It Was Always Love (Taboo Love Book 2) Read online

  His blues enclosed me in love.

  He’s so damn excited for the baby that I felt bad I haven’t been on his level of happiness. We have the ultrasound in a few days to find out the sex. I say a boy. He says a girl.

  Before I’m ready we pulled into the long driveway and Noah drove around the back where, yep, three other cars were already in the ports. My belly sank lower than pond scum. My nerves tripled until they squeezed tightly.

  Throwing his shades into the glovebox, he turned off the engine and moved to face me. “Kitten, it’s going to be fine.” Is it? I didn’t think so. Before I knew it, he’s leaned over the console, caught my face in his hand and he kissed me softly. As distractions went, Noah’s lips were the best kind because my brain emptied, and I arched into it so would he deepen and give me a longer kiss. It’s while I’m playing with his tongue I felt his hand drifted from my face and trail down between my breasts, over my belly and he reached under my skirt. Ohmigod. Anticipating what he’d do next, I whisper-soft brushed his mouth at the same time his fingers glided higher on my inner thigh.

  I quickly looked back at the house to make sure a welcoming committee weren’t running down the steps to greet us.

  “Jesus, Noah.” I said all scandalized even as my legs opened for him.

  Fingers crept closer to my core and I sucked a breath.

  Suddenly my body wasn’t so much wound tight with nerves as it was with needing his fingers on me, in me, and right now.

  “If we’re going inside there, then you need to be relaxed, kitten,” another easy brush of lips, he smirked toying with my underwear. He stroked over the cotton material that was now soaked thanks to the smoky look in his eyes. “This won’t take long,” the confident monster licked my bottom lip.

  Shit, it felt good and I liquefied into my seat.

  He knuckled over my clit causing me to shudder, my hand reached out and grabbed his shirt in a tight fist. Everything in me softened.

  “You really like doing that don’t you?”

  He smirked kissing the tip of my nose, his hand resuming its mining between my thighs, parting my underwear he slid his fingertip along my wet slit with a barely-there touch that told me he’d remembered how tender I still was.

  I gasped a little when he found what he was searching for. My skull lolled back against the headrest because it felt fantastic and I wanted him never to stop no matter that we were parked outside of a house full of his immediate family.

  Fingering first, yes please.

  Another kiss, this time deeper, he swept my tongue with his and made me dizzy.

  “I just like knowing I can.”

  Everything Noah did went right to my head.

  It was as if the man had a road map of what made me breathless.

  “You are so beautiful,” he said against my mouth. My fingers clasped around the back of his neck, I shuddered when he stroked me harder, “and you are mine.” He didn’t toy with me, he tossed me right over the edge and it only took an embarrassing couple of minutes. The swarm of pleasure went through me like smoke, touching all my nervous edges and calmed me down as was his plan.

  I melted into the leather seat, letting go of an exhale hard enough to fog the window, my eyes closed, a satisfied smile on my lips.

  Being Noah Fierro’s girlfriend came with perks.

  I didn’t feel Noah slide his hand free until I felt him unclasp my seatbelt.

  “Now doesn’t that feel better?” The villain gloated, and I giggled.

  “Much. What about you?” It was impossible to not notice the bulge in his jeans.

  My mouth dried to get at him.

  “Ignore it, it’ll go away in a minute,”

  Poor selfless Noah. What could I do but give his groin a little pat.

  He groaned my name. “That’s not helping.”

  “I could always take care of it. Two minutes tops.”

  “You think I’m a sure thing, kitten?” His smirk gorgeous. Cocksure and tempting.

  “For a blowjob? Zero to 210 in a second, baby.” I did my own gloating. I knew how he liked it. One little suck on the underside of his cock, and now I knew he liked his taint played with he’d blow down my throat in seconds.

  He chuckled. “Cocky.”

  “No,” I licked my bottom lip looking at his hard crotch, “that’s you.”

  “Behave, or I’ll have your skirt pushed up and buried inside you in under a minute, and you can brag how fast I did it.”

