by Jennie Lucas
For five years, Laura Parker had been the perfect employee. She’d had no life or interests of her own. She’d always been ready and waiting to offer her competent assistance for his latest emergency, whether it was a billion-dollar drop on a foreign stock exchange or a broken thread on his tuxedo.
Now…there was something different about her. Something had changed in her over the last year. He felt as if he didn’t know her.
“How is your meal?” he said gruffly.
“Delicious.”
“Try this.” He handed her a bowl of pastries. Their fingers brushed and she jerked away as if he’d burned her.
He scowled at her. “We’re attending Oliveira’s party in three hours. No one will believe we are a couple if you jump every time I touch you.”
Putting down her fork with a clang, she looked at him. “You’re right.”
He held out his hand across the table, palm up.
With an intake of breath, she placed her hand in his. He felt her tremble. Felt the warmth of her skin. A rush of desire went through him as his fingers tightened over hers. Coming to her side of the table, he pulled her to her feet.
For a moment, they stood facing each other beneath the warm, bright sun. A soft sea breeze ruffled her damp hair. She wouldn’t meet his eyes. Her gaze seemed fixated on his mouth.
She licked her lips, and he nearly groaned.
“I passed your test,” she whispered. “I’m touching you without flinching.”
“Holding my hand is not enough.”
She visibly swallowed, looking up. “What—what else?”
He put his arms around her, pulling her close. He felt the softness of her body, felt her curves pressed against him as he rested his hands on her hips. Her tight black dress squeezed her breasts still higher in the force of his embrace, plump and firm and begging for his touch. He stroked her cheek, tilting back her head. “Now I need you to look at me,” he said in a low voice, “as if you love me.”
Beneath her glasses, her wide-set blue eyes glimmered in the sunlight, shining like the sea.
“And I,” he continued roughly, “am utterly, completely and insanely in love with you.”
She trembled. Then she fiercely shook her head.
“This isn’t going to work. No one will believe you’d choose me over her.”
“You’re wrong,” he said. “Adriana is beautiful, yes. But that’s all she is. While you…”
Laura stiffened in his arms, lifting her chin.
He cupped her head with his hands. “You are more than just a pretty face.” He stroked her bare neck. “More than just a luscious body.” He rubbed his thumb against her full, sensitive lower lip. “You are smart. And too kindhearted for your own good. You sacrifice yourself to take care of others, even when you shouldn’t.” He pressed a finger against her lips to stop her protest. “And you have something else Adriana does not.”
“What?”
He looked down at her. “You have me,” he whispered.
Gabriel felt her hands tighten around him.
“Can you do it?” he asked in a low voice. “Can you pretend you’re in love with me? Can you make everyone believe that all you’ve ever wanted is for me to hold you like this?”
Her face was pale as she looked at him, trembling like a flower in his arms. When she spoke, her voice was almost too quiet for him to hear above the noise of the music and street party below. “Yes.”
“Then prove it.” He felt her soft curves pressing against his body, felt how delicate and petite she was in his arms. Laura was so beautiful in every way. He felt the press of her full breasts against his chest. Felt the tendrils of her long damp hair brush against his hands as he gripped her back. He breathed in the scent of her, lavender and soap, wholesome and clean.
He was hard for her. Rock hard. And yet she seemed to think she was inferior to Adriana da Costa, who aside from her beauty was nothing but a shallow, spoiled brat.
Suddenly Gabriel knew he had to tell Laura the truth.
“I want you, Laura,” he said in a low voice. “More than any woman. I’ve always wanted you.”
She gasped, her eyes wide. “You…”
Then her expression grew dull as the light in her eyes abruptly faded. “You’re practicing again.”
“No.” He cupped her face roughly. “This has nothing to do with our business deal. I want you. I’ve spent the last year wanting you. And now you’re in my arms, I intend to have you.”
He saw her eyes widen beneath her glasses, heard her harsh intake of breath.
