Hard and Fast: Italian Stallions, Book 2, page 1
Hard and Fast
Italian Stallions, Book 2
Mari Carr
Copyright © 2022 by Mari Carr
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
Contents
Hard and Fast
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
About the Author
Hard and Fast
Penny is tired of being seen as the gamer, the crazy cat lady, the mom-jeans-wearing, YouTube-bingeing, quirky IT girl. She’s barreling toward 29 and ready to make some changes…in her appearance and her nonexistent love life. But she’s smart enough to know she needs help—and who she needs it from. Her billionaire playboy boss, Gage Russo.
* * *
Bachelor Gage’s life is typically full of excitement, on the work front and in the bedroom. He’s never lacking for female company and he rarely sleeps alone. Regardless, lately, he can’t shake feeling bored. That is, until Penny challenges him to a friendly wager…one he promptly loses. Her prize? Lessons in seduction—from him.
* * *
Lines get blurred as Gage pushes harder…moves faster…teaching Penny things she’s only ever fantasized about. But the playboy with all the smooth moves makes one big mistake when he fails to tell his sexy student that the lessons are no longer fake, and what he wants from her is very, very real.
Chapter One
Penny dragged herself into her small apartment and dropped down on the couch wearily. Of course, she didn’t get to stay there for longer than a few seconds before she was besieged by a chorus of meows. Her cats—all four of them—were hungry.
She pushed herself up and trudged to the kitchen, nearly tripping over Harry, who was attempting to herd her toward the cabinet with the cat food.
“Dammit, Harry,” she chided. “I’m not that late. Besides, look at you. You could afford to miss a few meals, buddy.” Harry, a large Maine Coon, was way too fond of dinnertime, breakfast time, snack time, and the cat most likely to finish off whatever the other three had left behind.
She reached into the cabinet to pull out a can of cat food. Then she dipped out four portions into the personalized cat bowls under the kitchen window. Being a single woman with a good-paying job and zero social life meant she had too much money to blow on frivolous shit like the cute cat bowls. Of course, that wasn’t her fault. Facebook had her number, constantly tempting her with ads for cat stuff, hilarious gamer shirts, and techie gadgets.
She rinsed off the spoon but left it in the sink then considered the box of Fruit Loops sitting on top of her fridge. She’d already had dinner, a bowl of macaroni and cheese—the orange stuff—at Jess’s new apartment. Maybe she could call the Fruit Loops dessert.
“Nah,” she said to no one. “I’m not hungry.” She directed that comment to the cats so she wouldn’t feel like an idiot talking to no one. Forrest briefly lifted his head from the bowl to give her one of his typical vacant-eyed expressions. Poor cat. The lights were on, but nobody was home.
At least he acknowledged she was speaking.
“I’d only eat it because I’m bored.”
Forrest seemed to accept that reason and returned to his bowl, bumping heads with Harry, who had already scarfed his down and was now looking for more.
“Harry!” she chastised. “For shame.”
Harry had none, but he was familiar enough with this routine to know he had to wait for the other cats to finish before he claimed the leftovers. He walked over to her, rubbing around her ankles, as if that would soften her up. She sat at the kitchen table then reached down absent-mindedly to pet him.
It had been quite an afternoon. She’d left work early at her new friend Jess’s request. Jess had moved out of the apartment she’d been sharing with Penny’s brother, Rhys, and his roommate, Tony, into a place of her own. She’d asked Penny to pick up her young son, Jasper, from elementary school, and she’d been more than happy to blow off early because Jasper was quickly becoming one of her favorite people on the planet. The kid was smart, sweet, and super adorable.
She’d been looking forward to helping Jess decorate her new place, but she had a feeling that wasn’t going to be necessary now.
Penny had just finished her macaroni and cheese when Rhys and Tony showed up, with Tony’s aunt Berta in tow. Aunt Berta had announced she was taking Jasper for the night because Rhys and Tony wanted to talk to Jess—alone.
Penny had left with Aunt Berta, who’d confided in a low voice, so Jasper didn’t overhear, that the two men were in love with Jess and they were hoping to talk her into moving back in with them. For good.
“I think I’m going to be an aunt,” she confided to Harry, who’d rolled over on his back, mooching for stomach rubs.
She silently hoped Tony and Rhys would win their bid for Jess’s heart. Not that she believed they’d have to try too hard. Jess was obviously in love with them—both of them—and they felt the same. It was perfect and wonderful…and damn if it didn’t make Penny feel even more alone.
Before she could sit too long with that heavy feeling, her phone pinged and she read the text.
dead by daylight
If she was a normal person, maybe a text like that would scare the shit out of her. As it was, she bounced up from her chair and headed down the hall to her office.
