The Moretti Heir (11 page)

Now he was at the track garage, avoiding Keke and his brothers. It was odd. They all wanted to talk to him about the same thing—Virginia. But where Keke thought that having a woman in his life and finding a connection with Virginia was the best thing that could happen to Marco, Dom and Antonio both thought he was putting their future in danger.

His brothers had cornered him last night and told him he was putting Moretti Motors in jeopardy by staying with Virginia and taking the risk of falling for her.

He was somewhere in between his brothers and his friend. He didn’t like the new vulnerability he felt, now that Virginia was in his life. Asking her to stay with him for the rest of the season was an easy decision. He’d had mistresses before. But he’d expected his feelings for her to wan the way they had with other women.

Instead, his feelings were growing deeper. He missed her when she wasn’t around. She rarely came to the track with him, and a part of him wondered why she wouldn’t watch him race.

He acknowledged that he’d never really driven for anyone other than himself. Even though Antonio and Dominic told him repeatedly that it was his duty to drive and win, Marco did it for himself. He needed to be out on the track, beating everyone else and getting the adulation and the praise that came from winning.

He looked around the garage, realizing that this was one place in the world where no one expected anything of him. Winning was expected when he was on the track, but here in the garage, with his car nearby and the smell of tires and oil filling the air, he was just another driver.

“Marco Moretti?” a man called from the opening that led to pit row. The man was of average height, with thinning hair that he had unfortunately combed over his pate. He wore wrinkled khaki pants and a long-sleeved black T-shirt.

“Sì?”
he asked.

“I’m Vincenzo Peregrina, with
Le Monde,
out of Paris. I’d like to talk to you for a few minutes.”

Marco glanced around, looking for his crew chief, but everyone had left for the afternoon. If he hadn’t been lingering in the hopes of avoiding his brothers, he wouldn’t be cornered.

“I don’t have the time right now, but you can contact Moretti Motors and make arrangements through my office,” Marco said. He reached into his pocket and handed the other man his card.

“This isn’t about Moretti Motors.”

“Then what is it you wish to speak to me about?” he asked the other man. He didn’t mind doing interviews and found the media to be very helpful most of the time. But this man wasn’t part of the entourage that he usually dealt with.

“The young woman who is traveling with you.”

“You’re not with
Le Monde.
”

Vincenzo shrugged. “Would you have talked to me if I’d said I was with
Hello!
magazine?”

“Doubtful. As I’m not going to speak to you about this subject,” Marco said. He saw Pedro, one of the security team who worked in the garage area, and signaled to him.

“Good day, Mr. Peregina.”

Pedro reached for Vincenzo’s arm, but the other man put his hands up. “I’m going. But you should know that just because you ignore my questions doesn’t mean I’m not going to find out who she is.”

“Your questions are of no concern to me,” Marco said. He left the garage and went to the drivers’ lot where his convertible waited. He climbed into the car and sat there for a few minutes. Maybe it was time to stop avoiding his brothers.

He didn’t want the media to swarm around Virginia. He wanted to keep her private.

He dialed Dom’s mobile. It was time to bring the full force of Moretti Motors into his personal life.

“This is Dominic.”

“Dom, cio e Marco.
I need to talk to you.”

“I’ve got ten minutes before I have to go to a press conference about the new Vallerio.”

“Did you find the leak?”

“No. But Antonio is putting together two sets of information, and we think we’ve narrowed the suspects down. We will see what information our enemy has, and then we should know who is our spy. Is that what you were calling for?”

“No, Dom. I just had a tabloid reporter ask me about Virginia, and I’d like to make sure that no one comes close to her. I do not think she is accustomed to talking to the paparazzi.”

“That usually doesn’t bother you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your women…you usually leave them to deal with the press on their own.”

“Virginia is different.”

Dom sighed. “That is what I was afraid of. We need to meet in person.”

“Why?”

“Because you are forgetting about your blood vow to Antonio and me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You are allowing yourself to fall for her.”

He uttered a curse under his breath, and his brother said nothing. Marco wasn’t about to admit to Dom that it was too late, he’d already fallen for Virginia.

Marco had been treating her like she was fragile, and a part of her thought that he also saw her and the baby in her womb as something precious to him. Something that he wanted to protect and keep safe.

She turned her head against the leather seat and looked at his profile as he drove. He reached over and took one of her hands, brushing his lips against her palm before he placed her hand on his thigh.

He drove with the superb skill that she expected of him. And his concentration when he was on the road was intense. She was coming to realize that it was the same intensity he brought to everything he touched.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

“That you are a very protective man,” she said.

He didn’t respond, just glanced over at her.

“It makes me feel special to be with you like this.”

