“Please, I need you.” Her voice sounded foreign to her.
“I need you, too,” he growled.
As his eyes met hers, he gripped her tiny panties in his fist, and with a forceful tug, ripped them off her body. The sound and the feral look in his eyes caused her core to clench, and she leaned back against the cabinets and moaned. She heard his jeans hit the floor a split second before he thrust deep inside her.
“So…good…”
She opened her eyes and their gazes locked. “Yes,” she hissed.
Her inner muscles squeezed as he pulsed deep inside her, and a shiver of an orgasm shook her from the intensity of his gaze on her and the strength of his body driving into her.
For a long while, he held himself deep inside her and despite her lectures to herself about not rushing him, she wanted to know all of his secrets and whether he felt the same way about her.
All thoughts scattered as he pulled out, almost all the way, and plunged back deep inside. He wrapped one arm around her back and another around her shoulders, as he continued his long, deep thrusts, never taking his gaze from hers. She didn’t know what he glimpsed in her eyes, but he was as mesmerized as she was.
She reached out and caressed his chest, feeling the soft skin over hard muscle, and felt more than heard the deep rumble that built in his chest. She leaned toward him and pressed kisses against his neck, before she moved down and flicked his nipple with her tongue. With her movement, he lost all control.
He pulled her off the counter and moved her to the wall. He drove deep inside of her and captured her scream of pleasure in his mouth. He pinned her down with his chest, and he continued his hard thrusts until her body tightened and she screamed out her most powerful orgasm yet.
His name became a chant on her lips as her body continued with a deep wave of pleasure that washed against her, again and again. It became even more intense as he drove into her one final time, and with a shout that had her core clench, he poured himself into her.
His arms wrapped her close, and while still inside her, he carried her to the bedroom. He laid her down before his hand spanned her stomach, and he pulled out of her with cautious attention at the residual pleasure from his actions. She bit her lip to prevent the moan from escaping and closed her eyes. It was that or beg him to take her again.
“What are you thinking about?” He lay down beside her, pulling her close until their bodies touched.
She kept her eyes closed. “You are too fucking sexy for your own good.”
Her voice was clipped as she willed her body to calm.
At his deep laugh, her eyes flew open and she stared at him. When he frowned, he was sexy, but with a smile on his face, he was downright gorgeous. He kissed her and when he pulled back, the smile was still on his face.
She loved that she could make him feel relaxed and laugh, but more than that, she knew. She was most assuredly and inescapably in love with Gabriel Kane.
Chapter Eleven
Gabriel found it hard to catch his breath after the most intense sexual experience of his life, and he refused to have her anywhere but at his side.
He slid one arm underneath her head and wrapped the other one around her waist, pulling her even closer. He nuzzled the sensitive spot just below her ear, and breathed her in.
She blew out a breath and cuddled closer to him, stroking his chest with her fingers, and he felt something he never could have possibly thought he could feel about a woman: possessiveness.
When he’d woken without her next to him, fear had kicked hard in his chest, and he honestly thought that she’d left him. Absently, he rubbed at his chest as he willed his heart to calm down.
He’d never felt that panic that threatened to overwhelm him and the fear that had stolen his breath, but logic told him that she wouldn’t leave. He took a moment to look around and spotted her overnight bag on the chair in the corner as well as her clothing strewn about the floor. His mouth snapped shut as he’d been about to yell her name, but he leaped out of bed and snagged his jeans before he went to look for her.
She was beautiful, standing in his kitchen, wearing his tee and a tiny pair of panties, and he could see through the fabric that covered her. Her hair that hung down the middle of her back was wildly messed but as she reached for the coffee, his eyes traveled to the top of her toned thighs, and at that moment he had to touch her.
When he hugged her and pressed her back against him, he could start to feel the tension in his chest recede. Her raspy voice was almost his undoing, but he couldn’t keep the anger hidden from his expression when she turned in his arms. Instead of snapping at her, he paced in order to get his jumbled emotions in order.
Women tried to be coy with him, thinking that all it took to gain his interest was to play hard to get, but he hated subterfuge in all forms and refused to play games. But with her, he found her honesty refreshing and that was how he knew, for certain, that she didn’t leave him. When she told him that she wanted him and she was worried about his well-being, he fell a little bit more for this wonderful woman.
“You are beautiful, and I can’t keep my hands off you,” he told her truthfully.
She giggled and burrowed into his neck.
The one thing that niggled in the back of his mind was their conversation as they lay in each other’s arms in the middle of the night. Every time he hinted at a possible future between them, she’d done everything to change the subject, including seducing him.
He knew that she wasn’t using her body as a ploy to get him to commit or make him more addicted to her than he already was, but it seemed as though she was scared of what he might say. As much as he wanted to reassure her, he was at a loss for words to do so.
He wanted a future with her, but his instincts told him that he needed to go slow with her, not to fuck it up. Never had it been so imperative that he not mess up a relationship in his life. If he took his time and revealed his feelings by showing her how much she meant to him, he knew she would feel the same way. Until he could prove it to her that he wasn’t a womanizing, arrogant businessman, he would have to bide his time.
