Tempt Me (14 page)

But his charge couldn’t think of anything but her.

He watched Gabriel lift her up off the dining table, pulling her close in a passionate kiss. She leaned against him weakly, her beautiful body shimmering with heat and light. There was something about her.

Angelique stepped out of his embrace and smiled coyly, weaving, her body a bit unsteady after their exertion. She headed into the kitchen, where the harsh fluorescent overhead light did nothing to take away from the perfection of her. The sensual sway of her movements, the shimmering curls falling down her back.

He’d gone to a museum once. Seen a painting of Venus rising from the ocean. His teacher had covered his eyes and urged him to the next piece of art, but Emmanuel’s gaze had returned to it again and again, drawn to the untouchable woman.

Angelique put his Venus to shame. She could be touched. And much to his chagrin, Emmanuel wanted to.

She offered Gabriel some of her water, but he came up to her, took the glass from her hand, and set it on the counter. Then he dropped to his knees.

Her hands shot out to flatten against the jamb of the narrow kitchen doorway as he lifted one of her legs over his shoulder and opened his mouth over her sex.

Emmanuel licked his lips, wondering how she tasted. What she felt like on Gabriel’s tongue.

There could be no doubt how it felt to Angelique. It was evident in the ecstasy on her face. He watched her head fall back, showing the curve of her neck, her nipples, taut once more with desire, and her hips gently pulsing against Gabriel’s lips.

Emmanuel shifted on his perch on Angelique’s wrought-iron balcony, his hand slipping down to his hardening erection.

Watching her, he could imagine that she knew he was there, that she was letting him see this intimate moment. That she wanted him to.

One of her hands came down to curl in Gabriel’s hair, tugging him closer. Her moans drifted through the glass and Emmanuel was tempted to move closer. No one would see him unless he wanted them to.

But part of the excitement was the possibility of being seen. He closed his eyes and imagined Angelique watching him open his pants and grip his hot shaft, stroking it to the rhythm of her cries.

She wouldn’t say a word. Wouldn’t tell Gabriel because she loved having him there, so close, seeing her pleasure.

He increased the pressure on his flesh, a surprised moan escaping his throat. The fantasy Angelique smiled, encouraging him to stroke faster. Like that.
Yes
.

Emmanuel’s eyes opened in shock as a feeling as unfamiliar as it was transcendent rocked through his body just as his gaze met Angelique’s. Her wide brown eyes studied him as Gabriel kissed his way up her body.

She saw him. Why didn’t she look surprised?

He cloaked himself in darkness, watching her searching gaze study the windowpane, maybe wondering if he’d been an illusion.

He shouldn’t have done that. She wasn’t his; she was Gabriel’s. She was also under the protection of his family.

His family. He needed to focus, to remember his end goal, and to succeed in his mission.

It was the only way he could stay.

ANGELIQUE WAS DIZZY, LIGHT-HEADED FROM THE INTENSITY of Gabriel’s passion and her own. Maybe that explained what she’d just seen in the window. The beautiful, strangely familiar blue-eyed man who’d been watching her and Gabriel on her balcony. The one who’d disappeared.

“You okay, angel?”

Was she? She allowed Gabriel to pick her up and carry her into the bathroom without protest, feeling a little raw and devastated by what had just happened on the table... and then in the kitchen.

She’d known. He’d kissed her, touched her, before. She’d come at the thought of him, at the dream of what being with him would be like.

That wasn’t just sex. Not for her. Angelique was no innocent. She’d had no-strings sex before. Even great no-strings sex that she’d walked away from with a smile and no regrets. That wasn’t what this had been. She’d lost herself in him, in what he had done to her. Given more than her body.

He lowered her to her feet and turned the shower taps, giving her a chance to study his back. Gabriel was a beautiful man. His body was perfectly sculpted, lean and muscular. He turned toward her and she realized his face had filled out in the last few weeks. He looked healthier, stronger, though his expression was still stark, his stare still haunted. Except when he was looking at her.

His green eyes drew her in, such a powerful pull it felt almost like she wanted to leave her body and melt into him. It was... strange.

She lifted her hand to her temple and swayed, suddenly tired.

Gabriel reached for her, pulling her close. “Angelique? You’re scaring me, baby. What’s wrong?”

“A little fuzzy, but I’m okay.” She didn’t want him to leave. Didn’t want this to end. “I think every muscle in my body turned to Jell-O. Maybe you were right about me not being able to keep up with you,” she joked. “Or maybe I just need a shower and a post-nookie snack.”

His lips quirked, but his gaze was still alert and watchful. “Then let’s take care of you, angel. Because I’m nowhere near done with you yet.”

Yet.
The word had a new ominous tone. But she wouldn’t think about why. Not tonight. She smiled as he lifted her into the shower and joined her beneath the hot spray.

She closed her eyes, loving the warmth of the water, the gentleness of his hands on her skin as he began to wash her.

His touch was making it hard to concentrate on the man she’d seen just as her last orgasm crashed over her. Gabriel had been relentless in pleasuring her, unwilling to stop until she’d come again, this time in his mouth.

Seeing the stranger had thrown her for a heartbeat, but then she’d known. This was the “something” around Gabriel that his family was worried about. The being they couldn’t see, couldn’t quite sense.

Why had it shown itself to her?

She turned around to ask him, to confront him about the vision and his family’s concerns, but her eyes strayed downward and the words stalled in her throat. His erection stood out from its nest of soft, dark curls, the shaft flushed with color. Thick and long. So hard... again.

He obviously hadn’t been exaggerating about his stamina or his skills. The memory of how he’d filled her, the tight fit that had driven her crazy, was enough to wake her from her daze. She needed to taste him. Needed to know how the head of his cock felt against her tongue.

