Heroes In Uniform (82 page)

Now, with that little kiss, she’d opened the door a crack. He was going to take the chance. If she still turned him down, he’d stop trying. He needed to move on with his life. He couldn’t wait any longer, even for the most perfect woman he’d ever met.

Just at that moment she caught him looking her way. Her heavily darkened eyes smoldered in his direction, like there was a yellow flame dancing behind her deep brown eyes. She gave a sly half smile and turned her eyes back to the slot machine, pulling the lever. Then she glanced at him again. He kept his eyes fixed on her lovely face, her heart-shaped red lips, and didn’t move a muscle. He let her see the longing on his face, see how he’d felt about her ever since they’d been introduced. Probably wasn’t an occasion she even remembered, but Fredo played it in his mind every night before he went to sleep.

A Brazilian dance instructor came over and said something to Jasmine. The two of them walked off together, leaving Mia alone at the machine. Fredo took this to mean a fortuitous sign she needed protection.

“Okay, guys. I’m gonna go change my life.”

Kyle and Nick instantly stopped talking, and Kyle followed Fredo’s homing look and nodded. “Got your back if you need it, Frodo.”

Nick added, “Go be the man. Every woman needs a good man in her life.”

Armed with courage he strangely felt for the first time in years, Fredo stood, took one final sip to finish his beer, and adjusted his shirt, standing up straight and as tall as he could.

The room’s lights and background slot machine noise faded. All he heard was the sound of Mia’s machine, the little bracelet of Murano glass crystals on her delicate wrist tinkling like broken glass. He knew she could see him approach from the corner of her eye, and…was he wrong, or did her breath catch a bit? Just a little. God, he hoped so.

“I don’t like to see you left alone,” he said as casually as he could, but it somehow didn’t come out that way.

“I’m not alone. I saw you watching over me,” she said without looking at him, but smiling to the machine. “You always watch over me.”

He had been prepared for the usual sharp comment about him being the lapdog he certainly was, which would launch him into the place where he’d be cursing himself for wanting someone who hated him so much.

But this time it was different. She said something else, and the Heavens opened up for him.

“I’m getting to kind of like it, Fredo.” At first she didn’t look at him, but then, after she respectfully gave him enough time to adjust to her wonderful comment, she swiveled on the red leather stool and faced him. Turned to him full-on, with her dark hair a tangle all over her shoulders, framing the flawless skin of her face, the dark eyes looking warm and inviting, not biting and huffy.

She licked her lips and scanned what he knew were his train wreck of eyebrows, oversized nose and lips twice the size of hers. But this was all he had, and though he felt naked in front of this incredible goddess, he was going to stand his ground and be the man he was, and not someone else. This was what he’d told himself time and time again. Not to get lost in her, but instead be the person he was and let her come to him.

In slow motion, her hand drifted from the black ball of the slot machine lever to his cheek. She didn’t pull at his head and he didn’t move toward her. She brushed her fingers over his pockmarked face, as if to heal it. Her eyes scanned what must have been a silly expression on his face. God, this had never happened before and he hoped he didn’t look like a goofy schoolboy.

He worked to respond to her admiring exploration from the place of the man he was inside. There could be no hiding the need he had for her on more than one level.

“You have always been there for me, Fredo.”

“Always,” he answered. It was the truth.

“I have been awful to you, and still you have always been there.”

He wanted to say something like, It’s where I want to be, or I was hoping someday you’d see me for who I really am, or something corny like that. But he settled for, “Yes, Mia. I am here for you.”

Her other hand joined her right hand on his face, cupping his chin as she rubbed one thumb over his sensitive lips. He was used to giving with these lips, not receiving. The sensation she chose to give him, this tiny pleasure, set fire to his belly. He had to focus hard to keep from allowing his gratitude make him break into tears, but that’s the way he felt.

“Sweet Fredo,” she whispered.

He was about to burst. His chest swelled, and he opened and clenched his hands, which wanted to reach for her, to minister to her, but he remained still, studying this china doll who was so delicate and careful with him.

Could he trust her? Would she turn him down again, even though it seemed like something had shifted?

And did it matter, after all? Because if he didn’t try, he’d spend the rest of his life wondering what might have been. And, in a way, that was far worse than getting shot down. Taking the chance was always the right choice. Always.

He safely put his right hand on her forearm, gently squeezing it, rubbing the softness of her perfect skin. “Mia, I’ve never met anyone as beautiful as you are. I’ve always wanted the best for you, like Armani.”

She gave him a gracious smile as she removed her hand from his cheek and entwined her fingers with his. Her other hand she placed safely in her lap. “But not like my brother, Fredo. Never like my brother, Fredo. Surely you don’t mean that.”

She’d left the comment out there on the table, like she was testing him.

This was it. He’d either be man enough to say more, or he would show her his fear. Hell, yes, he was afraid he’d blow it, but he was compelled, by some golden tether he allowed to deliciously encircle them both, to move toward her. Her crossed knee brushed against the top of his thigh as he leaned in and whispered to her ear, “No. Like someone who cherishes the ground you walk on.”

He leaned back, but their bodies still touched, and she didn’t shrink away from him.

“Then kiss me, Fredo. Here. In front of all these people. Kiss me.”

He could hardly wait, but he let the moment drag out, savoring it. The slow bending, approach to her moist skin, the scent from between her breasts flooding his nostrils, the ragged hitch in her breath sending signals to his body that she was fully available to him, unlike ever before.

And then their lips met. He was going to leave it a closed-mouth, gentle kiss on her red lips, but she parted him with her tongue, suckling him, changing positions and exploring all of his mouth. He heard her inhale him.

God, could this be? Could this really be happening? To him? Fredo?