“Are you okay?”
He looked down at her concerned face and brushed a kiss over her lips.
“I’m great, but I need some breakfast to regain my strength.”
He wiggled his eyebrows and loved that he made her giggle again.
“I was going to surprise you with breakfast in bed, but you interrupted me.” She brushed her fingers against his lips and she relaxed into his body.
He encased her fingers in his, and the words were out of his mouth before he thought about what he was saying. “I thought you left me.”
She sucked in a breath and looked horrified. “I…I wouldn’t.”
He kissed her deeply for several minutes before he pulled back. “I know.”
She searched his gaze and nodded when she knew that he was sincere. She smiled a devious smile and his heart kicked in his chest. “If you make breakfast, I would love to have you for dessert.”
A growl crawled from deep in his chest and he reached for her, but she danced out of his reach and off the bed before he could grab her. As she stood at the foot of the bed, naked and smiling down on him, he crawled to her over the bed and loved the way her eyes blazed as she watched him. As he reached the side, he stood and stretched, again loving the way her eyes raked over his body, before he walked to the dresser and pulled out some sweats. He didn’t bother with a shirt.
He opened the drawer below where his sweats were, and grabbed a clean tee and a pair of boxers. He walked over to her and slipped on the tee and knelt so she could step in the boxers. As he pulled them up, he kissed her belly, eliciting a gasp, before he pulled them on the rest of the way.
“I like how you look in my clothes.”
He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the blush that tinted her cheeks, but when her stomach rumbled, he was aware that he needed to take care of her, and led her into the kitchen.
> After they’d eaten breakfast and she had driven him out of his mind as she pleasured him, they showered and were sitting on his couch, talking about anything and everything that came up. Time passed too quickly. He ignored it until she looked out the window and frowned at the setting sun.
“I have to leave soon to get ready for work tomorrow.” She sighed. “At least Tilda didn’t call with an emergency this weekend.”
He kissed her, a little harder than he wanted to, before he laid her back on the couch. He held himself up by his forearms, and noticed that she was reluctant to leave when she relaxed her body against the couch. He wanted to beg her to stay, but he knew that she needed to get back to work, and if she was here in the morning when he woke up, he would try to convince her to stay in bed with him. He opened his mouth to do just that, but he didn’t want to be the selfish prick who stood in the way of her success.
“I would like to take you out to dinner tomorrow,” he said.
She nodded and leaned up to kiss him. “I would like that.”
His hand cupped the back of her head, and he deepened the kiss, unable to get enough of her taste, and swallowed the moans coming from deep in her throat. He kissed her for several more minutes, until the loft darkened. He lifted himself onto his feet and held out a hand for her. She took it and surprised him when she wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed.
He followed her into the bedroom, and his eyes raked over her body as she changed into jeans and a blouse for the cab ride home. With reluctance, he changed into jeans and a pullover to walk her downstairs where he could hail her a cab.
Everything in him screamed that he should get her to stay, but he knew this was for the best. After she zipped up her bag, he took it from her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her to his side.
They were quiet on the elevator ride down. His luck ran out the moment they stepped out of the building and found a cab parked at the curb, ready to take her home. He settled her in the back and handed the driver a hundred. He took the time to control his features before he turned back to her.
He leaned down and cupped her chin in his hand. “I’ll swing by your office around seven. Call me when you get home,” he demanded.
She nodded and he noticed the sheen of tears. With a feat of strength he didn’t even know he possessed, he kissed her before he brushed away a tear that had fallen on her cheek. “Soon, sweetheart.”
She nodded. “Soon.”
He forced himself to shut the door and step back as the cab took off down the street. He couldn’t move from the curb until the taillights disappeared around the corner to take her back to her place in Brooklyn.
Their apartments were separated by twelve miles, but to him it seemed as though she was a world away. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned back to his building. Charlie, the doorman, had opened the door for him and he nodded his thanks before he walked toward the elevator. As he pressed the button to take him back up to his lonely penthouse, his mind churned with reasons he could have given her to stay.
He’d spent two days with her, and even though it almost killed him to let her go back to her place, he had let her go. But everything in him knew that he wanted her with him, and when he opened the door, the oppressive quiet almost had him turning around and following her.
As he’d done in business, he sat down and tried to figure out a way to compromise so that they could see each other every day, and hopefully sleep together every night. He knew that Lucian was right. He was falling for her. Although the feelings could have overwhelmed him, he felt stronger because of them. He’d never been in a relationship, always striving to make more money and become a better businessman, so he didn’t know how to prove his feelings for her, but he knew that he needed her close.
“I could ask her to live with me,” he mumbled aloud.
