Silence settled between them and then he said softly, ‘Take off your clothes.’
‘What?’
‘Let me see you naked, in front of me.’
‘I...I can’t.’
‘Why not?’ Something suddenly struck him: her innocence. The way she blushed, the hint of unbearable youth lurking underneath the professional exterior. ‘You’re not a virgin, are you?’
‘Would it make a difference if I was?’
‘Yes.’ He sat forward, alert. ‘It would.’
‘Why?’ She edged towards him and dropped the shoes on the floor. It would have felt strange to have plonked herself next to him on the sofa so she sat on one of the chairs.
Talking was giving her time to doubt her decision. If she had fallen passionately into bed with him, she wouldn’t have had time to think, but maybe this was a good thing. Maybe they both needed to talk, because this was not an ordinary situation, and a lot could change for the worse in its aftermath.
‘Are you getting cold feet?’ He shot her a crooked smile, reading her mind as though her thoughts had been written on her forehead, and that smile sealed her decision.
‘No. Tell me why it would matter if I was a virgin.’
‘You know me.’ And she did, strangely. They worked so closely together and, although their working relationship was still new, he had the feeling that she got him. ‘I’m not looking for...anything. It’s what I tell every single woman I have ever dated and it’s what I’m telling you now. Sex is a pleasurable pastime, but it’s not love and it’s not commitment, and it’s not...going anywhere... If you’re not experienced enough to take that on board...’ He shrugged but his dark eyes were glued to her face. ‘My...past experiences have not programmed me for any kind of commitment.’
‘I’m not a virgin,’ Alice told him abruptly. ‘And talking about this makes it feel like an arrangement.’
‘And that’s a bad thing because...?’
‘Because...’ She faltered, thinking of the right way to say what she wanted to say, and he stepped into the breach without hesitation.
‘Because you’re looking for romance?’
‘No! This is crazy. I’m going to go now. I should never have—’
Gabriel reached forward and circled her wrist with his hand and Alice shivered. Talking was a mood killer, whether it made sense or not. But that touch, the heat of his skin against hers, reminded her why she had stopped him in his tracks before he could enter his bedroom.
‘Come closer and I’ll show you why this might be crazy but why you shouldn’t walk away.’
Mesmerised, Alice leaned towards him and half-closed her eyes. His cool lips against hers sent an explosion through her. She slid trembling fingers through his hair and caressed his neck. She could hardly believe what she was doing.
Was this really her? She wasn’t a risk taker. Her life had been too unsteady for her to nurture the sort of devil-may-care attitude that encouraged spontaneous, careless behaviour. She was cautious, careful...
Yet she knew that she was about to take the biggest risk of her life in doing this and she didn’t want to stop.
She kissed him slowly, drowning in the sensuality of his tongue melding with hers. As she kissed him, eyes closed, she blindly traced the contours of his beautiful face with her fingers. The wrap had slid off her shoulders and his hands were moving along her collarbone.
He drew back and she looked at him, still dazed from sensations she had never felt before.
‘Undress for me, Alice...and don’t tell me that you can’t. Turn around. I’ll unzip you.’
‘I’ve never done a striptease before.’
‘I’ll show you how, in that case.’ He stood up and began undressing. Very slowly, watching her as she watched him, her mouth half-open, fascination oozing from every pore.
Did it get better than this? Gabriel couldn’t remember the last time he had been this turned on. She had the star-struck expression of a kid in a candy shop and it went to his head faster than a dose of adrenaline.
When his shirt was off, he began unzipping his trousers, and he grinned when she half-looked away, then looked back, then looked away again and finally returned her riveted gaze to his semi-clad body.
He was down to his boxers—dark-striped, silk boxers. Alice thought she might pass out. He had the highly toned body of an athlete: broad shoulders and a muscular torso that tapered down to a washboard-flat stomach and lean hips. Even in the most unforgiving of lights, he would still be beautiful.
Nerves gripped her.
What would he think of her? Was she opening herself up to humiliation? He might have waxed lyrical about finding her attractive, but it wouldn’t do to forget that he went for small, voluptuous women with big breasts.
He didn’t take off the boxers. Instead, he sat back down on the sofa and said with a wicked grin, ‘Have I set an acceptable benchmark?’
Alice unzipped her dress herself. It was a long zip and it slid smoothly apart. She took a deep breath and then un-looped first one shoulder, then the other.
Another deep breath then it was off, sliding to the ground, the cool air hitting her bare breasts. He had looked at her with gleaming self-confidence when he had removed his clothes. She had her eyes shut until she heard him warmly, unsteadily tell her to open them.
The gentleness in his voice was like the waving of a magic wand and in that instant she shed her nerves as smoothly and as easily as she had shed her beautiful Cinderella dress.
She walked towards him wearing only her lacy pink panties and breathed in sharply as his hands settled on her hips and he sat up so that he could trail delicate kisses over her flat stomach.
