Heartbreaker

by Joanne Rock

  “I’m glad to hear it.” He steered the SUV away from the lake, into the hills overlooking the water. “With the boost in followers, will your piece on Chiara fetch a higher price?”

  The evening had quickly grown cold after the sunset, and now she was grateful for the vehicle’s heated seats keeping her warm. Her gaze roamed over Gage, his nearness sending another jolt of heat through her.

  “Definitely. It also takes the pressure off to lock in a quick sale for the interview since the increased reach expands my options for revenue streams.” She couldn’t begin to quantify what a gift this meeting had been for her, but her brain worked overtime strategizing her next move to solidify the growth.

  Besides, thinking about business helped keep her thoughts off the upcoming night with Gage as he turned into the driveway of the four-bedroom vacation home perched above the lake. She should address his proposition. Make it clear that indulging in the attraction wasn’t a good idea, even if thoughts of him dominated far too much of her brain space lately.

  The dense stand of pine trees all around the house kept it hidden from view of the main casino building nearby, giving them the illusion of total privacy. Gage had told her Desmond managed nine other residences in addition to the main resort. While the high-roller suites were glitzy and modern, the villas were positioned as elegant mountain retreats.

  Gage thumbed the remote door opener for the two-bay garage tucked under one side of the house. Light flooded from the space, spilling out onto the stone driveway. The garage was vacant except for a couple of kayaks stowed on one wall rack, and two bikes on another.

  Elena was about to tuck her phone back into her purse when a new message caught her eye, this one from Zoe, her friend in California who’d attempted to collect her things from Tomas’s house that morning. Unable to ignore Zoe, who’d been even more distressed than her about not making it past Tomas’s fiancée, Elena clicked open the message while Gage shut off the vehicle and came around to her side of the Land Rover.

  He opened her door and offered his hand, the simple courtesy reminding her she was being rude to keep checking her phone.

  “My apologies.” Bracing herself for the thrill of his touch before taking his hand, she gripped her phone in the other. “I just saw a text from my friend in Los Angeles and I wanted to thank her for her efforts to obtain my things from my old house, even though her mission wasn’t a success this morning.”

  “Of course.” Gage’s touch didn’t linger once she was on her feet, and Elena couldn’t deny that she missed it. “It’s been a long day, and I’m sure you’ve got a lot on your mind.”

  Perhaps she should be relieved that Gage wasn’t pressing the issue of taking their relationship further this evening. Especially when he’d already done her a tremendous kindness in that valuable introduction. No doubt, her feelings were a confusing knot. His willingness to give her space was welcome, and yet she thought about his touch whenever she wasn’t actively experiencing it.

  That didn’t bode well for maintaining her boundaries.

  He held the door to the house for her and they went inside, passing through a mudroom before entering the kitchen. They’d been in the house only briefly earlier, mostly focused on stowing their bags. Now, Elena took in the gourmet kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances and custom maple cabinetry. Industrial-looking pendant lamps went well with the French country decor, the contrast of antique and modern style giving the room character. Red accents in the leather bar stools and the knobs on the Wolf range broke up the natural tones of the tan granite and ivory-colored travertine floor.

  “Your friend Desmond maintains a beautiful property,” she observed, stepping out of her shoes to pad barefoot toward the countertop. The granite was spotless, and there was a hint of lemon cleaner in the air. It was so different from the crappy temporary apartments she’d bounced around in as a kid.

  “He does. And his advice was instrumental as we began accepting guests at Mesa Falls Ranch when we expanded it from a working ranch to a luxury retreat.” Gage eased out of his jacket and tossed it over a bar stool before turning back to the cabinets, opening and closing a couple. “Can I get you something warm to drink to take the chill off before bed? There are a few flavors of tea.”

  While it might be tempting to escape to her bedroom and avoid the inevitable draw of being around him, Elena knew hiding from the attraction wasn’t going to make it disappear.

  “Tea would be nice. Thank you.” She dragged one of the leather bar stools away from the counter and slid onto the seat. She placed her phone facedown on the granite, waiting to read Zoe’s note until she retired. Right now, she owed Gage her full attention.

  Somehow, she needed to address the proposition he’d made earlier in the evening. She wouldn’t sleep with his suggestive proposal left open-ended, clinging to the corners of her mind. Tempting her.

  She stared at him as he pulled mugs and a basket of teas from a cupboard, mesmerized by the tattoos visible on his forearm. Or maybe it was the whole man who mesmerized her.

  Just watching him walk toward her sent a shiver down her spine.

  “So what did your friend in LA have to say?” he asked, setting the basket of teas near her before he tapped the back of her phone with his finger. “Feel free to reply to her if you want. It will take the water a few minutes to boil anyway, and I should shoot Desmond a note to thank him for the accommodations.”

  “I haven’t read her text yet,” she replied automatically, even though she reeled from the ping-pong of her thoughts as they veered from steamy to practical and back again. She flipped over her phone to read Zoe’s text, trying not to think about Gage’s nearness.

  Or those long, smoldering looks he’d shared with her.

  Still, it took several moments for her mind to refocus on Zoe’s message, the words swimming in front of her eyes. Finally, they came into focus, even though they made no sense.

