Sweetheart. “You said Quan is a part of your security? Are the other guys as well?”
“One of them. The other is the business partner I mentioned earlier. And one of my closest friends. They’re all friends, really.”
“One was Russian,” she said distractedly, trying to grasp what had just taken place. “How did you know . . . I mean, did you know . . .” She struggled, not sure how to ask without sounding rude. Or as paranoid as she suddenly felt. “How did you come to be out here in time to stop that guy, Gabriel? Were you in an office? Did you see what was happening from a camera or something?”
“I went to the solarium to make a phone call.” He nodded to a large enclosed area about fifty feet to their right that showcased an abundance of plant life surrounding a large waterfall. “I saw you through the window.”
Oh. Well, that was a simple enough explanation. But with everything going on lately, she forgave herself for being suspicious. “Sorry. I don’t mean to . . . make you explain yourself,” she said with a faint smile as she remembered him telling her he wasn’t a fan of the practice. “I’m just shaken. That man said he had a message for me. I wonder what he meant.” Goose bumps popped up on her arms, and she rubbed them away.
Her gaze rose from the stone under their feet and locked with Gabriel’s searching stare when she felt the gentle brush of the backs of his knuckles across her jaw. “Don’t be afraid, Eva. I won’t allow anyone to hurt you.”
He dropped his hand, cutting the electric connection.
“Are you someone important?” she asked, fidgeting slightly on the bench, pretending not to see how his lips quirked at her actions.
“Why would you ask that?”
“Your average Joe doesn’t have a security detail.”
“As I told you earlier, I’m well-off. But I’m no one of any importance. Big money brings out parasites who want a cut but are too lazy to work for it. I have guys to take care of them if they dare approach me. Why were you crying earlier?”
So he’d seen that through the window, too. She shrugged. “I’d just finished talking with my mother’s friends, and seeing them made me emotional. I’m getting better,” she reassured him in case he thought she was about to fall apart. “But it’s still hard.”
“Of course, it is, sweetheart. Don’t rush what you’re feeling. It’ll pass eventually, get easier, as everything does, and you’ll come out okay on the other side.”
Eva placed her hand on his forearm. “Thank you, Gabriel. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t come out when you did.”
He straightened. The atmosphere changed in the blink of an eye when the movement brought him to within inches of her. “It was my pleasure.”
He really did have the sexiest mouth. She realized she was staring at it, but before she could look away, his dark head inched down. He paused, as though giving her time. Their mouths were nearly touching when he whispered, “Say no.”
She said absolutely nothing and allowed a man she barely knew to take what he wanted from her.
His lips pressed against hers as he slid his fingers into the hair at her nape. His other hand came up to cup her jaw, and, using a slight pressure from his thumb on her chin, he opened her so that his tongue could invade her mouth in a deep, wet sweep that shocked Eva as much as it excited her. She shivered and seemed to light up from the inside out.
She couldn’t believe she was letting a total stranger kiss her. Like this. So . . . thoroughly. He may be gorgeous, but she still didn’t know him from Adam.
Her roommates and plenty of her friends at college had done the whole hookup thing. Not her. Never wanted to. Not after her father had done such a number on her mom.
But now, with Gabriel? She finally understood the draw.
Was this what her friends had so enjoyed with a guy they’d leave with at a party or bar? Had she been missing out on this? she wondered around the sensual fog clouding her mind. God, this felt good. Everywhere. Not just where their mouths met.
She shivered as he stroked his tongue over hers, enjoying where his palm skimmed down her neck to her shoulder, realizing that she felt more than desire.
She felt comforted.
Other than her friendship with Caleb, male companionship had been completely lacking in her life. She didn’t particularly trust men. Didn’t want to get close to them. Hadn’t thought she’d need more than the love and comfort her mother had offered when she’d been alive. But since her death, for the first time in her life, Eva had known loneliness—the ache of human comfort in something as simple as a hug.
