Luca's Dilemma (3 page)

Thinking about his new role in life made him shake his head in amusement and had his thoughts wandering yet again to all it had taken to get here. Even after all the papers had been signed, no one, including him, had actually fathomed he would move to Maine, of all places, and fulfill his boyhood dream of breeding horses as a hobby. It was definitely not his native New York, but in the last year, he had truly come to admire the peace and quiet that completely contrasted the place of his upbringing. The seclusion was what he enjoyed most, even though it gave him way too much time to think.

When he informed the rest of his family of his intentions, his pops had accused him of running away from the responsibility of marrying a nice Italian girl and providing grandchildren to carry on the family business. He often reminded the old man that he had two other children to handle that, not to mention several existing grandchildren and great–nephews.

As far as the “nice Italian girl” plan went, Luca had almost tried that once. Her ultimate betrayal still hung heavy on his heart all these years later. No one would ever be given the chance to do that to him again. Eventually Pops would come to see that Luca was just fine spending his days on his land and answering the call to the family business when need be. Besides, why settle for one woman when so many were willingly at his disposal?

The memory of his last romp caused the corners of his mouth to turn up. He’d lived the ultimate fantasy of ravaging not one, but two blonde bombshells at once while attending a horse show in Spain. That night had been a scorcher, ending much too soon and leaving him ravenous for more. More of what, he wasn’t sure. But he knew spending more than one night with those particular two women wouldn’t have given it to him. Climbing the ladder to the upper loft, he shook his head, not wanting to think about that right now.

Suddenly, it occurred to him that very heated encounter had taken place well over a month ago. It would appear this horse thing was infringing on his social life. Somehow he managed to continue with his mundane task of fetching the hay while his mind immediately went into overdrive, contemplating how to remedy the situation. Sexual encounters too close to home were dangerous. One night of passion or the wrong words could turn an independent hottie into a desperate piece of clingy plastic wrap that he’d have to waste energy shaking off. Experience had taught him the closer they lived, the more likely that was to happen.

Perhaps a trip to New York was in order. Or maybe he should look into booking an all–inclusive trip to Australia with Ferreira Cruise Lines. They had only been in operation for a few years, but their services and accommodations were renowned in his small circle of friends. The night life was said to be phenomenal, not to mention that huge, luxurious ship was bound to be full of beautiful, no–commitment–required women, just the way he liked them. The thought of what he'd do to each one of them — a redhead on Monday, a brunette and a blonde on Tuesday — after so many weeks of involuntary celibacy made his cock twitch and his mouth smile broadly.

A distant, yet shrill scream pierced the air, shattering his oh–so–naughty thoughts. The bale of hay he held slipped from his gloved fingers as he stood stark still, trying to calm his pounding heart and pinpoint the source of the noise. Within seconds the sound came again, catapulting him into action. He slid down the ladder and burst from the barn in an all–out sprint. Instinct drove him as he made a beeline for his rental house, where, more than likely, the sound had originated. Feet barely touching ground, he managed to cover the two hundred plus yards of treacherous, muddy grass in no time. Luca hadn't had the chance to meet his new neighbor, but it didn't take a genius to realize the woman was in trouble.

Fleetingly, he considered the possibility that this might be a trap. However, it didn't take long for him to discern that it clearly wasn't. Stopping short outside the tiny house, Luca bugged his eyes in disbelief. Chino, the newest addition to his horse collection, stood outside the neighbor’s window, or at least the rear end of him did. His long, black tail lazily swung side to side while he burrowed his head deeper inside the opening doing God knows what to set the woman off. How the hell had he gotten out of his stall?

Another shrill scream split the air, cutting off his pondering and prompting him to advance on the horse. When calling to the stubborn animal failed, he immediately set out trying every trick he could remember Richard teaching him to coerce the large equine away from the window. Anything to shut the woman up. After much effort, he finally gained control of the animal by use of a half–eaten apple he found lying close by.

“That a boy, Chino,” he cooed. “Let’s get you home.”