  I have your things! All your things, Elena! The pictures and mementos, the kitchenware, the clothes and the shoes.

  “I don’t understand,” she murmured, clicking on the image attached to the note that showed Zoe’s smiling face as she hugged a box containing one of Elena’s vintage designer handbags. Only then did the reality of Zoe’s words start to sink home. Behind Zoe, Elena could see rolling racks full of clothes. “How did she retrieve my things?”

  “Is everything all right?” Gage asked, setting his own phone back on the counter before returning to the kettle and filling two mugs with hot water.

  “I’m not sure,” she explained distractedly, returning to her friend’s original message to try to focus on the rest.

  The security team your friend sent worked like magic. I didn’t have to say a word! Tomas’s fiancée ended up leaving the house. Tomas spent whole time apologizing while I went through your list. Security guys had your moped and bike delivered, too. Your doorman put in your storage unit.

  This message required reading twice, but she had an excellent idea of the identity of the mystery “friend” who’d sent a security team with Zoe. The only friend who had witnessed her near meltdown when Zoe failed the first time.

  “Gage.” She realized her fingers were trembling when she set down the phone, her emotions all over the place. “Did you help orchestrate the retrieval of my things from my old home?”

  “Absolutely.” He carried over the steaming ceramic mugs, setting them on either side of the basket of teas. “I have zero remorse for interfering, and I’d do it all over again.”

  He met her gaze steadily before he chose a tea and added it to his cup.

  He must have contacted Zoe without her knowing. Hired the security people and put her in touch with them, coordinating all of it while he was on the road. With the resources at his disposal, it wouldn’t have been difficult, but it had surely inconvenienced him. And it must have cost far more than she could ever afford to r
epay.

  Gratitude filled her along with tenderness for this man who’d done so much to help her today. She’d been determined to keep her boundaries in place with him, to deny herself the hot attraction that pulled her toward him whenever he was near. But with this one act of kindness, he’d stripped away her last defense.

  She was more than grateful. She was touched.

  “Thank you.” She wasn’t sure she had appreciated how fully the burden of Tomas’s games had weighed her down until this moment, when she felt lighter, freer than she had in years. “Truly, I can’t thank you enough for making that happen.”

  Gage slid the basket closer to her, as if to redirect the conversation toward something more concrete. “It was really no trouble, and I’m happy to help.”

  The part about it being no trouble had to be a massive understatement. She wasn’t sure exactly what drove him to orchestrate the task, but she knew for certain that she wouldn’t have all her worldly possessions back under her own control if it hadn’t been for Gage.

  The many feelings she’d been suppressing for him these last few days returned in full force, and then multiplied. The attraction flared hotter until it was impossible to ignore.

  Impossible to deny.

  So this time, when she met his eyes over the steaming cups, she didn’t bother giving him any long, smoldering looks. Instead, she rose from the leather bar stool and rounded the island to stand on the same side of the counter as him. She was done denying that she wanted him.

  Later, she’d figure out how to handle the aftermath of giving in to this attraction. For now, she planned to give herself to the moment. Without hesitation, she levered up on her toes and kissed him.

  * * *

  Gage tried like hell to remind himself that gratitude wasn’t the same thing as passion.

  But having Elena’s slender arms twine around his neck, her sweet curves pressed against him and her lips teasing over his, made it damned near impossible to distinguish the difference. For a moment, he allowed himself to breathe in the hint of lavender fragrance on her skin; he wanted to lick every inch of her to find the source. He savored the silken brush of her mouth despite the need to deepen the kiss and tangle his tongue with hers.

  All of which meant he was breathing like he’d run a marathon by the time she eased back to study him with her dark eyes.

  “You’re holding back on me?” she asked, pursing her lips as she tipped her head sideways to look at him. “After all those seductive words in stolen moments at Jonah’s house?”

  This. Woman.

  She seemed to have an IV right into his bloodstream and could heat it up at will.

  “After the way things ended last time, I think we need to be very, very clear about what we’re getting into before we let passion burn away all of our best intentions.” He ached to touch her. To peel away every last stitch of clothing and run his fingertips over her bare skin.

  He wanted to see her shiver with pleasure. Give her goose bumps. Watch her come undone from nothing more than his touch, his breath on her most sensitive places.

  “Then I will make what I want very, very clear.” She mimicked his cadence, reaching up to unfasten the clasp that held her long dark hair in an updo. She opened it, the waves tumbling down her back. “I don’t want this night to end any other way but with us in bed, and I trust you, Gage Striker, to make sure that happens.”

  Wordless, he could only stare for a moment while she held the jeweled combs between her fingers, then let them fall to the countertop. He hadn’t thought this would happen tonight. But he’d be damned if he would argue when Elena looked at him with fire in her eyes and in her words.

  He’d fallen hard for that strength and passion. Seeing it resurrected now shredded any last restraint.

  “Count on me,” he vowed to himself more than her.

  Spearing his fingers into that long, lush mane, he cupped her head and drew her close for the kiss he wanted. Slow, deep, thorough.

