Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
Halle
Saturday night.
The line to Esotico is long, and I’m here under sufferance, but Allegra is meeting her speed date, and who am I to rain on the parade? We shuffle forward in the line and I scroll on my phone. “I thought he would have called me today.” I murmur.
“You’re seeing him tomorrow for a fucking family lunch. Calm down, clinger.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” I put my phone back into my bag. “This guy has me acting crazy.” We shuffle forward in the line some more and a blacked-out car pulls up. A group of men get out. “Is that his friends?”
“Don’t know.” Allegra studies them and then the last man gets out before the car pulls away. “Oh yes, look, there’s the Valentino.”
I giggle. “I love how you call him ‘the Valentino.’” I crane my neck to see if my Bruno is here too.
“He would be a Valentino, though, wouldn’t he? The name just suits him,” she whispers as we watch him walk up the stairs. He has an aura around him that screams confident power. “Seriously,” she whispers, “how can any man be so hot?”
“I don’t know.” My eyes linger on the fine specimen. The doorman unhooks the red rope and they walk straight through. “What do you reckon they do that made the girl say that they run the illegal part of Italy?”
“Put it this way.” She twists her lips as she thinks. “I’m guessing it’s not speeding fines.”
“Hmm.”
“Honestly, I don’t know why you’re pursuing this thing with Dante; you already know it’s going to end badly.”
“Admittedly, the first night I met him here, I did think that, but since the speed-dating thing, I think he’s not as bad as I first thought.
Maybe he’s just friends with the bad ones.
” I shrug. “Guilty by association kind of thing, and besides, we don’t know that they’re actually bad.
We don’t know the girls who told us that for a bar of soap. ”
“True,” she agrees. “They do look deliciously bad, though.”
“Right,” I giggle. My phone vibrates in my bag and I read the message.
Hi Halle, Been thinking about you all day.
I’m assuming you want to meet there. See you tomorrow at Helenika Restaurant at 12:00. Dante
“See.” Excitement rushes through me, and I hold the phone up for her to read the message. “I’m not imagining it. This is a nice-guy message.”
“Maybe,” she agrees. The line moves forward and we get a little closer to going in.
Even just a text from him and my night is made.
Cocktail after cocktail, shot after shot. The night is messy and wild.
Allegra’s man is with a big group of people who are all so fun. We’ve danced and laughed and drunk like sailors.
It’s just past one a.m., and as I stand at the bar, waiting to be served, big hands snake around my hips from behind. Lips go to my ear. “There you are.” Goose bumps scatter up my spine as I hear the accent.
He’s here.
I turn toward him and he pulls my hips against his. “Hello.” His dark hair hangs over his forehead and he towers above me.
“Hi.”
He grabs the back of my head and pulls me into a kiss, long and slow. The suction is filled with promise, and I feel it all the way to my toes.
Hell…
Is it bad that I like him better when he’s been drinking?
His eyes darken as they drop to my lips. “Let’s get out of here.”
“What?”
“Fuck this place. Let’s go.” His accent is so hot and heavy… addictive.
“Oh…” What. “I thought you wanted to take it slow.”
“Fuck slow,” he snaps. “I’ll take it slow when I’m dead.”
Excitement screams through me. That’s more like it.
“But my friend—” I glance over to Allegra with the group of people we just met.
“Isn’t welcome. I want you to myself.”
Ha…
“I wasn’t going to invite her.” I smirk. The loud music is a tantric sexy beat, and the club is dark. Everything about this situation screams seduction.
“Do you want to spend the night with her or with me?” He lifts my hand again to his mouth and this time turns it over so that it’s palm up.
He licks it and I feel it between my legs.
My body begins to override my brain. “It will be worth your while,” he murmurs as he concentrates on the task at hand.
Throb… Throb… Throb…
Fuck.
He pulls me close and kisses me again, deep, and long, and I feel his thick erection up against my stomach.
Double fuck.
With his dark eyes locked on mine, he lifts my hand and again licks the palm.
I clench in appreciation. What the hell, this man is off-the-hook hot.
“Okay,” I murmur, distracted by the sight of his tongue on my skin. He takes his phone out of his pocket and dials someone. “Portare la macchina.” (Translation, bring the car around)
“I have to go say goodbye to my friend.”
He nods and takes my hand in his and gestures for me to lead the way. I walk through the club with a goofy smile on my face. Yes, that’s right, I’m holding hands with the hottest man in the club. Suck it and weep, bitches.
We get to Allegra. ”I’m going,” I tell her.
