Instinctual (4 page)

As Kate broke the kiss to look at his perfect face, she melted at the sight of him. Eyes glazed and half shut, breath raspy and ragged, lips swollen from the pressure of the kiss. He was every bit the Adonis. She loved how much he wanted and needed her.

“I couldn’t bear to ever lose you, Kate. We belong together.”

His vibrant blue eyes sent riveting ripples of pleasure into her.

Kate’s finger traced his juicy bottom lip as he nipped the pad with his teeth. His hot breath tickled the tip. “You’ll never have to find out, my love. It’s you and only you. I’ll never love anyone else the way I love you. I’ll never leave you.” She truly meant it. How could she ever love another this way? Most people would never experience what they had together. It was a gift. She would never take it for granted.

Spiraling back to reality when a door in the adjacent villa slammed, Kate found herself wet with perspiration and aroused. Had she gone back to sleep? It was hard to know the difference when Jake infiltrated her thoughts.

Pulling the covers off she walked a little unsteadily to the ancient window and opened it wide, letting aromas from the restaurant on the corner seep in. Suspiciously, she took in the entire length of the street below the apartment, wondering if Jake was watching and waiting.

Broken promises tugged at her heart. She gripped the window ledge.

“I won’t let you do this to me. I won’t! You need to get out of my head. More importantly, you need to get out of my body!”

As if drifting in with the fresh smell of tortellini, four little words formed in her mind that had her slamming the windows shut and storming into the kitchen to make that coffee that Carlos had intended to get before she fainted.

“I need you, Kate.”

***

Fishing his cell phone out of his pocket, Carlos scoured the vicinity to ensure no third parties were watching or listening, before answering on the fourth ring.

“Carlos here.”

“Carlos, its Stavros. Are you all set for tomorrow?”

“Yes, ready to roll. Where do I pick up the shipment?”

“Adriano will meet you at the boat marina in La Spezia, 8 a.m. sharp. From there you will board the boat and take the cargo to Monaco where you will make the delivery. Providing there are no hiccups, you and Adriano will sail back to La Spezia and carry on with your life as normal.”

Just as Stavros was about to hang up, he barked, “Oh, and Carlos? No errors! This is an important deal.”

With that the balding fifty-year-old with a traditional Italian nose and a hard mouth that led to nowhere was gone. Carlos thought about the conversation. Curtness was Stavros’ specialty. As second in line to the throne of leadership in The Organization, the overweight, five foot nothing spinster was a man of few words. He only barked what he had to, when he had to. Unemotional and detached from retaining any sort of normal relationship with people and a good ass kisser had secured his place as The Lord’s right hand man. Maybe that’s why Carlos was still just a courier. Sucking up to hierarchy was not his thing. He did what was asked of him and no more. He tried to keep his nose clean.

Carlos knew he was an asshole. A criminal. He didn’t know how to do anything else. To be anything else. Plus the money was fucking good. If it came down to it he didn’t think he’d be able to give up the money he was making for a good woman like Kate. Even with her sexual prowess, cooking skills, and nice tits. He was too used to the lifestyle.

He walked to his SUV remembering how those tits had looked in the nice lace underwear she’d been in earlier. It made him hard just thinking about it.

Chapter Four

After languishing over her morning coffee, showering, and downing two slices of toast with jelly, Kate sat at her desk to do some work to catch up on the food article that was well and truly past its due date. With Carlos gone she had all day to concentrate on it.

The strong sensations of Jake being in Vernazza had morphed into his visit having something to do with her but she couldn’t be totally sure. It made her extremely anxious, so before sitting at her computer she took a few minutes to do some deep breathing exercises in the hope that she’d be able to push images of Jake aside and concentrate on her work. It wouldn’t be easy but she was determined.

Cindy Caulfield, the magazine editor, had left a message on her cell phone asking when she’d have the article finished so Kate had promised by the end of the day. She was cutting her own throat giving herself such a tight deadline but tomorrow was festival day and there was no way she was going to miss spending the day outside reveling in the music, wine, and good cheer. If she stuck to her work today she would just about be finished by dinnertime. Cindy would have to cut her some slack this one time.

“Sorry, Carlos, but there will be no doctor’s visit today.”

As a nutritional columnist for an American based health magazine there was a lot of researching to do before even writing an article.

By mid-morning she was engrossed in it, flipping through printouts and copy and pasting information from the internet and then re-writing content into her own words. She hadn’t thought about Jake for at least an hour so when the phone rang, she jumped. Staring at the handset, waves of sensation swamped her again. Fearful that it may be Jake, she let it ring for a bit before telling herself that it couldn’t be Jake because how the hell would he have gotten her phone number. It was silent.

She decided to answer it in case it was Carlos.

“Hello?”

“Hi pumpkin, it’s me!”

“Dad?”

“Hi sweetie! How’s my favorite girl?”

