His heavy body covered hers as he claimed her lips, the tip of his cock bumping against her sensitized clit. She moaned then rolled her hips, setting him at the perfect angle. As his tongue thrust into her mouth, his cock sank into her waiting pussy, a thick inexorable glide home.
“Damn me, so fucking tight.” He looked down at her. “You good?”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Do it again.”
He did, slowly withdrawing, then just as slowly pushing back inside her. Her slick channel accepted him easier this time, her nerve endings reigniting. Gripping his shoulders, she thrust up against him, demanding more, needing more.
“Yes, ah, God, yes,” she moaned, her eyes sliding shut as pleasure rolled through her. It was good, so good.
“Better than I remember, Kari.” He groaned as if he’d read her mind. He withdrew all the way, then entered her again, making her feel every bit of his sensual invasion. “Better than anything.”
They moved together, rediscovering a rhythm their bodies hadn’t forgotten, reaching together for the pinnacle of pleasure. She wrapped her legs high around his waist as she rocked against him, her core massaging him with every stroke. This first time, after so long apart, couldn’t be about slow. It couldn’t be about gentle. Her body had been starving for his for a decade, and now that she had him, now that he was inside her, her body wanted to feast.
When her fingernails dug into his shoulders he groaned then increased his pace, his hips moving with sensual precision, leaving no part of her core untouched. With his hands gripping the top of the lounger, he pounded into her with so much power the heavy wood began to creak and groan.
She arched into him, her fingernails clawing at his sweat-drenched back, thighs cradling his sides, rocking her hips upward as she took him as deep as she could, chasing the pleasure, chasing the breaking point. Ripples of pleasure spread outward, racing, racing, racing. Here. A guttural scream ripped out of her throat as the orgasm crashed over her, her body arching as her inner muscles clamped down on him with primitive mine, mine, mine demand.
“Kari.” He drove into her wildly, his breath harsh against her throat. The padding beneath her dipped with a loud crack as he thrust against her one final time, his big body shuddering with the force of his orgasm, his cock throbbing so deep inside her it triggered another spasm of pleasure.
After a moment he withdrew, rolling off her and onto the deck. “Aw, hell,” Kari cursed when she could think again. “We broke it, didn’t we?”
“Hell yeah we did,” Gabriel said, his tone all smug male as he sat up and removed the spent condom. “Maybe we should move to the bed. It’s sturdier.”
“The shower’s closer.” She extricated herself from the lounger with his help, surveying the sunken-in middle with giddy pride. “Think you’re up for some good clean fun?”
“With you, love, I’m up for anything.”
CHAPTER NINE
Gabriel gave himself two days. Two perfect, sun-filled days in which he and Kari barely left the master suite. After a night making love under the stars, they had watched the sunrise from the hot tub, then drawn the curtains on the magnificent bed. In the afternoon, the scent of food cooking lured them to the open-air pavilion by the bungalows, after which he and Karina had explored their private beach. Another night under the stars during which they loved each other every way possible, discovering new ways to give and receive pleasure.
As the second day wound down, he acknowledged a truth. He was in love with Kari. Again. Still. Now, because he loved her, he had to tell her everything.
Because he loved her, he had to ruin everything.
“You’re so quiet tonight,” Kari said softly as they lay entwined together on the double lounger, her fingertips tracing lazy patterns on his chest. They were sated, she was sore, and he was trying not to think of her bare pussy on his thigh and how he could soothe the tenderness with long strokes of his tongue.
Instead, he lifted her hand, kissed her fingers. “It’s time to talk.”
She sat up, and he immediately missed the contact. “That talk? But we haven’t had our third date yet.”
“I know,” he answered. “Given the last two days … I don’t want the past hanging over us.”
She wrapped her arms around her upraised knees. “I don’t think I want to know,” she finally said. “I have a feeling it will change things, and I don’t want things to change between us. I like where we are now. I like how we are with each other now.”