Is that why she was allowing this intimacy with a man she barely knew?
Not just any man, she reminded herself as her breath came faster, but one who’d just saved her from a deranged attacker.
Yes. There was that, too. She tried to think around the warmth invading her. She moaned softly. Aside from her loneliness and Gabriel’s chivalrous act, there was something else going on between them. Something she couldn’t explain. But wholeheartedly would she admit she wanted more of this. More of him.
But instead of giving more, Gabriel ended the kiss. With one last lazy lick, he drew back. She swayed forward, trying to follow.
“That’s enough.”
Her heavy lids opened when the strain in his voice and the firm tone he’d used registered. His expression was unreadable. His breath coming as fast as hers as his thumb brushed across her bottom lip in a soft caress before he withdrew completely.
“But, that was . . .” Didn’t he feel that? That thing buzzing in the very air between them? She was too inexperienced to know what to call it.
Lust, a voice in the back of her mind whispered.
Oh. She quickly released the hold she only now realized she had on the lapels of his jacket, swiping away any wrinkles she may have caused, face burning. She couldn’t even remember raising her hands.
An amused light danced through the heat in Gabriel’s eyes. “No buts. Believe me—that was more than enough.”
Willing her racing pulse to slow, Eva felt the sting of rejection. Had he not felt the same connection she had? She started when he suddenly surged to his feet.
“It’s time you went home, Eva.”
Home? She frowned, testing the word. Alone? Without him? The thought made her feel panicky, but she couldn’t say why. All she knew was that she didn’t want to leave him yet. Leave this. What if she never experienced it again? That would be tragic.
And was this a role reversal or what? Shouldn’t she be putting him off?
Yes. But she wasn’t. “I’m not ready to leave yet. My curiosity hasn’t been satisfied.” She’d lowered her voice so the two couples strolling by didn’t hear her.
And she was a liar.
Yes, she wanted to know the identity of the man who’d tried to attack her and what his message was. Yes, she wanted to know if he was somehow connected to Stefano Moretti. But more than that, she wanted to spend more time with the man before her.
She stood and nearly oozed back down to the stone in a melted pool when Gabriel smiled at her. It wasn’t fair for a mere man to be so attractive.
He held out his hand. “Come. I’ll satisfy your . . . curiosity . . . during the drive.”
Okay. She’d just turned everything he’d said into an adult movie. She never did that when other men spoke to her. Probably wouldn’t have even if they’d said something blatantly sexual.
She had a whole new appreciation for her college friends and their unchecked libidos.
Eva placed her hand in his and let him escort her to the ballroom doors. She only extracted herself long enough to say good-bye to her mom’s friends, her face flaming the entire time as if she had a sunburn. As she hugged the ladies, promising to join them for coffee soon, she saw Quan reappear. He wore a serious expression as he spoke with Gabriel two tables away. When she joined them, she returned Quan’s friendly smile and self-consciously accepted the arm G
abriel held out, hoping her mother’s friends weren’t watching as they walked away. If they were, she’d have some explaining to do over that coffee.
They strode through the hotel, Gabriel nodding to the odd person, Eva looking around with fresh eyes. He certainly had great taste.
“Do you live alone, sweetheart?” Gabriel asked as they exited through the large revolving door.
“I—”
“Can I get a photo, Mr. Moore?”
She looked into the face of a man holding a camera. The tag hanging around his neck very clearly stated he was a photographer from the Seattle Times. “For the Times,” he said, waving the tag. “We’re doing a spread on the event.”
Without speaking—or smiling—Gabriel slid his arm around her and turned them with a hand now resting on her hip. A gesture that could only be described as intimate. He squeezed so gently it may have been involuntary, but it had her looking up at him. That’s when she heard the click.
“Name and proper spelling?”
Cheeks feeling hot, she looked at the photographer to see that he was speaking to her. She supplied the information.
