by Tawny Weber
“Hey there, Colby,” he greeted as he stepped out onto the sidewalk in the chilly night. “I wasn’t sure you were going to call me back.”
“I debated for a bit, but then I decided it’d be rude to leave you hanging.” The response was amused and easy.
“And you’re never rude,” Gabriel agreed with a laugh.
Which he’d hoped would factor in. But given the favor he was asking, he hadn’t counted on it. He and Colby went way back. Both sons of notorious, and unprosecuted, criminal factions. But while Gabriel had embraced Tobias’s legacy, Colby had turned his back on his, distancing himself from the talents of the late Antony Grayson’s talent as a master counterfeiter.
It was a testament to how desperate he was that Gabriel was willing to risk their friendship and ask him to close that distance.
“How’re you doing, Gabriel? Taking a break in Black Oak or are you thinking of settling back into the arms of the family?”
“Just a break. And if you know I’m here, you probably know the details of why?”
“I couldn’t garner much info on the hot blonde, but I have a pretty clear picture of what you’re dealing with.”
Yet another nice thing about dealing with Colby. The man did his homework and had one hell of a brain. If he’d ever turned his talent to cons, Gabriel would have had major competition. But no, his old friend had gone the crazy route and joined the military instead.
“I need a stake,” Gabriel said, getting straight to the point. “A traceable, convictable stake. A couple hundred K or thereabouts. Enough to get me an introduction to whoever’s calling the shots here, and guarantee they go down once I know where to shine the legal lights.”
The silence was long enough to make the skin between Gabriel’s shoulder blades itch. Finally, he heard the clink of ice hitting a glass, then a long sigh.
“You’re asking a lot, buddy. You know I’m no artist.”
“I’m not asking you to manufacture anything. Just to donate a little of the artwork your father left behind for my project.”
“My father’s style is distinctive. What guarantee do I have that this won’t come back and kick my ass?”
“Your glowing reputation.” Gabriel waited until Colby’d finished laughing before adding, “And my promise.”
The laughter faded. The tension in Gabriel’s shoulders, combined with the cold February night air, made him feel like he was about to shatter.
Finally, “Fine, but you’ll owe me. I’ll have it delivered to you by this time tomorrow.”
“I appreciate it,” Gabriel said, relief rushing through him. It was a good plan, and the counterfeit money was vital to pulling it off. But still, he was asking one hell of a lot from his old pal.
“In exchange, you tell me the whole story,” Colby said in his smooth, easy tone. “And introduce me to the blonde.”
“The story’s yours,” Gabriel agreed with a laugh. “But the blonde is mine.”
“So that’s how it is?”
Staring across the lawn with its collection of naked statuary, twinkling heart-shaped lights and bare-root roses, Gabriel sighed. He had a hell of a lot more confidence in pulling off this scam than he did in making his relationship with Danita a reality.
Still…
“Yeah,” he said, falling back on the art of believing that if you said the lie often enough, it’d become reality. “That is exactly how it is.”
Colby’s laugh had the wicked edge of a man who’d never fallen off that scary emotional cliff.
“Twenty-four hours,” he said, still guffawing as he hung up.
One day. Then he’d bluff his way through the biggest game he’d ever played.
Great. Nothing more fun than bluffing with a bunch of guys who liked to shoot their opponents. He didn’t know if it was the stakes, or the game itself, but he was getting tired of playing. For the first time in his life, Gabriel considered the option of this being his last game. After all, would he ever play for higher stakes? Damned hard to top this.
“Gabriel?”
Tucking his phone in his pocket, he turned toward Danita.
“Your father said you’d come out here. What’s up?” she asked, her gaze sliding toward his pocket, then meeting his again.
“Just taking a call.”
She tilted her head to one side, giving him that searching look again. The woman was scary, the way she made him feel like she could see straight through to his soul.
“Is it getting to be too much?” she asked quietly, slowly walking toward him and stopping a few inches away so their conversation stayed private.
