To Sin with the Tycoon Page 14

  ‘I’m afraid my childhood wasn’t a happy one,’ she said heavily. ‘My father was...a bully and a philanderer. I grew up having to deal with the effect that had on Mum. You’re right—she’s not like me. She’s always been frail. You know...?’ She darted a quick look at him, watching to see if he was repelled at what she was telling him, and then melting because his expression was so sympathetic. ‘I can’t believe I’m telling you this. I...I’m not usually the sort of person who confides.’

  ‘You’ve grown up being strong for the sake of your mother.’ Gabriel sipped his wine and impatiently brushed aside the waiter who was approaching them for their order.

  So this was what it felt like, he thought, to involve yourself in someone else’s life story. His lifetime had been spent as a solitary figure, forging his own destiny, never needing input from anyone else because experience had taught him that other people’s input was always largely self-serving. He had grown up fighting his own battles single-handed and then, when the battles had been fought, reaping the reward without bothering to search any deeper. It was a formula that had always worked for him.

  And still did, he reminded himself a little too vigorously, before he allowed pointless sentimentality to cloud the issue.

  ‘When my father died, my mother was free to build a life of her own, but she had been damaged by years of having to put up with his selfishness. She became more and more anxious and now...’ Alice shrugged her shoulders expressively. ‘Over time she became fearful of leaving the house. It’s been quite bad. In fact, I’ve had to hire a therapist to try and work some magic...and it’s working. She’s been out more in the last few months than ever before. Small steps. But I guess I’ve been guilty of laying it on thick about not getting involved with another man. I never said so out loud...’ But she had given that impression. ‘Who is this guy, anyway?’

  ‘I don’t know the details, Alice. Like I said, it was a fleeting conversation.’

  ‘Whilst you were busy charming her, you mean.’ Her retort was half-hearted. ‘I wondered how she knew about this restaurant. I guess they must have come here, which is terrific, because it means she’s getting out of the house, beginning to build a normal life for herself.’

  And in the meantime, Alice wondered, how normal was her life? She had been so busy making sure they both learned valuable lessons about the nature of men that she had forgotten how young she still was. And her mother had tried to remind her of that, but she had unhelpfully brushed aside those conversations.

  ‘So there you have it,’ she said crisply. ‘It would have been better if you hadn’t known, but...’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Why?’ Alice laughed and there was an edge to her laughter. ‘Because you’re not interested in other people’s lives, Gabriel. You’re probably embarrassed that you’ve ended up here with me pouring all this out, but it’s your fault for showing up unannounced.’

  ‘Ah, we’re back to the Alice Morgan who wants to pick a fight with me... It’s not going to work.’

  She was sorely tempted to ask him about his personal life but something held her back. Maybe she didn’t want to hear that mantra about never committing to any woman. Maybe she wanted to believe that...that what? That she could somehow change him because she was in love with him?

  Hell would freeze over before that happened!

  But, as they ordered food, she was keenly aware that she had let all her guard down with him, that the chance of returning to the fragile relationship she had worked hard to put back in place after Paris was changed for good.

  And, for her part, she had seen yet another slice of this complex man—a genuinely thoughtful side that he kept well hidden under an armour of a ruthless, single-minded drive to succeed.

  She ruefully thought that, while she had been busy never taking chances, while she had made a big deal of her non-relationship with Alan as yet further proof of how important it was to protect yourself from being hurt, her mother, for all her problems and her devastating marriage, had been courageous enough to take chances of her own.

  The only chances Alice had taken were those snatched days and nights in Paris when she had thrown caution to the winds and had allowed her body to rule her head.

  And she had made damn sure to scuttle back to the safety of what she knew the second they had returned to London.

  From under lowered lashes, she watched as he worked his way through his food, the way he engaged her in conversation whether she wanted him to or not, the tactful way he desisted from prying further into her past. She took in those long, brown fingers curled around the stem of his wine glass as he sipped his wine and the brooding intensity of his dark eyes as they rested on her flushed face...

  Sensitive to every nuance of her body language, Gabriel sensed the shift in atmosphere.

  He had stopped being the enemy she had mistakenly slept with, the enemy whose hot kisses she wanted to resist but couldn’t...

  He had her and satisfaction roared through him. He had stopped thinking that he just needed to sleep with her to get her out of his system. He now thought that he just needed to sleep with her. He needed to have her body under him, on him and alongside him. He needed to feel the silky smoothness of her slender thighs between his legs. He needed to touch her breasts and feel her melt under his hands.

  The meal couldn’t end soon enough for him, although he didn’t think he could actually sleep with her in her mother’s house. Thinking about having to wait until they were back in London brought a painful ache in his groin. He could barely focus on the conversation she was having with him.

  ‘If you’d rather I stay somewhere else overnight,’ he told her gruffly, ‘then I’m happy to oblige.’

  ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘The fact that you tried so hard to dissuade your mother from her hospitality.’