He lifted her hand again, kissing her knuckles this time. “You are special to me.”

“You are to me, as well, Marco. I never expected my quest to free my family from the curse to turn out this way.”

He steered them through the streets back to their hotel. “What did you expect?”

“To be honest, I don’t know. I haven’t really dated all that much, so I don’t have a lot of men to compare you to.”

“And how do I fare compared to these few other men?” he asked.

She took a deep breath and the magic that was this night in Budapest filled her. “There is no comparison. You are so much more than I ever expected to find in any man.”

“You make me sound—

“Like what?” she asked, wondering if she’d revealed too much. But she had the feeling that he must have already guessed the depth of her love for him. She tried to keep her feelings to herself, but she was struggling with that.

“Like someone who’s better than I really am. Please don’t see me for anything more than what I am.”

“What are you?”

“A Moretti. My loyalty is always going to be to my blood. My family comes first, and then racing.”

“And I’m a distant third?” she asked.

She’d already known he didn’t care about her in the same way she did for him. It had been obvious from the beginning that there was much more to Marco’s love life than there had ever been to hers.

He was a worldly man, and that had never really bothered her until this moment.

“Not a distant third,” he said. “I’m actually not sure where you fit. As the mother of my child, I think that makes you family.”

She knew that Marco wasn’t one of those men who felt comfortable discussing his feelings. He often told her how he felt about her body in very explicit terms when they made love. But he never spoke of his emotions.

He pulled the car to a stop in front of their hotel and she climbed out when the valet opened her door. Marco was already coming around the car, tossing his keys to the attendant.

“Excuse me, ma’am. May I have a word with you?”

Virginia glanced over at the man in wrinkled khaki pants who was standing off to the side of the valet stand.

“No, you may not,” Marco said. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he led her into the hotel and straight to the concierge desk.

“There is a reporter outside who is bothering us. He does not have permission to speak to us and I don’t want anyone on your staff giving him information about where we are staying.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Moretti. I will take of the problem immediately. Perhaps you’d like to move to one of our other properties in Budapest.”

“No, I would not. I have to race in the morning and I trust that your security staff will ensure my privacy.”

“Of course we will.”

Marco led them from the desk to the elevator. Once the car doors closed behind them, Virginia turned to him.

“What was that about?”

“That man is a reporter for a gossip magazine. He is digging around, trying to find out who you are.”

“Thank you for making sure that I didn’t talk to him. But I really don’t have anything to hide. I mean, I don’t mind answering a few questions, if that means he’ll go away and leave you be.”

Marco drew her closer to him. “
I
mind. I don’t want him writing about you. I don’t want the world to know the details of my personal life.”

“If I didn’t already love you, Marco, I would now,” she said, and then realized what she’d done.

She put her hand over her mouth. “I mean…”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply, his mouth moving over hers with skill and passion. Bringing her body to life. Making her crave so much more than his mouth on hers.

“I’m very happy to hear that you love me.”

He wasn’t sure if that meant he loved her or not, and he didn’t care. Right now he needed to make love to her. To cement in both of their minds how deeply she was his.

He unlocked the door and led her through the suite to the balcony. He wanted to make love to her with the night around them and the beautiful city of Budapest spread out in front of them.

“Why are we out here?” she asked, her voice soft.

“I thought it only fitting that we celebrate out here under the night sky. Since the moon and the stars are what brought you to me.”

“Did they?”

“Well, it may have been a
strega
curse, but the
strega
get their strength from the moon and the night sky—”

“So they do.”

She was so beautiful in the moonlight. It wasn’t that she was classically beautiful, but there was something about Virginia that always drew his eyes to her. She imbued a certain sexiness that never failed to make him hard. Tonight, standing in the minimal light, with her hair hanging around her shoulders, she was breathtaking.

He ran his finger down the side of her face, caressing her cheekbones and her long neck. He reached the pulse at the base and felt it pounding heavily beneath his finger. “Are you excited?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” he said. He continued caressing her skin, tracing the seam where her flesh disappeared under the gauzy fabric of her dress.

She shivered with awareness and her nipples tightened against the bodice of her dress. He lowered the straps on her sundress so that the bodice hung loosely over her breasts.

“Take your top down for me,” he said.

“Out here?”

“Sì,”
he said. He stepped back and watched her. He wanted her to want this moment as much as he did. And he liked pushing her past her own sexual barriers. Slowly, she lifted one arm and then the other. She kept her breasts covered, one hand holding the fabric against her chest.

“Are you sure you want me to take this off?” she asked.

He nodded. “Do it now,
mi’angela.
”

Shaking her head and letting her hair fall around her shoulders, she let the bodice fall slowly away from her skin. Her breasts were full, her nipples tight, begging for his attention. She looked so sexy at that moment that he was almost overwhelmed, but he attributed it to the fact that he hadn’t made love to her today.

