Chapter 9

Gina

My skin was hypersensitive to his touch. Soon our breathing became shallow and my head became clogged with desire. No one had kissed me like that before, slow and deep. We hadn’t even made it inside the restaurant yet, and he was already driving me crazy with his touch. His hand was caressing my crotch through the thin layer of my trousers.
I inhaled sharply and then a silent moan escaped me. He sucked my bottom lip and then switched his attention to my jaw when his other hand started unbuttoning my trousers. We were at the car park and anyone could notice us here.
My body involuntarily reacted as heat began gathering below my stomach, moving up toward my breasts. His presence was doing something to my body, and I instantly wanted to have him inside me.
“Do you like what I’m doing to you?” he whispered, sliding his finger beneath my trousers, moving it lower and lower, almost touching my drenched sex. I parted my mouth, unable to come up with a coherent response, aware that the temperature of my body was skyrocketing.
I couldn’t remember when someone had touched me like that. It’d been so long. Harry’s lips were nibbling on my neck. Suddenly the throbbing between my legs was becoming unbearable.
He was hot and I needed him to ease the torture. I was already aching with desire; it was pooling into my abdomen and shooting downward to my sex like a wildfire. I almost got used to having him so close, and then he simply pulled away, breathing hard. I’d bet my cheeks were on fire; certainly, my entire body felt like it didn’t belong to me anymore.
Harry was staring at me with his diamond-blue eyes, probably trying to find out if I really wanted him. It was odd that, before he came on the scene, the lack of sex didn’t really bother me. I didn’t need men. I had never trusted them. All my exes had let me down, complaining that I didn’t spend enough time with them. But now…
“We should go. Our table is waiting,” he said, and I nodded. He made a move and I just went with it. There was something really wrong with me. The guy was a stranger who obviously had no interest in me other than sex, and a few seconds ago, I was ready to screw him in the car.
He went around his beautiful car and opened the door for me, like a real gentleman.
“Thank you,” I said, smiling. My wariness was still holding me back. I really had to get a grip.
We left the car park and walked in silence through the busy streets of cold Edinburgh. He put a slight distance between us, I noticed. Maybe he realised that this was going too fast. We were having dinner, but that didn’t mean that I was obligated to go home with him. In the past ten years, I had barely let myself have fun, and it was finally time to stop acting like I didn’t miss it. Josh, Nina, and Patrick weren’t children anymore.
Five minutes later, Harry invited me over to the small, cosy Italian restaurant on the corner of the alley. To my astonishment, the waiter hugged Harry, fussed over me for a long while, and then took us to our table. It seemed that Mr. H was a regular in there.
The waiter brought us wine. The restaurant was busy, but we were the first to get served. I felt a little like royalty. Harry started telling me about the specials for tonight. I was stunned that he even remembered what was on the menu without looking at it.
My lips were swollen, my heart was pounding away, so I excused myself for a second to go to the bathroom.
It took me a couple of minutes to pull myself together. My cheeks were red, and I felt very much turned on. I didn’t date because of my busy schedule, and the prospect of being in a relationship scared the crap out of me. I couldn’t deny that Harry was hot. I was horny as hell and I wanted to sleep with him.
“Signor Harry, Signora Gina is so beautiful, and she is not skinny. I like women who enjoy their food,” the waiter said, appearing by our table when I returned from the loo. I wanted to laugh. Antonio looked like a typical Italian: dark, and handsome. I hoped he wasn’t accusing me of being fat.
“She is a pole dancing instructor, Antonio, and the sexiest woman I have ever gone out with,” Harry told him, and I rolled my eyes.
“Oh, my, my, you’re a lucky man Signor Harry,” the waiter said, topping up my wine.
“You must come here often,” I said with a small laugh.
“All the time; the food is fantastic here and the boys always look after me,” he said. For a moment, we talked about boxing matches and his other hobbies. He had a few of them.
“Right, so tell me when you transitioned from being a boxer to a businessman? What about your family?”
Harry took a sip of his red wine and his eyes darkened. I remembered what Crystal had said in the bathroom.
“My uncle brought me up. My parents died when I was young, and I didn’t have any other family. Fred has a large farm just outside Glasgow. I lived there most of my life,” he explained. I sensed that he didn’t like talking about himself much. “I started boxing to fill up time. I was good at it, so it was natural to become a pro.”
“So, do you see your uncle often?”
“Sometimes. He’s retired but insists on working. I have told him many times that he should consider selling the farm.”
Antonio showed up at the table with the starters. I kept drinking wine and felt slightly tipsy. I had skipped lunch today because I was so busy with the new campaign. I really needed to slow down.
“This is delicious; the tomatoes are superb. How come I didn’t know about this place?” I asked, chewing my food. The tension was still palpable. Harry kept staring back at me with that intense look.
“Antonio has a lot of repeat customers. I eat here a couple of times a week,” he said with a wink. “So, tell me—how are you and Andrew getting along? You must have been working quite a while for him.”
He wasn’t planning to talk about himself, and for now, I was okay with it. He had no idea I already knew some stuff about him. I wasn’t planning to tell him that I had seen him fucking Mrs. Davies in the locker room. Deep down I knew that this might not work out. We were from two different worlds. He was rich and alone. I had to work hard through my twenties to provide for my siblings.
“Over five years now, but Andrew wasn’t there when I started. He bought the company from a woman from Greece. She was an amazing boss, gave me a start without any experience in marketing,” I explained, thinking that back then, I actually liked going to work. People there were awesome, and the team was very supportive. After the company was sold to Davies things started going wrong.
“So, you don’t like him very much?” he asked, and I sighed, looking around. I took another sip of wine and decided to be honest.
“No, he is an arsehole and I can’t stand him, but hey, the bills won’t pay themselves. Despite the way he runs the business, I have a good salary,” I explained, remembering all the times when I was ready to walk out. Over the past few months, I had barely spent any time at home.
Harry laughed and his eyes flickered at the corners.
“He can be difficult,” he admitted, like he knew him.
I licked my upper lip, quickly forgetting about my boss, and Harry’s expression shifted. Smouldering heat embraced my body again. All of a sudden, I was feeling very drunk.
“Stop doing that to your mouth, Gina; otherwise I’ll keep picturing you with your legs around my waist,” he said, his voice husky.
I smiled and started moving my finger around the edge of the glass. This was crazy, but I felt great and wanted to keep flirting with him. Antonio showed up by our table once or twice to check on us, and his jokes cooled me off a little. Once the starters were cleared out, we talked a bit more about my parents and the pole dancing classes. I told him that I had an early class tomorrow morning.
“So, what did you do before you started boxing professionally?” I asked, indulged with delicious food. The pasta dish that was brought to me tasted unbelievable.
“I spent a couple of years in the Army, came out and went into boxing professionally. I also started a business, but someone screwed me over,” he responded dryly. Yet again, I had a feeling that he didn’t like talking about himself or his past.
“Wow, you must have been training hard to get to that level in the ring, so tell me more about the Army. How was it?”
“It was a different life, and I was a different man back then. It’s the past, and I much prefer to talk about the present,” he stated, clearly telling me to back off. I was too tipsy to care.
I waved it off and continued to drink the wine. The rest of the evening passed in a very relaxing manner. We had more food, delicious desserts, and I drank more and more. The last thing I remembered was being dragged back to Mr. H’s car, singing loudly on the street. Some people were staring, but I didn’t care. I had the most amazing time.
“When was the last time you drank alcohol?” Harry asked me when I sat in the passenger seat and continued to fan myself with a magazine I had found under the seat. It was so hot in here, and Harry looked really delicious. My head was spinning, and yeah, I wanted him. The sex was going to be explosive.
“Don’t know, but the wine was good though. Do you think you can get me more?”
“I think you’ve had quite enough,” he said, shaking his head. I leaned over and grinned, touching his tie.
“Why is it so hot in here?” I asked, thinking about that last kiss. Maybe it was time to cut to the chase and tell him I was horny.
I took off my jacket and his eyes moved down to my cleavage.
“You’re not helping your case, Gina,” he muttered and started the car.
“Maybe you should touch me. I would really like to feel your—”
“This is not what I had in mind when I thought about taking you out,” he said, leaving the car park. God, he looked so sexy in that jumper. My head was drowsy with desire, and the pulsing sensation in my core quickened.
I giggled and rested my head on the window. Harry said something to me, but I didn’t hear him. My lids were heavy and, before I knew it, I was drifting away.

