Keep Me (Shelter Me #3) (7 page)

My phone pings an incoming text as I lay my head back down. I fight the urge to answer it because I know damn well it’s him. I am still pissed off even when I cave and reach for the phone, but in an instant it all disappears as I read his text.

There’s my beautiful firecracker. Tomorrow morning, nine o’ clock. I’ll be there for breakfast.

My mouth hangs open as it pings again.

Bella petardo
means ‘beautiful firecracker’ in Italian. Now get to bed. You’re going to need your rest for what I have planned tomorrow. I may be a manslut or whatever the hell it is you call me, but one thing I am not is disrespectful to a woman I care about. Get used to it!

Breathless is how I feel after reading his words. I run my fingers over his text as if they were his lips speaking those two words to me. Beautiful Firecracker. It’s perfect. Markus and my grandfather are the only other men in my life who have ever meant anything to me who have called me beautiful. Knowing it’s coming from Antonio means so much more to me than anyone will ever know.

I place my phone back on the table and lay back on the bed. Suddenly I am hot all over as his words replay over and over in my mind. My body unwinds when I begin envisioning Antonio’s eyes looking into mine and saying those words. My hands inch down my stomach to relieve the pressure suddenly building between my legs. No one has made me want to touch myself more than he does. Every time I have gotten myself off for the past four months, it has been to the image of him, always wishing it was him touching me instead of myself. His tongue. His lips. His dick.

Partaking in my own self-satisfaction, I picture in my mind what he looks like naked. As my hand slips into my panties and I touch my aching clit, for the first time in weeks I arch my back and moan as circle slowly. My other hand lifts my top to circle my nipple.

“Oh, hell,” I say as I squeeze my clit and my nipple at the same time.

I fucking love touching my nipples, making them hard and sensitive while imagining it’s Antonio with his mouth sucking and blowing, torturing me in the most desirable way.

I hone in on my clit even more, flicking it ever so slowly until I can hardly take anymore, and then I insert a finger and find that spot that always sends me over the edge with its super sensitive nerves. I pump in and out, making myself slick and wet, and then move back to my clit. I repeat these steps a few more times, all the while massaging my breasts until my head thrashes back and forth wildly on the pillow.

I let go and my orgasm flares up, shooting straight through my pussy. I forget the world outside along with all of my nightmares and insecurities. Jesus Christ! I bow off the fucking bed and soar until my body shakes. And yet, I want more, more of him. I want the real thing. I want Antonio.

We have only had a few short weeks together and then several months apart. A lot of things can change in four months. But one thing is for sure, I tell myself as I pull my hand out and release my breasts. Antonio Schavone has somehow etched his way into my bleeding heart and damn if I don’t want him to fucking heal it.

Chapter Seven

Antonio

Well slap my ass and call me sir. She caved. She fucking caved and agreed to talk.

Meeting Shelby several months ago did something to me, something I have yet to figure out. It’s been four long ass months and I still can’t get this woman out of my mind, even after she threw my past in my face the day she left to go back to Texas.

Everything she said to me is true. I’ll never apologize for it; I am what I am. Not afraid to admit it to anyone, either. I fuck, and I fuck a
lot
. I’m single, for God’s sake. Nonetheless, when she said what she did, something inside of me snapped like a rubber band and made me think long and hard about her words.

“I’m leaving. This would never work… you’re a slutbag and that is not the type of man I have been waiting for.”

What she meant by ‘the type of man she has been waiting for’ left me clueless until I woke up a few days later. I grew a pair of balls and talked to Adam. When he told me Shelby was a virgin, all I wanted to do was beat my own fucking ass for acting the way I did. I am a dickhead for coming on to her like that. I know it now, but fuck me, how a woman who looks like she does could be a virgin at twenty-five is beyond me.

Shelby is the most strikingly beautiful woman I have ever seen. It wasn’t her face I noticed at first. Fuck, no. It was her legs. Toned, tan, and so damn long. And when I traveled up those legs with my eyes and landed on her chest without having a clue who the hell she was, my dick was throbbing so hard I almost went into the bathroom to jack myself off. I couldn’t stop envisioning my mouth on those tits and my hands on her ass as those long fucking legs wrapped around my waist while I pounded the ever loving shit out of her.

Let’s not forget about her hair and her face. Fuck! Long, blonde hair that I just want to pull and make her beg me to fuck her harder from behind while her beautiful bright blue eyes glaze over and her sassy mouth screams. Better yet, while I gag her so nothing comes out of her smart mouth except groans and whimpers while...

Fuck! I am lying here in bed right now harder than I have been in a very long time, knowing the only relief I am going to get is my own hand. I need to tread lightly with her. This woman is a perfect vision; a wet dream. One too many wet dreams, for fuck’s sake. What thirty-year-old man has wet dreams? Oh… me, that’s right.

