Curves for Casanova (3 page)

“What about you?”

“I’ll be right behind you,” he promised.
Cupping his hands and giving her a sly wink, he added, “Ditch the high heels. Ready?”

Libby kicked off her shoes an
d allowed him to hoist her up. It took more effort to loosen the panel than she’d thought it would. By the time it finally crashed down, the corner hitting her just below her eye, her arms ached from the effort. 

“Can you climb through?”

“I think so,” she answered while gripping the sides of the opening, and with a deep breath, she pulled herself up. Had it not been for Gavin, giving her more of a boost, she would’ve never made it on her own.

Moving away from the opening to give him room, she stared at the blackness around her and trie
d to fight back the vertigo which made her want to retreat back to the relative safety of the metal box, even if it was rigged with explosives.
How was it possible to go from the throes of passion to the throes of panic in less than a minute?
 

Forcing her eyes open, she peered over the side and
immediately wished she hadn’t. Beyond the edge of the elevator car was a twenty story drop.

When Gavin appeared through the opening, climbing out with far more grace and ease than she had, she couldn’t stop the sigh of relief. 

He grinned at her. “Didn’t think I’d make it?”

“Let’
s just say I had my concerns—that was quite a jump to reach that opening. You actually look like you’re enjoying this!”

Gavin gave her another wink as he shrugged his wide shoulders. A loud metallic cutting sound echoed out through the shaft. “That would be Ronan having them cut through the wall to get us out of here. Remind me that I need to give him a raise.”

“Definitely,” she agreed.  “He needs a raise.
A promotion. A private island—anything he wants.”

“Except you,” Gavin said.
“You’re off limits to everyone but me.”

“Gavin McBray doesn’t get possessive
over women,” she reminded him. “They’re expendable to him.”

“Not you...
I have plans for you, Liberty Jones. The minute they get us out of here, I’m taking you to my house in the Hamptons, throwing you on my bed and I’m going to do sinful, wicked things to your body,” he promised. 

In spite of her fear, in spite of knowing that they were sitting on an elevator car that could fall at any moment, Libby felt a shiver o
f something else at his words. “What about the things I want to do to you?” she shot back. 

“I’m game for an
ything you want to try,” he quipped with a huge grin. 

Within minutes, a gigantic chunk of masonry was pulled backwards into the hallway and a crew of men stood there wearing protective gear that
looked to be military grade.
This was his security team?
He had his own bomb squad? 
She was in over her head. Way over her head. Even with the thought, she watched them string repelling lines over the support beams. There was no way in hell she was doing that. 

“If you hyperventilate in front of them, you kno
w what I’ll have to do,” he warned against her ear. 

“W
e’re twenty stories up!” 

“It’ll be
fun,” he defended. 

“You’re insane. This is not fun.
This is ‘watch Libby become a pancake’!”

“I won’t let you fall,” he promised as one of the other men repelled over, carrying extra gear. 

She watched as Gavin began stepping into the harness, his movements practiced and easy. Libby felt the scales tipping. From what she knew of this man, he didn’t make promises. It wasn’t his style. If he told her that, he meant it. “How can you be so sure?”

“When I see something I want, I don’t let go of it.”

There was no reason, no sane or rational reason, that she should have been able to think of anything other than the fact that they were standing on a metal box, rigged with explosives that could send them plummeting to their deaths. But at that moment, he seemed to be saying something much more significant. There was a weight and a promise in those words. “Okay,” she murmured. “But I don’t have a clue about what I’m doing.”

“Just hold onto me,” he offered
. 

“We have two minutes, sir,” the security person said. 

Libby stepped toward him and felt Gavin’s arms close around her.  She closed her eyes and waited for the sensation of free fall. Her stomach churned until she felt the firmness of carpeted floor beneath her feet. It took only seconds, yet it felt like forever.

Even as she was gasping for bre
ath, there was no time to stop. She was pulled up from the floor and ushered down the hallway. 

“One minute, sir...
The East stairwell is secure. That will be your exit.”

Gavin nodded as he gripped her hand harder than
seemed necessary and tugged her down the hallway to the stairwell entrance.

Libby grimaced
at the strong grip he had on her hand. Just as they cleared the door, she heard a series of pops, and then a sound unlike anything she’d ever heard. It was the elevator falling, crashing twenty stories. “Oh—God!”

“We’re
out and we’re safe,” he urged. “Don’t think about it.”

Another security guard appeared
, ushering them up the stairs toward the roof. 

She could hear t
he whirring of the helicopter. “We can’t just take off. The police will want to talk to us!”

*~*~*

When he’d hitched the harness,
Gavin thought about her remark of before and he knew he would be lying if he didn’t acknowledge that part of him thrilled at the danger. It’d become such a natural part of his life.

He’d long ago learned to channel the fear
into a more positive direction. It would hardly endear him to her, but he finally had her to safety on the roof now and he would deal with all the details of the police later. “They’ll come to the Hamptons. I want you somewhere that’s protected... someplace where we can finish what we started,” he prompted while feeling a surge of exhilaration.

Perhaps it was the thrill of danger or the promise of pleasure that awaited them, but he couldn’t stop himself from tasting her li
ps again. Tugging her into his arms, he kissed her soundly, the blades of the helicopter whipping her hair around them.

