But he’d heard her hesitate earlier in the lift and he wanted to make sure they were on the same page.
“I want you more than anything, more than any woman I’ve ever known. But I need to know you feel the same. I need to know what you want.”
She flicked her hair back and her eyes captured his. “I … want to call the shots. To be the one in charge. At least for now.”
Images from his earlier daydream flashed through his mind. Sinead in her dominatrix boots and very little else, standing over him, telling him exactly what to do. A rush of heat flowed from his head, straight to the small brain between his legs.
He was definitely on board with the plan, whichever brain was concerned.
“You mean, you want to take charge in bed?”
“Yes, in bed, here on the couch. When we’re together. When we touch.”
He nodded. Clenched his teeth. Dammit, she was turning him on. He’d thought it had been all over for a minute. Relief, a warmth he couldn’t name, and out of control desire waged war inside him. “Fine.”
“Fine?”
“Yes.” His voice cracked as he swallowed past the lump in his throat. She must have heard it.
He didn’t care. He wanted her more than his next breath.
Sinead’s words rushed out on a sigh. “Oh, Gabriel.”
Oh, my goodness.
Gabriel had agreed to let her take charge. For a man like him, used to commanding a whole company, projects worth millions of dollars, making all the hard decisions, it was unbelievable. And yet she believed he wanted it. She’d heard the way his voice had deepened and cracked, and she could hardly ignore the obvious physical reaction he’d had to her words. The hard evidence was there right beside her, and she didn’t want to simply sit next to him. She wanted to take charge. Now.
Climbing onto Gabriel’s lap, she swung one leg over so she was astride him, her slinky dress creeping up her thighs. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck. He shifted and groaned, and she sighed. It was so good, so incredibly right, to be close to him again. She leaned down until her lips hovered a hair’s breadth away from his mouth.
She took control, telling him exactly what she wanted. “Kiss me again, hard.”
He responded as she asked, biting her lower lip, then sliding his tongue inside her mouth. Tasting him, caramel-whiskey infused with his spicy scent, his strong body pressed against her, it was almost too much. There was no stopping the surge of desire building within her, not with him stoking the flames.
She moved back, breaking the kiss and raising her head to expose her throat. Gabriel took the hint, shifting strands of her hair to one side so he could kiss her there. He nipped the tender skin with his teeth, making her gasp.
She whispered into his ear. “Take off your shirt. I need to see you.”
Sitting back slightly on his thighs, she watched him unbutton his shirt with shaking hands. There was something delicious about a man as physically powerful as Gabriel, so nervous and excited because of her. She couldn’t take her eyes off him. The triangle of taut, tanned skin he revealed as he undid one button after another, nearly had her coming undone.
Giving in to her impulse, she bent close and licked a line from his Adam’s apple, all the way down the centre of his chest. His muscles bunched and tensed under her touch as she travelled down further. She blew against the still wet path on his skin. A whole body shudder was her reward. Then he pulled the sleeves of his shirt down his arms and tore it completely off.
She took a minute to admire him. He was so beautiful, so fine, she had trouble believing he was hers.
My man. She tested the concept in her mind. It had the ring of truth.
Running her fingernails lightly down his arms, enjoying the play of his bicep muscles as he tensed under her touch, she spoke the words.
“You’re my man.” She looked him straight in the eyes. Her heart ached as the vulnerable boy peeked back at her once more. “My beautiful, strong man.”
Sinead kissed him again, a momentary touch against his lips. She reached behind her to the glass coffee table, picked up her whiskey glass and took a long, leisurely sip. His eyebrows crept up a fraction. Hopefully he’d like the next little surprise she had in mind.
Reaching into her glass, she pinched an ice cube between her fingertips and placed the glass back on the table. Raising her hand to eye level, Sinead showed Gabriel the ice. He raised his eyebrows into the full-blown “what the hell”, and his lips twitched up at the corners.
Then she lowered the ice to his throat, savouring his shiver and sharp intake of breath.
