Educating Gina (17 page)

For the past week, she had thought about little other than Michael. How he made her laugh and think and feel very sexy. Love was such a wonderful feeling. She wished it for everyone.

“Gina.” Zio Antonio’s impatient voice came from just outside the bathroom door. “You’d better hurry if you want to go to the office with me. I’m leaving in five minutes.”

“Coming, Zio.” She adjusted the collar of her blouse and fluffed out her hair.

He looked her up and down when she entered the living room. “All you wear are jeans now. You know your mother will not allow it once you get back home.”

She bit her lip, tempted to announce she would not be returning to Italy. At least not permanently. But it was not yet the time. Instead, she gave him a noisy kiss on his fleshy cheek. “You have been so good not to criticize. Thank you for such a wonderful visit.”

His face grew a little red. “It has been nice having you around, Gina. I will miss you.”

She smiled and picked up her purse. “Maybe not.”

He gave her a suspicious frown. “Your face. You wear makeup now, too?”

“Oh, Zio, do not be so old-fashioned.” She linked her arm with his, but he was no longer in a hurry to leave.

His frown deepened as he studied her face. “You are in a good mood today,
cara.
”

“I am always in a good mood,” she answered, releasing his arm and turning away to hide the flush staining her cheeks.

“That is true.” The worried look stayed in his eyes. “Mike, he is a nice boy.”

“Si.”
Why did he bring this up now? He could not know about last night. She spotted his umbrella standing in the corner near the door. She hurried to get it. “On the news it said it might rain today.”

His shrewd gaze followed her nervous movement. “He has been good to you?”

“Who?”

He laughed.

She looked down at her tennis shoes.
“Si.”

“He is a nice, good-looking young man, and you are a young lady who notices.” He shrugged. “I shouldn’t be surprised. But,
cara,
didn’t you wonder why I allowed him to be your escort?”

She looked up, wary, curious.

His expression softened. “Mike is—” he waved a hand “—how shall I say…taken.”

“Taken? What does this mean?”

He sighed, looking uncomfortable. “Mike likes boys, Gina. Not girls. You understand?”

She gave a startled laugh. “No.”

“Si.”
Sympathy entered his eyes. “Your cousin Robert will tell you.”

Gina shook her head. It was not possible. She
knew.
Still, thoughts of how he had avoided her in the be ginning tumbled through her head. She had pushed and he had backed away. Until last night.

She shoved the crazy thoughts aside. Her
zio
was wrong. Even now a pleasant ache between her thighs reminded her of how Michael had made love to her over and over again. How he had put his mouth on her breasts and teased her nipples with his teeth and tongue. How his hard length had sunk into her, burying deeply, making her moan.

Zio Antonio was wrong.

She swallowed hard. Unless there was something she did not understand…

The idea sent a shiver down his spine.

Because, dammit, he might feel the same way.

Of course, for her it wasn’t love. He knew the risk he’d taken by being her first lover. It was inevitable she’d confuse her feelings for him. He’d have to deal with it—except all he wanted to do was take her back to his bed. Make love to her some more. Listen to her soft moans of pleasure.

He glanced at the phone, wondering if it was too early to call. He hoped she’d been able to get some sleep. He sure as hell hadn’t.

Before he could decide, he heard Antonio’s booming voice. He looked up and saw that his boss had just entered the reception area. Gina was next to him.

Just the sight of her made Mike feel as giddy as a teenager on his first date. Her jeans were tight, but her button-down blouse was much more conservative than usual. And her smile… No one smiled like Gina.

She stopped for a moment to talk to one of the secretaries, and then headed for his office while Antonio went in the opposite direction, to his.

Mike didn’t bother to pretend he was busy. He watched her approach, his heart beating faster with each step that brought her closer. But when she entered and closed the door behind her, he jumped up from his chair. “Not a good idea.”

“What?”

“Open the door.”

She gave him a pouty look. “You want me to kiss you in front of everyone?”

“No.” He sidestepped her and opened the door.

A few feet away at her desk, Cori, his secretary, tried to hide a smile. What the hell was going on? Did everybody know about him and Gina?

He shook his head. It must be guilt nagging at him, that was all.

“No kissing in the office,” he said under his breath as he passed her and reclaimed his seat behind the desk. Having all that wood between them was a good thing.

“Were you talking to me?” she asked, all wide-eyed and innocent.

“To both of us.”

She perched her bottom on the edge of his desk and laughed, a husky, sexy sound that did not help his resolve. “I missed you.”

Their eyes met. “Me, too.” And then his gaze skittered to the door. He couldn’t see Cori or anyone else from here. “Have you had lunch yet?”

She blinked. “It is only eleven.”

“Right.”

She leaned across the desk. “Maybe you have something else in mind?”

“Gina, don’t.”

With a wounded look, she straightened. He immediately regretted his harsh tone.

“No fooling around in the office, okay?” he said in a gentler voice.

“Does that mean we will fool around later?” The uncertain look in her eyes made him uneasy.

Surely she didn’t think last night was a fling for him, a one-night stand. No, she knew better. Didn’t she? The hell with it. He got up and closed the door. And then he thought again and locked it.

“What’s wrong?” He rubbed his palms up her arms. “Are you sorry about last night?”

Her eyes widened in genuine shock. “No. Never.”

“Something’s wrong.”

She looked away, but he brought her chin back so their eyes met. She shrugged. “It is nothing. Really.”

