Authors: Maureen Child
Alex stalked into the bar and gave a quick glance around. There were a dozen or so tall tables with singles and couples gathered at them. A long, gleaming bar snaked around the room in a semicircle. Three bartenders in World War II military uniforms hurried back and forth filling drink orders. Mirrors behind the bar reflected the candlelight and the stony face of the man standing behind her.
The face that had haunted her dreams from the day they met. Their gazes locked in the mirror and Alex felt a jolt of something hot and wicked sizzle through her system in spite of everything.
Deliberately, she tore her gaze from his and walked to the bar, sliding onto one of the black leather stools. She crossed her legs, laid her bag on the bar top and ordered a gin and tonic.
In the bar mirror, she watched Garrett take a seat a few stools down from her. Not far enough, she thought, but better than nothing. She was only surprised that he was giving her this small amount of space.
“Hello, gorgeous.” A deep voice spoke up from just behind her and Alex lifted her gaze to the mirror.
A tall, blond man wearing a black suit and a wide smile stood watching her. “You are way too beautiful to be alone,” he said and sat down without waiting for an invitation.
“Thank you, that’s very kind.” She saw Garrett’s reaction from the corner of her eye and seeing him fume made her smile a welcome at the man beside her.
“An accent, too?” He slapped one hand to his heart in a dramatic gesture that had Alex smiling. “You’re going to fuel my dreams for weeks.”
“That’s a lovely thing to say,” she told him, though truthfully she thought he was a little on the ridiculous side. With his glib lines, and over-the-top reactions, he was nothing like Garrett with his quiet, deadly, sexy air. Ordinarily, in fact, she wouldn’t have been the slightest bit interested in the blond. Still, she caught a glimpse of Garrett’s face in the mirror and noted the abject fury on his features. So she leaned toward her new admirer and asked, “What’s your name, love?”
“I’m Derek. Who’re you?”
“Alexis,” she said, “but you can call me Alex.”
“You’re no ‘Alex,’ babe,” he said with a wink. “So Alexis it is.”
In the other room, the music started up again and Derek stood, holding out one hand. “Dance?”
From the corner of her eye, Alex saw Garrett stand up as if he was going to try to stop her. So she quickly took Derek’s hand and let him lead her to the floor.
Damn woman.
She was doing this on purpose. Letting that slick guy give her a lame line and then sweep her off to the dance floor. Well, fine, if that’s what she wanted, she could have the plastic blond guy. But she wouldn’t be alone with him. Garrett was still working for her father and damned if he was going to leave a woman like Alex to the likes of
that
guy.
He followed them into the other room and stood to one side as the blond pulled Alex into his arms and started moving to the music. Alex looked like a vision. That wild mane of blond hair, those heels that made her legs look ten miles long and where the hell had she gotten that dress, anyway? Didn’t she know he could practically see her
ass?
Alex laughed at something Blondie had to say and Garrett’s teeth crushed together. He’d known from the start that his lies would eventually catch up with him. Maybe, he told himself, he should have listened to Griffin and confessed the truth to Alex himself. Then at least he would have had the chance to smooth things over with the telling.
But how much smoothing could he have done, realistically? She would still have been hurt. Still have been pissed. And he’d
still
end up standing here watching as some other guy made moves on her.
Moves, he told himself, that she wasn’t deflecting.
Irritated beyond belief, Garrett stood like a statue, arms crossed over his chest, feet braced wide apart in a fighting stance. His gaze never left the couple as he watched Blondie ooze his way across the dance floor. Surely, Alex wasn’t buying this guy’s lines? Any minute now in fact, she’d probably step out of the dance and walk away.
Any minute.
Walking.
Damn it, Alex.
The music slid around the room and the singer’s voice wrapped them all in a sensual web. His arms ached to hold her. His hands warmed at the thought of touching her again and his mouth craved the taste of her.
His eyes narrowed as Blondie steered Alex off the dance floor and out onto the dark balcony overlooking the ocean. While the music played and couples danced, Garrett moved through the crowd with a quiet intensity. Focused on his target, he was aware of his surroundings in a heightened way, but all he could think about was reaching Alex.
He stepped onto the polished wood balcony and heard the rush of the sea pushing into shore. Moonlight washed the whole scene in a silvery glow and the wind sweeping across the ocean was nearly icy. Voices came to him and he turned his head in response. That’s when he spotted them, at the end of the deck, in a puddle of darkness that lay between the more-decorative-than-useful balcony lights.
Alex was facing the water, and Blondie was plastered up behind her, as close as he could get. Garrett’s mind splintered a little and he actually
saw
red around the edges of his vision.