In my dreams, Shelby and I have done some crazy shit- and I mean crazy. I have fucked her in every way possible. Christ, the one thing running through my mind in my dreams every single time is knowing I am the only man who has ever been inside of her.

Men my age may shy away from a woman with no experience whatsoever, but not me. If anything, it has turned me on even more. It makes me respect her for her choices. It makes me want to put her high up on a pedestal, right where she belongs. A woman who respects herself enough to wait, for whatever her reasons are, deserves to be worshipped.

Fuck, I sound like an asshole laying here thinking about her virginity. She is smart, successful, and owns her own restaurant, all at the age of twenty five. Beauty and brains are one hell of a lethal combination.

I’ve created scene after scene in my mind with her firecracker mouth whispering in my ear how much she wants to suck my cock, her petite hands running up and down my stomach until she reaches my belt as she continues to kiss and tell me in her sexy voice how bad she wants it. How bad she wants me and only me. Fuck, I have jacked off more times than I can count after waking up from that dream.

Shit! I throw my head back on my pillow in frustration. This woman is going to be the death of me, and damn if I don’t want her to be. She intrigues me like no one else has before. She has crawled under my skin in just a few short weeks. After I got to know her a little better, I came to the conclusion she is a lot like me in many ways. She has no filter when it comes to saying what’s on her mind, except she knows when to say it and when not to, unlike me. I say what I have to say when I want to. Maybe it’s the lawyer in me.

Once Adam and Erin’s wedding date was set and I knew Shelby was coming back, for the first time in my life I had no desire to touch another woman. Two months without sex is a record for me since I lost my virginity to our next door neighbor at age fourteen. Not my best performance by far. Clumsy as all hell, I had no clue what I was doing… but damn, did it feel good. Been addicted to it ever since.

Now I want no one else but her. Her and her beautiful mind, body, and soul. I am going to make her mine.
Mine
. Can a man like me want only one woman to settle down with for the rest of his life? Can I turn a new leaf and commit? Will Shelby even want to commit to me? Fucking hell, this is the kind of shit I have tried to avoid my entire adult life. Women! They fuck with your damn mind, twist your ass all up. She’s done that to me and she doesn’t even realize it.

Jesus Christ, Antonio! You don’t even know what’s going through her head or how she even feels. And don’t forget the fact that she is leaving here in two short weeks.

Damn it. I need a drink.

Trying to walk with a hard on is not the easiest thing to do, I realize, as I adjust my dick three times on my way toward the den. It does me no good. When I saw her tonight in that sexy dress, my dick got so hard that he hasn’t gone down all night. Even after grabbing a glass and pouring myself a double shot of my go-to guy Jack, he stays standing right at attention. 

I stood there like a damn fool at the wedding, especially when Markus put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. Gay or not, that shit didn’t sit well with me, especially when I wanted it to be me keeping her warm. Me, and only me.

No way was I going to stand around and not be able to do a thing about it. Never have I felt the need to walk over to someone and claim what I feel is mine.
Never
. Me, violent or possessive over someone who isn’t even mine? I wanted to kick my own ass. Furious as all hell, I turned around and left everyone standing there.

I got two feet down the hall before my brother Luke searched me out and tried to calm me down. He’s the only one who knows how I feel about her. I chuckle as I throw back one last shot and set my glass down on the bar, thinking about what he said.

“Don’t fuck around, man. If you want her then make her yours, but do not fuck her over or hurt her. And for fuck’s sake, quit acting like a pussy motherfucker. Man the fuck up.”

Those words felt like a punch in the gut. For seven years I watched my brother yearn for Shayne. It damn near destroyed him. That’s how I knew I had to make the first move, so I shot that text to Shelby. The last thing I expected was for her to answer as quickly as she did. She has no idea whatsoever how I am going to pop all of that bubble wrap she’s swathed her beautiful body in. When I discover what she has hidden within all that plastic she tries to hide under, I will do everything to convince her she is not just another one, she is
the
one.

Last night’s rehearsal dinner hasn’t slipped my mind, either. When she saw me standing there with my arm around my cousin, she assumed Sydney was another one of my hook-ups. When she marched past us I saw disgust in her eyes and something else... sadness. Fuck, I had been looking forward to last night all damn week, and when I saw that look, I felt gutted.

Shelby doesn’t strike me as the type of person to be sad about anything. Even when she was here before and we were fighting and digging and throwing harsh words at each other, she was full of life and spunk. That’s why I nicknamed her
bella petardo
, even though I never told her that until tonight.

But there is no fire in her eyes now. Something is troubling her, and whatever it is, it’s big. I am going to dig until I find out exactly what it is and fucking fix it. I have to bring back the woman who puts a fire under my ass and makes me want to light up that firecracker, blowing it up into the sky to burst into a rainbow of colors.