It would be perfect. His office was located blocks from his place, and Liaison was even closer. There would be no long commutes for her anymore, and he could take care of her, cook for her, and sleep with her. He smiled as the plan solidified in his head, and he walked to the bedroom to shed his clothes and slipped into bed. He groaned as her soft smell floated in the air, and shook his head. He really had it bad.
The phone rang before he could dwell on the fact that she wasn’t next to him.
“Bec?”
“Hey,” she whispered.
He wanted to tell her that he missed her, but he wanted to get her to agree to his plan before he made any confessions, no matter how small or truthful. They talked for a few minutes until he heard the tiredness in her voice.
“I’ll see you soon, sweetheart.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” she whispered.
“Good-night, Bec.”
“Night, Gabriel.”
There was a click on the line; he hung up the phone and switched off the light. He ached to have her lying next to him, but he had to be patient. He hoped the waiting wouldn’t kill him first.
Chapter Twelve
“What are you doing working so late?”
Rebecca smiled at the growling voice coming from her office door, and stood. She glanced at her brother, who wore a similar grin, and moved around her desk before she launched herself into his arms. Lucian was a giant of a man compared to her, so she loved it when he wrapped her up and lifted her off the ground. He squeezed her for a few seconds before he set her back down.
“Since the business is growing so fast, I’m working on a way to streamline client interviews. I’ve already made Tilda a partner and she’s in charge of the dating service, and I’ve hired another accountant, a marketing staff, and a full-time web developer so that I can go home at a decent hour, but it’s been slow going.”
She walked to her chair and sat, before shutting down her laptop to give her full attention to her brother. She hadn’t spent much time with Lucian over the last few months and she missed him, but she knew that he was just as busy as she was.
“How are you?” she asked.
He blew out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m good, just restless lately.”
“Restless with work or with Marla?”
He frowned and looked down at his hands. The smile wiped off her face. Her brother had always been focused on building his tech empire, and she did meet the few women he dated over the years, but none of them could hold his attention the way programming and his computers could. She knew that Marla wanted Lucian to propose, but her brother hadn’t felt anything deeper than a base attraction. She wished he would settle down, but with a strong woman who could pull his attention away from work.
“Work’s fine, but Marla’s long gone. I’m surprised Gabriel didn’t tell you.”
She felt the blush grow on her cheeks and she shook her head.
“No, he didn’t mention it. So you know that I’ve been seeing him for a while?”
She had wanted to tell Lucian about Gabriel and her, but she felt her relationship with Gabriel was too new, so she kept it to herself and enjoyed the few hours of uninterrupted time that she could spend with him.
They’d gotten together a couple of times a week for dinner, and she would end up staying the night, loving those moments as he held her, as they talked about whatever came to mind. In the early morning hours, he made love to her so sweetly that he brought tears to her eyes.
Their relationship was still new, months old, and as much as she would love to tell Gabriel how she felt, she didn’t want their time to end early and watch as he moved on to other interests. She had no doubt that Gabriel wasn’t the type of man to settle for one woman, and when that time came to let him go, she would manage the pain. Somehow. But for now, she was treasuring every moment she had with him.
“I ran into him several weeks ago, and he was worried about you. That’s why I’m here.”
“You’re worried about me or who I’m seeing?”
Lucian was quiet for a while as he scanned her face, as if he searched for some clue, b
ut she schooled her features, not wanting to give anything away. Lucian and Gabriel were friends long before she even entered the picture, and she couldn’t help but wonder whether Lucian was going to warn her away from Gabriel. It would be fruitless. Her feelings already ran deeper than she would even reveal to herself and whatever his warnings, she knew that unless Gabriel broke it off with her, she wouldn’t be able to let him go.
“How do you feel about him?”
The air whooshed from her lungs from his unexpected question. She knew what she felt, but for reasons that were all her own, she couldn’t voice it to anyone until Gabriel heard it from her first.
She had a crush on him from the moment she met him, but after spending time with him, how he worried for her well-being, but most of all, how he made her feel when he touched and kissed her, she knew her feelings were more permanent than she ever imagined them to be. She hoped that it showed with every caress, with every kiss that left them both trembling for more. But she knew that it wouldn’t be enough, not for a man like Gabriel.
He showed his integrity in his friendships, his dedication to his business, and over the past few months, a focused intensity whenever they were together. She knew that if he ever fell in love, he would love with the entirety of his being. A man like Gabriel would never settle for anything less. And because of that, she wasn’t sure it could ever be her.
“You know that I’ve been attracted to him for years?”
He nodded, uncertainty clear on his face.
“Long ago, I accepted that the attraction was one-sided, so I tried to stop thinking about him. But you always filled me in on what he was doing and who he was dating, so it just cemented my choice to leave well enough alone. Until I went into his office and asked for an investment.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?” he asked.
“I wanted to do it on my own, to make my own way in the world. You would just give me the money, and it would’ve been a gift instead of a business transaction. I would have paid you back, like I will pay Gabriel back, but it was important that I got the investment based on the merits of my business plan and not because you’re my brother.”
Her Perfect Match (Liaison #1) Page 7