Chapter 32
32
“ T iny!” Joey’s oldest sister Joanna greeted me with surprise. She stood at the center table putting together a huge tray of meats, cheeses, vegetables and olives. “What are you doing in here?”
Joey, who was stirring something in a pot on the stove, spun around and stared at me.
I stared back, unable to speak. He was just so handsome—my stomach whooshed at the sight of him only five feet away from me. God, I’d rolled around with him on the floor last night and then let him leave?
“Are you staying for dinner?” Joanna asked. “Joey’s making arancine one last time before he abandons his family again for Chicago.”
She was teasing, but Joey glared at her over his shoulder before turning back to the stove. Either he was really angry or he just didn’t know what to say to me.
“I heard,” I said, growing bolder. “In fact, Joey promised me a cooking lesson before he left town, and I’m here to see that he makes good on it.”
Joey’s body stilled and Joanna laughed heartily. “Wonderful,” she said. “I keep telling him he should stay on here and run this place. He’s got the knack for it, and it needs someone like him to give it some new life.”
“I’ve got other plans.” Joey’s voice was firm, and he spoke without turning around. “And today’s not the best day for a lesson.”
“Joey, don’t be rude,” scolded Joanna.
“I won’t get in your way.” I walked over to him. With a glance over my shoulder to make sure his sister wasn’t watching, I took one of Joey’s hands and pressed the tiny white square into it. “And if it’s not the right time for a lesson, that’s OK.”
Joey looked at me with a confused expression. “What’s this?”
“Read it.” I pleaded with my eyes before backing away.
“So, Tiny, how’s your sister Bridget? I haven’t seen her in a while,” said Joanna.
“She’s well,” I answered with a shaky voice. From the corner of my eye, I saw Joey unfold the handkerchief and my heart threatened to bounce out of my chest right onto the olives. Oh God, oh God, oh God. He’s reading it.
And then he looked at me, his lips parted. We stared at each other for a few seconds, and hope rose in me like a hot air balloon.
But he turned away and faced the stove again, and all I could do was blink back tears in disbelief. He doesn’t want me. I’m too late. My eyes dropped to the floor before closing.
“Bridget was such a good card player,” Joanna went on. “I remember how she and Vince used to beat Tony and me at?—”
“Tiny.” Joey’s voice had a new energy to it. I looked up to see him yanking the apron over his head. “I forgot, I need something from the restaurant pantry downstairs. Will you help me bring it up?”
“I can get it,” Joanna offered. “What do you need?”
“No, we’ll get it. You watch the sauce,” Joey said quickly, rushing over and grabbing me by the wrist. “Come on.”
He pulled me out the kitchen door and we flew down the back steps, our feet thumping on the wood as quickly as my heart was beating .
When we got to the bottom of the stairs, Joey pushed open the door to the restaurant kitchen and yanked me through it. I had to run to keep up with his strides and we rushed by several cooks and servers who stared after us in confusion, but Joey didn’t stop. “Just grabbing something in the pantry,” he called out, pushing open a thick wooden door at the back of the kitchen and pulling me into the pitch-black space. He slammed the door shut.
As soon we were alone, what he grabbed was me.
First he pulled me into him, his glorious mouth on mine, his tongue driving between our lips. Then he boosted me up with his hands beneath my bottom and pushed my back against the door. “Wrap your legs around me,” he demanded, his breath hot against my mouth.
Heat rushed my lower body as I moved my dress out of the way and locked my ankles behind his hips. He put his hands on the door at either side of my head and pushed against me, and I could barely breathe it felt so good. If it was this incredible with our clothes on, I was going to lose my mind once we were naked and pressed skin to skin. How long would I have to wait? Could we get naked in the pantry?
I was honestly considering it.
“Did you mean it?” Joey asked between frantic kisses. “What you wrote?”
“Yes,” I breathed, reluctant to take my lips from his even for a moment. “Yes, I meant it. I mean it. I love you. And I’m sorry.”
“Shhh.” He trailed kisses down my neck. “We don’t have time for apologies. God, I love your neck. You smell good enough to eat.” He licked and sucked a spot below my ear that made my nipples tingle.
“That feels so good. You feel so good.” The pantry it is. I reached down between us and rubbed my hand over the erection straining at his trousers. “I want you inside me. Now.”
He made a strangled sound, the vibrations tickling my throat. “We can’t, Tiny.”
I ignored him, undoing buttons, slipping my hand inside his underwear and wrapping it around a cock so big and hard my mouth fell open in shock. “Jesus,” I whispered. “Maybe you’re right. I’m not sure you’ll fit inside me.”