His right hand wanted to touch her, but didn’t think it proper. Struggling with himself, he brought his hand up to settle on her left hip. Without him asking, she moved closer, as if his fingers had pressed into the softness at the top of her butt, and then he realized he had pulled her to him, had splayed his fingers out and pressed the small of her back so that she was against his groin.

He knew she was used to men grabbing and claiming what they wanted. He waited, but found it stirred him the more he waited, the more tentative he was with her. His reward was to feel her flower, unfolding to him, asking for his hand to direct her, gentle her. She was asking for exactly what he could deliver.

One of her hands smoothed up his spine, over his polo shirt. He wished he’d worn a crisp dress shirt, something smooth and silky to match the softness of her palm. Her kisses moved up and under his ear, along his neck, the tip of her tongue tasting him. The hair on top of her head tickled the side of his face as she reached his ear and whispered, “I want you, Fredo.”

His first instinct was to jump in with both feet. Grab her hand and lead her off to his room, her room, and any quiet, dark place they could find on the ship. But the years of rejection weighed heavily on him, in spite of how alive and virile he was feeling.

“Mia, are you sure?”

She stopped her little kisses to look into his eyes. “You think I am making bad choices? Have I not found someone who will protect me?”

“Absolutely, I will.”

“Then show me, Fredo. Show me how you can do this. Show me your way, since mine has landed me in trouble so many times. Teach me, Fredo.”

Teach me? Had she actually said that?

She unwrapped herself from his embrace and led him across the floor. He wasn’t hesitant, but he allowed her to pull him, because he wanted to be sure. Needed the confidence, maybe. Loved that she was begging him instead of the other way around. He stole a quick look at Kyle and Nick, now joined by Armando and Mark and got four thumbs-ups, and a wink from Armando.

He didn’t want to watch the way her hips swayed in front of him, but damn, he couldn’t help it. Was she maybe exaggerating it a little for his benefit? She kept looking back at him, probably at the frightened expression he was trying so hard to suppress. Whatever it was he was showing her didn’t seem to dampen her spirits any. Her flashing smile and knowing looks told him, God, it screamed at him, they’d be naked together in just a matter of minutes.

He had just the trace of a little doubt that perhaps she was toying with his heart, but again, he had to convince himself it didn’t really matter. She’d asked him. He didn’t initiate it. And he’d let her lead the way all she wanted, until she trusted him enough to lead her, when she wanted to be led. God, he’d give her anything she wanted, and it didn’t matter if it hurt afterwards.

She slipped her card into her room door and they entered one identical room to what he shared with Jones. He could hear the blue ocean outside foaming in the ship’s wake, since the sliding glass door had been left open.

She dropped her card on the Formica desk and crossed the room to stand in the doorway, lifting her face to the breeze of the warm afternoon. Her perfume wafted to him…and she was a vision, standing there. His hands trembled, and all he could do was watch her for a few stolen seconds together in this, her room, this room that was where she slept, where she showered, where she looked in the mirror. Her inner sanctum.

He’d been focusing on her hair and how it blew towards him when he realized she’d dropped her dress to stand naked, her back still to him. His eyes traveled hungrily over her perfect, heart-shaped ass and firm thighs, her impossibly tiny waist that led to broad shoulders. He was speechless that she offered herself to him this way.

Fredo stepped up behind her, his palms daring to touch the soft undersides of her ample breasts, feel her nipples knot under his touch. He found a bare spot on her neck and placed a soft kiss there, felt her moan in his chest. Stepping still closer, he rubbed against her butt.

He paused, checking, making sure she really meant what it looked like she meant, and was rewarded with her hands reaching back to clutch his ass, and pull him into her. Her torso arched up as her breasts filled his hands, as she angled her head so he could fully kiss his way from her delicious shoulder up that long neck he’d dreamed about for years. Gently pressing his groin into her backside, he allowed himself to show her his need. Her slight push back into him told him everything he needed to know.

His hands skimmed down her flat tummy to the arch of her slender hips. His fingers followed the crease of the triangle of the apex of her thighs. Slowly he glided, until he heard another delicious moan. He answered it with a low growl as his fingers discovered the slit already wet with her own desire. Slowly he ran a forefinger up and down her as she bent her knees, arched backward into him, and allowed him full access.

He one-handedly fumbled with the button and zipper of his cargo pants, keeping two fingers embedded in her silky, wet insides. His cock bounced to life, and immediately rooted at her beautiful ass, tracing the slim crease between her cheeks.

He slipped his shoes off and stepped out of the pile his pants made. He had an eight-inch scar on his chest, curved like the knife that got him there, so he left his shirt on. With both hands free, he rubbed down the length of her velvety thighs, loving the way her head rolled onto his shoulder.

Then she righted herself, raising her arms above her head, holding herself up on the sliding glass doorjamb. She pressed her butt into him and leaned forward so he could enter her from behind.

He had a fleeting thought that maybe she would be visualizing someone else pleasuring her, perhaps one of her other lovers with a more handsome face, someone she wanted like he wanted and fantasized about her. She might think of someone else just like he did when he had sex with anyone else. He knew that one well. He wouldn’t blame her. And he wouldn’t know the difference until it was all over. If she wouldn’t look at him, then he would know what she’d done.

He figured it would be worth it. Maybe. Just maybe.

He wanted to say something to her, but held it inside. He bent his knees and felt her warm folds with the head of his cock. He had to watch as he slid into her. One hand lay against the small of her back, the other one at her upper thigh, bracing himself as his gentle in and out brought out her gasps and moans of pleasure. He felt the same way, but kept silent.

Pretty lady, you have no idea how much I love you, have always loved you.

The look of his member disappearing into her made it nearly impossible to maintain his composure. He adjusted his stance, picked her up with his thrusting, her feet gently leaving the ground as she accepted him deep.