Ema drew back, and Gabriel tightened his hold just enough to let her know she was safe.
Gabriel caught a gleam in her eye a split second before she pulled out of his hold, her hand raised to strike Bougainvillea. Gabriel caught her just in time. If anyone needed to be knocked on their ass that was his job.
An arrogant smirk lifted Bougainvillea’s mouth in contrast to the waves of anger that rolled off the man?
Gabriel held his ground, not giving Bougainvillea the satisfaction of seeing how close he was to giving him a taste of his fist.
He understood all too well how men like Bougainvillea operated. They played and used people until they had their hooks so deep the person had no way out. Then his true nature would come out to play. Gabriel wouldn’t let that happen to Ema.
“All good here?” Gabriel sensed Ema’s cousin before he spoke up from beside him.
“Peachy. The man was just confused about who we are. I set him straight. Now he’s taking his leave.” Gabriel kept his voice level as he spoke to Lucas, never taking his eyes off Bougainvillea.
Bougainvillea’s calm and collected persona slid into place like a glove, masking the snake again. “Si,” he drawled out. “Por ahora. For now, it seems so. Unless…” Bougainvillea’s gaze anchored on Ema. He stepped closer, placing a hand on her lower arm.
Ema stiffened and pulled back. Bougainvillea flinched but continued, “Unless you’d like to take this talk private. Solo tu y yo. Just you and me?”
Gabriel’s brow furrowed. A deep base pulsated along the heated air, cranking up the tension. Guests gave them a wide berth, instinct driving them away from danger. “Not a chance, slick, and if you don’t take your hand off her right now, you and I’ll be the ones dancing.”
Bougainvillea’s eyes flashed with a warning, daring Gabriel to make a move. “Bougainvillea, it’s best you leave, but my wife and I thank you for joining us on our day.” Lucas rested a hand on his shoulder and stepped between them.
Smart move.
The man turned his attention to Ema, calculating his move a moment before turning toward Lucas. “The pleasure was mine.” His words clipped and dry. “And, amigo, get your friend on a leash before something bad happens.”
Bougainvillea turned on his heel. Gabriel watched as the viper slowly wove his way through the packed dance floor. Several suits peeled off from the crowd to follow. His goons, no doubt. This wasn’t the last they’d meet up, he could feel it deep in his bones.
“What the hell was all that about, Gabriel?”
Gabriel cringed from the lethal cut to Ema’s words, but stood his ground as he turned to face her. Now that he could focus on her one hundred percent, the familiar scent of her shampoo washed over him. Or was it her body wash? Mango with an underlying hint of vanilla—as exotic as the woman. Fuck, he could eat her where she stood.
God, what a combination to play with a man’s senses. He couldn’t blame Bougainvillea for wanting a chance at his lover. On second thought, after his latest misstep, he might need to attach former to that last thought.
“I could ask you the same thing,” he countered. Normally, he was the rational one of the team—the one to ease the pressure and deliver solutions to tight situations. Tonight, all that took a back seat where Ema was concerned. Maybe that made him a prick, but he had no problem with the act-now-ask-questions-later, method.
“So neither of you think to ask me if you’re welcome to just waltz right into the middle of my dance with Bougainvillea? And you can wipe that arrogant smirk off your face, primo, because I’m not in the mood for your puns and jokes, family or no. Fucking cavemen, the both of you.” Ema whipped around and out of his arms, heading toward the tables lining the dance floor.
A slow number replaced the faster salsa beat. A whole lot of kissing and groping was already going down out on the darkened dance floor, and he burned to be right in the middle of it with Ema. Being this close felt so right, but out there he could get a hell of a lot closer.
“Hold up there, little cuz, we ain’t laughing. Do you know what the hell you were dancing with?” Gabe stifled a laugh at Lucas’s words. He’d obviously picked up on the snake vibe, too.
“What the hell are you doing with that guy, and why the hell is he here to begin with?”
Two for two. The man read his mind perfectly.
