by Cherry Adair
“You killed Theo, you lying son of a bitch.” Her voice rose with every word as she spun around, blood in her eye.
Gabriel wasn’t prepared for her to charge him like a bull at a red cape. “No, I swear I—”
His heart slammed up into his throat and he attempted to shimmer out. But she got to him a split second before he could get the hell out of her way.
She slapped a hand on his chest as they collided, and a shower of brilliant white sparks like the aurora borealis shot out in an arc around them, temporarily blinding him.
At Eden’s touch, a blaze of heat, just this side of pain, surged through Gabriel’s body, shocking him with its intensity. The torrent of passion and hunger blindsided him. The pleasure was so sharp he cried out at the same time as she drew in a startled gasp and her eyes went wide.
Ah, Jesus! Too late.
His tenuous hold on his control snapped.
He captured her head in his hands, burying his fingers in her silken curls as he drew her up and in, tight against his body. The fear and anger in her expressive eyes suddenly changed to startled awareness and she parted her lips and arched against him. His entire body burned with undiluted lust.
Savagely Gabriel crushed his mouth down on hers with a raw hunger impossible to deny for one more second. She tasted of sun-warmed oranges, underpinned by tears, and an answering heat that fed his own desire like gasoline on an open flame.
Wrapping her arms about his neck, Eden shivered violently beneath the hot spear of his tongue, denying him nothing. He thrust deeply into her mouth, trembling with the greed in which their mouths joined. He took what she offered with a hunger that was uncontrolled.
He had to stop. Had. To. Stop.
Feeling like he was ripping off his own skin, Gabriel tore his mouth from hers. “No more.”
She whimpered in protest, tightening her arms about his neck, holding on. Not waiting for his compliance, Eden stood on her toes, and reclaimed his mouth. She bit at his lower lip, hard enough for the sharp pain to sting. The sensation ratcheted up his lust another impossible notch.
His heart lunged in his chest as he realized that Eden was just as out of control as he was. His body tightened like a drawn bow as he went back to ravaging her willing mouth.
As he kissed her, his arms tightened around her slender body. He raked his hands down her back to grip her bottom. She gave a huff of air as he crushed her hips hard against the painful ridge of his erection. Mouth avaricious and unrelenting in return, Eden tightened her arms around his neck, rubbing her hips in a maddening dance against him. Moaning deep in her throat, she angled his head as it suited her and plunged the slick heat of her tongue over his, returning the bruising force of his kiss with every ounce of her strength.
She wrapped a leg around his, pulling him closer against her heat, body strained against his, her soft breasts crushed against the hard plane of his chest.
The intense pleasure he felt just kissing this woman was like nothing Gabriel had ever experienced before. He needed to touch her skin. Burned to feel the weight and texture of her breast in his hand. Ached to taste her nipples, and drink from a far more intimate moist heat.
Vaguely he was aware that they were still standing in the vast entry hall when he needed for them to be horizontal.Now.
Imitating the act he craved with his tongue, Gabriel shimmered them to his bedroom where sunlight was flooding his large unmade bed.
He wanted more than to kiss this woman, but when he tried to drag his lips from her mouth he found himself drawn back for one more taste.
The fragrance of her skin, the silken texture of her hair, the moist clinging heat of her mouth gave him a surge of power he’d never felt before. She was addictive, and he gave up any pretense that he could resist her.
The thought that their clothing was an annoyance barely registered before they were both naked. She gave a small cry of satisfaction without opening her eyes. The smooth brush of Eden’s pale skin against his hardness made Gabriel shudder.
Lowering her to the sun-warmed sheets, he linked his fingers with hers, drawing her hands above her head as he settled into the cradle of her thighs.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was perfection. She arched her back, presenting him with her creamy breasts, tipped with pale coral nipples.
She opened eyes heavy with passion, and glittering feverishly between her thick dark lashes. “Swear to me that you had nothing to do with Theo’s death.”
“I swear.”
“Thank God,” she whispered fervently and kissed him again. They parted, each dragging in a breath. “Magic.” Her soft voice was filled with awe, and Gabriel knew she wasn’t referring to the mode of transportation or the loss of their clothes. He knew exactly what she meant. It was as though their very DNA knew the other. Loving Eden was as natural as breathing. No wonder she’d been impossible to resist.
“Yeah,” he breathed against her warm jasmine-scented skin. “Magic.”
God help them both.Yes.
Bombarded by intense physical desire, he had to remain perfectly still for a moment or explode. He dropped his forehead to hers, hearing their syncopated breathing as he held her tightly in his arms. “You are so damn beautiful,” he whispered brokenly, using his utmost control to remain perfectly still. “And yousmell— you smell like Heaven. God. The fragrance of your skin drives me insane. Woman drenched in flowers. Doesn’t matter which of those perfumes you put on. Any of them, combined with the fragrance of your skin, makes me drunk with wanting you. When you walk into a room, I smell you. And I get so hard I’m in pain.”