She slicked the ice from his jaw, down his neck, into the indentation at the base of his throat. She followed it with a press of her lips. Kissing and licking the trickle of meltwater from his skin, humming, breathing him in.
The teasing ramped up as she trailed the ice down his chest, swirling it around one of his nipples, which instantly hardened. His whole body tensed under her touch, then he groaned when she bent and sucked each taut peak between her lips. Delicious, silky smooth flesh and the contrast of manly hair teased her senses.
Gabriel’s hands moved to her backside, pulling her closer to his body.
“Wait,” she warned. “Keep your hands down on the sofa.” She was enjoying this so much, she wasn’t ready for him to take over.
He complied, resting his hands on the leather seat on either side of his muscular, denim-clad thighs.
Sinead wiggled in his lap. His hands tensed and gripped the leather with white knuckles. This slow seduction of her man was what she needed. She needed more than a quickie, more than one night.
Using the ice cube on the other side of Gabriel’s chest, she kept up her kissing torture, teasing and tasting. Finally, she traced a path down the centre of his flat stomach, around the dip of his navel, following the happy trail of golden brown hair to the low waistband of his jeans.
Stopping her hand, she picked up the remnant of ice and popped it into her mouth. Leaning in and kissing his mouth deeply, she swirled the ice around his tongue until it completely dissolved in their combined heat.
The sound he made, God, the sound. It resonated in his chest, a groan so deep it vibrated through him. Almost desperate.
No more waiting. Sinead reached for the hem of her knit dress and pulled it up, over her hips, up over her head. Tossing the dress to the floor behind her, she sat in front of him in her sexiest, knockout silver and black lingerie, thigh-high stockings and boots. Warmth rose in her belly. It wasn’t only the whiskey, it was the effect of his gaze. Their eyes locked.
“You can touch me now.”
She took his right hand in hers, then placed it on the lacy cup of her bra, over the swell of her left breast. She sighed. The palm of his hand rested directly over her heart.
Then Gabriel flipped her over at high-speed, so she was giggling and gasping for air. He was kneeling between her legs and grinning, holding onto her thighs.
“I’m going to make you scream, Irish.”
Mmm-hmm. Excellent plan.
CHAPTER TWELVE
By the time he arrived at work the next day, he’d swum fifty laps and conducted a conference call with a potential European partner. Gabriel should have been exhausted. His mind was elsewhere, but he was full of energy.
After staring blankly at his laptop for a few minutes where it was set up on the boardroom table, he gave in to his lack of concentration. He couldn’t sit still, so he stood and stretched, cracking his neck. His muscles ached, but he was awake, alive, in a way he hadn’t been for a long time. Years, even.
The lightness was the result of the load lifted from his shoulders at work, combined with Sinead’s assault on his senses the night before. She wanted him, and the relief flooded his system along with the ever-present heat. The way she’d teased him so relentlessly with an ice cube, his body tightened again just thinking about it.
Pacing before the boardroom’s floor-to-ceiling windows, he allowed himself to feel the
full force of what she did to him. He’d never known anything like it. They hadn’t even had sex last night, not quite.
Once she’d let him touch her, he’d reacquainted himself with her breathtaking curves, running his hands over her breasts, before tearing off her bra, licking and then sucking the delicate pink buds into his mouth. Lavishing attention on her, one breast and then the other.
He’d urged her to sit back on the sofa, then knelt down in front of her and spread her legs wide, pushing her lace knickers aside and holding fast to her hips, tasting her most intimate places, pleasuring her until she screamed his name. He’d nearly gone insane listening to the breathy sounds she made.
Finally she’d focused on him, and bloody hell it was worth the wait. She’d bossed him around, laid him back and stripped him bare, then took him inside her hot mouth. He’d come so hard and fast, like an out-of-control freight train hurtling down the tracks, not stopping for anyone or anything.
Sinead had completely blown his mind. She owned him. The weird thing was, he didn’t mind. He bloody loved it. He never believed he’d belong to someone.
The fact he couldn’t keep seeing her long term made him want to scream. He stopped pacing and clunked his forehead against a cold windowpane, spreading his hands on the glass barrier. Looking straight down, London was at his feet. But it felt empty.