Gabriel stood, his back to the dance floor, attention fully on Ema. “He’s my plus one. Or was. Everything else is none of your damn business.” Her eyes were daggers aimed right for his heart. “Or yours, Gabriel. And really, he might have deserved it, but did you have to be such an ass?” Damn, he loved her accent—how she drew out her words with a sexy cadence.
He shrugged. “Seems to be the theme of the night.”
She inched closer and drove her point home with a finger to his chest. So petite to his taller stature, and so damn sexy all fired up. Temptation rode him hard. He wanted to grab her hand, then kiss his way up her arm. He’d continue along her neck, her chin, then devour her tongue before moving down until he had one of her sweet nipples in his mouth. He wouldn’t stop until she gave in to his charms, until he worked out the fear eating at his gut, and convinced himself she was safe.
At the thought of tasting her skin again, her feminine folds, blood shot straight to his dick. He could still taste her nectar on the back of his tongue. Damn. His body flushed with heat. Any hotter and he would surely catch fire.
Before he exploded, Lucas stepped in and brought his thoughts back on track. “Looks like you two have some issues to sort out and I have a beautiful bride waiting to dance with me.” Lucas threw a wink at Ema, which brought a small smile to her lips. “And you know it doesn’t end there.”
Gabriel nodded his understanding. “Thanks, buddy.”
Gabriel caught her hand to keep Ema from following Lucas’s example and walking away from him. “I’ve been known to step on a few toes. More than a few, actually. Stop dancing around the question and answer Lucas, Ema.” Gabriel’s tone came out harsher than he’d intended. Damn.
“Get over yourself, Gabriel.” She turned away, pulling back her hand, done with their conversation. And him.
Too bad.
He took a step closer, placing a gentle hand on her arm then trailing his fingers down the length. He tangled their fingers together. He was good at pushing people to their limits, but he didn’t want her to feel she couldn’t open up to him, so he made an effort to rein in his possessive tendencies. He wanted to forget all about tonight and Bougainvillea, but they didn’t have that luxury. He needed to make sure Ema understood the danger she’d danced into tonight.
“Ema, listen, I’m sorry. But I don’t think you know who you’re dealing with concerning Bougainvillea.” He softened his tone and moved closer so she could hear him above the music while preventing any of the guests walking by from eavesdropping. “We’ve heard some pretty nasty shit about Bougainvillea. Worse yet, we know he’s killed, Ema. Don’t blame us for being worried when we see you break a move with the guy.” He didn’t want to scare her with the sadistic details of Bougainvillea’s dark side. Not yet anyway. If she persisted, he’d have no choice though.
He snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her deeper into his embrace. “But we can talk about that later,” he said, leaning in to her ear.
Her shoulders relaxed, and her body molded to his. She felt so damn good. Her nearness made his head spin with pent-up desire. He pulled her scent down into his lungs, desperate for more—so intoxicating he could get drunk.
Her capitulation didn’t fool him for a second. It would take a lot more than a simple apology from him to ease her anger.
She pulled away, hiding her face from him. He caught her chin, forcing her to meet his gaze.
There was no hiding the stress evident in the dark shadows beneath her eyes. His fingers itched to ease into the loose, wavy length of her hair and let his touch coax the truth behind tonight’s mess out of her.
She pushed his hand
away. “Listen, I know you mean well…” She let out a sigh powerful enough to damn near send him to his knees. Something was wrong, and he was going to find out what. “You know, never mind. I have to go.”
No way in hell she was shoving him to the side.
“Not a chance, babe. You’re coming with me.” She glared at him and he quickly corrected himself. “Please? I want to show you something.”
She raised her gaze level with his in question. He could almost see the war going on inside her head. She wanted to go with him, but something was holding her back. He grinned and pulled out all the stops. “We’re in a paradise, baby. It’d be a shame to miss out on the tequila and sunset.” He tentatively took her hand in his then brushed his lips across the soft, delicate skin answering one of his previous questions. The exotic, fruity smell lingered on her skin from her morning shower, no doubt. He couldn’t wait to help her with her next and maybe she would let him wash her with the tantalizing soap that tingled his senses. “Let me make it up to you, Ema.”