Then his eyes nearly popped from his head in an onslaught of pure fury. Blondie had one hand on Alex’s ass and was giving it a rub—and Alex wasn’t even trying to stop him.
What the hell?
It only took a few, long strides to carry him to Alex’s side, where he dropped one hand on Blondie’s shoulder and squeezed. Blondie looked up, annoyed at the interruption, but annoyance faded fast when he got a good look at Garrett’s expression.
“Dude, we’re having some private time here.”
“Dude,” Garrett corrected through gritted teeth. “You’re done. Take off.”
Alex whipped her windblown hair out of her face and glared at him. “Go away, Garrett.”
Astonished, the handsome guy stared at her. “You know this guy?”
“Yes, but pay no attention to him,” Alex said.
Garrett’s hand on Blondie’s shoulder tightened as he silently convinced the other man it would be a much better idea to disappear. Fast.
Message received.
“Yeah, right. Okay. Outta here.” He hunched away from Garrett’s grip, gave Alex a wistful look and shrugged. “Sorry, babe. I don’t do violence. I think
he
does.”
“Damn straight,” Garrett assured him.
“Oh, for—” Alex set her hands at her hips and glared at Garrett as Blondie hurried back to the restaurant, in search of easier prey. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Hah!” Garrett backed her up against the railing, looming over her as he planted his hands at either side of her. His grip on the cold, damp, iron railing tightened as he looked down into her eyes. “What am I doing? I’m keeping you from getting mauled in public.”
“We were hardly in public and what if I
liked
being mauled?” she snapped, her eyes flashing with the kind of heat that any sane man would accept as a warning.
Garrett, though, had passed “sane” a couple of exits back. He was too close to her, bodies aligned, that damn dress of hers displaying way too much beautiful, smooth skin. Heat seared his insides and his dick went to stone. Just the scent of her was enough to drive him insane. He fought for clarity. Fought for control.
“Damn it, Alex. I get that you’re pissed at me. And fine. I can deal with it.”
“Oh, how very gracious of you.”
“But,”
he continued, leaning close enough that her breasts were pillowed against his chest. That she could feel his erection pressing into her abdomen. Her eyes widened and her lips parted on a sigh. “I’m not going to stand around and watch you make a mistake.”
“Another one, you mean?”
In the background, the music was soft, tempting; the singer’s voice a lure, drawing them into a world where it was just the two of them, locked together. He felt every inch of her luscious body aligned along his. And in a heartbeat, control and focus went out the window, and Garrett found he couldn’t even give a good damn.
“You didn’t want that guy’s hands on you, Alex.”
She let her head fall back. Her eyes met his and a long sigh slid from her throat. “Is that right? And how do you know that?”
“Because you want
my
hands on you,” he muttered, his gaze raking over her features before settling on her eyes. “You want
me
touching you and no one else.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but Garrett didn’t let her speak. Instead, he cupped her face in his hands, leaned down and took her mouth with his.
Pissed or not, Alex wanted him, too. He felt it in her instant surrender. She wrapped her arms around his neck, held his head to her and gave him everything she had. Their tongues entwined, caressing, stroking. The cool air swept past them, and danced across their heated skin.
She shivered, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her closer, tighter, until he felt her frenzied heartbeat racing in time with his own. Every inch of his skin hummed with anticipation.
He knew they had been headed for this moment since the day they had met. It didn’t matter that he had fought it. This was inevitable. Pulling his head back, he looked down into her glassy eyes and whispered, “Your hotel’s only a few minutes from here.”
Dragging in a breath, she shivered again and leaned into him. “Then why are we still standing here?”
A fierce grin split his face briefly. Then he took her hand and headed around the edge of the balcony toward the front of the place. Now he was glad he hadn’t bothered with valet parking. He didn’t have the patience to hang around while some kid ran to bring him his car.
No more waiting.
That first taste of her pushed him over the edge. Touching her wouldn’t be enough this time.
This time, he had to have it all.
Nine
It was minutes that felt like hours.
Desire pumping in the air around them, making each heartbeat sound like a gong in their heads, the drive to Alex’s hotel was bristling with sexual heat. Somehow, Garrett got the car parked, and Alex through the lobby into the private elevator. Somehow, they managed to walk through the door of the penthouse and slam it closed behind them.
And then all bets were off.
Hunger was king here and neither of them had the strength or the will to fight it any longer.
Garrett tore off his jacket and tossed it aside. Alex’s hands fumbled at the buttons on his shirt while he ripped his tie off and discarded it, as well. The moment his shirt was undone, her hands moved over his chest and every one of her fingers felt as if it were imprinting itself on his skin. Heat sizzled back and forth between them, leaving each of them struggling for air. Sighs and groans were the only sounds as they kissed again, hungrily, frantically.