Sinead had left his hotel suite all too soon last night, needing sleep before she got up at four-thirty in the morning, ready to fly. She must be in Paris by now. She was only there for the day, flying a European leg or two before her next long haul to Melbourne in a few days.
It’d be close to midnight before she got home to London. She’d be too tired to see him. He missed her so much already, his gut ached. His skin prickled in anticipation of seeing her. Touching her again.
He paced, back and forth. Trying to calm his racing pulse, ignoring a raging hard-on. The core London team would join him in the boardroom for the meeting soon.
Calm the hell down.
He fell into a leather chair and pictured Sinead in Paris, drinking coffee on the left bank of the Seine, or walking through the Tuileries Gardens. He’d take her sometime. He’d love to see her in Paris.
But he needed his head in the game now. He scrolled through the notes on his laptop. He’d called the meeting to outline his new role and the way he and Ryan would work together from opposite sides of the world. He’d lined up a similar meeting for his Melbourne team in a few days.
When he’d be back home. On the wrong side of the planet for continuing to see Sinead.
Ryan flung the door open and barged in, obviously all steamed up. “Man, it never rains but it bloody well pours. Looks like we’re in for a hostile takeover bid.”
“What? When did this happen? Who the hell’s making the bid?” Gabriel stared at Ryan’s tense expression. All arousal shot to hell. Looking down at his high-shine Italian shoes and stuffing his fists into his pockets, he braced himself for crappy news.
“I’ve been pinged the stock market report. Someone’s buying chunks of our stock. I’m not one hundred per cent sure, but I’ll wager it’s Travel South.”
Gabriel’s head shot up, on high alert. “Bruce Champion? The sly bastard.”
The older man’s haggard, weather-worn face popped into his head, along with Bruce’s threat from a few years ago. To make Global Village pay. Bruce claimed Gabriel had ruined a deal Travel South brokered with the major Australian airlines. Of course, Gabriel hadn’t ruined anything, only informed an airline contact of Bruce’s underhand deals with the regional carriers.
Gabriel had promised open and fair business relationships, which he’d delivered, along with access to a cutting-edge digital marketing platform. Bruce ran a successful chain of traditional retail travel agencies in Australia and New Zealand but he hadn’t kept up with technology. Still, in Bruce’s mind, Gabriel had become his mortal enemy. And now it seemed he’d follow through on his threat.
“Okay, let’s get everyone in here ASAP, including our financial market guys and PR. Let’s work through all the scenarios and see what we can come up with,” Gabriel said.
A tight, scary smile stole over Ryan’s face. “Battle stations?” He loved a challenge.
“Armed and ready.” Gabriel’s own smile stretched his cheek muscles. His excitement was forced. This was the last thing he needed.
Going into full business mode, he wouldn’t have time to talk to Sinead for a while. He regretted it already.
Paris, France
The tune playing through Sinead’s earbuds was perfect. Something about hearts yearning and Paris burning. Burning with passion all night long.
She nodded her head along with the song’s upbeat tempo. Soaking up the atmosphere, sitting at an outdoor table at one of her favourite cafés on the fashionable Boulevard St Germain, she watched the sophisticated crowd. Beautiful couples holding hands, basking in the afterglow of whatever had happened the night before. Just like she was. Students reading, old people walking their dogs.
Waiting for Yuki, she sipped a perfect café au lait. She sighed as the bittersweet flavour filled her mouth. Then she checked her phone for messages. Again. Her heart pounded as a new text message popped up before her eyes. Not from Gabriel. Her stomach dropped with disappointment.
It was from Bridie. Guilt clogged her throat for ignoring her sister so thoroughly since she arrived yesterday.
Bridie: RU gone? Where to?
Sinead: Yes, left for work at arse crack of dawn. In Paris.
Bridie: OMG! Lucky bitch. Can I have ur bed? I won’t defile it with boys. Promise.