“Daaaad! It’s so great to hear from you. I miss you so much! I’m fine. Working hard as always.”

“Yeah, well don’t work too hard. All work and no play makes for a very dull life.”

Kate cringed. Maybe he had someone spying on her. His words hit a chord.

“Well, yes, that’s true, but I’m snowed under at the moment. You know how it is. I plan on taking a vacation when Carlos gets home.”

“Is he away again? Every time I call he seems to be away.” His tone had her on edge.

Kate’s dad had never met Carlos but didn’t approve of his constant absences. She knew he only wanted what was best for her but ever since Jake had left, her dad was very wary to let another man into the family circle. He had always harbored a soft spot for Jake. They had many guy things in common, plus Jake had always been interested in police work, and in Kate’s father’s eyes, that went a long way to sealing your spot in the circle of trust. Kate knew though that her dad still thought of him as part of the family.

“Dad, I’ve explained to you that Carlos’ work requires that he travels. He doesn’t have a choice, you know that.”

“What does he do again?”

“He’s a sales rep for some insurance firm.” That didn’t exactly sit right with her any more but until her ability told her exactly what he did, she would have to run with it.

“You mean you don’t know the name of the company?”

“Well… I, er… I’m not sure. He’s probably mentioned it and I just can’t remember.”

Actually, the more Kate thought of it, the more she wondered why Carlos had never told her the name of his employer. Another seed of doubt.

“Hmmm. Maybe you should find out a bit more about this guy, Katie.”

“Dad!” She threw her head back, squeezing her eyes shut. Her dad was spot on with his cop instincts but she wasn’t ready to admit to him or herself that there may be something wrong.

“I’m just saying. You know I’ve only got your best interests at heart, don’t you?”

She did know that, but it wasn’t like she was a teenager. She was a grown woman and could handle her own life.

“Just be careful, Kate.”

“I will.” Changing the subject was what she was good at. “How’s Mom?”

“Your mother is fine. She misses you dearly. She’s always wondering when you’re coming home.”

“This is my home now, Dad. I love it here. You need to come and spend some quality time with me and you’ll get to love it, too.”

“Well, actually that’s why I’m calling. Your mother and I have been talking and it seems we haven’t been on vacation in quite a long time. We thought we might come over for Christmas and spend a couple of weeks with you and travel up the Italian coast and into France. Do you think you’d have room for a couple of old fools like us?”

“That’s fantastic! I’m so excited! I can’t wait to see you both! You’ll love it here, I promise, and who knows—maybe Carlos and I will be able to travel to France with you and have a vacation of our own. I’ll make room for you both here at the apartment. You can sleep on the pull-out sofa bed.” She stood to put her coffee cup in the sink, turning to lean against the bench.

Even if Carlos was working she would seriously consider traveling with her parents on her own. She wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. It had been way too long. She missed her dad’s wacky sense of humor and police stories that he’d told her ever since she was old enough to understand. Being a cop on the beat had exposed her father to violence of every nature. Petty theft. Armed robberies. Stolen cars. Bar brawls. Domestic disputes. Lost children. Cats stuck up trees. You name it, he had experienced it. She could see it in his eyes when he relived the memories that he was right back there, running after some crook or chasing a drugged up user in a car-jacking.

Kate’s thoughts flicked to her mother, drowning out the rest of her father’s conversation. Her mom had never let on how stressful it had been being a cop’s wife but looking back now Kate could only imagine how many sleepless nights her mother had spent, counting the hours down until the end of night shift, waiting to hear the familiar sound of her husband’s car pulling into the driveway, sighing with relief that he’d survived another day.

“Well, darling, I’d better go. Your mother is out shopping. I snuck this call in so that I’d actually get to hear my beautiful daughter’s voice. Once your mother gets on the phone I never end up getting to speak to you because she hogs the limelight and talks too long.”

Kate laughed. It was so good to hear the familiar banter that went on within the family. She knew it was all in good fun and her parents adored each other. God forbid that something should happen to one of them. She didn’t know if the other would be strong enough to carry on. Kate hoped to have that one day. Someone to grow old with that still loved her as much as the first day they’d met.

They hung up and Kate sat for a few minutes, drinking in the conversation that had left a nice, warm fuzzy feeling in her belly and a smile on her face. After all that she’d gone through in the last week, hearing her father’s voice had warmed her to the core.

Work was now the farthest thing from her mind as thoughts switched from family to Jake. Damn it! He was doing it again. Or maybe this was strictly her doing. As much as she wanted to forget all things Jake Alexander, she couldn’t help but miss the deep passion she’d felt when they’d been together. She’d lived and craved, eaten and breathed him. No matter how close they’d been it had never been enough. His soft, full lips that upturned in the corners had belonged on her. His kisses had sent her into raptures, sometimes soft but always ending up in a rough feeding frenzy.

Kate’s body had fit into Jake’s perfectly.