“But for now,” he murmured, “I will start with a kiss.”
Then he lowered his head to hers.
He felt her soft, warm lips tremble against his own. For a single instant, her body stiffened in his arms. He felt her hands against his chest as she tried to push him away. He just wrapped his arms around her waist more firmly and held her tight, refusing to let go.
Kissing her was even better than Gabriel had imagined.
It was heaven.
It was hell.
With a shudder and a sigh she suddenly melted against him. He ruthlessly pushed her lips apart, teasing her with his tongue, plundering the warm heat of her mouth.
His kiss became harder, more demanding, their embrace tighter beneath the white heat of the sun. Slowly, she responded. Her hands stopped pushing against his chest, and moved up to his neck, pulling him down to her. When she finally kissed him back, with a hunger that matched his own, a low growl rose in the back of his throat.
He forgot their affair wasn’t real. He forgot the deal entirely. He felt only his masculine, animal need to have her, the need he’d denied himself for too long. Lust swarmed in his blood, pounding through his brain, demanding he take total possession of Laura in his bed.
CHAPTER SIX
THIS couldn’t be happening.
Gabriel couldn’t be kissing her.
But the part of Laura’s brain that was telling her to push away, push away now, was lost in the scorching fire of his embrace. As his lips moved against hers, mastering and guiding her, heat seared down her body like a hot jungle wind.
Pleasure whipped through her, pleasure she’d felt only once in her life before. But this was even better than her memory. As they stood on the penthouse terrace, she grasped his open shirt, clinging for dear life. She felt the warmth of his body, the hardness of his muscled chest beneath his cotton tank top. His strong thighs in khaki shorts brushed like tree trunks against her legs. He towered over her, making her feel womanly and petite as he folded himself around her.
The hot, hard feel of his lips seared hers, causing sparks to shoot down the length of her body. Her breasts felt suddenly heavy, her nipples taut. A fire of ache raced to her deepest core as tension coiled inside her. She felt the rough sandpaper of his chin against hers and breathed in his intoxicating scent of musk and spice. Her knees shook beneath her. Her world was spinning. Everything she’d wanted, everything she’d dreamed about for the past lonely year, and five years before that, was suddenly in her grasp.
His hands stroked her back through her black dress.
“Come to bed with me,” he whispered against her skin.
Bed.
She sucked in her breath as reason returned. He was seducing her. And so easily. She’d made the mistake of giving in to her desire for him once, and it had changed the course of her life. She couldn’t let it happen again. Never again…
With a ragged gasp, she pulled away from his grasp. Breathing hard, she glared up at him. “You don’t seriously expect me to fall into bed with you after one practice kiss?”
His half-lidded eyes were sultry with confidence—arrogance—and his sensual lips curved into a smile. “Yes. I had rather hoped you would.”
“Forget it.”
“It would make our pretend affair more believable.”
“By turning it into a real one?” she whispered.
He shrugged, even as the intensity of his gaze belied that casual gesture
. “Why not?”
The early afternoon was growing hot, the sun and humidity alleviated only by the cooling trade winds off the Atlantic and the Janeiro River, for which the city had been named. Laura took a deep breath of the fragrant, fresh air redolent of spices and tropical fruits. How many times had she prayed that by some miracle, Gabriel would come for her?
I want you, Laura, more than any woman. I’ve always wanted you.
She pushed aside her own longing. She couldn’t let herself want him. She couldn’t. She lifted her chin. “Thanks, but I’m not interested in a one-night stand.”
His black eyes glowed like embers. “I don’t want a one-night stand.”
She licked her suddenly dry lips. “You—you don’t?”
He shook his head. “I want you to stay.”
“You do?”
“I’ve missed having you as my secretary. And,” he added, as she folded her arms furiously, “as my lover.”
“Oh.” Her arms fell back to her sides. She whispered, “And Robby?”
His jaw hardened as he looked away.