“I do too,” he said, reaching out to touch her knee, needing the contact with her. “I don’t want to lose this, Kari. I don’t want to lose you.”
Cautious hope bloomed in her eyes. “You don’t?”
“No.” He waited a heartbeat, feeling his chest tighten then ease with emotion. “I love you.”
“Oh, God.” She launched herself into his arms. “I was afraid I was alone in this. I love you too.”
He clutched her close, her declaration seeping into him like warm sunshine. “Remember you said that.”
“This is about my father, isn’t it?” she asked, her voice barely audible. “He drove you out of town, didn’t he?”
“You know?” Shock and pain pounded on him. It had been his last hope, that Kari hadn’t known what her father had done to him, that she hadn’t been a part of it.
“I didn’t suspect anything until you were already gone. I waited for you, Gabriel. In the park, just like we planned. I waited for you all night, in the gazebo in the rain.”
The pain in her voice slaughtered him. “Kari, oh God, Kari, I’m sorry.”
She continued as if she hadn’t heard him. “When I finally realized you weren’t coming, I couldn’t go back home. I called a friend, and she came to get me. I stayed with her for a couple of days, until I got sick with a bad respiratory infection. I had to be admitted to the hospital, and they contacted my dad.”
Gabriel curled his hands into fists as rage and regret boiled inside him. “You had to go through that, all the while believing that I had run out on you.”
A nod was his answer. “When he got there, my father told me that you were gone. He said that you had gotten what you wanted and that I was the fool for giving it to you and expecting more. He was trying to destroy my feelings for you. He didn’t realize he’d destroyed my feelings for him as well.”
She released a ragged sigh. “I lost you. I lost my relationship with my father. As I recovered, I learned I’d lost my voice too. I couldn’t sing opera anymore. I was eighteen and I thought my life was over.”
She looked at him then. “It took me a while to realize that my father probably had something to do with you leaving town. It wasn’t because you got tired of me. It wasn’t because you thought I was more trouble than I was worth. It was because of my father. Though I hated you for a while for not coming back, for not reaching out to me, I eventually forgave you. I never forgave my father.”
“Kari.” Her name was a groan on his lips. He pulled her onto his lap, wrapping his arms about her waist, needing to hold her, needing her close. “I would have come for you. I was coming for you. Please believe that. If you believe nothing else I say tonight, please believe that if I could have met you in the park that day, I would have. There was nothing that would have kept me away from you.”
A tremble swept through her. “Except?”
He tightened his hold on her, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck. “Your father had me arrested. For raping you.”
For one sharp moment she remained still and quiet on his lap. Then a sound broke free of her throat, the broken cry of a mortally wounded animal. She frantically pushed to her feet, her body vibrating with the force of her emotion. Her breath sawed through her lungs, then she clamped her hands over her mouth and screamed. Then again. And again.
Gabriel launched to his feet, engulfing her in his arms in a desperate need to shield her. Her pain hammered at him, urging him to protect, to defend, to kill. “It’s all right, Kari.
It doesn’t matter now.”
“It’s not all right!” She pounded a fist against his chest. “Why would he do something so horrible? Why would he want to hurt you like that?”
“Because he didn’t want us to be together and that was the most effective way to stop us.” He rubbed a soothing hand down her arm. “I was in jail for almost three days. They dropped the charges when I agreed to leave town and not contact you.”
“But how could they hold you like that? I didn’t talk to the police. I certainly wouldn’t have said you raped me. We were dating! I would have told them that you were my boyfriend and I loved you.”
“The charge was statutory rape. They said it didn’t matter that you were already eighteen when they arrested me, and I believed them. They assumed that we’d been sexually active since you were sixteen, and since I was eighteen when we started dating …”
“Oh God, Gabriel. Oh my God!” She spun away.
He followed her, standing close, hands hovering with the need to touch her, to take her pain. Hating himself for hurting her more, again, still. “I’m sorry.”