************

This morning I woke up early after having the same dream I've had for weeks. Only this time, the dream escalated even further. Jesus Christ. I rub my hands over my face and my heavy scruff.

That fucking dream felt so damn real. I can still feel her tongue on my dick as she swirls the tip with her tongue and slowly eases her mouth down, her eyes never leaving mine.
Fucking hell!

I smash my fist into my mattress. I am one horny fucking bastard for even thinking about going there with a woman as pure as she is. Yeah, I need to get my ass up and relieve my sorry sap of a dick.

"Stay the hell down today, boy,” I yell at my cock as I step under the spray of my shower.

Fucker isn’t listening, though, so I take hold of him. Fuck, does it feel good as I think about my dream. My head falls forward in defeat and I explode, wishing I was coming in her lush mouth instead of all over my tiled wall.

Cleaning myself up and changing into a pair of dark jeans and a sweatshirt, I go downstairs to the kitchen. I pull out all the ingredients I need to make French toast and sausage for breakfast, which I learned from Erin is Shelby’s favorite.

Placing everything in a bag, I hit the garage door opener and then start my Chevy truck, letting it get nice and warm before I step out into the freezing Michigan winter. I'm not complaining by any means because I love the change of seasons in this state, but just like anyone else, I get sick of winter. I'm ready for the warm air and days spent on the beautiful beaches Lake Michigan has to offer.

Damn, I love the water. The first thing I did after Adam and his construction crew finished building my house up north was to buy a small yacht. I have spent many nights on it, traveling from here to Chicago and back. The calm of the lake and the rushing sound of the water as I plunge through it is freeing and relaxing. I picture Shelby laid out on the deck, naked and sunbathing, her long blonde hair pooled all around her on my shiny deck boards.

Yeah, fuck this shit... get your ass over there and quit fucking daydreaming like a pussy ass motherfucker!

Grabbing my coat and my old college ball cap, I lift the bag off of the counter and off I go to show this woman she isn’t the only one who can cook. I am about to rock her world with my French toast. I am not going to lie, I hope that smart-mouthed, feisty Shelby moans my fucking name when she tastes it.

How can anyone look even more beautiful than the last time you saw them? I am thinking that precise thing at the moment standing here gawking at Shelby as she opens the door.

If I didn't know better, I'd say the woman standing before me got thoroughly fucked last night. Her hair is messy and full of volume; the strands are all kind of stuck together and fucking hell, she has on the sexiest pair of skintight flannel pajamas and matching pink fuzzy socks. My insides are boiling with lust. I am starving and I’ll be damned if my breakfast isn’t standing right in front of me.

I could feast upon this vivacious woman. Her pajamas leave nothing to the imagination whatsoever. Her top stretches nicely across her luscious breasts. And her legs... someone kill me now, because all I know is today is going to be torture if she doesn’t change her damn clothes.
Fuck me!

“Well, are you going to come in or stand out in the cold all morning staring at me like you want to put me in between two slices of bread and scarf me down in one giant bite?”

Her voice is raspy as if she just woke up. Hell motherfucking yeah, I want to eat her, but not all at once. I want to march her sinful body up the stairs and eat my damn breakfast in bed, nibbling and savoring each bite.

When I take my eyes off of her body it's then that I notice the sleep in her eyes.

“Shit, did I wake you up?” I ask as she gestures for me to enter.

“Nah. We've been up for about an hour or so. Just being lazy and lying in bed watching cartoons with Sierra while we wait for you.”

I turn in the nick of time to see her shut the door. Fuck me again. Her ass. Round, firm, and tight. This woman has a mighty damn fine booty. I swear someone up above wants to torture the living shit out of my sanity and patience, which are both slipping farther away by the second.

“Here, let me help you with that bag.”

She snatches it right out of my hand and sways her fine booty as she goes. Cock adjustment number ninety seven of the day coming up as I put my dick back in place and internally yell at him to stay the fuck down.

“Where’s Markus?”

“Who knows? He met someone and called me this morning telling me not to worry about him. Knowing Markus like I do, I know he’ll show up when he’s good and ready.”

Yeah, about that. I need to have a talk with Markus. I don’t want him leaving here per se, but damn, I need time with Shelby and I hope like hell he'll help me get it.

“Uncle Antonio!”

Sierra runs into my arms as I strip off my coat and toss it on the couch.

“Hey, sweet girl. How are you?”

I scoop her up in my arms. She places both of her hands on my cheeks and squeezes them with all her might, then places a kiss on my puckered up lips. Lucy and Sierra have become accustomed to doing this to me every time we see each other. I have no clue why, yet I love it all the same.