  ‘I’ve never known my mum to dig her heels in the way she did,’ Alice confessed, closing her knife and fork on what had been a superb meal. ‘But, no.’ She shot him a flushed, determined stare and her heart picked up speed as he met her gaze and held it for longer than was necessary. ‘She would be upset if you disappeared to stay in a bed and breakfast. In fact, she would probably blame me. She probably blames me for trying to over-protect her.’ The admission was forced out of her and she lowered her eyes. ‘If I hadn’t been so...forceful, who knows? She might have found Mr Right a bit sooner.’

  ‘He may not be Mr Right,’ Gabriel told her gently. ‘But he might just be the guy who takes her out of herself, someone she’s willing to have fun with even if it doesn’t last the course...’

  ‘What are you trying to say?’

  ‘It’s better to feel something, anything, rather than hide behind a wall in the hope that you don’t end up getting hurt.’ He was uncomfortably aware that this was advice he didn’t actually follow to the letter himself, although his lack of emotional involvement had nothing to do with getting hurt or not getting hurt. He had no need to commit, so he didn’t. There was no Mrs Right for him because that was a complication he didn’t need. He was perfectly fine as he was, unlike Pamela Morgan, who wanted more. Unlike her daughter, who probably wanted more as well.

  ‘And you think that’s what I’m doing?’ Alice bristled but there was a charge in the atmosphere that was thrilling. And she couldn’t peel her eyes away from his lean, dark face.

  ‘You want more of me...’ He sat back and allowed his eyes to roam over her; lazy, indolent, darkly sexy eyes that made her body burn. ‘Why don’t you stop running scared,’ he murmured, ‘and just take what you want? Take what you can’t tear your eyes away from.’

  ‘You are the most conceited person I have ever met in my entire life!’ She was breathing fast and, God, he knew exactly how she was reacting to him. Knew it and liked it.

  ‘You want to touch...I can feel it. Do you know why? B
ecause it’s the same for me. I want to touch you too. Why do you think I spent hours driving down here on the spur of the moment?’

  But you will never get hurt, Alice thought. You can touch and then walk away unscathed...

  But was that enough of an excuse to run scared? If her mother could get involved with someone, as Gabriel had told her, then why couldn’t she? How many times would she spend her life running scared when faced with the possibility of getting hurt?

  And yet the thought of any other man having the same impact on her as Gabriel was far-fetched, almost beyond belief. He wasn’t the gentle kind of guy who would gradually entice her back into the world of trust and love, the kind of guy she had vaguely pinned her hopes on finding at some point in her life. He was the dynamic, darker-than-sin, more-dangerous-than-the-devil kind of guy who would take her places she had never been and leave her broken-hearted when he walked away.

  ‘Shall we go?’ he asked huskily and Alice nodded mutely.

  ‘This was never the plan,’ she said shakily, once the bill had been paid and they were standing outside the restaurant.

  ‘What was never the plan?’

  ‘This. Me. You... It’s not a good idea.’

  ‘Life is about taking risks or else what’s the point? I’ve spent my life taking risks. I wouldn’t be here today if I hadn’t taken risks.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  Gabriel laughed but his dark eyes never left her face. ‘Maybe one day I’ll explain.’ He threaded his fingers through her hair and tugged her towards him. ‘Do you want me to kiss you? Because if you don’t then this is your opportunity to say no and to walk away, and we can go back to playing our game of “it never happened”.’

  ‘Kiss me...’

  Alice lost herself in that kiss. It was a crazy place to be doing this because she might get spotted. It was a small village and the fact that her mother had spent much of her time there confined to her house didn’t mean that there weren’t many locals who didn’t pop in for chats, to see how she was doing, to have tea or the occasional supper. Any one of those locals would have hot-footed it right back to Pamela Morgan with tales of her daughter being seen outside that new Italian restaurant kissing a man.

  But she couldn’t resist. She breathed in his woody, clean aftershave, felt his firm, cool lips plundering her mouth and her body curved into his. She looped her arms around his neck and tiptoed to meet his searching mouth.

  ‘I’m only thinking...’ he broke apart to say in an unsteady voice that didn’t sound at all like his ‘...about your reputation when I say that we need to take this somewhere else.’

  ‘I don’t want you to stop.’

  ‘And I don’t want to...’ With his arm slung heavily over her shoulder, they half-ran to his car and picked up where they had left off the second the car door was slammed shut.

  It was teenage, ‘back row of the movies’ stuff. That was what it felt like to Gabriel and he loved every second of it. He had never done that back-row kissing business; he was making up for lost time. If her teenage years had been spent caretaking her mother and being strong on her behalf, his had been spent digging himself out of the hole into which he had been born, forging a life for himself that would be strong enough to ensure that he would never have to look back or go near that hole again.

  The fact that they had so much in common was a fleeting thought that was almost immediately buried under the urgency of his response.

  He felt under the red jumper and found the obstruction of her bra, but made short work of that by plunging his hand under it, pulling free one breast that popped out, nipple already standing to attention, tightening to a rigid peak as he teased and pinched it into arousal.