She looked down at her chest and noticed her nipples pebbled hard underneath her tee shirt. God! She seriously needed to learn some self-control. Rising to use the bathroom, she decided she needed to keep powering ahead with her work to keep her mind out of the gutter. It was the only way. The article was far from complete but she knew that it would only take a few more cups of coffee and some 80’s pop/rock tracks on her Apple iPod to help get into the zone and she’d have the article knocked over by say, 7 p.m.

She put the thoughts of hot sex and Jake, which naturally went together in the same sentence, out of her mind. For God’s sake, she was still so mad at him and holding a hell of a grudge the size of the Grand Canyon that if she ever saw him face to face she’d knock his charming, delectable smile clean off his face.

***

Midday raced into evening and the light outside morphed for the tenth time that day. Shadows danced on the buildings until darkness engulfed everything. Kate’s article was all but finished as she decided she’d had enough for one day. So much for relaxing and taking it easy and so much for not breaking her promise to Cindy. She’d get her article, but not today. Kate’s neck and back ached and her eyes felt gritty and dry. She stretched and rotated her head a few times to try and get rid of the kinks. The clock on the wall above the computer desk read 9 p.m. Her eyes bugged out of her head. What had happened to the 7 p.m. finish time?

Her stomach growled angrily at her for not having fed it, so it was time to head outdoors and nourish her weary body. There was only so much black coffee one’s system could handle before it realized it was being tricked into thinking the dark, extra strong liquid was actually food.

In the bedroom, Kate searched among some semi-warm clothes, deciding on a pair of black three quarter length pants, a plain white button-down shirt, and a lightweight synthetic cardigan with black sandals. She glanced at her pitiful array of clothes hanging in the wardrobe and let out a sigh. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d splurged on clothes. Apart from the fact that a decent boutique was towns away, keeping up with fashion really wasn’t her thing. If something still fit from three years ago, she’d wear it until it fell apart. It was as simple as that. She had a few nice dresses, four pairs of shorts, two pairs of jeans, the black pants she was in, a handful of t-shirts and jumpers, one pair of joggers, heels, and sandals, and that was it. The oversized wardrobe screamed out to be full but it was just never going to happen. She only had what she needed to have.

Checking the carved, wooden wall mirror, Kate’s reflection shocked her. Who was this alien staring back? When had she become so tired looking? Had she aged overnight? Black circles under her eyes clung to a pale face while her hair lacked any sign of life whatsoever. Thank goodness it was dark. She needed to hide behind the mask of night to ensure she didn’t frighten the locals.

She left the inside light on, flew down the stairs into the foyer, and eased out into the night.

Vernazza felt alive on this particular evening. Diners casually strolled in and out of restaurants, revived from their afternoon siesta. Tourists, flocking in for the start of the festival the next day, filled the streets.

The full-faced moon gleamed, sparkling like a giant diamond against the inky sky. Stars shimmered endlessly, blinking their eyes and keeping guard.

Wandering past Mr. Matioli’s café, Kate was tempted to stop and indulge in his specialty, bruschetta, but the growing queue out the door had her rethink that idea. She loved Mr. Matioli. He epitomized the Italian man. Handsome. Distinguished. Jolly. Hard working and very likeable. She spotted him outside clearing some plates with his black, full-length apron on. His graying hair fell over his eyes as he worked. She hurried past so as not to get caught up chatting.

Kate headed down to the Piazza Marconi by the harbor, deciding on her favorite seafood restaurant, Trattoria Gianni Franzi. The spaghetti pomodoro was to die for and she was salivating before even making it to the door. Famous for its seafood dishes, the recipes had remained the same for the last century. As a matter of fact, all the restaurants and cafés in Vernazza were Kate’s favorite. Each one had something unique to offer.

It was about ten minutes before she proceeded up the queue to the counter. Kate surveyed the scene. Bottles of all shapes and sizes lined one wall, adding an old world charm to the small restaurant. Staff were all but running backwards and forwards into the kitchen, trying to keep up with the orders. The noise level would surely have broken the sound barrier.

She’d really picked a busy night to be dining out, with visitors and locals packing the tables inside and out. During the cooler months it was inside dining only but when the patronage doubled, the canopied outdoor tables and white plastic chairs facing the unobstructed vast expanse of blue or in tonight’s case, ebony, were used.

A flurry of aromas washed over Kate. Pizza. Pasta and seafood. Her stomach lurched in anticipation as she ordered, then searched for somewhere to sit.

She spied a couple of middle-aged people getting up to pay their bill and nabbed the only remaining table outside before someone else did. She literally felt like she was dining out on the street as her plastic chair rocked unevenly on the cobbled road. The archaic, red brick building with green window shutters did a good job of hiding the hive of activity inside due to the flurry of orange and blue umbrellas practically on top of each other on the outdoor tables. The floors above the restaurant housed a quaint, small-roomed hotel with views to die for and the best of the town at its door. There was a “no vacancy” sign out front.