She might not be a curvy Marilyn Monroe but she really turned him on. She could feel it in the way his hands shook ever so slightly and the way his breathing was just a little uncontrolled. Just for a brief window in time, her big, powerful boss was not the man who ruled the world but someone very human, someone driven by responses he couldn’t tame, and she had done that. Her self-confidence soared.
‘You’re beautiful,’ she heard him breathe.
She gripped his sinewy shoulders as he hooked his fingers into the waistband of her panties and tugged them down. She was completely naked and she didn’t want to run for cover.
Two fumbling encounters with Alan before being ditched for a sexier model had left Alice with a punishing lack of self-confidence. If someone had told her that she would be able to do this—to stand in front of one of the sexiest men she could ever hope to meet and not feel embarrassed at her body—she would have laughed in disbelief. But that was exactly what she was doing now.
He parted her thighs with his hand and she curled her fingers into his hair and gasped as he traced the folds of her womanhood with his tongue. When he slipped it into her moistness, her legs almost gave way. The pleasure was unbearable.
This was refined torture as he teased her, bringing her to dizzy heights before allowing her to subside. She was wet, throbbing, aching from wanting more.
He lifted her onto the bed and then laid her down and looked at her.
Her body was slim and graceful. Her breasts were just the right size. Her hair was like spun silk. He stepped out of his boxers. He was so hard for her that it was going to be a challenge to stop himself from doing the unthinkable; he knew that if she just touched him there he would release his seed like a teenager with no control.
Alice could scarcely breathe. She was overwhelmed with excitement. It coursed through her veins like a drug, washing away everything in its rampaging path. She had to squirm and resist touching herself to try to staunch the throbbing.
He settled on the bed and straddled her. She reached to touch him and he stayed her hand.
‘No way.’ Gabriel barely recognised the shakiness in his voice. ‘I
f you do... I’m too turned on...’
‘That’s nice.’
‘It’s better than nice,’ he growled in response. He lowered himself over her and she sighed and wriggled when he began teasing her breasts with his tongue.
‘Hands above your head,’ he commanded. Her nipples were big, pink discs and he tasted them delicately before taking one into his mouth and suckling on it, not letting up, enjoying her whimpers of delight and the way she moved, unable to keep still.
If she felt like a kid in a candy shop, then that was how he felt as well. The novelty of it was incredible, invigorating, exceptional.
When he could no longer bear the foreplay, he fumbled for his wallet, which he had dropped on the bedside table, and removed a condom.
Through the haze of her desire, Alice recognised a guy who took no chances. When he said that he did not involve himself in relationships for the long haul, he wasn’t kidding.
She propped herself up on her elbows and watched as he put it on, fast and expertly. He was so big that she marvelled that he had not had any unfortunate accidents in the past from splitting one of them.
Their eyes met for the briefest of moments and he grinned.
‘No risks, right?’ she asked lightly and he nodded.
‘Never.’
He nudged into her and then pushed harder so that she felt every bit of his girth rubbing inside her, sending waves of sensations shooting through her body. She clung. It was all she could do. Her short nails dug into his back as he moved harder and harder. Her legs wrapped round him and their bodies fused into one.
Her orgasm was deep, long and mind-blowing. Alice felt as if she was flying, soaring upwards, splintering into a thousand exquisite pieces. Her body arched as wave upon wave of unbearable pleasure coursed through her. One final thrust and he came as well, rearing up and groaning. Shudders of release ripped through his big body.
Unbelievable.
‘Did the earth move for you?’ he asked roughly, half-joking, half-serious, because it had damn well moved for him.
They had rolled onto their sides and were facing one another. It seemed perfectly natural. She had to lower her eyes because she felt so...tender towards him. That perfect moment of coming together was one of the few times when his guard was completely down, she suspected, and she supposed that it was the same for her. Now it was time for them to retreat to the people they were and tenderness didn’t play any part in that.
‘Shall I tell you how good you are?’ she murmured teasingly and he clasped her fingers between his and kissed them one by one.
‘That would be nice, and you can take your time. Feel free to be as descriptive as you like.’
‘You’re so egotistic, Gabriel.’
‘Don’t tell me you don’t like it.’ He kissed her and then settled his hand comfortably between her thighs. ‘In fact, you have to tell me that you like it. I’m your boss.’
A timely reminder. She rolled onto her back and stared up at the ornate ceiling.
In the act of making love, she had lost the ability to think, but she was thinking now, remembering what he had said to her, how he had warned her off involvement: his little ‘don’t get attached to me’ speech, the same little speech he would deliver to all his bed mates, of which she was now one.
Well, she might number among them, but she wasn’t about to join their ranks in wanting more than he could give. She wasn’t going to turn into another hysterical Georgia who had been silly enough to think that she could domesticate the jungle animal.
‘You are,’ she agreed lightly. ‘Which is why this is only going to last for the duration of Paris.’ Belatedly it occurred to her that she might have been a one-night stand. Had she jumped to the wrong conclusion?
‘Is that a fact?’ Gabriel murmured. He withdrew his hand to cup one breast instead and he gently stroked her until her nipple hardened.
