Hidden Agenda

by Rochelle Alers

For once, Eve did not have a comeback. She lay in Matt’s arms, refusing to think about anything else except that for the first time in her life she truly felt protected.

  She wanted what she had with Matt, at that moment, to last—forever, if that was possible.

  “After this is over I’m leaving Mexico, Eve,” he informed her. “I have a buyer for the hotel, and I’ll be returning to the States as soon as the sale is finalized.”

  “What will happen to Mateo Arroyo?” she questioned, her warm, moist breath feathering over his throat.

  “He will cease to exist, Preciosa.”

  Raising her head, she looked down at Matt. “What will happen to Eve Arroyo?”

  He stared up at her for a long time. “She will also cease to exist,” he stated firmly.

  She was numbed by his statement. Fool, she thought. What did she expect? She’d hoped and prayed for what was beyond her grasp. Matthew Sterling would not be a part of her future. As smoothly as she could, she eased herself from his embrace.

  “Where are you going?” he demanded.

  “I need to brush my teeth.” She also wanted to put on more clothing, and put some distance between herself and the man she had married.

  “I’ll bring you what you need to brush your teeth.”

  “What I have to do in the bathroom you can’t help me with,” she said over her shoulder.

  “I have quite a reputation for being versatile,” he said teasingly at her departing figure. Eve hadn’t turned around, but he was certain she was smiling.

  Amusement flickered in his own eyes, and he felt relaxed for the first time since he found Eve facedown in the mud the day before.

  Reclining on the bed, he folded his arms under his head and closed his eyes. His confession to Eve washed over him...I’ll burn in hell for breaking my vow that I’ll never consummate this marriage. He knew he’d shocked Eve when she’d gasped. However, it was time for him to stop lying to himself and to her. She deserved to know how he felt about their liaison, and now that she knew all Matt had to do was wait for her to come to him.

  Eve left the bathroom, her fingers trailing along the wall for support. A wave of dizziness had hit without warning, and her knees buckled.

  “Matt.” Her voice was weightless as a mist.

  Within seconds he was at her side, swinging her up into his strong arms. His black eyebrows nearly met in a furious scowl. “I told you to let me help you.”

  She covered her forehead with the back of one hand. “You couldn’t help me with—”

  “I could,” he interrupted savagely. “You forget that I’ve seen and touched everything you claim as private, Señora Arroyo.”

  “Don’t be vulgar, Matt,” she admonished through her pain.

  He cursed under his breath, implying what she could do with his vulgarity. Her eyes widened in surprise. “There are times when I have to be vulgar, cruel, and immoral, if it means staying alive. That’s what I become whenever I accept a job from your uncle. And I’ll be whatever I choose to be until all of this is over.”

  Another wave of dizziness shook Eve, bringing with it a film of moisture, and she moaned. “Matt… I’m going to be sick.”

  “You’re going to be just fine,” he reassured her. He placed her gently on the bed, pulling a sheet up over her trembling body. “I’m going to give you one more pill.”

  Closing her eyes tightly, she shook her head. “No more. You’re turning me into a junkie.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Eve. Two pills won’t turn you into an addict.”

  Eve continued to protest, but Matt would not relent. She swallowed the pill, and half an hour later she lay slumped over his chest. “I hate you, Mateo Arroyo,” she slurred.

  Matt kissed the top of her head. “Sure you do, Preciosa. If this is the way you hate, I want to see how you love.”

  She struggled, unable to keep her eyes open. “You’re taking advantage of me. You fill me with drugs, then threaten me. Just wait…wait until…”

  “Until what, baby?” he whispered to a now sleeping Eve. Until you come to love me as much as I love you, he added silently.

  All he wanted from Eve was her love, while he was willing to give her financial security, a father for her son, and the passion he had always withheld from any woman he’d ever known.

  * * *

  Eve woke up ten hours later, blinking and trying to orient herself. The first sight she saw was Matt’s bared, broad back, her gaze fixed on the colorful tattoo of the red bird soaring above crimson-tinged gold flames. She also examined the path of the long scar, a symbol of an incident which had almost cost Matt his life, or a serious disability.