  He licked his way inside her mouth, tilting her head for full access. The soft, needy sounds she made kept him there for a long time, until her knees seemed to give way and she sank more heavily against him. Still, he didn’t break the kiss he’d waited forever to taste. He stroked an experimental touch down her throat, pausing to circle the hollow at its base.

  She reared back to look at him, her pupils dilated, her eyes passion-dazed. “I will combust out of these clothes if we wait any longer to get naked.”

  “We can’t have that.” He kissed his way along her collarbone while his fingers worked the buttons on her suit, unfastening each one until the jacket opened to her narrow waist. Her camisole was next.

  The sight of her pale breasts straining the navy blue lace of her bra cups made his mouth water. He spanned her waist with his hands, skimming up her ribs to mold his palms against the swell of her enticing curves. When he tipped a bra strap off her shoulder with one finger, he watched the lace cup roll down to free an enticing taut nipple. He bent to capture it between his lips, drawing on her while she arched toward him, her hands roaming over his chest, down to his waist and underneath his T-shirt.

  She wriggled closer, her nails lightly scoring his abs as he turned his attention to the other breast.

  Her efforts to undress him slowed as her breath came faster. He helped her by dragging his shirt up and off, leaving it on a bar stool before he turned her in the direction of his bedroom.

  “Come with me, sweetheart.” He hadn’t meant to take things so far in the kitchen. By now, his whole body was on fire.

  “That’s the plan.” She stripped off the lace bra as she walked, letting it fall on a hall table outside his suite. “Now that I’ve committed to this conflagration, I’m requesting as many orgasms as you deem manageable.”

  Stepping deeper into his bedroom, she sent him a saucy look over her shoulder, that dark tangle of hair nearly brushing her waist.

  “You’ll have to beg me for mercy.” He toed the door shut behind them, his eyes on Elena as she eased down the zipper on the back of her pencil skirt.

  He couldn’t lose his pants fast enough—but left on his boxers—before he reached for her skirt. He wanted to feel the way the fabric slid down those memorable hips.

  Wrapping an arm around her waist, he drew her back against him, watching her in the silver-framed mirror above the mahogany chest. Her head lolled back against his shoulder while he touched her, tracing the scalloped edge of her blue lace panties. He kissed her hair, his eyes never leaving her reflection, visible thanks to the light of a desk lamp in the sitting area behind them. She trembled against him.

  “I’ve missed you.” He spoke into her ear, knowing from her flushed cheeks she was already close to the first orgasm. He remembered she was exquisitely sensitive. “I’ve missed this.”

  He meant the passion between them, but he cupped her sex as he said it. She shivered hard, and her nipples beaded.

  “Please, Gage,” she murmured softly, her hips swaying in a way that threatened his restraint.

  He obliged her by skimming aside the panties. Finding the tight bud between her legs. Circling the slick heat.

  She went still, her lips parting. She reached back to grip his thigh, her fingers clenching tight until the sweet, convulsive shudders began. Seeing her come apart filled him with hunger, even as a new, fierce protectiveness surged.

  When the shudders subsided, she turned into him and he lifted her in his arms, carrying her to the king-size bed. Raking back the white duvet, he settled her in the middle of the mattress before he went to get condoms from his toiletry bag.

  He returned to the bed to find her propped against the gray leather headboard, hugging a white pillow to her chest as she watched him come toward her. As he set the condoms on the nightstand, she tossed aside the pillow and dragged him down beside her, her arms locked around his neck.

 
; She was so damned sexy.

  With an effort, he managed to strip off his boxers. She arched up off the bed to kiss her way around his chest, interspersing gentle bites while he rolled a condom into place.

  Levered above her, he positioned himself between her thighs, and their gazes locked. He caressed her cheek before running his thumb along her lower lip. Then, finally, he eased inside her. Inch by incredible inch, he lost himself in Elena.

  Wrapping her legs around him, she anchored her ankles behind his hips. They moved together with the rhythm of two people who’ve memorized one another’s bodies. They started slowly at first, and then picked up the pace, revisiting all the touches that drove one another wild.

  For a while, she wanted to be on top, teasing him with her long hair by dragging it across his sensitized skin. Later, she rolled underneath him so she could trace the patterns of his tattoos with her fingers. The movements were intensely seductive and familiar at the same time, calling down memories he wasn’t ready for.

  In the end, he held her questing fingers captive, pinning them to the pillow on either side of her head to focus solely on the moment. She gave herself to that plan, rolling her hips in time with his thrusts, intensifying every movement. Once he was close to completion, he bent to lave one nipple, tugging it in his mouth until he felt her tense. Letting go, he thrust deep. Hard.

  They came together in a rush of sensation. He lost track of everything but how she made him feel. Mindless with pleasure. Whole.

  Once he recovered himself enough to move off her, Gage knew that last feeling was a problem. He couldn’t rely on Elena to make him feel fulfilled. This relationship wasn’t about that, and he’d be wise not to mix up the past and the present.

  Still, it was impossible not to hold her tight for long afterward. He told himself it was because he wanted to be ready for the next round of orgasms he had every intention of giving her.

  But he feared he knew better.