Sinead: Sure, see you tomorrow morning. XXX
She laughed at her sister’s silliness and promised she’d spend more time with her soon.
Her skin itched to see Gabriel, to touch him, but trying to build a bridge with her family was important. She and Bridie both had to go home to Dublin soon and face their mother, and a united front would help. They’d support each other if things went to shite.
Her fingers hovered over her phone, wanting to reach out to Gabriel. She could let him know he was on her mind. He certainly was. Last night had been heart-stoppingly spectacular. She’d never been so hot-to-trot. But it wasn’t just physical. They’d looked at each other. Really looked. She’d seen him and he’d seen her, no pretence.
In Singapore they’d had a glimmer of a connection, now it was stronger. More real.
And Gabriel had let her take control. She’d needed it, wanted it. To touch him, to take her time. He’d been more than happy. His hands had shaken when he touched her. She’d never had the power with a man before, no matter how much she’d wanted it in the past.
Somehow, he made her want to be unflinchingly honest, in words and through touch.
She couldn’t wait another second. Words rushed through her head. Should she play it flirty or sincere? Closing her eyes for a moment, she blinked them open and typed exactly what she’d been thinking.
Can’t stop thinking about last night. When we touched, I think you nearly exploded my heart. S xxx
She hoped he’d reply immediately, but after a few minutes of staring at her phone, there was still no response.
Then Yuki arrived right in front of her, making her yelp in surprise, scattering her thoughts.
Sinead pulled the earbuds out of her ears, stopping the music mid-song. “Hi, Yuki.”
Her friend swished her shiny black hair. “Hi, sweetie. I need one of those coffees. And crepes I think. Mmm, definitely crepes.”
Yuki scraped a chair along the floor and fell into the spot opposite Sinead, dumping paper shopping bags on the ground. Yuki had hit the boutiques as soon as they landed, but Sinead didn’t have the energy.
Yuki tipped her head to one side. “What’s up with you? Did someone raid your secret chocolate stash?”
“No, I’m okay. Waiting for a call. Hoping for a call.” Sinead wanted to avoid the full twenty questions routine.
“From Ga
briel? Did you see him last night?”
Sinead had seen him all right. Every glorious inch of him. Her face overheated, as she imagined Gabriel laid back on the leather sofa, naked and ready and waiting for her touch. She bit her lip.
“Hello! Someone got lucky, and it sure as sugar wasn’t me.” Yuki rolled her eyes skyward and let out an exaggerated sigh. “I miss Daniel.”
Sinead patted her arm in sympathy. Then the phone vibrated on the table. She picked it up with eager fingers, nearly dropping it into her coffee. The message set her face aflame again.
Need you, so much. Want to be inside you. Deep and hard till you scream. Will await your orders tomorrow. G.
Sinead fanned her face with her hand and grabbed the glass of iced water in front of her. The ice cubes clinked as she drank, and an image of what she’d done with Gabriel formed in her mind. Cool ice cubes melting against his hot chest. She gulped down the water but it wasn’t doing anything to cool her now.
Good Lord. She might explode in a ball of flame before tomorrow.
“Oh, baby. Give it to me all night long Gabriel, you big spunky CEO.” Yuki was laughing her arse off at Sinead’s expense, wiping tears from her eyes.
“Shut up, please. I’m composing sexy words.” Sinead told off her friend, then quickly typed another message before she lost her nerve.
I need you too. Don’t touch yourself b4 we meet. Want you hard, ready. I have plans for you.
She waited a long moment. No reply. Had she gone too far with the sexting? But then Gabriel’s message arrived.
Argghh! Temptress. No more. In a meeting. Can’t get up for a while.
Sinead tried to control her laughter. And failed. Gabriel must have been covertly texting in a business meeting, hiding an impressive erection under the table. She gulped on a dry throat when she imagined crashing the meeting and taking full advantage of his predicament. Pulling him out of the meeting and dragging him to his office, or simply crawling under the table. Such a pity she was on the wrong side of the English Channel.
Sinead suddenly remembered Yuki was there, and glanced up, trying to control her crazy reactions.
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