Groaning, he kissed me again. “You are a little bit of a thing.” He brought his lips back to mine. “But I’ve spent too many hours thinking about you for it not to happen.”
“Hours, really?”
“Probably more like months, if not years.”
“Mmmm, you should have told me sooner.” I slid my hand up and down his impressive length. Maybe it was because Joey wasn’t very tall, but I had never imagined he’d be so big. “Oh my God, Joey. How do you keep this hidden?”
“Around you, it’s an effort,” he managed, clearly struggling for control. He dropped his forehead onto my shoulder and gasped. “Fuck, that feels good. I shouldn’t say fuck in front of you. Sorry.”
“We don’t have time for apologies, remember? And you can say fuck in front of me. Better yet, you can just fuck me, how’s that?” I squeezed him tighter in my fist.
He picked up his head. “Oh, Christ. Listen, I’m gonna be sorry for a whole lot more than that you if you don’t stop doing...what you’re doing,” he said, alarm in his voice. “I’m going to make a mess of our clothes, and then we’ll have some explaining to do.”
I laughed, withdrawing my hand and dropping my feet to the floor. “Ok, then we’ll save that for later. But I don’t want to leave yet...” I pushed the braces off his shoulders and shoved his trousers down at the sides.
“Jesus, Tiny, now what are you doing?”
“Shhh. Just let me.” Dropping to my knees, I ran both hands all over his cock. It felt firm and thick and hot. I gripped him with one hand and rubbed the silk- smooth tip with the other. Immediately it was slick with a few drops of liquid warmth. I want to taste him.
The moment I put my lips on him, Joey braced himself against the door with two hands again. “Oh, fuck. Oh my God.”
I rubbed my lips back and forth over the slippery tip before sliding it into my mouth and swirling my tongue along its velvety surface. I wasn’t sure, but I thought Joey’s knees might have buckled a little. Then I sucked on it as I rubbed my hands up and down his solid length. Joey inhaled sharply.
“You better stop, Tiny.” His voice held a warning.
But I didn’t want to stop. Taking him out of my mouth, I held him in two hands and licked him like an ice cream cone, all around. Then I slipped my wet lips over the top again and took him in as far as my throat would allow, but I was still able to wrap my hands around the base. My mind raced ahead to the way he could tear me apart, and my own legs trembled. Slowly I lifted and lowered my mouth again and again, while he breathed heavier and harder and said fuck more times than I’d ever heard anyone say it. Placing one hand on his hip, I braved pulling him into me a bit, not too fast, but at a quicker rhythm. I loved feeling him hit the back of my throat.
“Jesus Christ, Tiny. If you don’t stop now?—”
I pulled him from my lips with a little pop. “I won’t stop, so you might as well enjoy yourself. It’s my first time, you know. How am I doing?”
“Oh, fuck,” he said again as I slid his hot, hard cock between my lips once more. Joey must have given up on bringing things to a halt because he began to thrust into my mouth, tiny little stabs that sent bolts of lust straight between my legs. My underwear was damp and I imagined how fucking amazing it was going to feel to have Joey’s unbelievable cock pounding into me. The thought of it had me moaning, my mouth and throat vibrating with sound.
Joey stiffened and gasped, his erection throbbing as he swayed forward. Immediately my mouth was filled with pulsing hot liquid, but I’d been expecting it and didn’t stop. I waited until his body had shuddered and stilled and only the sound of his labored breathing could be heard over my fast-beating heart, and then I slipped him out of my mouth and swallowed.
“God, that was incredible. I wish I could’ve seen you,” Joey said when he could speak again, “although it probably would have been over even faster.”
“Guess I’ll have to do it again sometime.”
“Oh, Christ.” Joey dropped to his knees in front of me and took my head in his hands. “I’ve thought about you so many nights, but even my fantasies didn’t get this good.”
“Really?”
“Really. That was...oh, forget it. There are no words to tell you how that was for me. I’m sorry, I wish I could find some.”
“We need to stop apologizing to each other.”
He kissed me hard on the mouth. “You’re right. We do.”
“But we might have to apologize to your mother for ruining Sunday dinner if we don’t get back upstairs.”
“Just wait. One more minute won’t hurt.” Joey pulled me in close, laying my cheek on his chest and wrapping an arm around my waist. As he spoke, brushed the hair back from my face with his other hand. “Thank you for coming here today. For writing me that note. For taking a chance on me.”
