Authors: Patricia Paris
What was she saying? Did she kill
him or didn't she? Hell, she wasn't making sense. He gripped her by the
shoulders. "Just answer me yes or no. Did you kill your ex-husband?"
"No."
The air rushed out of his lungs as
relief washed over him. They weren't going to have to become fugitives. "I
don't know why you said you killed him when you didn't, but you scared the shit
out of me just now."
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize
you'd think I was Dick's murderer."
"Well, when you said
I
killed Dick,
what the hell was I supposed to think?"
She frowned. "You're right. I
just feel so horrible about everything I didn't stop to realize you might take
me literally." She gave him a woeful glance and his heart constricted.
"You're probably going to
think I'm terrible, but I used to imagine ways to murder him. Whenever he'd
upset me, I'd kill him. In my mind," she said, ducking her head.
"Rachael and I made a game out of it. It was immature, I know."
"Come here, you." He
kissed her forehead. "You can give me the details later. Right now I need
to hold you so I can convince myself you're safe."
Abby snuggled her arms around him.
"You know this goes beyond our business arrangement."
"Sweetheart, this thing
between us went beyond a business arrangement the first time we shook
hands." She sighed deeply, her shoulders lifting and falling against his
chest.
"What's that sigh about?"
he asked.
"You're going to be insistent
about this, aren't you?"
Gage smiled. "There you go
being smart again." His hands drifted over her back. God he wanted her.
Wanted to lay her naked on a soft bed and explore her beautiful body. To give
her pleasure unlike anything she'd ever known
He closed his eyes. What did she need
from him right now, though? His support, his friendship, his belief and, he
thought, he wanted her to know she had them. He'd control his rampaging desire
until she gave him a clear sign she welcomed it. Until then he'd just be there
for her.
Abby stiffened. Now what? Would she
object to this small intimacy she'd already allowed him? Sooner or later she'd
have to accept they were going to become lovers. He cast his vote for sooner.
It had been a rough night, though. She deserved his patience. "You want to
talk about it?" he asked, wondering how long he'd be able to accept her
objections.
She licked her lips. "What did
you say a few minutes ago?"
"What? About being
upset?"
"Before
that."
She bit her lip.
"Something about,
well, realizing something."
He thought back. He'd been so upset
he hadn't been able to think straight. How was he supposed to remember what
he'd said? He'd felt frantic he could lose her, he knew that much. He'd only
just realized how much he loved her when she said she'd—
A slow smile found its way to his
lips. Gage ran his hands up her arms. "Oh yeah, that." He gazed down
at her upturned face. Lord, he thought she was beautiful.
Abby just stood there, barely
breathing, her eyes searching his as if his answer would change everything between
them.
He leaned forward and caught her
bottom lip between his teeth. "Not very romantic of me, was it? I should
have whispered it in your ear while we were making love. I should have shouted
it to the moon when we took each other flying there. I should have spelled it
out with chocolates." He ran his tongue over her lips and she shuddered.
"You said you were a sucker for chocolate." He smiled down at her.
"And I'm a sucker for you. It seems you found me out. I love you, Abby."
"Don't be ridiculous," she
said, but there was a warming glow her eyes. "You're not in love with me.
It's just a passing attraction. You'll get over it."
He sucked her tongue into his mouth
and she moaned.
"You know we can't do
this," she said, apparently still groping for some excuse to resist the
inevitable. "It'll ruin everything."
"And you know how I love
testing your theories."
"Gage."
She gazed up at him, and he saw the fear in her eyes. He couldn't allow it.
"Trust me, Abby." He kissed
the corners of her mouth.
"I do, but—"
"No. No buts. Trust me. Trust
yourself."
She swallowed. "You don't
understand. I'm not like other women. I don't have a whole lot of experience
with men. I'm not sensual, or even average." She winced. "Please, can't
we just be friends? I really like you. Really, and I don't want us to do
anything that's going to end in disappointment."
Gage molded her body against his.