Luca’s attempt to walk away was thwarted by a strange heat scorching the back of his head. He turned around, gazing back toward the window where the source of the discomfort emanated, his eyes bugging once they came in contact with the most malicious glare he had ever encountered. In his relief of finally recovering Chino, he’d completely forgotten about the woman, and she obviously wasn’t happy about it. He swore he felt a couple of his eyebrow hairs singe from the heat of that fierce stare.

Deterring from his normally crass manner, he chose to handle the awkward situation in a more gentlemanly manner. “Ma’am, I’m so sorry. I don’t know—”

His attempt at an apology was cut short by the longest, foulest stream of vulgar language he’d ever heard descend from the mouth of any female, or male for that matter. For the first time, he really looked at her. He stood in awe, captivated by the livid woman, yet unable to comprehend how such obscenities were able to fall so freely from such lovely lips. They were thick and heart shaped; the kind the good lord made for sucking on. He imagined they would feel like tiny pillows as they attempted to wrap around and caress a certain part of his body.

Eventually he tuned her words out altogether as her bright blue lace bra and matching boy–cut panties drew his attention away from her fierce tongue. Moisture gathered in his mouth, and he felt himself hardening as his eyes took in her generous, light brown breasts. They were all natural, bouncing and wiggling viciously against the flimsy fabric of her bra as she leaned out the window, putting all she had into her verbal assault. In his mind, he captured the hefty treasures in each of his hands and voraciously ran his tongue over the large mounds. They felt and tasted so good his fist started to subconsciously milk the horse's reins that he held with both hands, and he practically started drooling.

His gaze slid to her hips as they gyrated sensually against the windowsill. Oh, those hips! They were perfect for full–thrust mode, and boy was he in need of a good thrust or two. The tightness of his jeans intensified as they stretched to accommodate his growing hard–on. He suddenly felt the urge to gyrate his own hips as images of grabbing her from behind and grinding his manhood against what had to be an ample ass to tie it all together danced freely in his head.
God, what a body,
was his last coherent thought before common sense slipped away entirely.

“Ouch,” he yelped then winced. A dull pain upside his head had unexpectedly interrupted his lewd fantasy. Coming out of his dream–filled haze, he refocused his attention on the ground. There at his feet lay, of all things, a small rubber sheep. “What the… who the hell keeps rubber sheep in their house?” Luca asked rhetorically, rubbing the now throbbing point of contact.
Damn, she’s got a good arm.

“Apparently I do, horse–boy. Now stop gawking at me like you were raised by goddamn wolves or something and give me my headscarf back,” she demanded, her lovely brown hand hanging expectantly out the open window.

With a great sense of foreboding, Luca slowly shifted his eyes toward the horse. Sure enough, a multicolored scarf dangled quirkily from Chino’s mouth. How had he not seen it before?

“Okay, boy, let go of the scarf.” He tugged lightly at the bright, multicolored material, but the stubborn horse clamped down harder. He stepped closer to the animal and began rubbing his mane lightly in an attempt to further calm the horse, but Chino wasn’t buying it and held on tenaciously.

With little choice, Luca increased the force with which he tugged at the scarf hanging from the uncooperative horse’s mouth. A shudder ran through him, and his eyes clenched tightly as the sound of tearing fabric rent the air. Any feelings he had were replaced by a sense of dread as he heard a loud gasp from the vixen in the window. He slowly opened his eyes to find two large, ornery, amber ones glaring back at him. No doubt about it… the woman was pissed!

“Mr. Moriatti,” she started with a calm voice and a sweet smile that belied the anger in her beautiful eyes. “Please be advised that I’ll be deducting the cost of my favorite head scarf from next month's rent. But from now on, my friend, I strongly encourage you to keep that goddamn horse away from me, or I swear I’ll donate him to the nearest school cafeteria, glue factory, or whoever will take the damn thing! Freaking—” She slammed the window with such force pieces of rotted cedar siding fell to the ground, bringing to mind that he probably needed to fix that, among other things.

