Until Noon (6 page)

shimmery fabric from the waistband of her skirt and slid the garment down her arms to the floor. Pale-blue satin cupped her breasts, the upper swell peeking over the lace

edging. Unable to stop himself he lowered his head and took one stiff nipple in his

mouth, fabric and all. When he closed his teeth over it lightly Pilar sucked in a gasp and arched up to him.

He held her firmly as he toyed with the nipple, grazing it with his teeth and sucking it lightly before moving to the other one. He was teasing himself when what he wanted to do was rip off every stitch of her clothing and take her right then. But Pilar was an erotic feast to be savored so he forced himself to take his time.

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Until Noon

With a deft flick of his fingers he unhooked the clasp of the bra, slid the straps

down her arms and tossed the garment to the floor with her blouse. He stared for a long moment at her bare breasts, drinking in the sight, before moving to the buttons on her skirt.

Dropping to his knees, he eased the fabric down her legs then lifted each leg one at

a time to slip off her shoes and discard the skirt. Highly aroused, he pressed his face to the triangle of satin covering her pussy and inhaled deeply. His fingers gripped the

cheeks of her ass, holding her in place while he traced her slit through the thin material.

God! She tasted even better than he remembered, sweeter than any wine he’d ever

had. He ran his tongue between her folds over and over, holding her in place while he drank his fill before stripping away the last of her garments.

Shaking with need, he rose to his feet, tossed back the coverlet on the bed and

arranged her on the pillows for his pleasure. His eyes never left her body while he

removed his clothing, his cock springing free as he slid off his slacks and boxer briefs with one movement of his hands.

“Now,” he said, kneeling between her thighs.

“I want you inside me,” she whispered, reaching for him.

“Not yet.” He shook his head. “I haven’t tasted nearly enough yet.”

It took every bit of the self-control he could dredge up to keep from plunging his

shaft into her wet pussy. But he’d been dreaming of her ever since their one night

together and he wasn’t about to rush this.

He started at her mouth again, licking the corners of her lips and the seam before

tasting the lushness inside. Then her cheek, the line of her jaw, the slender column of her neck. At the hollow of her throat he drew the soft skin into his mouth, pressing his tongue against the beating of her pulse.

He tasted her breasts, drawing a line with his tongue across the rich swell before

swirling it around each nipple and traveling the valley between the rich mounds. He

spent time at her bellybutton, tracing the furled flesh over and over, his hands holding her in place as she writhed beneath him.

Her pussy beckoned to him but he forced himself to save it for last, moving to her

slender feet and sketching a line up the inside of one leg and down the other. He paid particular attention to her ankles and the sensitive spots behind her knees until she was clutching at his hair and begging him to stop teasing.

When his own self-discipline threatened to desert him he reached into his pants

pocket for a condom, rolled it on and positioned himself between her legs. Bending

them back so she was wide open to him he nudged her opening with the head of his

cock, locked his gaze with hers and drove into her with one swift motion.

Jesus!

She was hot and tight around him, her internal muscles gripping him, her torrid

liquid bathing him. He had to pause and draw in a breath, reaching for a measure of

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Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

self-control so he could make sure to bring her pleasure. Hunger and need flared in her eyes. Taking that as a signal he rolled his hips and plunged deeply into her again and again. His eyes never left hers as he kept up a steady rhythm, watching her for signs that her release was climbing in her.

This
, he thought. This was what he’d been dreaming of. This woman. The feel of her body. Making love with her. Enjoying her rapture. Her sighs as she blended with him,

melted into him. That union was so vital, she seemed to float through his blood. Like wine, the union was intoxicating. New. Rare. He’d come home and for a brief moment

the thought scared him. He deliberately banished it and concentrated on delivering

pleasure.

His muscles were straining as he drove both of them higher and higher until finally

he felt her muscles spasm around him, saw the tightening of her body and let himself

go. He fell over the cliff with her, a deep plunge that had them swirling and tossing as they shuddered together.