  My hormones went nuts under my skin.

  I behaved. But it was difficult.

  Before we stepped out of the car, once Noah got his body under control, I made him use a hand wipe and sanitizer. He rose a brow and I huffed. “Ohmigod. You’re about to hug your parents, lion. With me on your hands!”

  He laughed and poured the lemon sanitizer into his palm.

  It felt very much like walking towards the gallows heading up to the house. Noah tucked my palm into his and I squeezed his hand tightly.

  “We’re here,” he yelled out once we were inside.

  “In the kitchen,” answered his mom who was the first one to greet us.

  It was hard not to notice each pair of eyes coming our way when we entered the airy room. I partially hid behind Noah like that would somehow help the situation.

  “There you are, we thought you got lost,” beamed Tess who enfolded me in a hug first with her motherly arms tight around me, “it’s been too long, sweet girl. How are you? I’ve been telling that boy of mine to bring you to dinner for weeks.” A woman in her late fifties, Tess Fierro was still a looker. With ash blonde hair down to her shoulders, she wore casual shorts and a white swing shirt with the sleeves folded to the elbow and she always smelled of violets.

  “Yeah, the drive took longer than expected, Friday traffic.” Not to mention the stop-gap twenty minutes we took outside. Thankfully Noah didn’t relay that part. “Where’s dad?” He asked dropping a kiss to his mom’s cheek.

  “I’m good, thanks,” my throat cleared. Clearly uncomfortable. But if Tess noticed she didn’t, thankfully, point it out. Instead she took my hand and led me into the kitchen where she pushed a tall glass of what I hoped was just orange juice into my hand.

  I couldn’t drink alcohol and until they knew I was pregnant they had no clue I was liquor free. My eyes darted to Noah.

  “Your father is messing with the grill, for all I know he’s taking it apart. You know how he gets,” an affectionate smile on her face. “See if you can sway him to another task,” she said to Noah who came up behind me, his hand rested on the base of my back sending heat through me. It was only a light touch, but it was one of support. He swiped my glass and gulped a big swallow before handing me it back. “That’s good OJ.” Fingers squeezed my nape. He’d known. I loved him so much. “You okay here if I go rescue dad?”

  “Of course, she is.” Tess answered for me. “Shoo, second-born, leave us girls alone.”

  Why did that fill my shoes with concrete? I wanted to cling to Noah like a sloth and make him take me with him.

  “Where’s everyone else?”

  His two sisters were in the living room, I caught them passing me glances every few minutes. But there was no sign of the kids or the husbands.

  Tess told me the men were down on the beach with the brood.

  “What can I do? Put me to work.”

  I ended up chopping through three lettuces for the salads. Tess chatted the whole time. So much so I began to relax.

  Until Sammie and Maxine headed down our way.

  I braced.

  To be fair, they both tried to hold a normal conversation with me. We talked about work, and how I liked it in the city and asked if I’d been to Noah’s newest club. We shared a giggle when I told them how gorgeous the male dancers were, and it was Maxine who suggested we all have a girl’s night out there one night soon.

  I thought it was going fine.

  Stupid me.

  “So,” Maxine said, sipping her OJ,
hers laced liberally with champagne since I watched her do it. She had her hip resting to the kitchen island. Dressed in a little summery dress she looked cute with her dark hair piled up in a messy top knot. I’d always admired her carefree style. She was gorgeously put together but in a subtle mom way. “You and my brother dating…” I suppose I should be grateful she didn’t lead in with what she saw in his office.

  She didn’t pose it as a question so as I looked over at her, a knife in one hand, a hunk of lettuce in the other, I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say.

  To confirm what she already knew? That was redundant.

  So, I smiled. A tight smile. Continued with my chopping, lobbing it more forcefully into the big glass bowl than was necessary. “Yep. I’m leading him astray. How am I doing so far?”

  Sammie chuckled into her glass and toasted me. “He looks happy,”

  I loved Sammie for saying so and not immediately being on the attack like her elder sibling.

  “Thank you, I like to think I have a hand in that, but Noah is a happy guy all around.”

