Sex, Lies and Valentines (19 page)

“Gabriel?”

Tucking his phone in his pocket, he turned toward Danita.

“Your father said you’d come out here. What’s up?” she asked, her gaze sliding toward his pocket, then meeting his again.

“Just taking a call.”

She tilted her head to one side, giving him that searching look again. The woman was scary, the way she made him feel like she could see straight through to his soul.

“Is it getting to be too much?” she asked quietly, slowly walking toward him and stopping a few inches away so their conversation stayed private.

He breathed in the wildflower scent of her, letting it warm him with the memory of her body, naked and wild, poised over his. This distance thing of hers was driving him crazy.

Then again, didn’t he specialize in keeping people at a distance?

“Gabriel?” she asked quietly, her face concerned, the hand on his arm warm and comforting.

Maybe, just maybe, it was time to quit shoving people—certain select people—away.

“Let’s go,” he said, giving her a quick look. She didn’t have her coat. But she wore a tiny glittery purse like an accessory, the long strap crossed between her breasts. She’d have her gun, whatever toys mattered to her, there in that bag. Good enough. He took her hand and headed toward the Corvette.

“What’s the deal?” she asked, giving him a baffled look as she hurried to keep up in her high heels.

“We have business to take care of,” he decided.

“What business? Where?” She threw a quick look over her shoulder toward the Cassiopeia’s, with its crowd of family and out-of-town friends who’d arrived for the wedding in three days. “Shouldn’t we say something to your family? Let them know we’re leaving?”

“They’ll figure it out,” he said, bundling her into the passenger seat and striding around the car as fast as he could.

He had twenty-four hours before this game shifted into high gear. One way or another, things were getting scary tomorrow. So tonight? Tonight he was living out his dreams.

And all of them involved Danita being naked.

DANITA DIDN’T KNOW what was bothering Gabriel, but she knew it was major. She’d watched him play the goon squad like a master cellist played his instrument. His family tended to get him on edge, but more in a melancholy sort of way.

But this wasn’t melancholy. This, she decided as she surveyed his face with a worried frown, this was bigger. Whatever was bothering Gabriel was bigger. Desperate. Personal.

She sat, silent, while he drove, letting him wrestle with whatever it was. After about ten minutes on a dark road, he turned off into a weedy clearing. The pitted dirt road played hell on her ’Vette’s suspension, making her wince.

“Where are we?” she asked, looking around in a combination of curiosity and concern. There was a barn ahead, but there were no animals around. No crops, either. The red siding looked flaked and droopy in the moonlight, while there was little white left on the trim.

“My favorite hideaway when I lived in Black Oak,” Gabriel told her, leaning one arm over the steering wheel while he stared nostalgically at the decrepit building. “I used to come here and hatch plots.”

“And bring girls?”

His eyes cut to hers, amusement dancing in the gold depths. “Of course.”

He snagged the keys from the ignition and tilted his head. “Care to take a trip down memory lane with me?”

She should say no. She’d been so careful to keep a tidy professional distance between them over the last few days. But she couldn’t resist a chance to see where Gabriel had honed his talent…so to speak.

Before the second—smarter—thoughts could set in, Gabriel was there opening her door and offering a hand to assist her from the car.

“C’mon,” he said, shrugging off his coat and wrapping it around her shoulders. “I wonder if it’s changed much.”

She wrinkled her nose as they stepped through the knee-high weeds, grateful she’d worn boots tonight instead of sandals. “It looks like it’s sat abandoned since you left.”

“A shame,” he said, one hand wrapped tight around hers. The door squealed in protest as he pushed it open. He reached a familiar hand around and flipped a switch, but they were both surprised when the weak yellow light lit overhead. “It was a great hideaway. It’d be a bummer if no other teenage boy discovered the pleasures to be had here.”

“You mean girls to be had?”

“Same thing,” he agreed, his smile flashing as he looked around. “You know, for being a dive on the outside, it’s still in pretty good shape in here.”

The dirt floor was, well, dirty, with scuffed footsteps in here and there among the hay that had scattered out of the stacked bales. A long workbench spanned one wall, one wooden leg shattered so it all listed to one side. Bales of yellowing hay scented the space with fresh, country appeal and there was a loft running along one end, but no apparent ladder to access the space.

“This is fresh hay,” she said, poking a finger at the sweet-smelling grassy piles. “I guess your old haunt isn’t so abandoned after all.”

“Fancy that,” he said absently.

Danita glanced over, wondering what had him distracted. The past, she realized when she saw the bittersweet smile on his face. Her heart melted a little when he traced his finger over initials carved in the graying splintered wood of one wallboard.

“GB? No
luvs 4ever?
” she teased, wondering if he’d been such a player even as a teen that he’d known not to make a public—or in this case, barn—commitment.

“I didn’t write it.” He laughed. She looked closer, seeing the loopiness of the letters and what looked like raindrops next to the heart.

“Those are teardrops?” she realized. “Were you already breaking hearts back then?”

“I never made a promise I couldn’t keep,” he said in a self-righteous tone that was ruined by his reminiscent grin, pure triumphant male.

He was so damned cute, she thought as she settled onto a surprisingly clean bale of hay. Cute and sweet.

“So this really was your love nest,” she mused. “Are there notches somewhere?”

“Blondie, I might have brought a lot of girls here, but none of them could hold a candle to you.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, giving him an arch look. “Not even Kathy?”