Her legs moved restlessly against his and she smiled up at him, her face luminous. “I’ve wanted to touch you. Forever.” Her fingers flexed in his hold and he shifted his hips carefully, just enough to anchor her legs with one of his. Gritting his teeth against the sweet agony, he said thickly, “Give me a minute.”
He was pressed intimately between her thighs and felt the hot moist center of her pulse against his hardness. Teeth clenched, he struggled for some semblance of control when all he felt was an all-encompassing gnawing hunger.
His craving for her was raw and untamed, and for the first time in his life his control was shot to hell. To be stopped he’d have to be stabbed in the heart a couple of times. Or Eden had to say no.
Her avid mouth said yes. Yes. Yes.
There was no stopping now.
Dragging his mouth from hers, he bit down gently on the sensitive skin where her neck curved into her shoulder. Her body bowed as he knew it would. She was ultrasensitive right there. He’d noticed the night he’d made love to her from a distance. Then he’d thought he’d shatter, he’d been so hard. But it had been nothing,nothing like this.
If he slipped inside her now, he’d come in two seconds flat. Would that be so bad? It was a desperate question, and he knew the answer. Even if Eden didn’t climax, the damage would still be done. And if he didn’t plunge inside her wet heat, soon, he wouldn’t shatter. He’d die.
“I want you too much,” he admitted, barely recognizing his own voice. Nothing mattered now but the fire consuming his body and mind. He was burning alive, and the small sounds of need Eden was making beneath him ratcheted up his tension, torquing his need.
Control was overrated.
He still had her hands captured above her head, and her nails scored the back of his hand as she drew up her knees on either side of his hips, urging penetration. “Oh, God. Gabriel. Please—”
Silky legs wrapped around his hips, she crossed her ankles, digging her heels into the flexing muscles of his ass, drawing him harder against the heart of her. He’d forgotten how stubborn and determined this woman was.
Gabriel slid his hand beneath her hips, cupping the firm flesh of her bottom, lifting her to receive his first powerful thrust. His entry was hard and fast.
No, he thought dimly as his body immediately convulsed and spasmed.
He didn’t last even two seconds.
&nbs
p; Eden’s hips lifted, and her body shuddered under the impact of his as she climaxed with him. The sensation of her sheath convulsing around him as he continued thrusting took his breath away. If he was wild, so was she, as she dug her nails into his back, her hips hammered back at his as he rode her hard and fast.
He kept thrusting powerfully inside her as a brilliant shower of white-hot sparks lifted their bodies off the bed in a slow spin. Sobbing, Eden bit his shoulder, and Gabriel gave a primal shout as a second climax followed so closely on the heels of the first that they barely had time to catch their breaths.
Drenched in sweat, they moved in a dance as old as time. He tried to say her name, but had to grit his teeth as she convulsed around him in a sensation so sharp, so sweet he forgot to breathe.
He climaxed again, and again their bodies rose several feet above the mattress as they did a slow rotation in direct counterpart to the heat and intensity of their lovemaking. Eden’s heels and fingernails dug into his back as they lowered gradually to the twisted sheets where they lay, still joined, their limbs entwined, their skin glued together. Their bodies continued to shudder and the convulsions became smaller and smaller until they lay limp and exhausted in each other’s arms.
With his face buried in Eden’s damp neck Gabriel inhaled the hot scent of jasmine and the fragrance of her skin.
Jesus. No finesse. No tenderness—“Are you all right? I’ve never lost control like that.” His voice was rough. “Not since I was a teenager, at least.” Lifting his head was an effort as he looked down at her.
Eden’s slumberous eyes met his. Sunlight brought out amber fire in their depths. Her swollen mouth curved in a satiated, cat-drank-the-cream smile. “It isn’t called losing control if it was reciprocal.”
He slid his fingers into her damp hair, loving the look of the chocolate strands curling around his fingers. Sunlight bathed her body, lightening her skin to cream and showing him the deep apricot color of her nipples. Looking at her, inhaling the unique scent of her skin and the musky fragrance of sex he felt himself grow hard again. She gave him a sleepy smile as her slim hands, cool as silk, moved down his back.
This time he moved slowly, intending to be more gentle, but as soon as she realized that he was starting to reignite passion she made a wild sound in the back of her throat, and tightened her ankles in the small of his back. Gabriel was lost.
They came again. Together. It wasn’t as intense as the other times, but it scared him more for its tenderness.
“Gabriel,” she whispered as the tension in their bodies slowly started to release its tight hold and muscles began to relax and unknot. She stroked his cheek with fingers that still trembled slightly. Her eyes were sleepy, but no less expressive. “That was incredible.”
An understatement. “Yeah.” His voice was thick, his heartbeat loud and heavy in his chest as he carefully separated from her. He saw exhaustion pull at her as her eyelids drooped. He took her hand from his face, tucking it against the heavy beat of his heart.
He wanted to take her in every way he could imagine, and then invent some more. He wanted to keep them both climaxing for a week. Then he wanted to be able to walk away unscathed.