He breathed in the wildflower scent of her, letting it warm him with the memory of her body, naked and wild, poised over his. This distance thing of hers was driving him crazy.
Then again, didn’t he specialize in keeping people at a distance?
“Gabriel?” she asked quietly, her face concerned, the hand on his arm warm and comforting.
Maybe, just maybe, it was time to quit shoving people—certain select people—away.
“Let’s go,” he said, giving her a quick look. She didn’t have her coat. But she wore a tiny glittery purse like an accessory, the long strap crossed between her breasts. She’d have her gun, whatever toys mattered to her, there in that bag. Good enough. He took her hand and headed toward the Corvette.
“What’s the deal?” she asked, giving him a baffled look as she hurried to keep up in her high heels.
“We have business to take care of,” he decided.
“What business? Where?” She threw a quick look over her shoulder toward the Cassiopeia’s, with its crowd of family and out-of-town friends who’d arrived for the wedding in three days. “Shouldn’t we say something to your family? Let them know we’re leaving?”
“They’ll figure it out,” he said, bundling her into the passenger seat and striding around the car as fast as he could.
He had twenty-four hours before this game shifted into high gear. One way or another, things were getting scary tomorrow. So tonight? Tonight he was living out his dreams.
And all of them involved Danita being naked.
DANITA DIDN’T KNOW what was bothering Gabriel, but she knew it was major. She’d watched him play the goon squad like a master cellist played his instrument. His family tended to get him on edge, but more in a melancholy sort of way.
But this wasn’t melancholy. This, she decided as she surveyed his face with a worried frown, this was bigger. Whatever was bothering Gabriel was bigger. Desperate. Personal.
She sat, silent, while he drove, letting him wrestle with whatever it was. After about ten minutes on a dark road, he turned off into a weedy clearing. The pitted dirt road played hell on her ’Vette’s suspension, making her wince.
“Where are we?” she asked, looking around in a combination of curiosity and concern. There was a barn ahead, but there were no animals around. No crops, either. The red siding looked flaked and droopy in the moonlight, while there was little white left on the trim.
“My favorite hideaway when I lived in Black Oak,” Gabriel told her, leaning one arm over the steering wheel while he stared nostalgically at the decrepit building. “I used to come here and hatch plots.”
“And bring girls?”
His eyes cut to hers, amusement dancing in the gold depths. “Of course.”
He snagged the keys from the ignition and tilted his head. “Care to take a trip down memory lane with me?”
She should say no. She’d been so careful to keep a tidy professional distance between them over the last few days. But she couldn’t resist a chance to see where Gabriel had honed his talent…so to speak.
Before the second—smarter—thoughts could set in, Gabriel was there opening her door and offering a hand to assist her from the car.
“C’mon,” he said, shrugging off his coat and wrapping it around her shoulders. “I wonder if it’s changed much.”
She wrinkled her nose as they stepped through the knee-high
weeds, grateful she’d worn boots tonight instead of sandals. “It looks like it’s sat abandoned since you left.”
“A shame,” he said, one hand wrapped tight around hers. The door squealed in protest as he pushed it open. He reached a familiar hand around and flipped a switch, but they were both surprised when the weak yellow light lit overhead. “It was a great hideaway. It’d be a bummer if no other teenage boy discovered the pleasures to be had here.”
“You mean girls to be had?”
“Same thing,” he agreed, his smile flashing as he looked around. “You know, for being a dive on the outside, it’s still in pretty good shape in here.”
The dirt floor was, well, dirty, with scuffed footsteps in here and there among the hay that had scattered out of the stacked bales. A long workbench spanned one wall, one wooden leg shattered so it all listed to one side. Bales of yellowing hay scented the space with fresh, country appeal and there was a loft running along one end, but no apparent ladder to access the space.
“This is fresh hay,” she said, poking a finger at the sweet-smelling grassy piles. “I guess your old haunt isn’t so abandoned after all.”
