by Joanne Rock
He fought the urge to reach across the table and cover her restless fingers. But then, maybe he was just looking for an excuse to touch her again.
“I reached out to her attorney to let him know that Alec was on the move, possibly to leave the country.” It still galled him to think that a man he trusted—one of his closest friends—could have been working against their interests all this time. “I suggested he relay the information to his client in case she knew more about Alec’s activities than what she’d admitted when she was first arrested.”
Nicole’s fingers paused in their twirling of the pendant.
“That was clever of you.” A gleam of respect lit her dark brown gaze. “How well do you know her?”
“Not well at all. Which, in retrospect, I see must have been by design on Alec’s part. Vivian attended Brookfield, the girls’ school closest to Dowdon. He’s known her that long, and yet he always kept her apart from us.”
“So she wasn’t just his employee. They were friends?”
“Yes. And lovers at times, apparently.” Some of that had been covered in the news articles he’d forwarded to Nicole about Vivian’s arrest. “Did you have the chance to read the press I sent you?”
“I did. Thank you.” She tucked a red wave behind one ear and glanced out the window before lowering the shade a few inches to block the setting sun. “Just wondering your take on their relationship versus what the news outlets had to say.”
“Alec has been focused on building a gaming empire. Personal relationships haven’t been a priority for as long as I’ve known him.” For him, either. Even when life had been less complicated.
“It sounds like you have that much in common with him.” Her gaze slid briefly to his before darting away again.
He studied her for a long moment, not sure how to respond. He folded down the table in front of him so he could switch seats to the one beside her. Heat flared in her eyes when he looked at her again.
Even though, damn it, that’s not why he’d closed the distance between them. Was it?
“I may not have wanted personal relationships to be a priority in the past, but I’m rethinking that now.” He let her mull that over while he did, too. Because the realization surprised him also, but that didn’t make it any less true. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her. And not just because of their heated connection. He wanted to help her. To know more about her. “Recently, I’ve started to remember what my mentor told me long ago about all work and no play.”
His fingers lifted, as if by their own volition, and sifted into the cinnamon strands that framed her face. He combed through the tendrils slowly, watching them glide over his skin.
The only sound besides the rumble of the jet engine was Nicole’s swift intake of breath.
A wash of color crept up her cheeks, flooding over the smattering of freckles. The need to kiss everywhere that flush landed was a sudden overwhelming need.
“I can’t afford to play, Desmond.” Her words were softly spoken, with little volume behind them, but they still delivered a gut punch to his midsection. “I’m the head of a family now. I need to make smart decisions.”
“I have no doubt that you will. You’ve already championed your nephew to ensure his future is secure, and I admire that.” His thumb traced her cheekbone, smoothing along impossibly soft skin. He would let her go in another moment. Once he was sure she really wanted to walk away. “But we still have a brief window of time together before our responsibilities claim us again. Would it be so wrong to indulge something we want? Something solely for ourselves?”
She closed her eyes for a moment, and he thought he’d lost any chance. Without opening them, she said, “When we land, we’ll go see Vivian. Find out what she knows. And then I’ll go resume my life while you resume yours.” Her lashes fluttered open again, her look fixing him. “I thought that’s what you wanted. You were adamant that I didn’t get the wrong idea about what happened between us.”
He’d had plenty of opportunities to curse those words he’d spoken. But the fact that he hadn’t been able to organize his thoughts after being with her only underscored how much she’d gotten under his skin.
“I wanted to be honest with you. Then and now. I know I don’t have anything to offer beyond tonight, but I won’t pretend I don’t still want you.” So. Much. She was ever present in his thoughts. In his memories. In fevered dreams. “Visiting hours at the jail will be over when we land,” he continued, hoping he wasn’t deceiving himself that there could still be one more night to be with her. “We won’t be able to meet with Vivian, the police and her attorney until the morning.”
Her indecision was clear as she nibbled her lower lip, worrying it between her teeth.
When, at last, her gaze dipped to his mouth, he knew he’d won. Still, he wanted to hear her say it.
“Will you spend tonight with me, Nicole?” Not for anything could he have kept the growl out of his voice. “Let me touch you. Taste you. Make you feel good.”
The rapid rise and fall of her breasts called to his hands. But still he waited for the words.
“I’d like that,” she said finally, hovering closer until her long waves brushed his shoulder. Her dark eyes smoldered with new fire when she peered up at him again. “Yes. Please.”
Ten
Her whole body hummed with anticipation as the car service deposited them in front of Desmond’s modern stone-and-wood estate overlooking Lake Tahoe.
Nicole’s gaze latched on his square shoulders as he unlocked the tall double doors at the entrance, the sight of him anchoring her. Somehow, knowing that she wasn’t alone in this heady attraction, that he’d thought about their time together so much that he wanted another night with her, soothed the wound she’d felt to her feminine pride at the way things ended the first time. Dragging in a breath of cool mountain air, she noted the remote feel of the property before she followed him inside, the trees close on every side except for the back, where deep terraces provided patios for enjoying the waterfront. Desmond had pointed out the casino he owned on their way through town, less than a mile from his house.