  “Except when he’s broody and grumpy,” laughed Sammie. I couldn’t agree more. My moody villain.

  “Well I for one am glad someone took him on,” offered Tess. Her back to us all she was busy sloshing barbecue marinade over a tray of raw chicken thighs and legs, “we all know how temperamental that boy can be. He gets it from his father.”

  “And you took daddy on,”

  She snickered. “He’s a tough one. But I don’t regret it. It’s a strong woman to take on a Fierro male.” I felt light with air as if she was giving me her blessing.

  There was no happier, more affectionate couple than Vito and Tess Fierro. They’d absolutely rival my parents for PDA.

  Sammie rose her glass, just OJ like me, in the air. “To Sena. For taking on the humungous task of dealing with our darling brother every single day and not killing him with his own designer belts.”

  I chuckled as the man himself, followed by his dad entered through the sliding deck door. “Hey, I heard that, Sammie. You bad mouthing me to my girl?”

  “Yes. We’ve hid the family secrets from her until now, but she’s taken you in hand it’s time she knows what you’re really like.”

  “Brat,”

  “Goober!” fired back Sammie.

  The name calling went on for a while.

  This was a more relaxed Noah. And I smiled watching him. He sent me a wink.

  “Play nice, kids.” Ordered Vito. He was the only one I was relaxed with. He enfolded me into a hug. “Are you sure about this one, sweetheart? Not too late to toss him back.”

  “I don’t know, Vito.” I looked over at Noah who scowled playfully leaning his lean body on the work surface, ankles crossed and throwing hunks of fresh baked bread into his mouth. I turned back to his dad. “Do you have any other family members that might be better?”

  “There’s cousin Paulie.”

  “Fuck that,” interrupted Noah with a scoff. “Paulie’s a deadbeat and I’d hate to have to kill him.”

  “True.” Vito replied soberly then winked at me. “Marco. He’s a good boy. Steady job. Has a retirement fund, owns his car and has a dental plan.”

  The girls laughed. But then Maxine decided to add. “It’s frightening how much you know about him, dad. Maybe you’re the gay one now.”

  The humor dropped out of the room just like that.

  My belly clenched, and I heard Noah curse under his breath.

  We were saved, I suppose, from it going any further when Noah’s brothers in law burst in, carrying three kids covered in sand.

  If this was indicator of how the day was going to go I was already counting down to leaving.

  ~*~*~

  Maybe I was just hyper sensitive after Maxine’s sarcastic digs, or maybe I’m just batshit period. Either way I felt uncomfortable after that. Everyone was noisily sprawled all over the first floor when I ventured downstairs after a shower. I played a while with the kids on the deck until Noah came to get me to eat dinner.

  We haven’t told them yet and it had me jittery.

  Noah noticed right away and again I think I have a touch of crazy because it’s as though I’m super aware of his every touch and the way his family catch when he touched me. Some with a watchful smile (his mom) and others with judging eyes (big sister)

  I pulled my hand back and laid it in my lap.

  “You don’t need to do that,” I croaked in a hushed whisper to him sitting at my side at the table. My heart was a nervous wreck inside my chest.

  I just wanted to go home.

  “Do what?” Both of his dark brown brows bunched in the middle.

  “Put on a show by being overtly tactile so they believe us. You don’t have to, Noah.”

  Just like that the air dropped a few degrees around us, almost as if we’ve stepped inside a wind tunnel and his face became a dark mask of unreadable Noah.

  This was the Noah every other person in life knew him to be.

  Fuck. He’s sexy as hell.

  But he’s also suddenly inexplicably mad.

  I’ve made him mad.

  He thumped down the napkin and shoved back the chair, it scraped loudly on the tiled floor eliciting everyone’s head to turn our way. He rounded the table, and offered me his palm, “come with me,” I didn’t want to start an argument, not in front of his family who all unashamedly gawked, so I placed my hand in his, it enfolded softer than I would have imagined, what with him being so quietly mad and all, and I let him lead us out of the room.