He had no idea how long the spasms gripped them, only that at last he collapsed on

top of her, catching himself on his forearms so his weight didn’t bury her. His heart was racing and his body was slick with sweat. Beneath him, Pilar dragged air into her lungs with ragged breaths.

“
Mi amor.
” He buried his face in her neck, tasting the salty flavor of her skin. “You could easily kill me.”

She laughed. “I could say the same.”

He eased himself from her body and brushed a soft kiss over her lips.

“I’ll be right back,” he told her.

In the bathroom he disposed of the condom and stared at himself in the mirror. All

this time he’d carried the memory of their night together in his mind. So many times

he’d wondered if he’d just enhanced that memory. If it was as good as he remembered.

Now he knew that it was. And the extraordinary sex was only part of it.

There was an invisible bond between him and Pilar Terrasona. He didn’t know if

she’d admit it. He could hardly admit it himself. What he did know was that working

together suddenly became even more important to him. Solving this case together. And

then seeing what they had beyond that.

When he walked back into the bedroom Pilar was sitting up in bed. An open bottle

of wine sat on the bedside table with a filled glass beside it. Pilar held another glass in her hand. Uncertainty warred with fulfilled desire in her eyes. What was it that

disturbed her so much? He’d definitely get to the bottom of it. But not right now.

“Hold that thought,” he grinned. “Whatever it is.” He picked his clothes up from

the floor and tossed them on a chair, retrieving his cell phone and setting it next to the wine. “Now,” he told her.

“I think that calls for a toast,” she told him in a breathless voice.

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Until Noon

He picked up his glass and touched it to hers. “To a successful conclusion to this

case. To finding the killer and preventing whatever evil mischief his killer or killers are up to. And,” he paused to wiggle his brows like an old-time movie villain, “to a

celebration afterward.”

“I’ll drink to all of that.”

Setting his glass back down on the little table he slid into bed next to Pilar, being careful not to jostle her wine. He looked at his watch.

“We are seven hours later than Texas time,” he told her. “Let me call my colleagues

in the Nemesis office and get them to really dig into the oil situation here, especially in the European Union since the destabilization of Libya. I want to know who the major

players are and if someone is acting strangely in the oil business here. And I’d like them to get copies of any reports Tony turned in.”

“That might be difficult if Roca executives claim proprietary information,” Pilar

pointed out.

“I agree. But let’s see if Maddie and Adam can get them, perhaps persuade Roca to

give them to us.” He made his call, got voicemail and left a detailed message of

precisely what he wanted and clicked off.

“Did you know Tony Graham?” she asked as he settled near her again.

He shook his head. “But Adam was close to him. His death has hit him hard.”

“I think one of the first questions we need to answer is why Tony was in Montserrat

to begin with. It’s off the beaten path and I can’t think of anything in or around it involved in oil in any way.”

Raul nodded. “I thought that also. I suggest that tomorrow we meet with the head

of Roca Oil.”

“Ah. That may be a problem. He does not like me.”

“Why not?” Raul skimmed a fingertip down her throat to the swell of her breast

and the upturned tip of her nipple. “You are delicious.”

She gulped, her eyes hazy with need.

Gratified he could undo her cool façade, he bent and took her erect flesh in his

mouth.

She bucked, creamed, gasping, “You are devilish to mix business with such

pleasure.”

“Mmm. I agree,” he crooned as he laved her areola and then nipped her with sharp

little teeth. “But then, the business is no pleasure without the flavor of you in my

mouth.”

Her head seemed to reel with the pleasure. “Stop,” she pleaded but pulled him

closer to let him suckle her as he would.

“Never,” he promised as he moved to her other breast and favored it with the skills

of his lovemaking. “You like me too much. I return the favor the best way I know how.”

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Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand

She laughed, wild and free, but pushed him from her. “Roca. Roca! Remember?”