Now, she stood to one side of the open-concept living and dining area, leaving room for the driver to bring things inside while Desmond flipped switches to turn on lights and close blinds. All around her, the banks of windows were soundlessly shuttered, folding them in privacy. Pendant lamps blinked on over a long island wrapped in gray quartz near the dining room, followed by a lamp in a downstairs suite she could see into thanks to the open door. A white brick fireplace taking up a whole wall in the bedroom brightened with the leap of gas flames before Desmond set aside the home remote.
He thanked the driver and sent the man on his way. Desmond closed the door behind him, then rearmed the alarm before toeing off his leather dress shoes on the front mat.
And somehow the sight of sock-clad feet on the hardwood floor as he neared Nicole made what they were about to do the most real to her. There was something intimate about that small, private act of removing his shoes. Making himself comfortable to be with her.
“Nicole.” He strode toward her, shrugging off his jacket and flipping it onto one of two low barrel chairs in the living room. “Don’t be nervous.” He stopped just short of her, relieving her of the leather bag she still clutched by the shoulder strap. He set it on the chair near his jacket. “It’s not too late to change your mind.”
His hands slid around her upper arms, where too many layers—her blazer and the sleeves of her dress—prevented her from feeling the texture of his palms as he touched her.
“I’m not nervous anymore.” Her heart thumped faster, everything inside her accelerating like she’d just put her foot on the gas. Her breath. The hot rush of blood in her veins. The leap of nerve endings.
“Were you before?” His focus lasered in on her as he lowered his hands from her. Instead, he flicked ope
n the buttons on his shirtsleeves then folded back the cuffs. “Is everything okay?”
His thoughtfulness of her feelings shouldn’t make her feel even more fluttery inside than his touch. But she couldn’t deny she appreciated the way he checked in with her.
She told herself not to get attached to this. To the way he made her feel. But she had no way of knowing if she would take her own advice.
“I might have been a little nervous that nothing could top the way you made me feel last time,” she admitted in a rush before she could stop herself. She laid her hand on his chest, feeling his heart thump steadily through the starched cotton of his white shirt. “I wondered if maybe I embellished it in my head because it was the first I’d been with someone in...a long while.”
She’d come up with a million and one reasons to account for why she’d let herself go so completely with him. The months of overwhelming responsibilities, the grief of losing her sister, the fear of not providing everything Matthew needed. No doubt she’d been battling through a rough time in her life. And maybe that accounted for why being with Desmond had been so incredible. It had been a release valve for all that.
“I’m sorry that you worried for even a minute.” His hands flexed gently around her arms. Up to her shoulders. His thumbs brushed her collarbone before they dipped inside her jacket, spreading the lapels wider to give him access to her neck. His lips fastened on a spot just below her ear, his tongue flicking lightly before he spoke against her damp flesh. “I promise you the first time wasn’t a fluke.”
Her knees wobbled a little, and she gripped the fabric of his shirt, steadying herself in the rush of pleasure warming her skin. Not just where he kissed, either. Liquid heat flooded her senses.
“I believe you.” She shivered as he pushed her jacket down and off her shoulders.
“Good.” He kissed a path along her jaw, ending at the corner of her lips. He nipped the lower one before he drew on it. When he broke the contact, he tucked a finger under her chin and tipped her face up to his. “Tonight’s going to be so much better.”
She felt the truth of the promise in the electric current running through her. She might not trust him with her heart or her feelings, but she absolutely trusted him with her pleasure. And after the way she’d shouldered so much on her own these last months, it was a heady gift to be able to hand that off to this sexy, capable man staring at her like she was the most appealing woman he’d ever laid eyes on.
“You set the bar high.” Dragging her fingers lightly down his chest, she sketched the ridges of his abs. “I have a lot of good memories from last time.”
He let go of her chin and plucked her hand from where she’d veered close to his belt. He took his time threading his fingers through hers, interlocking them.
“Multiply that by all the extra hours we have before the sun rises, and you’ll see why it’s easy to be confident you’re going to be thoroughly...” He leaned close again to speak into her ear, the huff of his breath a teasing stroke. “Pleasured.”
Oh.
The math of hours and pleasures was almost as enticing as the feel of his body close to hers as he led her toward the bedroom with the fireplace. She tried to focus on that and not the way he’d deliberately put her at ease, making sure she was comfortable. Because if she thought too much about him beyond the delicious release he could give her, she risked getting lost in feelings she wasn’t ready for.
Feelings he refuses to share, a cruel voice in her head whispered.
But she refused to let that rob her of this night with him. She deserved it. Hell, after what she’d been through this year, she needed it.
In the bedroom, he let go of her hand to shut the door, and she gathered up her hair before presenting him her back.
“Unzip me?” she asked over her shoulder, little tremors of eagerness racing through her.