She gave a charming little lift to the corner of her mouth. That was something in the positive direction. “Fine, I could use a few minutes to clear my head before heading back to San Diego anyway.”
No way he’d let her out of his sight, much less make the long ass drive alone tonight. The sun was already dipping below the horizon. Once he had her to himself, all bets were off. He’d leave that little detail for her to figure out on her own though. For now, he’d enjoy a moment with her and the sunset. And if he worked it right, and a miracle happened, he might even get the chance to soften her heart to his charms for an all-night kind of kiss.
“Let me grab this.” Gabriel snatched the tequila bottle on the abandoned table along with two normal shot glasses. Thank God for small miracles. Now, to see how fast he could devise a plan that would have Ema opening up to him…in and out of bed.
Chapter Two
Esmeralda slipped off her flats and dug her toes into the warm sand, soaking in the last of the day’s golden rays.
Despite the lull of the waves that usually calmed her, Ema’s shoulders slumped with the weight of what just happened back at her cousin’s wedding. She’d spent the last year struggling to save the small family business her mother once loved then abounded for the bottom of a bottle so long ago.
From time to time, she had fantasized about her mother rejoining their small family of three, but depression, alcohol and finally, cancer, had robbed her of that dream.
She shook her head. Diablos. What the hell now? She and her younger sister depended on the small florist shop, and with her late mother’s mounting medical bills and college tuition for Mia…
Dios. What a nightmare.
Her best shot at getting the twenty grand she needed to push her business out of the red and into the black for good had just stomped out of her cousin’s wedding, taking his sizeable checkbook with him. She didn’t even have a chance to talk to him about the partnership offer she’d worked out in exchange for a loan. That wasn’t even a possibility now. Losing the last thing she had left of her mother ripped at her heart.
So much for grabbing the New Year by the balls and making it her bitch. She sighed.
And what the hell had happened with Gabriel to make him react the way he had with Bougainvillea? She understood the man had a spotty reputation as a business man, but the way Gabriel and her cousin had reacted made it seem as if he killed people for a living instead of lend money.
The nice little cherry on top of this huge pile of crap was the loan denial from the bank. Almost two months ago, she’d peeled back the folded piece of paper to read the fated “We’re sorry…” Ya ya ya.
Truth was she needed money—fast. Since hooking wasn’t on her bucket list—yet—that left reaching out to the one person she knew with the kind of cash she needed. Before her mother passed, in her more lucid moments, she talked fondly of a childhood friend in Cabos, Bougainvillea, and how he had become quite the business man.
When her cousin contacted her about doing the flowers for his wedding in Cabos and asked her to be maid of honor too, she’d seized the chance. Using her mother’s connection, she’d called Bougainvillea to be her date.
Landing Bougainvillea as her plus one had given her a small glimmer of hope. Hope that was now so far out of reach she was lucky she could see past the fear gripping her heart.
And now, who knew what the future held. She certainly didn’t have a clue.
She worried her lower lip, taking in her surroundings. The fading rays of sunshine bounced off the water and mixed with a strong breeze to create the illusion of peace. She tried to relax, but the picturesque view did nothing to ease the bile rising in her throat.
She dug her toes deeper into the warm, wet sand. The beach aptly named playa de amor, or Love Beach, stretched as far she could see in either direction.
When her father was alive, her mother brought her here to visit family. She’d spend hours running up and down the beach with other children, finding sand dollars and baubles the water left behind during low tide. Little treasuries that meant so much to her at the time. If only she could be that little girl again, but after her father died nothing was the same. Especially her mother.
Gabriel eased up close, but she turned to face the water. She wished he didn’t see so deeply into her— he always had. Ema slipped her shades into place, pretending the sun bothered her eyes.