  The car was parked at a distance from the other random cars and the tinted windows meant that they were cocooned, protected from any curious eyes, not that there seemed to be many people around. Protected enough for him to feel comfortable raising her jumper so that he could cover that pulsing nipple with his mouth and suckle on it until she was whimpering and panting, spreading her legs in delicious invitation.

  They were never going to make love in his car, he thought, wondering if his body would be able to tolerate the short drive back to her house without relief. But he could enjoy her for a bit longer, suck for a little longer on that circular disc.

  With a groan of frustration at not being able to go the whole way, he flung himself back against the seat and groaned.

  ‘I need a bigger car!’

  Alice could still feel the warmth of his mouth on her breast. She pulled down the jumper, as regretful as he was and as desperate to get back to the house so that they could finish what they had started.

  Making love with her mother a couple of doors down? True, her mother slept like a log, often with the aid of a sleeping tablet, but still... Never in a million years would Alice have seen herself as the kind of girl who would be driven to have sex with a guy in her bedroom because she just couldn’t hold off. Since when had she ever been the kind of girl who lost complete control? Since she had gone to Paris, was the answer that came immediately to her. Since she had made love to him. Since she had discovered a carnal side to her that was insatiable...

  Before he could fire up the engine, she reached across and fumbled with his zip.

  More teenage stuff! Gabriel didn’t bother to try to resist. He’d lost the ability to play it cool. Right now, what he needed more than anything else was release.

  He unzipped the trousers and manoeuvred himself so that he could pull them down, along with his boxers. The cool night air was soothing, but not nearly as soothing as her mouth...

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE HOUSE WAS in darkness by the time they arrived back. Pamela Morgan was already in bed. It was nearly eleven and she was accustomed to retiring early.

  Gabriel had no idea how he had managed to get back without going into one of the hedgerows by the side of the road. He couldn’t concentrate. The woman next to him had taken his self-control and shredded it into a million pieces.

  Yes, she had relieved some of that ache...

  He caught his breath sharply, remembering the glorious feel of her mouth on him as she drove him to his climax. The release had been...indescribable.

  Now he wanted more, much more.

  He would have brought her to her own orgasm, would have put his hand and his fingers where his mouth would not have been able to go because of the confines of being in a car, but she had stopped him, breathlessly telling him that she wanted him in her bed.

  Now, as she unlocked the front door with shaky fingers, he placed his hand over hers.

  ‘We could wait,’ he said gruffly. ‘I don’t want to. Hell, I would take you by the side of the house if you let me... But I don’t want this to be seen as an abuse of your mother’s hospitality.’

  ‘I’m beginning to think that I haven’t given Mum enough credit for being a grown-up,’ Alice said ruefully. ‘She’s probably been waiting for me to bring a guy home but not confident enough to come right out and say anything.’ She pushed open the door and held her finger to her lips in a signal to keep quiet, then giggled softly, because she felt light-headed, young and very happy.

  And he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head! She gave herself full permission really to drown in that admission, really to luxuriate in it.

  Paris had been an adventure but she had managed to convince herself that it had somehow been acceptable because she had been abroad...just a passing fever. But this was really an adventure because she was here, in her stamping ground, making a conscious decision to do something because it felt inevitable and somehow right, even if it was wrong.

  She couldn’t explain it, even to herself. She just knew that she had to sleep with him, had to follow this through to the bitter end, however and whenever that might a
rise, even if it meant saying goodbye to her job in the process.

  They went up the stairs silently. Sure enough, when Alice looked to her right there was no light on in her mother’s room. She turned left, thankful that her bedroom was at the end of the narrow corridor, and she pushed open the door, heart beating so fast she had to make herself take deep breaths just to steady her spiralling excitement.

  She could still taste him in her mouth...it was a turn-on.

  ‘Your bedroom?’ Gabriel asked, looking around him. Moonlight streamed through the window, picking up bits and pieces of her belongings: a rocking chair in the corner, on which sat an oversized, battle-weary stuffed teddy bear; furniture that looked as though it had never been made to last; a dressing table with some framed pictures on it.

  ‘Don’t talk.’ She pressed her body against his and her eyelids fluttered closed as he slipped his hands under her jumper. This time he undid the bra and she released him for a few seconds so that she could pull the bra and jumper over her head so that she was standing in front of him, half-naked.

  ‘You’re so damned beautiful...’ Gabriel cupped her breasts with his hands and massaged them, rubbing the pad of his thumbs over her nipples as he did, and felt the breath catch in her throat. He leaned down and kissed her neck, then licked it, then nibbled his way up to her mouth so that she could lose herself again in another of those devastating kisses.

  Alice pushed her hands under his jumper, seeking the warmth of his flesh. He had small, flat brown nipples and she teased them just as he was teasing hers and felt him respond.

  Slowly they made their way to her bed, unable to break apart from one another, kissing and holding each other and stumbling a little in the dark until her knees made contact with the side of the bed and she fell, taking him with her and stifling another giggle.