She liked the way his eyes blazed with an internal heat. And she definitely liked that he allowed his attention to travel the length of her body.
A moment later, he closed the distance between them. He wrapped one strong arm around her, drawing her against him so his hips notched against the back of hers. She gasped at the feel of him, his need for her deliciously evident as he tugged down the long zipper of her black knit dress.
He let the fabric fall away as it parted, his breath tickling against bare skin while he shoved the material down and over her hips until it fell at her feet. She let go of her hair to stroke his forearm where it was wrapped around her waist. She glimpsed them together in a whitewashed cheval mirror, their bodies lit by the orange flames from the fireplace, her hair tousled and unruly. But while she was halfway to naked save for her simple black undergarments and boots, Desmond remained fully clothed. White dress shirt folded back at the forearms, he still wore dark wool gabardine pants that teased the backs of her thighs.
“Keep looking,” he breathed into her ear, his gray gaze meeting hers in the glass. His fingers trailed down her hip to trace the elastic of her panties. “And you’ll see how much you like me touching you.”
Powerless to look away, she watched. A riot of sensation rocked her as his touch descended lower, sliding under the waistband of her underwear. When his other arm banded around her, higher on her rib cage, he cupped her breasts through the sheer fabric of her bra, teasing the tips to tight, hard points.
Trapped against him in the best possible way, she panted with the sensual onslaught, her eyes sliding closed to lose herself to the skilled, seductive plucking of his fingers.
“No.” His sharp command was a whisper in her ear, the word damp on her skin. “Keep watching.” His voice had a jagged edge over his rough breathing, as if he was as affected by the touch as her. “It’s the hottest, sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what you look like when you come apart for me.”
Tension coiled tighter between her thighs. She hauled her eyes open again, mesmerized by the sight but too caught up in the slick pressure of his fingers right where she needed him most.
“Please.” She didn’t know if she wanted him to take her to the precipice faster or slower. Wasn’t sure if she wanted the sweet thrill in her body to find an outlet or to remain in this breathless, perfect anticipation forever. “It feels so—”
She broke off, the build of tension arching her back. Robbing her ability to speak. Slamming her eyes closed.
“That’s it.” He praised her with hoarse satisfaction as his fingers plunged inside her. “That’s what I’ve been dreaming about every night.”
Her release shattered her, rocking her body and turning her knees to liquid. She would have fallen if not for being pinned to him, his hands never ceasing their carnal work, calling forth every last spasm from her shuddering form. When at last he slowed to a stop, he turned her in his arms before carrying her boneless form to the bed, pausing only to peel off her boots. She wanted to protest, to give him the same incredible fulfillment he’d just provided for her, but her words died in her throat as she slivered her eyes open to see him undressing.
* * *
He’d never been in such a hurry to be naked.
Desmond tore off his shirt with a muttered oath, needing to be inside the tousled siren who twisted in his bed covers, reaching toward him with hungry hands. His control had started slipping about the time she’d asked him to unzip her. By now the tattered remnants of it had barely enough strength to remind him to find a condom before giving up the ghost.
Later, he’d wonder how she wielded this kind of power over him. At this moment, he could only scavenge the wherewithal to locate the necessary protection and sheathe himself while she shimmied out of the sheer black underthings that had made him forget his own name. Then again, seeing her naked was even more potent, her red hair trailing over her shoulders to frame the perfect curves of her breasts. He kneed one slender thigh wider, making room for himself whe
re he most wanted to be.
Levering over her, he was poised to sink inside her when she cupped his jaw.
“This is the part I’ve been dreaming about,” she whispered, echoing his words back to him. “You. Filling me.”
His need unleashed. He sank inside her fully, driven by her words. Her thighs clamped around his waist like a vise, her hips lifted to him. For him. Over and over again, he took what she offered and gave her more. All of him.
She moaned and whimpered, urged him on with a train of hungry demands in his ear. He lost himself in her, straining closer to the pleasure that he’d only ever find with her.
The thought blindsided him. Slowed his thrusts for one protracted moment while his heart hammered in his chest, blood rushing in his ears. Her passion-fogged eyes met his, her bee-stung lips full and damp from his kisses and bites. Seeing her that way, knowing she was every bit as lost as him, was the tether that kept him in the moment. The realization that made him need to deliver on every sensual promise. To give her everything she wanted.
He lowered his mouth to her breast, drawing hard on the pebbled peak. Her hips bucked against him, arching closer. Angling. Sensing what she needed, he reached between them to touch the place certain to send her flying. He circled the tender flesh while he thrust faster, harder, pushing them both higher.
When her back arched this time, tension curving her spine, he was ready. The soft pulls of her feminine flesh squeezed him, and he let himself go with her. On and on her body worked his, one shudder calling forth another until they were both spent and damp. Sated and replete.
For now, at least.
Desmond knew that just lying beside her would incite his hunger again, all too soon. So for now, he wrapped her close to him, holding her without questioning the need that seemed to have written itself in his soul.