He stabbed his fingers through her wild mane of hair and let the silkiness slide across his skin like cool water. She opened her mouth under his, offering him everything and he took it. Garrett was through pretending that their relationship was strictly business.
At least for this one night, he wanted everything that he had been dreaming of, thinking of, for the past several days. He couldn’t touch her enough. Couldn’t kiss her enough. He wanted more. Wanted all. Had to have her.
“Now, Alex,” he muttered, tearing his mouth from hers to drag his lips and tongue and teeth along the elegant sweep of her neck.
She sighed and tipped her head to one side, as she held his head to her throat. “Yes, Garrett. Yes, please,
now
.”
He unzipped the back of her dress and pushed the slender straps down her arms, letting it fall to the floor at her feet. She stepped out of the puddle of fabric and kicked it to one side.
“You’re amazing,” he whispered, gaze moving over her as she stood there, naked but for those high heels she loved and a tiny scrap of black lace panties. She looked like every man’s fantasy and she was his. All his.
Garrett caught her, pulled her in close, then bent his head to take first one then the other erect, pink nipple into his mouth. Her fingers threaded through his hair and pressed his head to her breasts as if afraid he would stop.
He had no intention of stopping.
The taste of her filled him. Her scent surrounded him. A haze settled over his mind, shutting out everything but the present. All there was in the world was this woman.
His hands moved over her skin, up and down her back, around and across her abdomen to the tiny scrap of black lace she wore. His fingers gave a sharp tug and she was naked, open for his touch.
Still suckling at her, he dropped one hand to the juncture of her thighs and sighed against her when she parted her legs for him. He stroked that single bud of pleasure until she was whimpering and rocking against his hand. Her hips twisted and moved in time with his touch, and he smiled against her breast as he felt her climax build.
Lifting his head, he stared at her as his fingers worked her body into a frenzy. She licked her lips, tossed her hair back and took breath after greedy breath.
Her gaze locked with his and her voice was soft as she said, “I want you inside me this time, Garrett. I need to feel you inside me.”
He wouldn’t have thought he could get any harder. But he did. Reluctantly, he let her go just long enough to strip out of his clothes. He paused only long enough to take a condom from his wallet and sheathe himself. When she made to kick off her high heels, though, he shook his head. “Leave ’em on.”
She gave him a slow, wide smile, then dropped her gaze to take in all of him. Her eyes widened and when she looked up at him again, she was even more eager for him. “Now, Garrett. Be with me. Be
in
me.”
They were still in the damn living room of the suite and Garrett knew that they’d never make it to the bedroom. Neither of them was willing to wait that long.
He swept her close to him and when his erection pushed at her, she moaned and moved into him, feeding the fires that were already swallowing him. “That’s it. Right here, right now. We’ll do it slow next time.”
“Next time,” she agreed.
He carried her a few short steps to the couch, set her on the high back and stepped in between her thighs. She opened herself wider for him and when he entered her, Alex groaned aloud.
Garrett gritted his teeth to keep from shouting as his body invaded hers in one hard thrust. Her damp heat enveloped him, a tight glove, squeezing. When he was seated to the hilt, Alex held him even closer. She moved on the precarious edge of the couch as much as she could. Now she did kick off those heels so she could lock her legs around his hips and hold on as he set a fast, dizzying pace that pushed them both as high as they could go.
They raced to the edge together. Gazes locked, bodies joined, two halves of the same whole. Again and again, his hips pistoned against her and she took everything he had, urging him on.
As the first crash of her orgasm slammed into her, she called out his name and Garrett felt her body spasm around his. He watched her shatter, felt the strength of her climax shaking her. And Garrett realized he’d never known this before. Never been this connected to any woman before. He watched her pleasure and felt it as his own.
He heard her sighs and wanted to capture them forever. Heard his name on her lips and felt both humbled and victorious. Possession raged through him and his only thought as his own release finally claimed him was:
mine.
Seconds ticked past, became minutes, and those could have been hours for all Alex knew. Or cared.
With Garrett’s body still locked with hers, she had everything she had been craving for days. The incredible feel of him deep inside her. The dazzling orgasm that was so much better than anything she had ever felt before. The sweet sensation of his arms wrapped around her. It was all…perfect.
As if she really had found the magic she had been looking for when she first began this holiday.
But even as that thought flitted through her mind, she knew it wasn’t true. Despite what she was feeling, she knew now that Garrett didn’t share it.
Want wasn’t romance.
Desire wasn’t love.
Love?
Now where had that thought come from? She stiffened in his arms as the word circled round and round in her mind. She didn’t want to believe it, but how could she not? What she felt for Garrett was so far beyond what she had ever known with anyone else.