“The two of you can live in the apartment below mine,” he said. “Your child need not inconvenience me at all.”
Your child. Hot pride and anger rushed back to her, stiffening her spine. “You mean you will kindly overlook my baby in order to have me in Rio as your 24/7 employee and late-night booty call.”
He stared at her, wide-eyed. Then he gave a sudden laugh. “I’ve missed you, Laura,” he said softly. “No one stands up to me like you do. You’re not afraid of me at all. You see right through me. I like that.”
She jerked away from him, near tears and furious with herself. She couldn’t believe she’d let herself get seduced by his sweet kisses, not even for an instant. Absolutely nothing had changed. Gabriel didn’t want a wife or child. And for her, only a real family would do.
“Sorry,” she said coldly. “But my days of being your work slave and casual late-night lover are over. Don’t you dare kiss me again.”
But his hands only tightened on her. “I can and I will.”
She exhaled in fury. “You have some arrogance to think—”
Seizing her in his arms, he kissed her at once, roughly, hard enough to bruise. Showing mastery. Showing possession. And to her eternal shame, when his hot lips were against hers, she could not resist. She sagged in his arms—and kissed him back.
“I want you, Laura,” he murmured against her skin when he finally pulled away. “And I will have you. If not this instant, then soon. Tonight.”
She shoved her hands against his hard chest, his deliciously muscular, taut body beneath the tight cotton tank top… Maybe it hadn’t been so much a shove as a caress. Angry at herself, she stepped back from him, her cheeks hot. With more confidence than she felt, she said, “Not going to happen.”
“We’ll see.” His voice held a smug masculine tone.
“Our deal had nothing to do with sex.”
“Correct.”
“I don’t have to sleep with you.”
He had the temerity to give her a sensual, heavy-lidded glance. “And yet you will.”
“Ooh!” Clenching her hands into fists, she gave a little stomp of her heel and went back into the penthouse. She found her son still playing on the spotless floor in the kitchen as Maria washed the dishes.
Gathering her baby in her arms, Laura took Robby into the living room and sat down in a new rocking chair by the wide windows overlooking the city. When Gabriel followed her, she glared at him, daring him to interrupt her time with her child. With a sardonic uplift of his brow, he just turned away, disappearing down the hall.
For long moments, Laura held her baby. She fed him, rocking him to sleep, and suddenly felt like crying.
She couldn’t let Gabriel seduce her. She could not. No matter how much her body craved his touch. No matter how her heart yearned.
Because her heart yearned for a lie. Gabriel would never change. Getting close to him would only break her heart—again. Break her heart, and possibly risk custody of her son. If she fell into bed with Gabriel, if she gave him her body, she feared she would also give up the secret that had tormented her for over a year.
She looked down at the sweet six-month-old baby slumbering in her arms. Gently, she rose to her feet and carried him down the hall to her darkened bedroom and set him in his crib. She stared down at Robby for a moment, listening to his steady, even breathing. Then she stiffened when a shadow fell from the open doorway.
“Time to go,” Gabriel said behind her.
Straightening her tight dress over her hips, she walked out of the bedroom and closed the door. She glared at him, then glanced behind her. “I hate to leave him.”
“Your son will be fine. Maria will be looking after him. And anyway—” he lifted a dark eyebrow “—this one night’s work will allow you to give him a comfortable life.”
She took a deep breath. “You’re right. A million dollars is worth it.” She lifted her chin. “It’s even worth spending a night with you.”
His lips curved into a sensual smile. “The whole night.”
“Not going to happen.”
“We’ll see.” He turned without touching her, and after bidding farewell to Maria, they took the elevator downstairs. Carlos had the Ferrari waiting in the alley behind the building, engine running.
“Obrigado,” Gabriel said to him in passing, then held open the door for Laura. “If you please.”
She tottered into the low-slung Ferrari, feeling squeezed like a sausage by the tight black dress and half expecting to bust a seam. Gabriel climbed in beside her and the red sports car roared away from the curb.