  He walked so fast I trotted to keep up.

  I like a man who isn't all sunshine, arrogance and swagger. Snarly, downright grumpy and lacking in social graces is more my kind of speed. The kind of man who was striking, of course, but doesn't truly know it and it's not something he plays on because he's too busy being cranky and standoffish with every other human being on the planet.

  I dated jocks in high school who thought they were god’s gift to football, ensuing their arrogance eclipsed any good looks they had and then there were the preps in college who bored me stupid and wouldn't know how to find a clitoris if they had One-Eyed Willy's treasure map. I’d tried to fit myself into someone else’s box, thinking that’s what a college woman would do. I’d grow into this sophisticated swan who dined at the opera and had long passionate conversations about philosophy and Einstein’s theory of relativity, fair play to the guy, he was smart, but all his theories left me bone dry in the underwear department.

  I couldn’t take it anymore and realized they weren’t my kind of men.

  I liked them broody and pensive.

  And if he had gentlemanly manners there's no chance my panties staying up around my hips. Opening doors? I turn into a slut. He brings me coffee? There is one hundred percent assurance he is getting laid.

  Sadly, for me, for a long time, laughable for me when you think about it, I’d laid my hat at the feet of a man that was far more than grumpy, he was focused in everything he did, and stern and I couldn’t have him.

  Until I had him.

  And now he was staring down at me with the stern eyebrows I recognized and eyes dark and stormy.

  As much as people might say we were a joke.

  We fit.

  If you put my attributes and Noah’s attributes on paper, we were opposite in everything apart from our ambition.

  Except for the fact we had love.

  So even though he looked angry. He looked really fucking angry. I was warm inside because this was my Noah and I could pick his every emotion out of a line up. I smiled up at him, my fingers clasped together so I didn’t reach up for him just yet.

  Voice like steel. “Go ahead, say it to me again, kitten.”

  I was still kitten, so he wasn’t all the way mad. I would have been Sena. And in some cases, he even full named me which always reduced me to a giggling mess.

  “So, confession,” I started, advancing my steps towards him like a naughty puppy. I even c
hewed the corner of my mouth which he flickered his gaze to for a moment. “When I get nervous I say dumb shit,” he lifted his brow as if to say no shit, Sherlock. Noah knew me, after all. And I loved that about him, that I don’t need to explain my unpredictable reactions.

  He knows and gets me.

  But he’s not conflicted when it came to call me on my shit.

  I love that even more.

  I knew in that second, that we’re going to make it as a couple.

  I just somehow knew it.

  It’s been clear all along and I was too in my own doubts to realize it.

  The queer and the tech nerd, it’s kismet, really.

  I almost chuckled, but I’m afraid he might spank me.

  Hm.

  That’s for later, Sena.

  I’m before him now, my fingers close enough to touch his shirt front, the material soft but it’s his skin I want most. I let my hand trail down and then up under it, touching his flat belly and the happy trail of hair.

  He has a stomach trigger. I watched his eyes darken.

  “I like you touching me, lion. I like you touching me all the time. I always want you to maul me.”

  His head cranked down, his eyes haven’t left my face once. They’re thundery and hooded. I moved my hands up his chest slowly, back down again and around his expanded ribcage. I felt every short inhalation he drew in.

  “You are my man, I want you to touch me everywhere, anywhere.” His silence was beginning to irk me. “I’m all over the place with my emotions, okay! I say dumb stuff. You’re not supposed to get cranky.”

  Hello, that was my job, thank you. “It’s your fault anyway.”

  His eyebrow was so fricking arrogant. I wanted to shave it off. “How do you figure that?”

  I moved in a little closer, he didn’t object to my hands roaming under his shirt like a pervert, so I kept them clasped on his waist. “You got me pregnant. I can’t cope with all these extra hormones floating around me. They make me mental, Noah. So there, if I say dumb shit, or act erratic, it’s you and your sperms fault.”

  I grinned at him all cute like, or so I hoped.

  His face was still stony.

  So, I went on. “I forgive you.”