‘Being here is like playing truant...time off from normality.’ Alice knew her body was reacting with wild abandon even though her voice was calm and controlled. She wanted him to flick his tongue over the tender nub of her nipple as he had done earlier; she wanted him to lick her between her legs until she couldn’t breathe properly and then she wanted him inside her all over again, thrusting hard and sending her into glorious orbit.
Four days with him wasn’t what she wanted but there was no way that she was going to lose control. She wasn’t going to become his puppet.
And she wasn’t going to let herself fall into the trap of thinking that, because maybe she had been harder to get than he was used to, he somehow was no longer the lazy guy who took what was on offer because he couldn’t be bothered with the tedium of pursuit. She wasn’t going to be another idiot who thought that he was capable of change.
‘Normality being...?’
‘Normality being London and the fact that I work for you. I’m being serious, Gabriel. I don’t want to jeopardise my job. I can’t think when you’re doing...that...’ He had slipped his fingers inside her and was absently teasing her tender, sensitive flesh.
‘That suits me,’ he drawled and Alice fought down the sudden flare of irrational disappointment. ‘You’re the best secretary I’ve ever had.’
‘And besides,’ she said drily, ‘you like a quick turnaround when it comes to women, don’t you?’
‘Always.’ Gabriel thought it best to remind her, although she was not like the other women he had been out with. She might be young, but she was cool, controlled, not in search of the inaccessible. Hadn’t she told him that he wasn’t her type? What, he wondered, was her type anyway?
It didn’t matter. He wasn’t risking anything. She wouldn’t get emotionally involved with him any more than he would get emotionally involved with her. They understood one another.
‘But while we’re here playing truant,’ he drawled huskily, ‘I might see fit to limit the amount of client entertaining we do. You’ve never been to Paris and I know this city like the back of my hand. You’re under orders to follow my lead...’
‘Yes, sir!’ Alice grinned. This was her big adventure and she was going to enjoy it while it lasted.
* * *
‘Where did you learn to speak French?’
They sat in the sunshine outside one of the smart cafés close to the Louvre, where they had spent a couple of hours admiring the great works of art. He had been true to his word and work had been minimal for the past two days. They had entertained Francois and Marie after the deal had been officially signed, and had had lunch with another prospective client who had been charming and informative. But mostly they had made love.
She felt vibrantly, wonderfully alive. She had been living life in the slow lane and now she had been pulled into a Ferrari and was speeding up a highway, enjoying every second of the ride. It was thrilling, frightening and she was dreading the end, the brick wall at the end of the highway.
‘Self-taught.’ Gabriel sipped his strong coffee and looked at her, admiring the purity of her skin, the sharp fall of her hair, the fullness of her pink lips.
She was a revelation. They were lovers, but that did not impact on her ability to focus and work. They made love, but she didn’t demand his constant attention. Neither did she give any hint that she intended what they had to last beyond Paris.
Which was good. In fact, it was great. They were having a no-strings-attached affair. She hadn’t mentioned what exactly her type of guy was but he wasn’t it. Admittedly, it irked him...
‘Amazing.’ Alice laughed. ‘You must pick things up fast.’
‘Necessity is the mother of invention,’ Gabriel said drily. If only she knew...
Without the benefit of an expensive education, with his formative years spent either getting into trouble or else avoiding it, he had had to learn fast to compete once he’d got out into the big, bad world.
His natural ability, talent and sheer untapped intellect had propelled him forward, but he had known from very early on he would need an edge, and that edge would be a second language. He had befriended a native Frenchman as soon as he’d hit the trading floor and had trained himself to speak only in French when they were in each other’s company. He had learned to understand finance in another language, had learned the dialect of the stock exchange in French. He had earned his edge and it had come in very handy over the years.
‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning it’s time for us to get back to the hotel. Looking at you is doing some very active things to my libido.’ He drained his cup and stood up, and Alice followed suit.
This was what they were all about. She knew that just as she knew that she had done exactly what she had set out not to do: she had fallen under his spell. In London, she had seen the brilliant, inspired businessman, the man with formidable levels of energy who poured that energy into work.
But here she had seen the other man. The witty, charming, highly informative, sexy guy and she had fallen under his spell.
No, worse. With painful honesty, she knew that she had fallen in love with him. For her, this wasn’t just a simple case of lust. No, this was the vast, unchartered territory of absolute love, the one-hundred percent absorption in another human being; the yearning and craving and not being able to envisage a life without them. In a perfect world, this was the sort of intense, soaring feeling that would be reciprocated. In her imperfect world, however, this was the nightmare that couldn’t be contained and couldn’t be ignored. Just thinking about her stupidity made her feel sick.
She had had searing sex with a guy who found her attractive but that was the end of it. She had launched herself down a one way street, had given her heart to a guy who certainly wouldn’t be returning the favour, and it hurt. Gabriel Cabrera didn’t do love. In fact, he didn’t even do anything that remotely bordered on intimacy, or at least what she understood by intimacy. She hadn’t failed to notice that when she asked questions he didn’t want to answer, he abruptly, smilingly but very firmly, changed the subject.
To Sin with the Tycoon Page 10