“No.” She spun to him, allowing him to see the anger blossoming in her eyes. “No, don’t you dare apologize for what my father did to you.” Another sob broke from her. “For what dating me did to you.”
“I’m not apologizing just for that.” His gut churned with the knowledge that he was going to hurt her more, something he’d vowed that he’d never do again. “I’m apologizing because I wanted revenge. I wanted to hurt your father for hurting me. To take something precious from him like he took something precious from me.”
“Like what?” Realization dawned in her eyes. “You’re the one. You’re behind the takeover of Armistead Manufacturing.”
“Yes. The first part of my plan was to buy up his suppliers, making it more difficult and expensive to do business. I also bought any outstanding stock until I had a majority stake.” He paused. “The second phase had to wait for the right time because I knew he’d get desperate enough to ask you for money, and I wanted to be sure you’d say no.”
“What do you mean?”
He braced himself. “The second part of my plan was to seduce you. To make you fall for me again so you wouldn’t help him. So he’d see that he’d lost both you and the company.”
Horror widened her eyes. She pulled away from him, then stiffly walked over to where she’d tossed her sarong over the back of a chair. She wrapped it around herself, not looking at him. “All of it, all of this was just part of your plan to destroy my father. Were you going to try to destroy me too?”
He closed his eyes briefly, but didn’t offer a denial. “I thought you knew, Kari.”
“You really hate us,” she said, wrapping her arms about herself. “Hate us as much as he hates you.”
He crossed to her. “Not you, Karina. Never you. My plans changed when I saw you at the concert. I wanted you for myself. I wanted you back because I still have feelings for you.”
Her hollow expression didn’t change. “I don’t believe you.”
The soft words stabbed him. “It’s the truth. I love you.”
She shook her head. “You waited years to get revenge. You schemed and sized up your opponents until you found a weakness to exploit. My weakness has always been what I feel for you. Fool that I was, I went right along with it. I believed you did all this for me. I believed that you, that you—” She turned away from him, heading for the bedroom.
He’d lost her. He could tell by the emptiness in her eyes, the ice that once again filled his veins. He’d lost her and he didn’t know what he could say or do to convince her that revenge was no longer important, that nothing was as important as having her heart.
“Kari, wait. I love you. I want to be what you saw in me. I want to be your white knight. Not to save you—you saved yourself just fine. I want to be your champion, standing beside you while you take on the world. I want to be as good as you thought I was. I want you to be what I live for, what I fight for.”
She shook her head. “How do I know this isn’t part of the game you’ve been playing? How can I be sure that you’re not lying to me now?”
“I’m turning the company over to you. You can keep it or sell it off, whatever you want.”
“I don’t want it. Stick to your plan to have my father step down then have Paul take over. He’s a good man, and a good leader.”
“Done.” He could tell, though, that it wasn’t enough. “Kari, sweetheart, tell me what to do. Tell me what you need me to do so that you’ll believe me when I say I love you and want to be with you.”
“Take me home.”
He stepped back. “You want to leave?”
She nodded. “This place is a lie. I can’t be here anymore. I need to think, to clear my head. I need space.”
Space away from him. Cold spread through him, shadows devouring the light-filled places he’d reclaimed because of her. Finally, he nodded. “The boat’s already gone for the day. It’ll be back with the staff just after sunrise.”
“Thank you,” she said, sighing with relief.
The relief cut him. Relief, because she couldn’t get away from him fast enough? He searched for something, anything he could say or do that would immediately turn the tide. Nothing came to mind. Nothing except giving her the space she craved.
“I’ll go,” he said, grabbing some clothes from the dresser. “Do you want me to send Daniel and Henderson up here?”
“No, I just want to be left alone.” She walked back onto the deck, then down to the lower level.
He watched her go, the loss almost unbearable. This time was worse, so much worse. This time, it was his fault.
