Chapter 7
Gavin
Mayday. Mayday. This ship is going down.
Since storming into my life two days ago, Kady has turned my world fucking upside down and inside out. I’m losing control of this situation, and I keep asking myself why I’m not taking what she’s offering?
That kiss in the courtyard. A man can only take so much.
Kady’s kiss caught me completely off guard. I was both equally frustrated and turned-on by her sexy tease with her ice cream cone. In fact, I’m pretty fucking proud of myself that I could stop it from going any further than it did. While my resistance did slip marginally when her small, wet tongue slid into my mouth, the taste of peach on her lips, and chocolate strawberry on her tongue, my willpower kicked in just in time.
Hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
I blame my moment of weakness on the fun day we were having together. I’d never spent that much time just hanging out with a woman – shooting the shit, walking and talking about life. Anything and everything.
Typically, my time with a woman is spent in a bar or wherever I end up meeting them. I add in two hours for getting busy in my hotel room, and then if necessary, an hour longer after fucking to figure out an exit strategy. Four hours tops.
I’ve been with Kady forty-eight hours now and those rules no longer apply. Mostly because I can’t touch her and she’s staying in the same apartment with me. Even if the safety latch did break on my self-control and I end up fucking her, I’d be stuck. I can’t just up and leave.
Kady is nothing like the girls I go for. Not that I have a type, per se, but it’s not the spitfire, snarky sex-kitten like her.
The minute she came barreling out of that restroom, ready to give me hell for failing to point out the teeny-tiny trace of chocolate on her mouth, I was so turned on I got instant wood in my pants. My dick enjoyed that smackdown she gave me a whole helluva lot. That bossy attitude of hers is sexy as hell and very enlightening. It confirmed what I was already thinking: she’d be a challenging and aggressive lover.
And when she informed me…no,demanded, that I take her out clubbing as a form of repentance? Oh hell, I was a goner.
The only reason I didn’t tell her about that speck of chocolate was because it reminded me of how good she tasted.
She tasted un-fucking-believable.
She’d become lividover something that was barely visible to anyone else, hidden deep in the crease of her luscious lips. Had I not been so intent on keeping my distance, I would have licked away every trace of that gelato from her mouth. I may have even worked my way across her jaw, down her neck and between her tits.
My decision not to tell her, however, has now earned me a night out dancing. With a sexed-up Kady who seems hellbent on making me earn back her trust. And work her way under my skin.
Going to a dance club is one of the most uncomfortable things there is for a six-foot-five basketball player, with long arms and even longer legs. I can do sprints up and down a basketball court and even jump four feet in the air to dunk a ball, but I cannot dance.
I’m embarrassingly awkward out on a dance floor and look like an oversized orangutan. Laughter at my expense is not funny and does irreparable things to an already injured psyche.I still have nightmares about being a kid and having to read aloud in front of a class and the snickers and snide remarks from the mean kids in my class.
No thank you. The only attention I want is when people watch me on the basketball court.
The last few times I’ve been to the clubs with my single teammates, Luca and Stefano, I’ve stayed far away from the dance floor. They’ve taken me out to a few places around town, all with the point of getting in and getting out with a girl for the night. Sometimes even two. But even on those occasions I’ve remained solidly at the bar, watching everyone else dance and mingle.
My pick-up moves are less dangerous off the floor and don’t require any lessons. Most of the time, I just hang there and wait for a woman to come to me. Sad but true. It’s so easy that I don’t even have to try. They know who I am – know that I’m a league athlete - and want to spend the night with me.
Tonight will be different. When Kady and I returned to my apartment, she went to her room to take a nap and I used the time to do my laundry and call Luca. I needed his recommendations on where to go tonight. Although I didn’t extend him an invitation, he just assumed he was included and told us he’d meet us at Club Florentina at eleven.
“Tell me about this American girl you bring? Is she hot? Are you fucking her?”
Something flares inside me from a well of jealousy I had no idea was there when Luca asked me, in his broken English, who Kady was to me. It’s true there’s nothing between us, and she’s not my girlfriend and we aren’t dating. But that doesn’t mean I want the Italian lover boy, Luca, to come swooping in on her and claiming her as his prize.
I like the guy, and he’s a talented player, but he can find his own chicks without me serving Kady up to him on a silver platter. Plus, I’m responsible for Kady while she’s in my company. I told her brother I’d watch out for her, so that means I’ll make sure other guys keep their paws off.
At least, that’s what I tell myself.
I keep my tone light. “She’s the younger sister of a friend of mine and she’s off limits, bro. Keep your distance.”
“Si. Si. Non c’e un problema,” he says with a grin in his voice. The motherfucker. “Ah, you want to fuck her. I see. I will let the girl make up her own mind, non?”
“No, it’s not like that, dude. Just…whatever. You wouldn’t understand. Just don’t mess with her. Capice?” I growl in frustration.