I picked up my head but pressed me to his chest again. “Let me finish. The day I saw you after I got back in town, even before all the stuff with your dad, it hit me how I felt about you. Remember when you pushed me into the dirt at the boathouse? I think I fell in love with you that moment.”
I laughed. I did remember that—he’d made me so angry that day, but when I’d pushed him and he’d pulled me down with him, something had stirred within me at the feel of our bodies pressed together. At the time it had just made me angrier.
“And I wanted to tell you, but I just couldn’t. I thought you’d laugh in my face, maybe even spit in it.”
“I probably would have. Just to spite you.”
“But every time I was near you, I felt it like a punch in the gut how bad I wanted you.”
“You hid it well,” I said. “After that kiss in the boat, I thought there might be something happening between us, but you acted so aloof, as if you weren’t even affected. It drove me crazy.”
“I’ve got a good poker face,” he said seriously. “That kiss fucking terrified me.”
I smiled. “Good.”
“You terrify me.”
“I do?”
“Yes. Because in all my life, I have never wanted to be as close to someone as I want to be to you. I’ve never wanted to make someone happy the way I want to make you happy. I’ve never wanted to protect someone the way I want to protect you.” He dropped his head to speak low in my ear. “And I’ve never wanted to do to another person the things I want to do to you. Oh my God, the things I’m going to do to you...”
My stomach fluttered at the gravelly intensity in his voice. “What’s so terrifying about that?”
“It’s terrifying because I think I’m a pretty tough person, but I had no idea how...unprotected you would make me feel. That probably doesn’t even make sense.”
“No, it does.” Wrapping my arms around his torso, I thought about what Bridget said, how you make yourself vulnerable when you love someone, and I knew that’s what he meant. “But you don’t have to worry. I feel the same. I thought I was going to die of fright on the way over here.”
“Why?”
“I had no idea what to expect, after last night. All I knew was that I had to see you and tell you how I felt. Then it would be up to you.” I paused. “But I did have a few fun things in mind to persuade you if you gave me any trouble.”
Joey laughed. “I was too easy, then.”
“I got to do one of them anyway.”
He groaned with pleasure at the memory. “That’s true, you did. And next it’s my turn.” His tongue flicked at my earlobe before he took it in his mouth, sucking gently. “But I need more light,” he said, kissing down my neck as I arched back slightly. He moved a hand to the other side of my throat and held me against his mouth as he whispered hot words against my skin. “I want to see your body while I worship every inch of it with my tongue. I want to look in your eyes when I get inside you. I want to watch you lose control, over and over again...” He circled the flat of his tongue on my neck before closing his mouth over it and sucking hard.
I think I whimpered.
With a low laugh, he released me. “So now, I’m going to button my pants and we’ll go back upstairs, suffer through what is sure to be the longest fucking Sunday dinner in the history of men, and then I will spend the rest of the night—and hopefully a hell of a lot more nights in the future—doing and saying things to you I’ve only fantasized about.”
My belly flipped. “Should I be scared?”
He helped me to my feet and leaned in close. “Terrified,” he whispered.
Oh. My. God.
How the hell was I supposed to get through dinner?
Giggling like schoolchildren, we raced out of the pantry, avoided meeting anyone’s eyes in the kitchen and scurried back up to the apartment. Joanna eyed us suspiciously when we entered.
“I thought you said you were just going to the pantry, Joey Lupo. What did you need there again?” She transferred a huge plate of what looked like meatballs coated with breadcrumbs from the table to a counter near the stove, tossing him a knowing look over her shoulder.
“Uh...” At the sink washing his hands, Joey looked over his shoulder and met my eyes. I had to clap a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. “I forgot,” he said.
“What? What on earth has gotten into you two?” Joanna looked back and forth between us, scrutinized my neck for a moment, and shook her head. “Forget it. I don’t want to know.” She took the apron she was wearing and threw it at Joey. “Finish these up, the oil is hot. I always overcook them. And Tiny, why don’t you help me set the table?”
“I’d be glad to.” I couldn’t stop smiling. Joanna must have thought we were crazy. “Just let me wash my hands.”
In the bathroom, I noticed Joey had sucked my neck so hard a bruise had formed. I slapped a hand on it and laughed silently as I looked at my rosy cheeks in the mirror. After trying unsuccessfully to arrange my collar to cover the red and purple spot, I gave up and went back to the kitchen. When Joanna’s back was turned, I flashed Joey my neck and he burst out laughing. I slapped his shoulder and Joanna turned to us, rolling her eyes. “Honestly. We have company for dinner. Pull yourselves together!”