Lovely. She could possibly end up in the paper tomorrow, and she was going to look like a tomato that hadn’t had enough sense to look into the camera and smile. Nika would laugh her ass off.
Though, there was one plus, she thought as Gabriel ushered her into the back of a waiting black Escalade. At least now if they found her body in the woods behind her house, they’d know who’d taken her home.
Not that she was worried. After all, how dangerous could a respected Seattle businessman be?
“I’ll take your reluctance to answer my question as a yes. You live alone.”
Gabriel snapped his seat belt on, watching as Eva did the same. Fucking photographer. If that image materialized in tomorrow’s paper, he might as well send an engraved announcement to his brother with a neon arrow pointing at Eva.
Quan climbed behind the wheel of the Escalade and set them in motion.
Eva paused for a second, placing her small bag on her lap, and looked as if she was waging an inner battle. “Yes. I do. On Mercer Island.”
“Quan?”
“Got it.”
They headed for Mercer Island. As he’d already known they would.
“It’s good to keep your business private, Eva. Smart.”
“Considering my life lately, I’d agree.” She seemed to be hiding from him as she looked out the window. Nervous even. “I’ll be putting the house on the market if things work out with TarMor,” she said, trying to change the subject. “Doesn’t make sense to keep it if I’m not even living here. I don’t want to be a landlord. And at this point in my life, it’s financially irresponsible to own a home I’m not using.”
Call your real estate agent, sweetheart.
“What’s been going on with your life lately that would make you agree? Aside from that asshole tonight.” He made a mental note to look into installing more security cameras in that area of the gardens at the hotel. It wouldn’t do to have just anyone walk in and accost his guests. Not that this had been a random attack.
Eva looked over the empty expanse of seat between them, teasing him with glimpses of her stunning features as they flashed bright, then dark, under the passing streetlights. The smile she offered didn’t reach her eyes. “Just stuff. So, did your people hand that guy over to the police? I’d actually like to talk to him. Ask him about that message. Maybe find out who he works for, if anyone.”
Fuck that. Gabriel pinned her with a hard stare, jaw clenched so tight his skull started to ache. He wasn’t used to getting shut down. Usually when he asked someone a question, they tripped over themselves to give him an answer. Eva basically told him, without saying the exact words, to mind his own business. She was his fucking business.
He shifted impatiently in his seat and wondered if she had Stefano on the brain as Skars’s employer? “Or, considering you’re a single woman who lives by herself, you could just leave well enough alone. My guess is you were a random target and that slime mentioned having a message to distract you before dragging you away. Don’t be naive, Eva. You have a security system in your house, right?”
Quan cleared his throat, probably to warn Gabriel to back off.
He glanced at her and saw that she’d paled. Good. He’d scared her. And gotten her off the subject of involving the police. That’s all they’d fucking need, he thought as he watched her graceful throat work through a swallow. Maybe if she was spooked, she’d take more care with her safety.
Not that he was going to let anyone hurt her.
“I have one of the most secure homes I know. Knowing my mom would be alone when I went to New York, we agreed to upgrade our system before I left. I’ll be fine.”
He nodded and let it go—even though he suddenly wanted to tell Quan to turn around and go back to the hotel. Lock her away in his suite so he’d know for certain she was safe. If he could get past a good security system, so could Stefano. But between him and his boys, she’d be under twenty-four-hour surveillance. Too bad he couldn’t tell her that. Save her from worrying.
They crossed over Lake Washington and she directed Quan to her home—his boy did better at playing dumb than Gabriel would have. Once in Eva’s driveway, Gabriel climbed from the truck, walked around the SUV to open her door for her, and followed her up the walkway. He’d noted Bobby T’s nondescript sedan sitting about two hundred feet up the street, and the drapes on the second-floor window in Nick’s house—which was next door to Eva’s—had just fluttered.
Fuck. He felt as if he were seventeen and it was the end of prom night.