“Fancy that,” he said absently.
Danita glanced over, wondering what had him distracted. The past, she realized when she saw the bittersweet smile on his face. Her heart melted a little when he traced his finger over initials carved in the graying splintered wood of one wallboard.
“GB? No luvs 4ever?” she teased, wondering if he’d been such a player even as a teen that he’d known not to make a public—or in this case, barn—commitment.
“I didn’t write it.” He laughed. She looked closer, seeing the loopiness of the letters and what looked like raindrops next to the heart.
“Those are teardrops?” she realized. “Were you already breaking hearts back then?”
“I never made a promise I couldn’t keep,” he said in a self-righteous tone that was ruined by his reminiscent grin, pure triumphant male.
He was so damned cute, she thought as she settled onto a surprisingly clean bale of hay. Cute and sweet.
“So this really was your love nest,” she mused. “Are there notches somewhere?”
“Blondie, I might have brought a lot of girls here, but none of them could hold a candle to you.”
“Uh-huh,” she said, giving him an arch look. “Not even Kathy?”
Gabriel’s smile didn’t dim. If anything, it widened in delight. “Ahh, Kathy Andrews,” he reminisced. “One fine summer night, a six-pack of wine coolers and a pretty blonde. The stuff great memories are made of.”
“We chatted at the bridal shower,” Danita said with a laugh. “She remembers you fondly, too. She mentioned a spring fling, setting the bar high and crème de menthe liqueur.”
Danita watched Gabriel laugh. A week was such a short time to spend with someone. Most people would scoff at the idea that two people could connect, could really understand each other that quickly. But in her business, and she imagined in Gabriel’s too, they had to make snap judgments, to understand people quickly.
And she understood him.
He was a clever man, and one who was determined to win at all costs. But he was, in his own way, an honest man with a code of conduct he wouldn’t budge from. The fact that, after their first night together, he’d insisted on taking the sleeping bag so she could have the bed, told her so much. He’d respected her boundaries and he hadn’t made her feel stupid for needing them.
He’d brought her into his family, a family who’d embraced and welcomed her like her own never had.
He made her feel…whole. When she hadn’t ever been able to admit, even to herself, that she was fractured.
So a week wasn’t long. Nor were the few days they had left. But she was a smart woman. And smart women didn’t waste precious time.
Before she could talk herself out of it, she rose from the softly scented hay to cross the dirt floor. Stopping just inches from Gabriel, she hesitated. Then, swallowing hard to wet her dry throat, she reached out to rub her hands over his arms, covered only in a thin sweater.
“What’s up?” he asked quietly, the laughter fading as his eyes locked on hers.
“You took on a lot,” she said quietly as she studied his face. “Coming home. Facing your past, risking your reputation. Deceiving your family while they are in danger. We didn’t, or at least I didn’t, consider how hard this would be for you.”
“There’s a lot at stake,” he said slowly, frowning as he stared back at her as if trying to figure out her game.
Her lips twitched. That was Gabriel, always looking for the con. She wasn’t sure if he realized his hands had tangled in her hair, the move was so automatic now.
“My father, and by extension my family, is in danger. True, you didn’t give me much choice about coming home. I wouldn’t have known about it if not for you, though. So while your method, other than that kiss the night you arrested me, sucked a little… I guess I’m glad you did it.”
Danita’s smile shifted from sympathetic to naughty. She leaned closer to brush a quick kiss over his cheek, then arched one brow. “So you’re thanking me for arresting you?”
“Um, no.” His grimace was little-boy cute. “And given that you’re the first arrest I’ve ever had, and it’s going down as solicitation, I think you owe me for messing with my rep.”
Just the opening she was looking for. Danita inched closer so her breasts skimmed his chest as she slid her hands up to the hard breadth of his shoulders. “Then I should make that up to you, shouldn’t I?”
“I was kidding. I didn’t bring you here for seduction,” he said, his words as serious as a vow.