What else could it be, but love?
Which put her in a very uncomfortable position.
She was in love with a man who was only with her because he had been hired by her father.
“Alex…” Garrett’s voice thundered down around her, sounding like a summer storm, and she knew that their moment was over.
She looked up at him, watching his face as he spoke again.
“I’m sorry.”
She blinked. “You’re
sorry?
”
He pulled away from her and she instantly missed the feeling of his body pressed into hers. And she wanted to kick herself for it. How could she possibly love such a Neanderthal?
“It shouldn’t have happened,” he muttered, raking one hand through his hair and stepping back so she could slide off the back of the couch. “I let myself be distracted and allowed you to do the same.”
“Allowed?” she echoed. “You
allowed
me?”
He didn’t pick up on the temper in her voice, or if he did, he wasn’t paying attention. His mistake.
“I take full responsibility for this, and I want you to know, it won’t happen again.”
“You…you…” She opened and closed her mouth several times, but nothing came out. Well, who knew that “stunned speechless” could actually happen? Her bare toes curled into the rug beneath her feet as if she needed all the help she could get just to keep her balance.
“I know what you’re going to say,” he told her, with a small, brief smile. “And you don’t have to. I know you regret this as much as I do.”
Oh, she wanted to do something to wipe that “understanding” expression off his face. But once again, her breeding rang true and she settled for quietly seething instead. When she could speak again, she did so quietly. “So you’re writing my dialogue for me as well, are you?”
“What?”
Fury flashed inside her like an electrical storm. She actually
felt
bolts of white-hot anger stabbing through her system, and it was all she could do to keep from screaming. Looking up at him, Alex shook her head and said, “You pompous, arrogant, dim-witted, ego-maniacal…
twit!
”
He scowled at her. “What the hell?”
“Oh,” she said, eyes widely innocent. “Weren’t expecting that, were you?”
“What are you so pissed about
now?
”
“The very fact that you could even ask me that proves your twit-dom!”
“That’s not even a word.”
“It is now,” she told him, stalking a few paces away because she was simply so furious she couldn’t stand still. She should have been embarrassed, or, at the very least, uncomfortable, walking about her suite stark naked. But truthfully, she was too angry to care.
“I’m trying to do the right thing,” he said, each word grinding out of his throat.
“For the both of us, it seems,” she snapped. Her gaze fixed on him, she said, “Did it even occur to you that what I might regret most is your ridiculous attitude?”
“Ridiculous? I’m taking responsibility for this mess. How is that ridiculous?”
“How is this a
mess?
” she countered.
“You know damn well how,” he muttered. “Because I’m here to protect you.”
“But not from pompous asses, apparently,” she said.
“Okay, that’s enough.”
“Have you decided that, as well?” she asked, a sugary sweet tone to her voice.
“What the hell, Alex? We both know this shouldn’t have happened.”
“So sayeth the almighty arbiter of everything sexual.”
“You’re starting to piss me off.”
“Well, join the bloody club!” Walking back to him, she stopped within a foot of his gorgeous body, tipped her head back and glared into those eyes that only moments ago had been glazed with passion. Now there were ice chips in those depths and damned if she didn’t find them just as attractive. “I’m not a naive young virgin out for her first romp in the hay, you know. You’re not the first man in my bed. You’re simply the first to regret it the moment it was over. Well, thank you very much for that, Garrett King.
“Now, why don’t you take your sense of responsibility and leave?”
“I’m not going anywhere until we settle this.”
“Then I hope you packed a lunch,” she quipped, “because I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”
“Maybe if you’d be reasonable…”
She sucked in a gulp of air and gave him a shove. He didn’t budge an inch. Like shoving a bloody wall. “Reasonable? You think I’m
not
being reasonable? It’s only my exceptional breeding and the training of my mother, not to mention countless governesses, that’s keeping me from punching you in the nose!”
He laughed at the very idea, which infuriated her enough to curl her hand into a fist and take a wild swing at him, just as her brothers had taught her to. Garrett, though, was too fast for her and caught her hand in his before she could make contact.
“Nice ‘breeding,’” he said with a half smile.
“You’re insufferable.”
“You’ve said that before.”
“Then clearly I’m an astute human being.”
He sighed. “Alex, look me in the eye and tell me you think this was a good thing. I’m not looking for a relationship. This is going nowhere.”
His words slapped her, but she wouldn’t let him see it. She wouldn’t be the needy one while he tried to make light of something that had shaken her to her very foundations. So she took a page from his book…she lied. “What makes you think I’m looking for a future with you? Are you really that egotistical? Do you think one night in bed with you is enough to make a woman immediately start craving white picket fences? Start scribbling her name next to yours surrounded by lacy hearts?