Waking up her PC, she fired a text back to her colleague and gaming buddy, Toby.
logging in
As she waited for the game, Dead by Daylight, to load, she slipped off her shoes, cleaned her glasses, then ran back to the kitchen for a sugar-free Red Bull. Toby was a huge fan of the game’s premise, where famous movie serial killers chased them around, trying to kill them in spectacularly gory fashion. They had to outrun and escape Pinhead, Michael Myers, Leatherface, or Freddy Krueger to win. She and Rich, the other member of their gaming group, humored him every now and then by playing.
By the time she returned, Toby had added her to the game and set up a Discord channel. She frowned at the avatars.
“Where’s Rich?” she asked. “And who the hell is Daddy_Morebutt$$?”
Toby chuckled. “Rich had to work late, so I invited Gage.”
“Gage who?” Penny asked.
“It’s me, Beaumont.”
Penny recognized the voice in an instant, but even if she hadn’t, she would have known who it was. Only one person in the world called her Beaumont.
She tried to figure out if she’d somehow fallen into a parallel universe, a place where it might be plausible for her to be playing video games with Gage Russo, her too-hot-for-words playboy billionaire boss.
“Uh,” she said, super lamely. Because talking wasn’t something she did so well whenever her sexy boss was around.
“Wow. I think I heard something there, Beaumont. Did you just try to talk or are you choking?” Gage teased. The man typically said hello whenever he stopped by IT to talk to Toby or Rich, grinning when all she managed was a flimsy wave. He never tried to engage her in anything more because in the world of gods like Gage Russo, her mere mortal status rendered her virtually invisible.
Goddammit. She was going to read Toby the riot act tomorrow. Their gaming group was her safe space. A place where she could kick back and be herself. Toby knew she became a mute idiot whenever Gage was around, so how could he invite the boss and not ask her first?
Not that it was particularly shocking he had. Toby suffered from a serious case of hero worship where Gage was concerned, always trying too hard to relate and laughing too loud at Gage’s jokes.
She cleared her throat and tried again. “Uh. Hi.”
Okay. That was a little bit better.
“Thought I’d check out life inside the nerd circle,” Gage said.
Penny rolled her eyes, wishing she could be annoyed by the nickname. Unfortunately, Toby—taking a page from Fat Amy and Pitch Perfect—had given their department that stupid moniker, deciding if they called themselves nerds first, it somehow made them cool.
Sadly, she suspected Samuel L. Jackson barking orders at them drill-sergeant style about how to dress and behave wouldn’t even manage to make their Island of Misfit Toys cool.
“I figured you’d have a date,” Toby said to Gage—because God knew he wouldn’t think that about her. “Lucky that I asked on a night you were available.”
Gage chuckled—why did he have to have such a sexy laugh?—and said, “Scored at lunch, so it freed up my evening.”
Toby laughed as if that was the funniest thing he’d ever heard in his life. Then asked Gage about his “lunch date.” Apparently, Gage was currently dating some former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model, which sent Toby into orbit, firing off a million questions. To his credit, Gage answered them all, see mingly unannoyed by Toby’s endless fawning.
“You still there, Beaumont?”
Shit. Penny realized she’d forgotten to speak for a while. Not that she’d had a damn thing to add.
Regardless, she spent way too much time alone with only her thoughts. Curse of living by herself for so long. She really needed to work on her conversational skills. Or consider getting a roommate who wasn’t feline.
“Yeah. We playing?”
Woohoo! She silently cheered for herself. Three whole words. Not one stammer.
“Yeah, man. Let’s do this thing,” Toby said excitedly. “Wait until you see the graphics on this game, Gage.”
As always, once the game play began, Penny lost herself in the digital world, one where she fit in, where she felt comfortable. After a few minutes, she forgot all about Gage Russo, becoming the character she was playing, concentrating on nothing more than outrunning the serial killer.
“Dammit, Toby,” Penny yelled. “Get your shit together. Because I’m telling you right now, I’m not spending the whole night saving your ass from Michael Myers.”
She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard Gage laugh.
Toby scoffed. “I’m trying. Jesus. I spilled soda on my keyboard and the keys are sticking.”
“You use that excuse all the time, but I know for a fact you never put drinks anywhere near your computer. Watch out!” she yelled.
“What a game,” Gage muttered as he cut Toby down from where the killer had strung him up before Penny could reach him.
“Good save,” she said.
“Behind you, Beaumont,” Gage warned.
“I see him.” She deftly escaped, though she took a couple hits before she was able to beat the villain back.
Gage whistled. “Shit, you’re good at this.”
She wasn’t sure why, but something inside her warmed up at his praise. She didn’t consider herself the type of person who needed other people’s admiration, but it felt nice to be seen. Or not just seen but recognized as having an actual talent for…well, Dead before Daylight was a stupid talent, but at least it was something.