Though Gabriel had spent what should have been his prom night sitting in the front seat of a rotted-out Chevy in a noisy salvage yard, “learning” the “proper technique” from his father for “interrogating” those with “enough balls” to “cross the family.” He had been “given the honor” of pulling the trigger on the two who’d gone after the wife of one of their lieutenants.
Eva retrieved a key from her purse. Before unlocking her door, she turned and looked up at him through her lashes. Innocently seductive. Didn’t have a clue he wanted to push her against the wall and have her right this second, fuck whoever cared to watch. He frowned. No. That wasn’t the case anymore. He wanted her, yes. But what he did with her would be done in private. It would be savored. Just the two of them.
He plucked her keys from her fingers without bothering to ask permission and unlocked the door, shoving it wide. She crossed the threshold to tap in the code to her beeping alarm system, then turned to him. Now that they were free from prying eyes, Gabriel didn’t hesitate to bend forward and place his mouth on the fluttering pulse point at her throat—an urge that had been riding him all night. He lingered over the kiss, closing his eyes at her soft sigh and the feel of her hands grasping his biceps.
Straightening with a silent curse because he didn’t want to stop there, he dropped her keys on the table on their left and stepped back. “Good night, sweetheart. Don’t forget to reset the alarm,” he murmured as he pulled on the door, closing her in the house alone.
It wasn’t until he and Quan were crossing back over the floating bridge that connected Mercer Island to Seattle that Gabriel took out his cell and hit up the New York office. He’d needed the extra time to regain his control. No woman had ever affected him as strongly as Eva did. After letting Natalie know Eva should be offered the position first thing in the morning, and ordering the workaholic to go home since it was past midnight East Coast time, he tossed his phone onto the dash and tried to zone out for a few.
Quan’s voice broke into the quiet. “I had my hand on the door locks when you were trying to distract her from involving the police. Thought she was going to bolt right onto I-90. I guess I can stop wondering why you’re still single.”
His lips twitched. “That bad, huh?”
“That bad. What kind of reaction do you th
ink you’re going to get when she shows up Monday and sees you sitting behind the desk?”
He’d deal with it then. Would she stalk out of his office? Tell him off first? He couldn’t help but smile at the thought. “It doesn’t matter at this point. She’ll do things my way until this shit with Stefano is settled.” Because he absolutely refused to have her in danger again. First in New York and now tonight. That was two too many slips. No more.
They reached the abandoned ammunitions warehouse, definitely not on any Seattle tourist maps. Alek’s rented Range Rover materialized in the beam from the headlights as they crossed the empty lot to park next to it. Quan killed the ignition, and Gabriel was just reaching for the door handle when his phone chimed again.
He pressed “Answer.” “Go.”
“I’ve heard your name more in the past week than I have in years, my friend,” drawled a voice he hadn’t heard in a while.
Surprised, he settled back into his seat again. “Fane. I’m afraid I can’t say the same. You must be losing your touch.” A short laugh rumbled in his ear. “Who gave you this number, brother?”
“Really, Gabriel?”
Arrogant ass. Hadn’t spoken to the guy in more than a year and he was using that tone right out of the gate. Classic Lucian Fane. The powerful Romanian was a force to be reckoned with in the organized crime world. And not just in New York where he was based, but in many other large cities scattered around the United States and Canada. A select few in Europe as well, if Gabriel remembered correctly. The guy had entered the game around the same time he had, but unlike Gabriel, the SOB thrived on the business he was in. Completely unforgiving and terrifyingly harsh to anyone who crossed him or interfered in his business, Lucian was the most feared in the industry. More so even than Vasily, which, in comparison, put Stefano down around the equivalent of a schoolyard bully.
Lucian was the most guarded and mysterious, too. He had his people, did his business, and no one knew any more than that. Although, if Gabriel thought hard enough, he did remember a time when the Romanian had had a woman. Yasmeen something-or-other.
A Love of Vengeance Page 7