He was so intent on the kiss, on sampling the sweet pleasures of her mouth, he didn’t hear the other helicopter or even notice the pap
arazzi that was all but hanging out the side of the bird, snapping rapid fire pictures of them.

When he pulled back from her, they were both dazed, stunned by the fact that what they fel
t was more than simple desire. Taking her hand, more gently this time, Gavin led her to the helicopter and tried to recapture his own equilibrium. 

CHAPTER THREE

Within minutes, they were settled into the aircraft, flying over the c
ity and heading for his estate. It was surreal, and Libby wasn’t sure if it was the lust, the adrenaline rush, or the shock of nearly being killed.

The very idea that she’d been in such close proximity to explo
sives was unfathomable to her.

During the short flight, Gavin kept touching her, his hand at the small of her back, or covering her hands which tre
mbled in her lap. Even then, he was on the phone. The police, the security detail, Ronan--issuing orders and handling a million details at once.

It was dizzying and Libby had no idea how he was managing to function at that level after the events of the day. 

When the helicopter landed on the front lawn of the house, Libby once again, became acutely aware of how out of her depth she was. The house was larger than her entire apartment building. It was grand on a scale that left her flustered and nervous.

When he took her hand and led from the chopper to the door that was already being opened by a security guard, Libby felt like Alice going down the rabbit hole.  She knew that things would never be the same.

It was hours before they were alone, and even then, they weren’t truly. Libby knew that there were guards throughout the house, and more patrolling the grounds.

Police officers were still taking statements from the security crew that h
ad been at McBray Enterprises. They were expected to spend the following day, looking at footage from the closed circuit cameras to see if anything looked out of the ordinary.

Libby realized that she was completely exhausted, but far too wired to sleep as Gavin led her up the stairs to his bedroom. “Do you eve
r get lost in here?”

“You know, most women try to act like it isn’t a bi
g deal that I’m worth billions. But you? You’re looking for every obstacle you can throw between us,” he shot back. “I can see the wheels turning.”

“Look, you could almost bai
l out the federal government. It’s—an issue. It makes me feel weird,” she admitted. 

“I have no intention of bailing out the federal governmen
t, and that’s an exaggeration. Look…I can’t unmake the billions. I could, but it would take a while, and I don’t think I’d like being poor.”

Libby co
uldn’t help but laugh at that. “That’s the one thing you would probably be terrible at.”

“I can’t sing either,” he teased.
“I’d prove it you, but you’d never look at me the same way again and the odds of me talking you out of those sensible panties you have on would diminish rapidly.”

“So
, what do we do when we go back to work? I’m sleeping with you while making photocopies of memos and budget reports? People will find that very strange.”

“Who will know?” he demanded. 

“Everyone who saw the news and you sweeping me away in your helicopter, and I imagine that photographer who took all those pictures of you, kissing me up there on the roof is going to sell them to every tabloid on the planet,” she finished making her a point with a flourish of her hand, as they finally reached his room. 

When he opened the heavy wooden door, s
he wasn’t sure what to expect. The house had been opulent but tasteful elsewhere, with classic furnishings and subtle, luxurious touches throughout. With the exception of his bedroom which was deeply, intensely masculine.

The space was dominated by an antique four poster bed, but the posts
were heavy and simply carved. There was nothing delicate about it. Draped in rich green, the bed looked like a refuge. The walls were painted a light chocolate brown and vintage landscapes adorned the walls on either side of a massive fireplace. 

“So, where’s the big screen TV?
Does it descend from the ceiling or is it concealed in the monstrous piece of furniture at the foot of the bed?”

“How do you know I have a television in here?”

“Men are hardwired to want a television in their bedrooms. They can’t function without them.”

“It’s in the c
eiling,” he admitted ruefully. “But I don’t plan on watching television tonight.”

It was th
e rueful tone, along with a seeming humbleness in his words that made him seem human and accessible that eased the last of her reservations. So he was loaded, she thought. His wealth wasn’t the reason she was here.

When she’d kissed him on that yacht
at the party, she’d had no idea who he was at the time.  She’d simply thought he was the sexiest man she’d ever seen, and that hadn’t changed.

While
he’d kissed her on the roof hours earlier, something inside her simply melted. A sudden wicked sense of headiness came over her and she decided to just go with it. “If TV is off limits, how do you propose to keep me entertained?”

*~*~*

Gavin stepped closer to her, advancing again and again, until she had no choice but to back up. Each step moving her closer to the massive bed, until her back rested against one of the heavy posts. “I’ve been chasing you since that damned party. All I had was your first name, and unusual as it is, that’s not a lot to go on in a city this size.”

“I’m
not running now,” she challenged. 

Gavin felt his blood heat and
thicken in his viens; he felt the hunger for her rising inside him. Part of it was that he wanted her so badly; part of it was the events of the day with such a close call and he needed very much to feel alive.

Pulling the hem of her blouse from her skirt, he didn
’t bother with unbuttoning it. He simply tugged until the buttons went tumbling across the carpet and the fabric parted to reveal her prim and practical lingerie. 

“Don’t
rip the skirt,” she admonished. “It’s my favorite.”

“Then
, take it off quickly,” he demanded, sweeping in and claiming her lips hungrily. Their earlier kisses were hot and drugging. Their very essence stoked the desire they felt for one another—but this kiss was something else.