Harry

I was driving, feeling extremely frustrated. Gina was currently snoring in the passenger seat. She must have drunk the whole bottle of wine. How could I have missed it? I was so focused on her beautiful face that I barely drank anything myself. There was no way I was going to drop her home in that state. She was a role model to her siblings, and the last thing I wanted was for them to see her drunk.
After careful consideration, I drove back to the Grange Complex. My apartment was big enough, and she needed to detox a little before I could drop her back. Obviously, sex was off the table tonight.
She’d asked a lot of questions about me, and I had gone along with it. I didn’t mean to tell her I had been in the Army. Most women didn’t know anything about my background. Gina was pure, and she must have already figured out that I wasn’t a relationship kind of guy. She was so wet for me earlier on, and I wished we’d skipped dinner.
Everything had gone kind of wrong, but I was glad I had met her family. The boys were good lads, and they were fans of boxing. Gina had brought them up well.
I shook my head, keeping an eye on the traffic. This was already getting out of hand. This wasn’t me. I couldn’t scar her; she was a decent woman. Everything in her life focused on her work and family. I didn’t think I could fit into this new world.
I parked the car outside the complex and scratched my jaw, staring at her for a moment. She looked so peaceful asleep. She was going to have to stay over at my place tonight. It was already half past eleven and there was no point going back to the city. I nudged her gently. She stirred and placed her palm on my cheek.
“No, Nina, let me sleep, it’s only six a.m.,” she mumbled, and I smiled. Her touch was addictive, and warmth smoothed my body. Suddenly I felt lighter, without the baggage on my shoulders.
“Time to go, Gina,” I said. “I’m not carrying you through the concierge. You have to walk.”
I helped her out of the car, and somehow, she managed to stand on her own. I wrapped her arm around me and managed to get her to the lift. This had never happened to me before. A few times I had come home drunk, but I was never so wrecked that I couldn’t remember anything at all.
“Fuck me, Mr. H, you have to. I have been waiting too long for you,” Gina said once I placed her on the sofa in my apartment. She started unbuttoning her blouse, and I rubbed my face with frustration, knowing it was going to be a long night.