"Give it up, love. No one's going to be disappointed. Haven't you figured
it out yet? We were meant to be." He reached down and swung her up in his
arms.
"Gage, really! Put me down.
This is insane."
"Do you want me, Abby?"
"That's not the issue. I've
always wanted..." She looked away, but not soon enough, and her aborted
admission fired his blood. "I mean, there are other things to
consider."
"Like what?" He leaned
forward and nibbled on her very delicate ear.
"Things.
Like…lots of things. I just can't think of them when you're chewing on
me."
He chuckled. "We belong
together, green eyes. Fate obviously meant for us to be together. You were too
young the first time she sent you to me, and I didn't realize it. I guess she
decided to give me one more chance. I don't intend to be so stupid this
time."
"Oh really, what do you
intend?"
He bit back the grin that would
surely consume his face if he allowed it reign. "I intend to spend the
rest of the night showing you exactly how I feel about you. And trust me,
sweetheart, I'm much better at show than tell."
"So you think fate pushed me
through the door of your uncle's taffy shop?"
He carried her toward the stairway,
possessing her mouth as they went.
"Had to be.
And you never want to mess with fate, especially not twice, bad business
that."
He could tell she was fighting a
smile and his heart soared. But she wasn't fighting him. Indeed, if he wasn't
mistaken, that sparkle in her eyes looked very much like kindling desire. He'd
learned a long time ago it only took a little kindling to build a roaring
flame.
"Did I ever tell you," he
murmured as he mounted the first step, "how crazy you make me?"
"Umm, not really," she
said, already sounding a little breathless.
He toyed with the top button of her
blouse. He knew she had reservations. He'd gleaned enough from prior comments
to realize she had some deep insecurity about being with a man. If he
accomplished nothing else tonight, he'd break down some of those insecurities.
It should be easy. All she had to do was take a good look at what she did to
him.
Gage tightened his hold. "I
swear, just thinking about making love to you makes me nervous as a
virgin," he teased. He swirled his tongue against hers. When he reached
the upstairs landing, he took a breath and grinned down at her. "You will
be gentle with me, won't you?"
She leaned her head back and
laughed. The sound filled him with pure joy. A minute later they were in her
room, and he set her down at the foot of the bed. Cradling her face, he gazed
down into the beautiful eyes that had become branded into his memory. What he
saw there took his breath away.
"How long have you known you
loved me?" he asked in a raspy whisper, positive the heartbreaking
tenderness in her expression could be nothing less.
"Oh, not long," she
answered with a soft smile, "only about fourteen years."
He crushed her against him.
"Then we've got a lot of time to make up for." And with the care of a
man who knew he held something very precious and fragile in his hands, he began
to do just that.
~~~
Desire stabbed Abby like a newly
honed knife, carving away her resistance. It sliced along her nerves and ripped
open a well of need so deep it stunned her.
She clawed Gage's back, tugging him
down, toward the bed, urgent to give him pleasure before this magic that had
always eluded her could vanish. He gentled the kiss that had been driving her
half mad.
"Easy," he murmured,
brushing his lips over hers with aching gentleness. He slid his hands up her
ribcage, then to the buttons of her blouse. One by one he undid them, slowly,
slipping each one open and dragging his thumb along her skin like a fiery brand
as his fingers worked their way down the row.
He was going too
slow
.
Please, she begged silently, please hurry, before it's gone. Her nerves
twitched, ready to snap. She grasped his shirt, yanked it out of the waistband
of his jeans. In her haste to get the thing off one of the buttons popped off.
It flew up and hit her on the chin before bouncing to the floor and rolling
somewhere under the bed.
Gage caught her by the wrists. She
brushed his hands away and attacked his belt buckle. What was wrong with her
fingers? They were stiff, awkward. She couldn't even unbuckle a damn belt
right. What did she expect?
Oh God, what did she think she was
doing? She hadn't even been able to please Dick, and he had been completely
indiscriminate about women. Did she really think she could please a man like
Gage, a man who probably had beautiful women at his beck and call all over the
world?