“I know.” She smiled up at him, her heart telling her this was the right decision. “Which makes me seducing you that much more fun.”
“You’re going to seduce me?” His smile was as wicked as the hands curving over her ass. In typical Gabriel fashion, he didn’t pretend to hesitate, but instead dove right in for the fun.
“I am. And I’m going to do a damned good job of it, too,” she promised. Figuring there was no time like the present to start, she angled her body tighter to his. Running her fingers through the silky thickness of his hair and she gave him a slow, suggestive smile. “So good, you’ll never forget tonight.”
In her heels, she barely had to stretch to brush her lips gently over the soft warmth of his. She breathed in his scent, so familiar after practically living with him for almost a week. The hard planes of his chest pressed against her, cushioned slightly by the light wool of the sport coat he’d wrapped around her earlier.
“Babe, I don’t plan on forgetting one single thing about you.” With one last squeeze of appreciation, his hands moved from her butt to the indention of her waist. Her skin tingled with heat, even through the layers of fabric.
He’d never forget her? Line or truth? Did it matter? Danita told herself it didn’t, even as her heart tucked the words away like a precious gift.
“So tell me,” she asked quietly. “What’s your secret fantasy? What kind of sex makes you melt? We’ve already done it hot and fast. We’ve played on the edges of kink. Do you like it a little nasty? What’s your pleasure, Gabriel Black?”
Amusement faded. His hands tightened on her waist, then slid around her back, pulling her closer, tighter against his already hardening body.
“My pleasure? You, Danita,” he said quietly. A thrill shimmered in her heart at the sound of her name on his lips. “I want you, the way you want to be wanted.”
Amused, she shook her head, even as she gave in to the unspoken invitation to heat things up and skimmed her fingers down his chest. Her nails lightly scraped over his nipples, making them harden through his thin sweater.
“My fantasy is your fantasy? Isn’t that a bit of a cop-out? What’s the deal, Gabriel? You don’t think I can handle your idea of the best sex you can imagine?”
He cupped her breasts in his hands now, gently squeezing the mounds in an erot
ic rhythm. “Babe, I promise. There’s nothing that will get me hotter than knowing you’re living out your fantasy with me. There’s nothing more exciting than knowing that I’m the man who makes you crazy with wanting. You have your way with me, and I promise, it’ll be the best sex I’ve ever had in my life.”
Danita blinked away the sudden tears that blurred her view of his gorgeous face.
“Undress me,” she ordered softly, finally taking him at his word. “Undress me like I’m the most precious thing in your world.”
And he did. His mouth skimming over hers, he pushed the jacket from her shoulders, then shifted to pull her purse over her head. His mouth followed the line of his fingers as he slipped each tiny button of her blouse open. His breath was warm, his fingers tender as he slipped the ruffled chiffon fabric off her shoulders.
His kisses were sweet, but still hot enough to send shivers of pleasure through every erogenous zone she had. He took her aching nipple into his mouth, suckling and sipping in a sweet, adoring way that made her head spin. He quickly unbuttoned her skirt, his hands leaving a trail of warmth vivid in the chilly barn as he pushed the fabric off her hips.
Then, making her mewl in protest, he released her breast and stood back to give her an inspection that was just as hot as his caress.
Standing in her stockings, a scrap of lace and boots, Danita waited. Nerves danced. Before they could take hold, though, she saw the look in his eyes. Hot appreciation, a healthy dose of lust and something else. Something that made her heart melt.
Adoration.
Oh, God, she realized as her breath tangled in her chest. She was in so much trouble. She was so in love with him.
She’d never planned on falling in love. Given her history, she wasn’t even sure she believed in it. But now? Given that her feelings for Gabriel poured through her like molten lava, burning through every part of her being, she had to believe.
Her heart raced, terror at the depth of her feelings chasing the warmth. To distract herself from letting the realization completely freak her out, she stepped into the warmth of Gabriel’s waiting arms, wrapped one leg around his thigh and pressed her mouth to his.