But pulling myself together was out of the question. Just watching Joey prepare Sunday dinner for his family was enough to make my legs quiver and my insides clench. Whenever he turned around and I got a glimpse of his gorgeous face, flushed with heat from the stove or maybe from what we’d done—I nearly swooned.
Had I never noticed the way he moved? Joey didn’t have Enzo’s height or lithe grace, but his muscular body brimmed with caged aggression, more feral than feline. Even doing mundane things like bending for something low in a cupboard or reaching high on a shelf, or moving from the stove to the icebox to the table, his physicality spoke volumes about the way he’d move when unrestrained by clothing or convention.
I lost track of how many times I licked my lips and crossed my legs, tight.
Somehow we made it though dinner, although I was fairly certain we weren’t fooling anybody. We sat next to each other, and neither of us did a very good job of paying attention to conversation. When we weren’t sneaking glances at each other or sharing secret smiles, we were just staring at our plates, grinning like idiots, and several times I caught both of us eyeing the clock, willing its hands to move faster so this dinner would end and we could be alone. I don’t think I ate more than three bites, although the food was delicious.
“Tiny, how old are you now, dear?” Joey’s oldest sister Therese smiled at me from across the table, which had been extended to accommodate all the adults.
“Twenty. I’ll be twenty-one next month.”
“And are you working or going to school, or does your father keep you busy at home?”
“Well, I’ve been working for Bridget at the store and I attended nursing school at the University of Detroit for a bit over the last year or so. I’d like to go back, if I can save up tuition money.”
“Oh.” She took another bite from her plate and chewed thoughtfully. “So you’d like to work a while then, before you have a family?”
“I’m sorry?”
Therese exchanged a look with Joanna. “Do you plan on having a family?”
Joey and I locked eyes for a second. “Uh, I... haven’t really thought about it. Not too much, I mean. My own sisters have kept me pretty busy.”
“Oh, they should be plenty able to care for themselves by now, shouldn’t they? You should start thinking about your own.”
“Therese. Leave her alone,” Joey scolded. “Tiny can make her own decisions.” He scooped another helping of roasted zucchini onto his plate and turned to me. “Can I get you some more?”
I shook my head—I still had a full plate of food. Joey’s sisters exchanged another look.
“So, Joey,” Therese said. “Going back to Chicago now that Ma is settled at Marie’s, I hear?”
Joey sipped his wine. “That’s the plan. ”
I set down my fork and picked up my wine as well.
“I wish you wouldn’t go,” Joanna piped up. “I’ve been trying hard to convince him to stay and run this place, Tiny, but he won’t listen to me. Maybe you’ll have more luck.”
“ Basta , Joanna.” Joey’s voice held a warning.
She put her hands up. “Don’t get mad, I’m only saying it because I think you’d be so good at it. And it’s breaking Ma’s heart to have to sell.” She lowered her voice to a whisper and gestured toward the other end of the table, where Joey’s mother sat with the older adults.
“Nice. Pin Ma’s broken heart on me now, too.” Joey forked a rice ball with vehemence.
“Well, anyone can see she doesn’t want to give it up. It was her dream to run this place. And Papa’s too.”
He glared at her and she dropped the subject. But from that point on, something in Joey was less than it had been. He still smiled at me affectionately, and in his eyes was a promise of what was to come later, but I knew that he’d been bothered by the mention of his father. We hadn’t even spoken about what he planned to do with the information Enzo had given him. And what about Chicago? Would he still go? Dread settled in the pit of my stomach. I’d just gotten him. Would I lose him already?
Over cannolis and coffee, I brooded a little. As thrilling as falling in love was, Bridget and Joey were right—it left you vulnerable, unprotected. Had I offered my heart to Joey only to have it broken when he left? Was he still bent on seeking revenge for his father, or would I be enough to convince him to leave the past alone?
Then there was the other kind of danger—the kind that might occur once Enzo realized I’d been less than truthful about Joey and me. And even though I hadn’t exactly lied, I knew he wouldn’t see it that way. Fear seized me, and my coffee cup clattered against the saucer in my hands.
Joey put his fingers on my wrist, and I looked into his concerned eyes, which made me hot through the center all over again. Lord, when would his family leave? I was desperate to get him alone. At the same time, we both glanced behind us at the clock on the mantel. When we realized it, we shared a genuine grin, and my hands steadied.
And when his relative finally gathered their hats, purses, and children to leave, my pulse began to race.