As he drove through the crowded streets, Laura stared out in amazement through the window. Rio de Janeiro always lost its mind and found its wildest heart during Carnaval, and this year that was more true than ever. Music wafted through the air, horns and drums to accompany people singing. Impromptu parades marched through the streets, and even those not on carnival floats from the prestigious samba schools often wore costumes that sparkled with sequins—and barely covered enough to be decent. Everyone became sexier, more daring versions of their regular selves. Laura took a deep breath. Even her.
“I’m taking you to Zeytuna,” Gabriel said as he drove. “From there we’ll go directly to Oliveira’s pool party.”
“Zeytuna?” She’d heard of the large, exclusive boutique, but had never shopped there. She licked her lips and tried to joke, “They sell magic bikinis, right?”
As he changed gears in the Ferrari, he glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Yes.”
Yes. Just yes. No encouragement. No reassurance. Laura tried not to think of her looming bikini face-off with Adriana da Costa and the sheer humiliation that was sure to follow. She bit her lip and changed the subject. “So what is our story?”
“Story?”
“When did we fall in love? So I’ll know when people ask.”
He considered. “We had an affair last year,” he said finally. “You quit your job and left me when I wouldn’t commit.”
“Believable.”
He glanced at her. “But I missed you. I’ve been secretly pursuing you for months—video chats, flowers, sending you jewelry and love letters and so forth.”
“Sounds nice,” she said, looking away.
“You invited me to your sister’s wedding, and we fell into each other’s arms. You surrendered to my charm and agreed to be mine at last.”
“A true Valentine’s Day fantasy.” Her lips twisted as she looked back at him. “And Robby?”
Gabriel blinked, then his hands tightened on the steering wheel as he stared at the road. “Ah, yes. Robby.”
“Everyone knows you would never date a woman with a child.”
“Yes.” He set his jaw. Then, relaxing, he shrugged. “It will only add to the credibility of the story. It makes you unique. I wanted you so desperately, I was even willing to overlook your baby.”
“
Overlook Robby? Thank you,” she said, folding her arms as she glared out the window. “Thank you so much.”
“I do not appreciate your sarcasm.”
She looked at him. “I don’t appreciate you saying you’ll overlook my baby—like you’re doing me some big favor!”
He set his jaw. “And I do not appreciate the fact that there is a baby living in my house.”
“Because you must never be inconvenienced,” she said mockingly. “The great Gabriel Santos must never have even a hint of family domesticity in his selfish bachelor’s penthouse!”
Silence fell over the Ferrari.
“You love your son,” Gabriel said. It sounded like a question.
Pushing up her glasses, she glared at him. “Of course I love him. What kind of question it that?”
Gabriel’s black eyes burned through her. “So how could you allow yourself to get pregnant without also giving him a father? You always told me you wanted marriage, Laura. A home near your family. A career that would allow you time to raise your children. How could you toss all that aside for the sake of a one-night stand?”
She swallowed, blinking back tears. Yes, how could she?
His eyes turned back to the road. “You quit without notice last year,” he said coldly. “That was inconvenient.”
She stiffened. “Inconvenient to replace me in your office—or your bed?”
His lips tightened. “Both.”
“So difficult, and yet you didn’t bother to even try to talk me out of it.”
They stopped at a red light. He turned on her, his eyes glinting with fury. “I let you go, Laura. For your own good, so you could have the life you wanted. But instead of following your dreams, you threw it all away. You made my sacrifice worthless. How could you? How could you be so careless?”
“It was an accident!”
“I told you.” His eyes were hard. “There are no accidents. Only mistakes.”
“And I told you, my baby is not a mistake!”
“Are you saying you got pregnant on purpose?”
Her mouth went dry.
He waited, then the light turned green. His lip twisted as he turned back to the road. “Every child deserves to be born into a stable home with two parents. I’m disappointed in you, Laura. You should have been careful.”