  “How do you feel?”

  Matt’s voice, soft and quiet, startled Eve. “How did you know I was awake?” She had opened her eyes while not moving.

  Matt shifted, turning to face her and pulling her into his embrace. Pressing his lips to her forehead, he whispered, “Your breathing changed.”

  Her slumberous gaze swept over his features, missing nothing. She examined the deep hue of his skin and realized that his dark coloring wasn’t entirely from the hot Mexican sun; his coloring was a luminous contrast to the brilliant gold and green of his eyes, eyes that studied her and analyzed her reaction to him.

  “How do you feel?” he repeated.

  Eve managed a slight smile. “Wonderful.”

  He shifted a black eyebrow. “No pain?”

  “No pain,” she confirmed softly.

  “Does that mean you can take care of yourself now?”

  She ran a forefinger down the middle of his chest, leaving a thin path in the thick mat of hair. “Exactly. Now can you get me a robe so that I don’t have to continue to model your T-shirt. I’m beginning to feel like Eve in the garden before the Fall.”

  Matt’s arm curved around her waist, pulling her half-naked body flush against his. “There shouldn’t be any modesty between a wife and her husband.”

  “There’s a difference between modesty and brazenness,” Eve said against his shoulder.

  “I’ll show you brazenness,” Matt challenged. He cradled her to his chest, sat up, and swung his silk-covered pajama legs over the side of the bed. “It’s time you began acting like a wife.” He took purposeful strides that took him from the bedroom to the bathroom.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Her heart pounded uncontrollably.

  “You’ll see,” he stated mysteriously. “We’re going to share a shower. You’re going to wash my back and I’ll wash your back, then…”

  Eve stared up at his smooth cheek rather than his broad, bared chest. It was obvious that he’d shaved while she slept. “Then what?”

  Matt lowered Eve to her feet. His hooded gaze caressed her face. “Then anything you want to happen will happen,” he answered cryptically.

  Her breasts rose and fell in a shuddering tremor, bringing Matt’s gaze to the full, firm globes of flesh under his T-shirt. “We can’t, Mateo.” Her voice was barely a whisper.

  “Why not, Eve? There’s nothing and no one to stop us.”

  “It will complicate everything.”

  He hesitated, trying to form the words to tell Eve that sleeping together would be the least complicated aspect of their liaison. How would she react when she discovered that he was masquerading as a drug trafficker? When she discovered that he had no intention of terminating their marriage?

  “It will only become complicated if you want it to be,” he argued as he pulled her to his chest.

  “Matt, I—I’ve never been one for gratuitous sex.” She found it difficult to remain coherent.

  His mouth searched for hers, finding it and drawing the last bit of resistance from her. “We’re married,” he reminded her.

  “I know,” she murmured between the light, nibbling kisses he brushed across her lips. “But—”

  “But nothing, Preciosa. I want you. I want you the way a husband wants and needs his wife,” Matt continued. “I’ve promised to honor you,
protect you, and love you.”

  Eve was caught off guard by the passion in his voice as she registered what he’d just confessed, and through the roar of her pounding heart in her ears she focused on a single word.

  “Do you, Matt?”

  He laid his palm against her cheek, savoring the feel of her silken skin, one finger toying with the brilliant diamond hanging from her lobe. “Are you asking if I love you?” She nodded slowly.

  A smile parted his sensual lips and passion darkened his eyes to green. “I fell in love with you the moment I saw you.”

  Eve’s heart danced with excitement. He loved her and she loved him. “I—”

  “Don’t,” Matt said, placing his thumb over her lips and cutting off her words. “Don’t,” he repeated, “say anything, my darling. If you feel only half of what I feel for you—show me.”

  Rising on tiptoe, she buried her face against his hot throat. “I love you, Mateo.” She disobeyed him. She’d confessed to Matt that she loved him.

  A surging wave of love and passion flowed between them as they clung together, savoring the emotion that made them one.

  Eve could feel his uneven breathing against her cheek as he lowered his head and pulled her closer. They stood together, embracing, until their passions cooled.