Wasn’t going to happen.
He was so screwed.
“Mmmm.” The sound was distinctly drowsy.
He touched her cheek gently. Her flushed skin felt warm and satin smooth beneath his fingers. “Take a nap,” he told her gruffly. “I’ll be right here.”
Fascinated by her determination to keep her eyes open, when it was clear she was spent and completely exhausted, he watched her fight sleep. Finally her lids drifted closed as if her eyelashes were too heavy.
There was a certain amount of trust in her ability to sleep so soundly under the circumstances, Gabriel thought, surprised by that level of trust despite the gymnastics they’d indulged in for hours.
He had, after all, kidnapped her.
Physically he was spent, mentally he was in a sensual fog. He needed several cups of MacBain’s coffee. Hell, he needed to be away from the siren call of the woman whose scent and taste were now permanently and indelibly imprinted on his synapses.
On the bedside table the emergency line on the phone blinked red.An update, Gabriel thought savagely.About fucking time. His gaze went from the phone back to Eden curled trustingly beside him, one hand over his heart.
“I have to go downstairs to take a call,” he whispered to her, keeping his voice low. She didn’t answer. Her soft, slow breathing told Gabriel she’d be asleep for a while. He slipped from the bed and pulled on his jeans.
He was dressed as he shimmered into the library and picked up the phone. “What do we have?” he asked without preamble, tucking his T-shirt into his jeans and padding barefoot around the island that was his desk.
He could still taste the sweetness of her on his mouth. Still smell the light clean floral scent of her. He could hear the soft sound of longing she made. And wondered how dangerous it would be to kiss her again.
And if he kissed this woman once more, would he ever be able to stop? The situation with Eden Cahill was far more dangerous than he’d ever been led to believe. Not just because he felt drugged after their passionate bout of incredible lovemaking, but because he could feel himself falling under a dangerous spell. A spell that only he could control. And so far he was doing a piss-poor job of it.
He forced himself to concentrate on what Sebastian Tremayne was saying. The sooner this business with the fucking robot was resolved, the sooner he could send her back to Tempe, Arizona, and never see her again. It had only been a couple of days. No harm, no foul.
Sex, no matter how incredible, was still only sex.
“Yo? With me here, Edge?” Tremayne waited for Gabriel’s affirmative. “Heard of the Power Elite?”
Gabriel sat down in the big leather chair. A chair bought for a man who’d never sat in it. It had taken him years to realize thathe fit his father’s chair just fine.
“Someone new?” he asked, motioning MacBain, who was carrying a tray, into the room. Not that MacBain needed the invitation.
“Unless it’s a splinter group,” Tremayne told him. “We’re working on it.”
MacBain placed the tray on Gabriel’s desk. The man had radar where he was concerned, Gabriel thought, as his manservant poured a mug of fragrant coffee from a thermal carafe, placed a coaster on the desk near at hand, then set down the mug, just so. On the tray was another mug, a couple of plates of sandwiches, and two slices of apple pie.
Gabriel picked up his coffee mug and cocked a brow at the duplications. MacBain gave him an innocent look before turning to shuffle off.
“How do we know the Power Elite has the bot?” Gabriel drank some of MacBain’s excellent French Roast. He’d need the entire pot to get rid of the sensual fog he was in. Damn it all to hell.
“They were kind enough to tell us,” Tremayne said dryly. “A call came into our tip line three minutes ago.”
It was a given that the trace had been unsuccessful, otherwise Sebastian would have told him the origination of the call. So all they had was a name. Not the size of the group, not their location, not their intent.
T-FLAC considered every call like this the real deal until it was proven otherwise. Terrorist groups thrived on generating fear early and often. Bragging before and after an act of terror was part and parcel of who they were. Reputations were built on promised threats and payoffs.
How long were they going to have to wait to get enough intel to stop these guys before they started? Or had they started already?
The door closed quietly as MacBain finally made it out of the room. “And did these upstanding citizens tell us what they plan to do with the damn thing?” Gabriel demanded, sitting back.
“Said we’d know soon enough. How’s it coming with the good doctor?”
The pun wasn’t lost on Gabriel. “I’ll keep you posted.”
“You need to step up th—”
“Let me know when
you’ve got more.” He replaced the receiver. Jesus. He’d been so busy coming himself, that the thought of extracting the data from Eden’s mind had completely slippedhis. He thought of her upstairs in his bed, and felt the answering heat power through him.
Eden opened her eyes when she felt the cool stroke of Gabriel’s hand on her breast. She gave him a sleepy smile. He’d said he’d be right there while she slept and he was.
“Hi,” she said, still feeling drowsy and deliciously lethargic. She didn’t know how long she’d slept, but the angle of the sun had changed.
“I didn’t mean to wake you.” His voice was raspy and sexy. His hair looked pretty neat for a man who’d been rolling about for hours; she bet hers looked as though she’d stuck a finger in an electrical outlet. She raised her hand self-consciously, and he pulled her hand to his mouth, kissed her open palm.