“Okay.” She smiles over my shoulder. “Bruno, right?”
“Hello.” Clearly uninterested in what she’s saying, he lifts my hand and kisses it. “We must go, the car is here.”
No small talk, then?
“Goodbye. ” He walks off and pulls me by the hand.
He’s just so bossy…
I widen my eyes at Allegra and she giggles as I’m pulled away from her.
He’s wasting no time in getting me out of here, and I have to say his desperation is as hot as hell.
There’s a cluster of people lined up at the front door, and as we wait, he pulls me in front of him, his lips drop to my neck, and he sucks on it right here in front everyone. My knees nearly buckle beneath me.
Jeez.
I can tell it’s going to be one hell of a night. He’s not the only one around here who’s desperate to be alone. As we wait to get out, his lips dust up and down my neck, and good lord… I may not survive this.
He takes my hand and we push through the crowd and out the front doors. A blacked-out SUV is waiting with a man standing beside it; when he sees us, he opens the back door.
Bruno ushers me into the back of the car and climbs in after me.
There’s a privacy screen between us and the driver.
As soon as the door closes, he pulls me over his lap, lifts my dress, and spreads my legs around his thick thighs.
His hard cock rubs against my sex, and the air crackles between us as we stare at each other.
“Sei cosi dannatamente bella.” (Translation, you are so fucking beautiful.) He kisses me aggressively. Our teeth clash as arousal takes us over.
Jeez.
“Cavalcherai il mio cazzo tutta la notte.” (Translation, you’re going to be riding cock all night.) His hands drag me over his body and our kiss turns frantic. I don’t know what he just said, but it sounded fucking good.
The car speeds through the streets of Roma, and I don’t know where we’re going, but with his cock rubbing up against me like this, I’m about to come in one minute flat.
Help!
“Solleva le ginocchia.” (Translation, lift your knees.) He pants as if just as close to losing control as I am.
“I don’t understand.”
He rearranges me and lifts my knees and grinds me down onto him hard. “Like this.”
I see stars.
“I . . .” My mouth falls open as I stare at him.
“Ti piace?” (Translation, you like that?)
“I . . .” My eyes roll back in my head at the feel of his hard erection rubbing over my clitoris.
“You like that, Halle?” He smiles against my lips.
I nod, too overwhelmed to speak.
“What about this?”
He puts his hand between us and slides his fingers into my panties and through the lips of my sex. “Fuck yes.” He moans when he feels how wet I am. “Halle…” His eyes flutter closed as he pushes three thick fingers into me.
My body ripples, and unable to help it, I clench around him.
“Fucking hell,” he whispers as his kiss turns aggressive. I moan into his mouth as I come hard.
He smiles as he finger-pumps me through it.
We pant as we stare at each other, and he seems as equally shocked as I am.
This sexual chemistry is like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
Atomic.
The car pulls to a halt, and he puts his three fingers into his mouth and sucks them as his dark eyes hold mine.
I feel faint.
He lifts me and puts me back down onto the seat and rearranges himself in his pants.
I’m a hot mess, wet and swollen and throbbing down below… and we’re still fully dressed. I begin to fear what’s about to come.
The door opens and he climbs out, takes my hand, and helps me from the car. “Grazie,” he thanks the driver. He leads me into an old historic building and we get into the elevator.
He stands quietly, and other than holding my hand, he doesn’t touch me. Shit, why did I come so quick? What must he think of me?
Mortifying.
The elevator doors open directly into an apartment. It’s huge and modern with brown leather couches, huge colorful artwork, and marble furniture. We step out and the doors close behind us. My eyes roam over the luxurious surroundings. “This is your home?” I whisper.
“Yes.” His eyes hold mine.
“Beautiful.”
“Like you.”
We stand and stare at each other. He’s not touching me, and yet I still feel the tidal wave of his arousal. “What’s wrong?” I whisper.
“Nothing.”
“You’re—”
“Sto cercando di calmarmi.” (Translation, trying to calm down.)
“I don’t know what you just said. You need to speak English with me. Is everything all right?”
His eyes search mine. Something’s wrong.
“What is it?” I ask.
“I need to calm down; I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Physically?”
“Si.”
“You won’t.” I lift my hand to cup his face, and his eyes flutter closed. “Kiss me,” I breathe.
He takes me into his arms and kisses me, and it’s slow and tender. Suddenly, the world between us is right again.
His tongue and the way he uses it is…
My god.
Our kiss deepens and we begin to lose control again. He walks me backward into the apartment as his hands go to the hem of my dress; he pulls it over my head in one fell swoop.