  She inhaled deeply, then let out her breath slowly. The magnificent man in her arms loved her as much as she loved him. “Come, Precioso,” she urged quietly, “you promised to wash my back.”

  Matt released Eve, stepping back and staring at her face. His hands went to his waist and seconds later his black silk pajama pants lay on the bathroom floor. She stared straight ahead, her gaze locked with his. It was a full minute before her gaze inched downward.

  Her heart lurched, her lids fluttered, and Eve shivered from the wave of desire warming her limbs. Matt hadn’t lied. He wanted her; he was aroused, his sex full, straining, and throbbing with desire.

  Chapter 17

  Eve’s trembling hands grasped the hem of her T-shirt, pulled it up, and drew it over her head. It, too, settled onto the bathroom floor with Matt’s pajama pants.

  He extended his arms and she walked into his embrace. Both of their hearts were pounding in a runaway rhythm as desires, repressed for hours, days, and weeks hovered close to the edge, threatening to erupt with every breath.

  Swinging Eve up into his arms, Matt headed toward the oversized shower stall. She had wantonly, willfully, and silently given approval to consummating their marriage. Fastening his mouth to hers, he opened the door to the stall and molded her shoulders to the tiled wall.

  Matt’s tongue swept over her lips and teeth before plunging deeply into her mouth. His breathing was slow, controlled, masking the throbbing hardness searching against her groin.

  “Oh,” Eve whispered, pulling back to catch her breath.

  “Open your mouth,” Matt ordered. She complied and he crooned, “That’s it, Baby.” Her arms went around his neck, bringing him closer. Her tongue dueled with his before her teeth sank gently into his lower lip and drew it into her mouth, while her hands swept up and down his body from his chest to his flat belly.

  He couldn’t believe Eve could be so sweet, enticing. His hands were just as busy—threading through the soft curls of her hair and grazing the velvet smoothness of her sweet-smelling flesh.

  Matt’s body was out of control, but his mind was methodical. He forced himself to slow down, wanting to erase the memory of Alejandro Delgado from Eve’s mind. He wanted to be the only man in her life and in her memory. She was his and his alone, and he meant to brand his image on her brain.

  Reaching out, his right hand searched for the cold water faucet and he turned it on. He turned on the hot, alternately adjusting the temperature until it was lukewarm. The water spilled down their naked bodies, the wetness glistening on their flesh.

  They were transported back to their private waterfall and pool, but this time there were no scraps of spandex to conceal their desire for each other.

  Matt cradled her breasts in his hands, examining their shape and weight. He lowered his head and drew his tongue around her large dark areolae and erect nipples while soft moans escaped her thoroughly-kissed, swollen mouth.

  The pleasure was so exquisite Eve thought she was going to faint. Why was he torturing her? Why didn’t he just take her?

  His hold on her body eased, and her head dipped in slow motion. Her mouth claimed his breast and she suckled him as he had done her.

  “Eve!” Her name was ripped from his throat the moment her hand slipped between his thighs.

  At one time Matt had begged her to touch him, but now he didn’t want her to touch him—not yet. He captured her hands and held them tightly as he guided her down to the tiled floor and buried his face in the tight curls in the valley of her thighs. Eve arched, but she couldn’t free herself.

  “No, Darling. Please don’t fight me.”

  Eve felt her face flame with embarrassment. His mouth and breath were burning her. “Not there,” she pleaded.

  He released her hands and slid up over her body. The falling water beaded up on her flesh like shimmering jewels. “Why not there, Baby? You are as beautiful there as you are everywhere else.”

  Eve closed her eyes against his flaming gaze. “It’s not right,” she whispered.

  “When two people love each other everything’s right, Eve.” Matt’s voice was soft, coaxing. “There’s nothing wrong or ugly between a husband and wife. Let me show you how much I love you,” he implored softly. “Let me taste you, my love. It will be good; so good for both of us.” Her eyelids fluttered open and she gave him a shy smile. They closed again, long, thick, black lashes resting on high cheekbones. “Do you trust me?” he whispered.