He stepped to her and leaned down to lick each nipple until it tightened. Then he blew gently on the tips. She shivered, her hands coming up to frame his head. She arched her back and thrust her breast against his lips. He sucked her deep into his mouth and felt as though he could find that one thing he’d always been thirsting for in her body.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her to his body. He attended her other nipple, and then tried to push her dress down her body, but it was too tight at the waist.

He found the zipper and lowered it. Her dress fell to her feet and he stepped back to look at her. She wore only a mint-green-colored thong and a pair of sexy heels. Her hair was tousled around her shoulders, her nipples red and beaded from his attention and her lips were swollen, begging for more of his kisses.

He caressed her body, sweeping his hands down her sides until he reached the satin fabric of her panties. He grasped either side and pushed them down her legs. Now she was completely naked.

“Now you are as nature intended for you to be,” he said.

“Am I?” she asked.

“
Sì.
You are exquisite. And I cannot wait to thrust myself deep into your body and feel your silky limbs wrapped around me.”

“You are a tad bit overdressed.”

“Then undress me,” he said.

She pushed his jacket off his arms, but instead of letting it fall on the floor, she took it to one of the patio chairs and draped it over the back. He enjoyed watching her naked body as she moved around the patio.

She unbuttoned his shirt next, taking her time to caress each bit of skin that she revealed. She lowered her head and dropped nibbling kisses on his chest. She pushed the shirt off and carried it over to the chair where she’d placed his jacket.

He realized that the minx was teasing him, and he was enjoying the hell out of it—and her. But he needed her. He wanted—no needed—to be buried inside her now. He was hard and he knew he would probably climax as soon as he thrust inside of her. But he wanted to make sure she came at least once before he did.

He lifted her up once she was back within arm’s grasp and carried her back inside their suite. He set her on the couch in the living room.

“I need you. Now.”

She nodded. “I need you, too, Marco. So much.”

“Show me how much,” he said.

She parted her legs and he saw the glistening of her body’s moisture.

“Open yourself for me,” he said.

Her thighs twitched and she drew her own hands down her body. But she hesitated at the top of her thighs. “I’m not sure I can….”

He took her hands in his and brought them to her mound. “I want to taste you, Virginia. Don’t you want to feel my mouth on you?”

He kissed her lips again. Thrust his tongue deep inside her mouth and sucked on her lower lip before leaning back to see her reaction.

She nodded and he felt her hands move between them.

The pink of her flesh looked so delicate and soft with the red rose petals around it.

“Hold still,” he said.

He leaned down, blowing lightly on her before tonguing that soft flesh. She lifted her hips toward his mouth.

He drew her flesh into his mouth, sucking carefully on her. He held on to her thighs, holding her in place as he carefully tasted her essence. He wanted to strip away all of her barriers, so that she’d never forget this night and the confession she’d made in the car.

He felt the frantic movements of her hips against his mouth and then her fingernails dug into his shoulders. He lifted his head to look up at her.

Her eyes were closed, her head tipped back, her shoulders arched, throwing her breasts forward with their berry-hard tips, begging for more attention. Her entire body was a creamy delight.

He lowered his head again, hungry for more of her, feasting on her body the way a starving man would. He used his teeth, tongue and fingers to bring her to the brink of climax, but held her there, wanting to draw out the moment of completion until she was begging him for it.

Her hands grasped his head as she thrust her hips up toward him. But he pulled back so that she didn’t get the contact she craved.

“Marco,
please.
”

He scraped his teeth over her clitoris and she screamed as her orgasm rocked through her body. He kept his mouth on her until her body stopped shuddering, and then slid up her.

“Your turn,” she said, drawing him up next to her on the couch. She reached for his belt and he lowered his zipper while she unfastened it. He lowered his pants and boxers in one quick move. She took his erection in her hand and followed with her tongue, teasing him with quick licks and light touches.

He arched on the couch, thrusting up into her before he realized what he was doing. He pulled her from his body, wanting to be inside her when he came.

He pulled her up his body until she straddled him. Then, using his grip on her hips, he pulled her down while he slid into her.

He pulled her legs forward forcing them farther apart until she settled even closer to him. He slid deeper still into her. She arched her back, reaching up to entwine her arms around his shoulders. He thrust harder and felt every nerve in his body tensing. Reaching between their bodies, he touched her between her legs until he felt her body start to tighten around him.

He climaxed in a rush, continuing to thrust until his body was drained. He then collapsed against her.

“You are mine now, Virginia Festa.”

“And you are mine, Marco Moretti.”

“For now,” he said.