Capturing her hands again, Gage
lifted them to his shoulders. "I'll do it," he said, his voice
sounding unusually husky. In a matter of seconds he'd stripped to a pair of
silk navy boxers.
Abby stared at the dark hair on his
chest, frozen by her own ineptitude as he removed the rest of her clothing.
"We're in no rush." He
brought her against him, rubbing his hands up and down her arms, over her back.
Her body fit his to perfection. Did he think so, too? Did his throat feel dry
and his skin hot?
She closed her eyes and tried to
dispel her anxious doubts. Just relax or you'll screw this up. She didn't want
to be hurt. She loved Gage in a way she never had Dick. And she wanted him, all
of him. That had to count for something.
Gage might regret the things he'd
said after he made love to her, but maybe he wouldn't. Maybe it would be
different with him. Hadn't she already experienced more passion tonight than
she'd ever felt in her life?
She swallowed and kissed his
shoulder. She wanted to give this a shot. If it didn't work out, she'd get over
it. But she'd never know what might have been if she ended things now.
Trust
me
. His words came back to her. I do, she realized, I do trust him.
Gage burned a path down the side of
her neck with moist, hot kisses. Abby shuddered. He slid his hands over her
hips, squeezing, molding, learning every curve and valley. She moaned his name,
and his fingers dug into the backs of her thighs. And then he was falling,
taking her with him, tumbling onto the bed.
He let out a woof as she landed on
top of him. "You okay?" he asked, dragging her up his chest. Yes,
okay, she thought, for now.
He pushed his fingers into her hair
and pulled her head down for a blistering kiss. He wanted her. The evidence was
pressed against her thigh. She'd done that. He was hard and hot.
For her.
She felt a little giddy and a lot afraid.
"Gage, I—" She caught her
bottom lip between her teeth and forced herself to look at him. "Just
don't expect too much, okay?"
He smiled. "Okay."
Abby frowned. "I mean, I'm
going to give this my best shot, but, well, my track record's not so great, and
I don't want you to be disappointed."
He raised his head to nip her chin.
"I'll try not to be."
Well, he didn't have to sound so
damn blasé. He could at least patronize her a little, couldn't he? He flipped
her over and rolled onto his side.
Propping himself up on one elbow,
he looked at her. His gaze traveled over her breasts, dipped when he reached
her waist, then continued over her hips and down her legs.
Abby squirmed. Why was he just
looking at her? Why didn't he
do
something?
Say
something. Did he
like what he saw?
He lifted several strands of her
hair, rubbing them together as if mesmerized. "The day I came to your
office for that initial meeting you had your hair up. I kept wondering what it
would be like down. I imagined taking it down." He let the strands filter
through his fingers.
He shifted, moving his hand along
her neck, down her chest, and over her breast, encircling it. Abby held her
breath. His eyes slid up to hers. "I should have known when we met for
lunch the next day we'd end up here."
"Oh
yeah?"
Abby's insides were turning to mush, but she was afraid to
let him see how he affected her. "Are you saying you suspected then that
we'd become personally involved?"
"No. I was convinced we
wouldn't. I've never allowed myself to become intimate with a business
associate." His hand continued its journey, halting again on her stomach.
Touch me. God she wanted him to.
But he was going so slow she wanted to scream.
"But I should have known. The
signs were all there." When he moved his hand again, she jumped. He looked
up and raised a brow.
Just do it
! She screamed in
her head. Do it before I chicken out. Do it before the sizzle sours. He was the
experienced one here. Talk about reading the signs. What did she have to do,
start bucking?
Gage smiled, apparently oblivious
to her silent pleas. His fingers dipped lower, and he circled his thumb over
the sensitive nub where all her need had centered.
Abby jerked, rocked by the intense
jolt of pleasure shooting through her. He eased the pressure, palming her,
soothing her with his open hand. To her dismay it slid back to her hip, then
her arm, back up to her shoulder.