For the next two hours, the three of them ran through the digital woods, working together like a well-oiled machine as they defeated Michael Myers. Gage was a surprisingly good gamer, and like her, when in the heat of the moment, he cussed like a sailor.
When the game was over, she realized that for the entire night, she’d managed to talk to Gage with the same confidence and familiarity she shared with Toby and Rich. She’d broken through her tongue-tied insanity—and it felt great.
“Fuck,” Gage said. “That was intense. I see why you like it, Toby.”
Toby, clearly thrilled, said, “Right? I told you.”
“Next time we play, one of us should take on the role of the killer. That’s when shit gets real.” Penny paused when she realized what she’d just said.
There was no way Gage was coming back for an encore of game night.
This was a fluke.
“I’m in…if I get to be Pinhead,” Gage responded.
Penny groaned, delighted by the thought that he wanted to join them again. “I hate Pinhead. That guy creeps me the fuck out.”
He deepened his voice. “No tears, please. It’s a waste of good suffering.”
“Jesus.” She shuddered, hating how good his impersonation was. “Guess I’m sleeping curled in a fetal position under the covers all night.”
“Gotta admit, I didn’t realize you could talk so much, let alone cuss, Willow99,” Gage teased before taking a jab at her screen name. “Buffy much?”
If Penny had one failing—okay, she had more than that, but in this instance—it was that she could never resist the urge to knock someone down a peg or two if they got too cocky. Her father called her his clever little smart-ass. And at least half the time, he meant that as a compliment.
“I was fifteen when I picked that name. Besides, Willow is awesome. And before you throw that stone, maybe you should have taken a few extra minutes to come up with a better screen name, Daddy_MoreButt$$.”
“I do like the sound of you calling me daddy, Beaumont,” Gage joked.
Aaaand she’d just made a cardinal mistake, forgetting that Gage was a consummate smart-ass himself. While she never engaged in conversation with the man, opting instead to keep her head down and do her job lest she make a jackass of herself, she watched him way too intently whenever he joked around and traded barbs with the other guys in IT.
She had long acknowledged that Gage wasn’t the typical boss. He never played the power card with her or the others in the departments he oversaw. He also didn’t seem to take things too seriously. She figured that was because his brother, Matt, was the CEO of Russo Enterprises, and nobody fucked around on Matt’s watch. Because of that, Gage tended to play the “good cop” role, jovial and easygoing.
Penny didn’t really have an opinion about Conor, the third Russo brother, because he was rarely in the office, opting instead to work out of one of the nightclubs he owned.
It wasn’t unusual for Gage to stop by the IT department once a day, either to discuss business or, more often than not, just shoot the shit. When she considered it now, she wondered if Gage was serious about wanting to be included in the nerd circle.
Because she played video games, D&D, and possessed zero feminine wiles, she’d earned her all-access pass to the boys’ locker room years ago, so she had been privy to Toby, Rich, and Gage’s brand of sophomoric guy talk around the office pretty much since the beginning of her employment six years earlier.
She figured she was the most sexually knowledgeable virgin on the planet, thanks to too many years of listening to the guys she hung out with…and the dirty books she read…and the porn she watched…and the occasional WooHoo SIMS hookup, which was painfully PG.
“For your information,” Gage said, as if her long silence wasn’t weird, “I came up with that screen name when I was sixteen. My high school performed the musical Annie that year and I was hooking up with a couple of the orphans…and Annie. Thought it was pretty fucking clever.”
“It’s hilarious,” Toby said, far too earnestly.
“The dollar signs are a nice touch,” she said sarcastically.
“So you seriously want to play again, Gage?” Toby interjected, probably worried they’d start ragging on his stupid screen name, Freaky12, which was by far the least clever one of their group.
“Yeah. I would.”
“Awesome!” Toby exclaimed, the first to cry uncle, pointing out that they all had work the next day. He said good night and exited the voice chat, leaving Penny alone with Gage.
Jesus H. She should have let Michael Myers kill Toby. The witless wonder had just left her alone in the lion’s den…with the lion.
The easiness of the past couple of hours started to fade despite her best efforts to stay cool. “So, um…”
Gage saved her from herself, interrupting before she could stammer out anything completely inane. “If I don’t see you at the office tomorrow, I’ll see you tomorrow night. Toby invited me to your weekly Dungeons & Dragons game.”
“And you’re coming?” She didn’t mean to sound so shocked but, well…she was shocked.
“I love D&D.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“You all right with that, Beaumont?”
“Yeah.”
“Good,” he said. “I like you talking to me. Didn’t realize you were so funny. Keep it up.”
“Um. Okay. I will. Night, Gage.”
“No, no, no. That’s Daddy to you.”
She snorted, forgetting to be intimidated or shy once and for all where Gage Russo was involved.
“Asshole,” she called him.
Before he could reply, she exited the chat, catching only a split second of his loud laugh, and she grinned.