“Yes, of course.” He pulled away, but he swept his gaze languidly from her turgid

nipples to her sultry eyes. Never had he been able to hold a woman spellbound. The

conquest was heady, demanding. He would keep her. “This Roca is a blind man to not

like you,
cara
.”

She chuckled. “Blind,
sí
. And a bit of a bore.”

“Why does he not seem to care for you?”

“He is too…macho. I get this feeling the way he looks at me that he does not

approve of women in business. He thinks we are stupid.”

“But you are brilliant,
cara
.” Raul sat back, one hand tracing a lock of her hair down over her breast and caressing her through the strands. Her fine curls were like chiffon against her tender skin. She shifted on the sheets, her thighs rubbing together in her desire for him. “The problem is not that the man thinks you are not up to your

responsibilities, but that he is challenged by you.”

Pilar caught his hand. “You challenge me. Now. Here, Raul. If you don’t stop

touching me, I will begin to think myself devoid of any brains.”

He gave her a lopsided grin. “I confuse you, do I?”

“Transform me.” She let out a slow breath. “But you know that, don’t you.”

“I do. And it’s very convenient.” He nuzzled the valley between her breasts,

sending sparks of electricity through his veins. Inhaling her perfume, he licked her skin.

He could live here, die here a happy man. “You change me too.”

“Do I?” she asked on a wisp of air, clutching his ribs with her strong, lithe fingers.

“Oh, yes. Into a randy teenage boy with one obsession.” He rubbed her lips with his

own, then sat back, trying to detach from her allure. Pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear, he smiled at her sweetly. “Where did we leave off?”

“Roca,” she said, but looked as forlorn as a waif that he no longer caressed her.

“Their executive.”

Raul took her hand, lacing his fingers between hers. “Yes, we’ll go there. Meet this

macho exec or if he does not let us in, we’ll do some snooping.”

“I have wanted to see his facilities. See his shoreline.”

“We’re of the same mind, then. Anything else?”

She pressed her lips together, still looking lost but oh god, so damn alluring with

her kiss-swollen lips and her hard red nipples. “I can’t think of anything.”

“Terrific. Me neither.” Raul winked, then shifted to wrap his arm around her and in

doing so jostled her glass. A few drops of wine sloshed over the edge and dripped onto her breasts.

“Oops.” He grinned.

Pilar lifted the edge of the sheet to blot the liquid but he brushed her hand away.

“I have a better idea. But let’s get this glass out of the way first.”

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Until Noon

He took it and set it on the nightstand then moved so he could lower his head. With

light featherlike strokes of his tongue he lapped the amber liquid from her skin, taking his time, savoring each taste. In that second, her mind was ablaze with need. She

reached for him, brushed her hands against his thighs and curled one around his cock.

He hardened at her touch.

“You’re going to kill me,” he chuckled, his mouth at her breast.

“But it would be a pleasant death, no?” she asked, humor edging her voice.

“Perhaps that’s why they call the ultimate orgasm
the little death
,” he teased. He closed his mouth over a nipple. He loved the feel of the hard bud against his tongue

and the heat of her breast against his lips. Pilar moaned softly and threaded her fingers through his hair, arching herself up to him.

Raul couldn’t believe he was aroused again so quickly. It seemed he barely had to

touch this woman and his cock sprang to life and his balls ached with need. But then

that was the way it had been that incredible night they’d spent together. The night he’d relived a hundred times in his mind.

She tasted so good as he feasted on first one nipple then the other, always conscious of her heated flesh pressed against his. Sliding one of his legs between hers he pressed his thigh against the moistness of her cunt. Almost automatically she rubbed herself

against him, riding the friction as he licked and sucked and nibbled each taut peak.

Settling himself between her thighs he moved his mouth slowly down the curve of

her belly until he reached the soft curls covering her mound. And lower still, his tongue seeking out the hot bud of her clit. He moved one hand down her hip and thigh in a