began to move, filling her, caressing her. Surrendering to sensation, she fanned her palms over his shoulders as her head rocked back, driving into the pillow. The intensity left perspiration on her brow … left her brilliantly, blissfully out of her mind.
Her nails dug in as she craned up to kiss his chest, so steamy and strong, and all hers for the night.
I knew it would be like this, she thought. This was more than two bodies joining … this was so much more than just sex.
He nipped her chin, thrust again, and hit a spot so high and deep the jolt and thrill tore a sob from her chest. The tremors building in the base of her belly quickened as her throat ached and moisture filled the corners of her eyes. The intensity of pleasure was too much to contain.
She held the hair either side of his temples and, teetering on the edge, thought again, Are you real?
He answered her by taking her lips, and when the stroke of his kiss melded seamlessly with the rhythm of his hips the ticking time bomb at her centre compressed and shone, supernova bright.
She began to fold in on herself. With all the world fading away his body braced above hers and the muscles in his big shoulders bunched. When his head craned back, and he bared his teeth at the sky, she felt him shudder and empty his energy inside of her.
Her own tremors rose higher … soaring, spiking.
Peaking.
The instant a thousand waves crashed in at once he groaned, and drank his name from her lips.
CHAPTER SIX
ONCE was only the beginning.
They made love again, and a third time, and as the rain eased and the yellow fingers of dawn reached through that single window pane Nina snuggled back into the incomparable warmth of her lover.
Gabriel sat at the head of the bed, his back against the rest, his powerful arms coiled around her waist. She sat between his legs, her head slanted against his chest, her arms wrapped around his. The previous hours had raced by as if they’d only been minutes.
Tomorrow was almost here.
His chin brushed over her crown and she felt him harden against the small of her back. Teasing, she wriggled against him. “Aren’t you sick of me yet?”
“Nope.” His expert mouth found the sweep of her neck. Goosebumps erupted down her right side as his teeth danced over the still wanting sweep of skin. He whispered at her ear, “Stay with me.”
She froze, then blinked several times. Had she heard right?
“What do you mean, stay?”
He hummed at her temple. “Here. With me.”
What a crazy, wonderful idea, but … “Gabriel, I can’t.”
“Sure you can.” He urged her face around and kissed her thoroughly. Her lips felt swollen from his all-night attention, but she only melted again now. Kissing, in all its forms, was his absolute forte.
The kiss broke softly. With a growl in his throat, he circled the tip of her nose with his.
“Stay.”
She fisted her hand against his chest. Oh, God, how she wanted to. “It’s not that easy.”
The light in his gaze dimmed, and for the first time she saw something else in his eyes … something hard and close to unforgiving.
His voice dropped enough to make her shiver. “Is there someone else?”
“Of course not,” she shot back, and the light in his eyes faded back up.
“In that case …” he edged her around more “… let me convince you.”
Holding her chin in the vee of one hand, he tipped her back until she lay flat. The line of kisses he dropped down to her cleavage blew fresh life into embers wanting to flash hot again. And when his mouth tasted one tender nipple, and his tongue wove down to her midriff, her hands stretched towards him and her fingers twined through his hair.
She wanted to stay—so much that it hurt. But the idea was ridiculous. For one, as long as her ankle held up, she had a shift later today. Which led to a far bigger problem. Gabriel had no idea who she was. Or who she wasn’t. He’d given her the option of remaining Nina the Mysterious, and at the time withholding her identity had seemed the easier, more attractive option. But that had been before they’d slept together.
The last few hours had seemed surreal. She could almost convince herself she was just another rich guest enjoying a no-consequences holiday fling with a gorgeous playboy. But of course that dream couldn’t last. She couldn’t stay. Inevitably they would see each other at the resort and her secret would be out.
She pinched the bridge of her nose to stem the sting of emotion.
Okay. She would simply tell him now. Come clean with everything. Then the ball would be back in his court. He’d said, I’ll believe in you. Not light words. If it hadn’t been a line, he deserved the chance to prove he’d meant it. Prove to her that her faith in him wasn’t built purely on firelight and fantasy.
Willing her heart to quit crashing against her ribs, she found a rational voice. “Gabriel, there’s something I need to tell you.”
His tongue twirled languidly around her navel.
She gripped his arms and tried to pull him up. “Are you listening?”
His mouth only dropped lower. “I can multi-task.”
She didn’t doubt it. “There’s more you need to know.”
He grazed all the way up, until his eyes twinkled directly into hers. “All I need to know is …” he tasted her chin “… I want to be with you.”
He said it so easily. As if this could really mean more than a night or two if she let it. But she had to face facts. Clearly Gabriel was no novice at this kind of encounter. He’d known what he wanted and he’d set out to get it. She’d be crazy to believe this interlude meant anything more to him than a dab of icing on his holiday cake; she’d seen enough of his I’m-kicking-back-on-vacation type to know. Hell, rather than irritated, he might be pleased to discover she was a waitress. The thanks-and-sorry-it-didn’t-work-out would be easier that way.
She realised he was looking deeply into her eyes.
A fingertip stroked her cheek. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
She sighed. Oh, just everything.
“Gabriel …” She tried to find the right words to begin. “This day has been unbelievable. You make me feel so good. Too good.”
A sexy smile tugged the corner of his mouth before he suckled a line up her throat to her lips. “Trust me. There’s no such thing as too good.”
Nina woke with a start.
Blinking