  “Yes. I trust you.” She sighed.

  “Do you love me?”

  She blinked up at him, a slight frown marring her smooth forehead. “Of course I love you.”

  His brooding lower lip widened with a smile. “Make me happy, Eve. Let me taste you.” She nodded tentatively, consenting.

  He touched his lips to hers and increased the pressure until he felt her respond. He didn’t want to frighten her, but to bring her maximum pleasure, and that meant unleashing her inhibitions and releasing her fears.

  Eve clutched Matt’s shoulders tightly and caught her lower lip between her teeth as he began his exploration. She tried but couldn’t stop her little whimpers and breathless moans when his mouth staked its claim on the soft, wet folds of her sex. She arched as his tongue swept over the tiny bud of flesh in a flicking motion. The motion sent explosions throughout her body, rocking her womb.

  She couldn’t control her trembling legs as Matt pulled them up and over his shoulders. Her composure slipped and her head thrashed wildly. What began as small waves increased and rocked her womb until she cried out loudly with the magical force which took over her body, lifting her higher and higher until she was thrust beyond reality. He gathered her to his chest, and she couldn’t talk or move. Her heart raced uncontrollably as she clung to him.

  “Still afraid, Darling?”

  Her fingers searched his chest, discovering more scars hidden under the furred thickness. “No,” she gasped. “It was wonderful.”

  Matt smiled. “Thank you for sharing with me.”

  Eve returned his smile, oblivious to the water falling on their prone bodies. “I should be thanking you. You’ve made me feel like a woman for the first time in a very long time.”

  He kissed the tip of her nose. “And I’m hoping it won’t be the last.”

  “It’d better not be,” she teased.

  He shifted, rising to his feet and pulling her up with him. “I promised you that I’d wash your back.” He reached for a bath sponge and squeezed out a glob of shower gel from a plastic bottle hanging from the shower head.

  He washed her hair and body, and Eve returned the favor. She lingered between his thighs and he moaned in frustration. Kissing him deeply, she tasted herself on h
is lips. Her tongue traced the outline of his mouth and she shivered when he growled deep in his throat. Her hands and mouth charted every inch of his flesh, discovering several more scars on his large, hard body.

  Their roles changed. Eve realized the power she wielded as Matt slumped against the glass doors, groaning under her touch. That all ended when he reversed their positions, lifted her effortlessly, and entered her newly awakened body.

  Her soft gasp of pleasure made the blood pound in his head, and he forgot everything. There was no mission, no outside world. There was only Eve.

  He felt her tight flesh stretch to accommodate his swollen appendage before her body closed tightly around his manhood. Her body was made for his, and he marveled at the perfect fit.

  Her desire rose again, matching the fury of his as flames of love consumed them, leaving behind floating cinders of shattered ecstasy.

  Matt slid to the floor, taking Eve with him. He had no way of knowing that the moisture streaming down her cheeks was not water, but tears of awakened passion.

  “Te amo,” he whispered against her ear. And thank you, Harry, he added silently, gathering his wife’s limp body from the floor.

  Eve pushed back the sheet and slipped from the bed, hoping not to wake Matt, but found her wrist caught between his strong fingers.

  “Where are you going?”

  Leaning over, she pressed her cheek to his solid shoulder. “I don’t know about you, lover, but I need food.”

  Matt’s grip moved up her arm and he flipped her over his chest. He kissed her passionately. “I need you.”

  “Later,” she mumbled between the soft, moist kisses. The weak light streaming in through the windows indicated the dawn of another day. “Only one of us can cook, so I suggest you’d better let me go while I still have the strength to prepare something palatable.”

  Matt kissed her hard, then fell back and stared up at her radiant face. After sharing the shower they had spent the night discovering each other’s bodies, and he was overwhelmed by Eve’s passionate response to his demanding lovemaking once she’d overcome her initial inhibitions.

  He picked out the short curls pressed to the sides of her head, rubbing the soft strands between his fingertips. He visually examined the woman who’d been thrust upon him—the woman he’d married and fallen in love with.