Gabriel’s smile didn’t dim. If anything, it widened in delight. “Ahh, Kathy Andrews,” he reminisced. “One fine summer night, a six-pack of wine coolers and a pretty blonde. The stuff great memories are made of.”

“We chatted at the bridal shower,” Danita said with a laugh. “She remembers you fondly, too. She mentioned a spring fling, setting the bar high and crème de menthe liqueur.”

Danita watched Gabriel laugh. A week was such a short time to spend with someone. Most people would scoff at the idea that two people could connect, could really understand each other that quickly. But in her business, and she imagined in Gabriel’s too, they had to make snap judgments, to understand people quickly.

And she understood him.

He was a clever man, and one who was determined to win at all costs. But he was, in his own way, an honest man with a code of conduct he wouldn’t budge from. The fact that, after their first night together, he’d insisted on taking the sleeping bag so she could have the bed, told her so much. He’d respected her boundaries and he hadn’t made her feel stupid for needing them.

He’d brought her into his family, a family who’d embraced and welcomed her like her own never had.

He made her feel…whole. When she hadn’t ever been able to admit, even to herself, that she was fractured.

So a week wasn’t long. Nor were the few days they had left. But she was a smart woman. And smart women didn’t waste precious time.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she rose from the softly scented hay to cross the dirt floor. Stopping just inches from Gabriel, she hesitated. Then, swallowing hard to wet her dry throat, she reached out to rub her hands over his arms, covered only in a thin sweater.

“What’s up?” he asked quietly, the laughter fading as his eyes locked on hers.

“You took on a lot,” she said quietly as she studied his face. “Coming home. Facing your past, risking your reputation. Deceiving your family while they are in danger. We didn’t, or at least I didn’t, consider how hard this would be for you.”

“There’s a lot at stake,” he said slowly, frowning as he stared back at her as if trying to figure out her game.

Her lips twitched. That was Gabriel, always looking for the con. She wasn’t sure if he realized his hands had tangled in her hair, the move was so automatic now.

“My father, and by extension my family, is in danger. True, you didn’t give me much choice about coming home. I wouldn’t have known about it if not for you, though. So while your method, other than that kiss the night you arrested me, sucked a little… I guess I’m glad you did it.”

Danita’s smile shifted from sympathetic to naughty. She leaned closer to brush a quick kiss over his cheek, then arched one brow. “So you’re thanking me for arresting you?”

“Um, no.” His grimace was little-boy cute. “And given that you’re the first arrest I’ve ever had, and it’s going down as solicitation, I think you owe me for messing with my rep.”

Just the opening she was looking for. Danita inched closer so her breasts skimmed his chest as she slid her hands up to the hard breadth of his shoulders. “Then I should make that up to you, shouldn’t I?”

“I was kidding. I didn’t bring you here for seduction,” he said, his words as serious as a vow.

“I know.” She smiled up at him, her heart telling her this was the right decision. “Which makes me seducing you that much more fun.”

“You’re going to seduce me?” His smile was as wicked as the hands curving over her ass. In typical Gabriel fashion, he didn’t pretend to hesitate, but instead dove right in for the fun.

“I am. And I’m going to do a damned good job of it, too,” she promised. Figuring there was no time like the present to start, she angled her body tighter to his. Running her fingers through the silky thickness of his hair and she gave him a slow, suggestive smile. “So good, you’ll never forget tonight.”

In her heels, she barely had to stretch to brush her lips gently over the soft warmth of his. She breathed in his scent, so familiar after practically living with him for almost a week. The hard planes of his chest pressed against her, cushioned slightly by the light wool of the sport coat he’d wrapped around her earlier.

“Babe, I don’t plan on forgetting one single thing about you.” With one last squeeze of appreciation, his hands moved from her butt to the indention of her waist. Her skin tingled with heat, even through the layers of fabric.

He’d never forget her? Line or truth? Did it matter? Danita told herself it didn’t, even as her heart tucked the words away like a precious gift.

“So tell me,” she asked quietly. “What’s your secret fantasy? What kind of sex makes you melt? We’ve already done it hot and fast. We’ve played on the edges of kink. Do you like it a little nasty? What’s your pleasure, Gabriel Black?”

Amusement faded. His hands tightened on her waist, then slid around her back, pulling her closer, tighter against his already hardening body.

“My pleasure? You, Danita,” he said quietly. A thrill shimmered in her heart at the sound of her name on his lips. “I want you, the way you want to be wanted.”

Amused, she shook her head, even as she gave in to the unspoken invitation to heat things up and skimmed her fingers down his chest. Her nails lightly scraped over his nipples, making them harden through his thin sweater.

“My fantasy is your fantasy? Isn’t that a bit of a cop-out? What’s the deal, Gabriel? You don’t think I can handle your idea of the best sex you can imagine?”

He cupped her breasts in his hands now, gently squeezing the mounds in an erotic rhythm. “Babe, I promise. There’s nothing that will get me hotter than knowing you’re living out your fantasy with me. There’s nothing more exciting than knowing that I’m the man who makes you crazy with wanting. You have your way with me, and I promise, it’ll be the best sex I’ve ever had in my life.”

Danita blinked away the sudden tears that blurred her view of his gorgeous face.

“Undress me,” she ordered softly, finally taking him at his word. “Undress me like I’m the most precious thing in your world.”