continued, “But if she feels anything for me I will not step away.“ The determination was apparent in his voice.
“Listen to me James, you do not want to take this guy on.” Fear for my brother started to roll up.
Snickering he asked, “Come on, what’s he going to do, beat me up?”
“You seriously underestimate this man. Maybe you really don’t know about the circle I run in, or maybe you are willfully pretending like you don’t. Either way, know this, the men I associate with wouldn’t think twice about beating you up, or worse, should you interfere in affairs you shouldn’t be in. This is an affair you should steer clear of.” But was it really? As much as I was warning him away, I could not help but think that it was absurd to try to force Gina to stay in a relationship with Joey simply because it was what Joey wanted.
“The best I can do is talk to her tomorrow. If she does not feel the same, I will disappear from her life. If she does though, that’s a different path altogether.” With that he turned and marched back up the stairs effectively ending the conversation.
I sat paralyzed in thought. A huge part of me wanted her to feel the same. I already loved her like family, and if James made her happy then I would be thrilled for them. On the other hand, this was a huge complication in my professional life. This could cause a large rift with a family we wanted to keep as allies. Joey was not someone I wanted as an enemy, though I didn’t think he would get the kind of upper management support as he seemed to think he would in a feud with us over a lady. Ugh, I needed a drink.
Chapter 12
I heard James leave early the next morning, and hoped he was heading over to talk to Gina. My head was pounding from lack of sleep. I rolled over and closed my eyes hoping to get a few more hours of much needed rest.
“Tony, wake up.” I heard through my deep sleep.
“Huh, what?” I said rolling over to see James looming above me. The look on his face was chilling.
“Do you know how controlling that man is? She tried to break up with him a month after they started dating and he hasn’t let her go.” The anger rolling off him was not to be taken lightly. I had never seen my brother this angry before. He was always even tempered.
“Huh? James, give me a minute I can’t process what you are saying.” James fell silent and began pacing the length of my room. I swung my legs over the bed and sat up, “Ok. What?”
“Gina told Joey she did not want to see him anymore back in November. He told her not to be ridiculous and that she needed to give him a chance. She tried to end it again in December, and again in January, and every month since then. A few weeks ago, she told him she really could not do it anymore and that she had feelings for someone else. She explained that nothing had happened, that the person was just a friend but she felt like she needed to explore that. She stated she was certain that her feelings for him would never grow to where he wanted them. He told her he didn’t care about her feelings. She was the one he had chosen from all the rest and she would have to live with that. Everyone knew they were together, so that was that. They argued. She has not spoken to him since. That was the day I saw her crying. Apparently, she’s afraid. She said he hurts her. He squeezes her thighs under the table if he doesn’t like the way she says something or the way she acts. He insists on ordering everything for her. She never gets a choice. He’s screamed at her, pushed her up against walls, punches the walls right by her face so that she thinks she’s going to be hit. She’s completely traumatized by this guy, and you want me to back up? Why would you let this happen? I thought you cared about her too. I thought this guy was your friend! And how did he know it was me? She never mentioned me; we’ve never gone anywhere public. How did he know?” I knew how he knew.
My stomach had been rolling since the second James started to unleash. I stood up and joined him pacing the room, “James, I knew something was off. I didn’t know details. I had no idea it was as deep as you are saying. I didn’t know she didn’t like him. I thought she was just upset because he would break p
lans. Marie disliked him from the beginning. I should have realized that it went deeper. I’m sorry. I have to talk to Gina.” I said pushing passed James.
I walked to the bathroom and showered quickly. How could I apologize to her enough? I missed all of it, all the signs. Marie and I had known things were not good, somehow I had just been too wrapped up in my own romance with Marie that I missed it all. Now what? Petitioning the boss to protect Gina against an ally family? This was going to cause a ripple effect, and it was anyone’s guess what the outcome would be.
When Nonna told me, “She just left with Joey” I felt all of my blood turn cold. If someone had been watching her house, as I suspected they had, then they had seen James there. That would have set Joey’s temper on fire. How many hours had passed since I rolled over to go back to sleep? The frustration threatened to overwhelm me.
Bad Boy Romance: The Hitmans Payback (Bad Boy Alpha Male Mafia Pregnancy Romance) (Contemporary Crime Thriller & Suspense Romance) Page 3