CHAPTER TEN
Kari took one last look at the spectacular view, her heart heavy. How was it possible to have your best and your worst moments in the space of hours? She’d fallen in love with Gabriel again, deeply and completely. He’d given her the words back, something she wouldn’t have believed possible. This morning should have been the first day of their happily ever after.
Instead, her eyes were swollen from spending the night in tears and futilely searching for sleep. She didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t. Her feelings felt real, but they were built on lies, weren’t they?
I want to be your white knight. Not to save you—you saved yourself just fine. I want to be your champion, standing beside you while you take on the world. I want you to be what I live for, what I fight for.
How could a man give her words like that then tell her he’d plotted to ruin her family and break her father by taking his company, his property, and finally his only daughter? What was she supposed to do in response? She knew Gabriel was cool, calculating—weighing and discarding options with breathless speed. He had to have known she’d react as she had. He had to know she’d doubt everything that had happened between them, doubt him.
She didn’t want to doubt him. However, she’d believed in him before, ten years ago. She’d believed he’d loved her and would come for her. He hadn’t, and now she knew why. Yet he had stayed away. Ten long years, and instead of reaching out to her, instead of trying to talk to her and make things right, he’d kept his distance. Was that what someone in love did?
A knock sounded at the door. Her heart leapt in her throat before she realized that Gabriel wouldn’t have knocked. She quickly crossed to the door, but hope died a quick death when she opened it. Daniel and Henderson stood there, not Gabriel. “The boat’s here,” Daniel said. “The captain said they’ll be ready to return in fifteen minutes.”
“I’m ready,” she declared, trying to shove her public persona into place. “I thought I heard a helicopter, though.”
“Gabriel and one of his guys took it back, to get the plane ready.” He paused, his hazel gaze searching her for any signs of injury. He settled on her red-rimmed eyes. “Are you okay?”
She put on her sunglasses, settled them firmly. “No.”
A savage expression bled into Da
niel’s features. “I warned him not to hurt you. I warned him.”
“I hurt him too, Danny. There’s plenty of blame to pass around. Is he—is he okay?”
Henderson hefted the bags she’d packed for want of something to do. “He spent most of the night sitting in the pavilion,” he said. “I watched him. Sometimes he’d get up, start to take the path back up here. Then he’d stop and just stand there, like he was fighting with himself.”
Henderson gave her a worried look. “He looked like someone died, Ms. Karina.”
She’d thought she’d felt all the pain she could last night, but she was wrong. She’d hurt him, she knew it, but it was hard to see past her own pain. “Our history’s come back to bite us in the collective ass, and I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing or being stupid. I just know I need time to think, and I’d rather do that back home.”
Thoughts consumed her as she stayed on deck for the trip back to Beef Island. Gabriel was going to take her at her word and give her space. Problem was, she wasn’t sure she still wanted it. She missed him already, missed him with a bone-deep ache. Missed his dark gaze, the intensity of his touch, the way he focused so completely on giving her pleasure. He cared, she knew he did. She just wasn’t sure he loved her.
The transfer from the ferry dock to the Gulfstream waiting at Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport passed in a blur as Kari’s mind whirled. The irony of it all was that Gabriel didn’t have to tell her the whole truth. He didn’t have to tell her he’d planned to seduce her. That was the part that hurt the most, that he’d intended to manipulate her emotions for revenge. She would have been happier without knowing, and yet she’d have been furious to discover that he’d deceived her. Either way, she’d been destined for heartbreak.
Nerves tightened her stomach as she boarded the plane to find Gabriel already there. He’d changed out of the board shorts and tank tops of their retreat and into a suit. More than the clothes had changed, however. He ignored her, choosing to focus on the papers and reports that filled his lap. He barked orders in a cold, crisp tone that had everyone jumping to comply. If he’d spent a sleepless night in turmoil as Henderson claimed, Gabriel didn’t show it.
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