“So tell me.”

“We should not have the door closed. You said so yourself.”

He smiled. Maybe he’d overreacted. Maybe she felt foolish about her impulsive declaration last night. “We’ll talk at lunch.”

She nodded.

“I have a couple of things to tie up here and then we’ll go to a Chinese restaurant the next block over.” A place he knew none of the office personnel cared for. “You like Chinese food?”

She shrugged. “I have never had it.”

Wow! Amazing. “Okay, we’ll try it, and if you don’t like it, we’ll get cheeseburgers.”

She grinned. “And then can we go shopping?”

He unlocked the door and opened it. “We can do that.”

“Now, I will help you with your work.”

“As a matter of fact, I have a project for you.” He motioned to his computer. “You’re familiar with the Internet.”

Her eyes lit up.
“Si.”

“I think you may have hit on something the other night—a bar that serves specialty wine. I’d like you to do a search, see if there’s anything like it in the city. Not the traditional kind of setup, but one that caters to a younger crowd with live music and all that.”

She’d already set her purse aside and positioned herself at the computer.

“Start with Manhattan.”

She nodded, her fingers already flying across the keyboard at an impressive speed. “I know it is a good idea, Michael. All those men who prance around like proud peacocks trying to impress everyone.” She let out a sound of exasperation. “They probably know nothing about fine wine.”

Mike smiled, once again impressed by Gina’s ambition and enthusiasm, and finally started to tackle his work. Glad that after last night they could be together like this, easily discussing lunch and shopping and business.

It felt nice and comfortable. Maybe too nice.

For the next hour they worked mostly in silence. Mike got an incredible amount of backlog out of the way, and Gina came up with a list of three places for them to check out.

They left for the Chinese restaurant at the same time Cori was heading out to meet her husband for lunch. While they shared the elevator, Gina behaved, keeping her hands to herself and a respectable distance between them. But as soon as they were outside, she grabbed a hold of his arm and pulled him into an alley.

“You have to kiss me right away,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing against him.

He stumbled and backed into a brick wall. At their feet a beer can and candy wrapper littered the ground. “How romantic,” he joked.

“Why are you not kissing me?” She gazed up at him with a solemn expression.

He frowned. Something was wrong. She wanted more than a kiss. She wanted reassurance. He lowered his head and brushed his lips across hers. In this instance, tender was better than passionate, he decided.

Wrong.

She stuck her tongue in his mouth and he could almost taste her desperation. Coaxing and demanding, her mouth assaulted his, robbing him of breath.

He finally managed to pull back. “Gina, slow down.”

Embarrassment flooded her face. “Do you not like kissing me anymore?”

“Of course I do. Hey.” He tilted up her chin when she hung her head. “Are you ready to tell me what’s wrong?”

Her gaze lowered.

“I thought we were friends,” he said. “More than friends.”

She immediately looked up. “We are.”

“Friends share their problems. They don’t hide things from each other.”

She made a face. “It will sound very silly.”

“That’s okay.”

“I do not know why the idea will not leave my head.”

“Maybe if we discussed what’s bothering you, you’ll be able to let it go.” He smiled when she wrinkled her nose at his wording. “You’ll be able to forget about it.”

She sighed. “I hope so.”

He waited patiently, not oblivious to the odd looks they were getting from passersby.

She took a deep breath and looked up at him with earnest eyes. “Michael, are you gay?”

He urged her more deeply into the alley and away from curious ears. “I don’t think I understand the question.”

“Do you like girls or boys better?”

Mike nearly choked on his own breath. “Where the hell did that come from?”

“I know you like girls.” She stammered. “After last night, I think we… Anyway, I looked it up on the Internet and I found that sometimes people, how you say, swing both ways, and if—”

“Whoa!” He raised a silencing hand. “Just whoa! I am not gay. I have nothing against anyone who is, but that’s not who
I
am.” This was too bizarre. He couldn’t be having this conversation. “Where did you get that crazy idea?”

“Zio Antonio.”

Mike couldn’t have been more stunned. Antonio and he had known each other for more than fourteen years. “You must have misunderstood him.”

“No, he was very clear about it.”

“He told you straight out I was gay.”

“Si.”

“When?”

“This morning.”

He shook his head. This made no sense. And then a thought occurred to him. “Did he know how late you got home last night?”

“He did not even know I had left the apartment.” She studied Mike closely as if she still weren’t sure he was telling the truth, as if she might see some outward sign that he batted for the other team.

Shit! Maybe he was no Don Juan, but he thought he’d done a pretty damn good job in bed last night.

“Michael, I did not believe him.” Her cheeks got pink. “Not really.”

“I don’t know why he told you that whopper. My only guess is that he suspected you had feelings for me and was trying to discourage you.”

“I thought maybe there was something I did not understand. That night at the club. The one with the rooms upstairs.”

He remembered the place. And the congenial Darin. Mike’s jaw had smarted for days.

“There was one woman and three men.” She bit her lower lip, and then her tongue darted out to soothe it. “All naked.”

Mesmerized, his gaze stayed locked on hers. “I remember.”

She fisted the front of his shirt and pressed her hips against him.

He immediately hardened.

“Your body tells me you are excited, that you want me. I want to be the only one, Michael.” She sounded so confident, so sexy…but then doubt flickered in her eyes.

“Gina, you are everything that I want and need.” He held her gaze, an unexpected calm descending upon him. “I promise.”