She dropped to her knees before he could stop her, grinning up at his concerned expression. “Don’t worry. I’m feeling better now. But I’m still a little hungry.”

The soapy water swirled past her knees as understanding darkened the green of his eyes. His motions stilled, blocking her from the water’s spray while he waited to see what she would do. She lowered her chin until she was eye level with the object of her desire.

He was well endowed, but it didn’t intimidate her. It made her impatient. Greedy. She lifted one hand to the thick base of his shaft, fascinated by his texture. The veins and ridges, the marble hardness covered in velvet flesh.

She closed her fingers around as much of him as she could and heard him make a low sound of approval when she leaned forward and licked the tip of his cock with a featherlike, teasing stroke.

Her mouth closed over the head of his erection, teeth scraping gently, tongue swirling over his flesh. Loving his flavor, she hummed in approval. Earth and man, salt and heat. Her chocolate addiction took an instant backseat to the succulent Gabriel.

He swore and his hips tensed, as though he were holding himself back. But she didn’t want him to have control. She never had any when he touched her. Fair was fair.

She took more of him into her mouth, sucking in her cheeks as she absorbed more of his taste, feeling him swell further against her hand and mouth as she caressed him. She knew she was tormenting him, teasing him, with slow movements and light licks. Her other hand came up to cup the tight sac between his thighs, cradling him gently. Too gently for him, she knew.

Gabriel gripped a handful of her hair, the curls heavy with water now falling in sodden ropes down her back. He growled. “Angelique.” Her name was a rasped warning, showing her how much she was affecting him.

Her tongue wrapped around his shaft, lapping at it like candy. She gripped him tighter, her fist making a slight twisting motion on his smooth, hot erection. His hips pumped jerkily against her, and she tasted the salty tang of arousal on the tip of his cock. She pulled back, her touches lighter once more, knowing it would make him crazy.

“Playtime is over, baby. I can’t take it.” Gabriel tightened his fingers in her hair tellingly. “Suck me with that beautiful mouth. Take more.”

Her eyes watered as his hips began short, shallow thrusts, stretching her mouth wide as she struggled to take more of him. Yes. She wanted this. Wanted this side of him. The carnal words, the domination. He made her want all of it. Everything.

Somehow he knew. “Good girl. That’s right, angel. Open wide for me. Take every inch and suck it... harder. Fuck, Angelique, your mouth—”

His other hand was in her hair now as he guided her. There was no force—there didn’t need to be because she was more than willing. Her body was trembling, feeling empty and aching. She wanted him inside her again, to feel his insistent desire, despite her overwhelming reaction to it.

She breathed out and lowered her head, feeling the head of his cock hit the back of her throat. It was almost too much, but she still tried to take more. Loving his instantaneous reaction.

He moaned, his hips pumping against her. Less controlled now as his own passion took over. Her hips were rocking, too, needing relief, but unwilling to stop until she’d made him come.

She could hear him softly coaxing her beneath his breath. “Yes, baby. Suck it... Suck my cock with that hot, sweet mouth . . .”

The hand on his testicles squeezed at the same time she swallowed against his flesh and he shouted out her name. The rich tang of his come filled her mouth as he reached his climax. “Angel. God, it feels...”

She couldn’t stop shaking. He slipped his softening shaft out of her mouth and she let him go, wrapping her arms around her waist, trying to get her body under control.

Had that act ever worked her up to this degree of arousal? Ever had her longing to take him in her mouth again? To beg for him to take her again? To take her now?

Before she realized what was happening, Gabriel had turned the water off, wrapped her in a towel, and was carrying her toward the large bedroom at the end of the hall.

“Wait.”

His green eyes intense, he looked down at her and she shook her head. “My room.” She gestured toward the closer door.

She couldn’t take him into the master bedroom. She was kinky, but not that kinky. That had always been her mother’s room.

Gabriel lifted one dark brow, but followed her directions in silence. He shouldered the door open and stopped, gazing around her room.

She looked around, too, trying to see it through his eyes. It was the room of the youngest Rousseau, the princess of her family. The queen-sized bed was draped in an ivory quilt edged with lace. Framed black-and-white pictures, several of blues singer Bessie Smith, as well as—she blushed—one or two posters of her favorite boy band, still hung on her walls.

“Cute.”

Angelique blushed. “I wanted to
be
a singer until I discovered boy singers. Then I just wanted to be a groupie. I leave all the real singing to Kelly now. It’s safer for everyone that way.”

Gabriel grinned as he absently caressed her bare legs with his fingers. “Good to know. If Mama’s stories are any indication, I wanted to build things.”

If.
She recalled what she’d learned about his childhood. He’d been so young when he was taken away, he didn’t even remember his dreams. What he wanted to be when he grew up. It suddenly seemed insensitive for her to bring him here. Regardless of her absentee father, she’d known real love here. The kind of love he’d been starved for.

“Maybe we should—”

“Maybe you should get ready for payback, angel.”

She swallowed. “Payback?”

He smiled wickedly as he walked over to the edge of her bed and dropped her still-damp body onto the mattress.

“For all the teasing. For making me crazy.” He showed her the foil-covered condom before setting it on her nightstand. Where had that come from? Had he brought one into the bathroom ? Talk about being prepared.

He spoke again, drawing her attention back to his words. “For breathing in and out and not knowing how distracting your breasts are when you do. Pick one.”

“I didn’t tea—” Okay, she did, but not for long. What was he up to?

He came to sit down beside her, adding to the damp mess her bed was becoming, and patted his thighs. “Come over here and take your punishment.”