“I’m surprised you haven’t ripped me a new one by now. I’d stand here and take it if you’d just talk to me. Say something. Anything. Your silence is killing me.”
Chin up, no one wants to see you cry.
Her old abuela’s words echoed in her mind. She’d heard the mantra often enough. The voice grew louder the closer she came to losing everything, and the harder it was to be strong. To make matters worse, the mother she knew as a child would be so disappointed.
“You’re awful quiet, precious.” Gabriel was so close, his familiar heat brushed against her bare arms and shoulders. She bit her lip, fighting back the urge to lean into him. Letting him close when she was so vulnerable would break her. She knew better than to take their sexy siestas over the past year beyond what they’d agreed on—friends with benefits. Besides, nothing good ever came out of letting people that close to your heart. Her mother had with her father, and that turned into nothing but heartache and more pain than her mother could bear. Love obviously took a hell of a lot more strength than what ran in her family.
The powerful smell of her favorite drink danced in the wind. The memory of the last time she’d drunk with Gabriel brought a smile to her lips. They’d left her cousin’s party early for a quick rendezvous back at her hotel room that turned into a lust-filled all-nighter that left her aching in all the right places by morning.
Even now her heart pounded as his light masculine scent replaced the smell of tequila. She sighed and accepted the kind of strength that came in a glass.
“So what did you want to show me?” She turned to look over her shoulder, and a strong wind grabbed her hair before she could pull it back into a ponytail.
Gabriel’s fingers tangled in her hair. “As wild and untamed as its owner.”
What was it about him that made her question her own boundaries? With every passing second, Ema danced closer to the forbidden edge with this man. He’d barely touched her, but her imagination had him pinning her to the nearest palm tree and his hands sliding up her skirt.
Heat rushed her from head to toe. She stepped forward and out of his reach. “Look, Gabe, this was a mistake.” Her breath quickened. Dark eyes leveled with hers as if he could see her deepest thoughts and fears.
The fabric of his casual button-down shirt clung to every inch if his well-toned chest. Each ripped muscle was outlined to reveal the hardened Marine beneath. It was all she could do to not reach out and let her hands do the talking along all those delicious contours.
She’d already kissed her way down his chest more than once and knew exactly wha
t lay at the end of that hidden treasure trail.
She loved how his tousled hair looked so boyish yet sexy at the same time. Only he could pull off that look.
There you go again, Ema. The way she felt about him would land her in his bed in short order, but she couldn’t afford the distraction. She needed to focus.
She couldn’t live the life her mother had. She’d watched her deteriorate and lose interest in raising her girls, then life, little by little. By the time Esmeralda turned seventeen, she’d held down a part-time job, went to school, and was raising her sister. Her mother no more than a shell of her former self. When her father died, it was like losing both her parents.
“I have a long drive ahead of me.” She handed over the full caballito of tequila. It hurt her to have to leave like this, but she really didn’t see any other way. Slamming the brakes on her ever-growing desire for the sinfully sexy man now was the smartest thing she could do. But the devilish grin he sported pushed all the right buttons, which meant he’d found a chink in her armor. Treading carefully just took on a whole new meaning.
Gabriel raked a hand through his hair, mussing the half-finger length locks.
“Come on, babe. If memory serves, you love it when I surprise you.” He softly touched his lips to the bare skin of her shoulder then two more up the slope of her neck. She shuddered. He knew her too well. “You’ll love what I have for you. Promise. All you have to do is follow me. You won’t be sorry.” His seductive voice strummed all the right chords within her.
Even the way he shortened her name had her heart doing a tango.
He brushed the back of his fingers down her check, lowering his lips close enough she could almost taste the smooth flavor of tequila on his breath. “It would be a shame to travel all this way and not find something to ease the stress.”
He pulled back, motioning toward a small pool left behind by the low tide. “It’s just over there.”
Thoughts of all she had to lose crept into the darker crevices of her heart and ripped at it just enough to bring her back to reality.
Tequila Sunset: A Military Erotic Romance (Sexy Siesta Series Book 2) Page 2