Luca snapped to just in time to see the curtains draw closed, closing the gorgeous woman completely out of his view. A long whistle escaped his pursed lips as the spell the lioness had cast over him started to dissipate. However, he couldn’t bring himself to move quite readily. He remained frozen, staring at the vacated window, racking his brain as to how Chino had gotten the screen off the damn thing.

Then his thoughts shifted back to the beauty on the other side of the curtain. This was far from how he’d planned on introducing himself to his new tenant. She had moved in two months ago while he was away picking up Chino. It was bad enough he had neglected his landlord duties. Now he had undoubtedly come across as the ultimate pervert. But who could blame a man in his current state of mind for staring, especially when the object was oh so worth staring at?

With a shrug, Luca started toward the barn with Chino in tow and his mind digesting the crass encounter. Perhaps he shouldn't have given Richard permission to sublease the small house without first meeting the new tenant. Richard had come with the property, but after marrying Tina, he’d claimed he needed someplace more practical. Since this woman happened to be the best friend of Richard’s wife, Luca had made the mistake of assuming she would possess the same gentile personality as Tina. Talk about making an ass out of “u” and “me”. Now he was stuck with this mad woman for at least another year. Obviously trusting a man who was desperate to get out of paying for two homes hadn’t been a wise thing to do.

And what the hell had Richard been thinking? Women were trouble. That was nothing new. Having one that potent in such close proximity could be a potentially dangerous distraction.

With a sigh, he rolled his eyes heavenward before turning his gaze sideways to address his horse. “Did she really just call me horse–boy?”

***

Unfortunately that wouldn’t be Luca’s last heated encounter with the mocha beauty, for Chino proved to be quite the escape artist. The animal was constantly on the prowl, and the window incident repeated itself over and over again. Luca tried to convince Sheila to move her bed to the other side of the room, but she proved to be just as pig headed as the horse. She flat–out refused, stating it was coolest where it currently was and she needed such–said coolness to get a restful sleep, especially during the warmer months.

However, some habits did change. Sheila learned the hard way not to sleep with her bedroom window wide open. But even when she left it open only a crack, the animal still managed to get in. Luca couldn’t help but wonder how the beast kept removing the secured screen and sliding the glass open. He started to suspect Chino was hiding opposable thumbs within those large hooves of his. Eventually, after the third or fourth intrusion on her sleep and four headscarves later, Luca finally came up with the idea to place an iron bar in the track of the window to prevent the horse from opening it.

Unfortunately, none of that served to thwart the crazed animal. Unable to access Sheila through the window, Chino started seeking her out whenever and wherever he could. A good portion of the spring and summer was spent dashing toward her shrill shrieks. No one had ever accused him of being a hero, and the abhorrent things she had called him and his horse led him to believe no one ever would. But for reasons beyond his understanding, whenever she yelled, Luca felt compelled to rescue her.

Normally, he wouldn't have tolerated anyone talking to him with such venom, but something about these encounters started to turn him on. However, they were a waste of precious time, and he was now certain he never wanted children… ADHD–ridden or not. He had patiently put up with the intrusions until he was finally able to come up with what he thought was the perfect restraint for the animal.

***

Present Day…

And that restraint had worked quite well until today. He had gone out to feed his horses only to find Chino's rope chewed through with no sign of the large stallion. He needed to get to the animal before he reached his target. Luckily, he had some idea of where the horse was heading.

Most mornings, when she apparently wasn’t sleeping, Sheila would hang out down by the pond. She seemed to share his desire for privacy, and he appreciated her respect for his, which in his opinion put her above most women. Unbeknownst to Sheila, however, Luca constantly invaded hers. Not that he had to, but Luca reasoned that he was now her protector should she or anyone else ever happen to catch him ogling the pretty lady.

After a while he’d had to admit, despite her strong disdain of animals and the harsh tongue–lashings he endured, he took pleasure in watching his neighbor move about the property, especially when she wore those classy dresses and short sets, or her workout attire. From the looks of it, that ass was more luscious than he’d imagined on the day of their initial meeting, and the Pilates moves she did only made it more inviting. He’d made it his business to covertly observe her while she exercised by the pond, knowing all her naughty parts would be in full motion.