in L.A., then moved on to more exciting prey when he’d behaved himself.
He studied her delicate profile. Her straight nose and a slightly stubborn jaw that suited her. The appealing dip above her pretty lips, soft and sweet in sleep. Yes, getting her to his house was the best way to handle the situation. Gabriella would sleep well and be grateful in the morning, ready to tackle her day at work with her usual energy.
But, a little later, as he swung her soft, warm body into his arms, carrying her fast asleep into the house, that surge of testosterone hit him even harder than before. The feel of her sweet curves pressed against him shortened his breath and sent his heart rate into double time, and neither had anything to do with the exertion of carrying her dead weight. It was then he realized, too late, the big downside of his decision.
Gabriella would get a good night’s sleep. But he had a feeling she’d be the only one in the house who did.
* * *
The sensation of silky-soft sheets and light, cozy down wrapped Gabby in a snug cocoon as her senses slowly came to consciousness. Feeling more comfortable than she’d ever felt in her life, she lay there in tranquil warmth, a small smile on her face. Feeling wonderful. Feeling indulged and pampered, but why that was, she wasn’t sure.
Her palms slowly stretched across the linens, over the fluffy comforter enveloping her, eventually wrapping her arms around herself, savoring the sensation.
Where was she? Not in her little apartment. On a vacation in some exotic place? No, she hadn’t been vacationing. Obviously this was some hedonistic dream and she’d be waking soon.
Somehow she managed to crack open her heavy eyelids. And realized it wasn’t a dream. She really was in this ridiculously comfortable bed, but where that bed was, she had no clue.
Abruptly, her eyelids shot wide open and, heart tripping, she sat up, trying to get her eyes accustomed to the darkness. Trying to figure out whether or not her beautiful, comfortable dream was really some horrible nightmare.
And realized this was, for certain, most definitely not her bed. So whose was it? Dragging in a rattling breath, she uttered an involuntary shriek and leapt out of the bed, blindly stumbling toward the shadowy door she thought she could see across the room. Fumbling with the latch, she yanked it open, through it into freedom, only to smack right into something large looming across the threshold.
Something hard but smooth. Something warm to the touch, with a rough covering that felt like hair. Something immovable that grasped her arms, holding her. Imprisoning her.
A full-fledged scream tore from her lips. “Let me go!” She writhed to free herself from the monster, to no avail. “Let. Me. Go!”
“Good Lord, Gabriella.” The words were tense but soft as the hold on her loosened. “It’s me, Rafael. Please stop screaming. It’s all right.”
Another scream about to rip from her throat, she blinked up to see a sculpted jaw, and though the mouth above it was tightened into a thin line, they were obviously the sensually shaped lips of Rafael Moreno. Relief had her sagging against him. “Oh, my heavens. I woke up and...didn’t know where I was.” And still didn’t, and that realization brought her fully alert. “So...what in the world happened? Where am I?”
“In my home. You were sound asleep in my car. In a near coma really—I couldn’t rouse you.”
His lips had softened into a smile, and his eyes gleamed at her through the darkness. The bizarreness of the situation finally sank in, and she started to get suspicious then angry. What grown woman would fall asleep so completely she wouldn’t wake up when someone tried to, as he’d said, “rouse” her?
She realized her palms were pressed flat against his hard pectorals and soft, hair-roughened skin. Heat seemed to pump from that wide, masculine chest, enveloping her and making it hard to breathe. She yanked her hands off like she’d touched the sun, flinging them to her own chest to do a quick check of what exactly she was—or wasn’t—wearing, then jerked out of his hold completely. Relief that she still had on the clothes she’d worn on their dinner date didn’t temper the anger making her start to physically shake.
“I can’t believe you brought me here, then inside your house to...to put me in bed like a child. Why would you do that? I thought for a minute you must have drugged me or something. And...and taken advantage of me.”
Infuriatingly, instead of looking contrite or insulted, his arrogantly amused smile widened. “Believe me, belleza, I don’t have to drug women for them to wish to come home with me, nor do I have to take advantage of them. They are, instead, quite happy to take advantage of me.”
She parted her lips to say something caustic in response, but nothing came out. Because she’d just realized he stood there not only shirtless but was wearing only boxers on his bottom half. Boxers that hung low on his hips, and even in the darkness she could see the ripples of muscles across his middle and the big, sculpted quadriceps of his legs beneath the hem that stopped well above his mid-thigh.
It had been a long time since she’d been with a man. And never one with so much potent masculine appeal, it should be illegal. She sucked in a breath so she could finally talk, but unfortunately brought his scent inside her nose and nearly felt dizzy from it. “Well, I’m not one of them.”
“Sadly, I’m aware of that. In fact, you’ve crushed my ego. Never have I had a woman fall asleep in my company unless it was after a long night of making love.”
The rumble of his voice combined with his deliciously drawling accent and his inappropriate mention of lovemaking sent shivers across her skin. Or maybe she was just cold, having left the comfortable bed and the heat of his body. A peculiar tension curled through her body, and she had an almost irresistible urge to snuggle up against that firm, warm chest, imagining how good it would feel against her.
Which was ridiculous. The man had all but kidnapped her. “I doubt if anything could crush your ego, Dr. Moreno. But now that I’ve woken from my coma, I’d appreciate it if you’d take me home.”
“If you insist.” The polite inclination of his head was regal, despite the fact he stood there practically naked. “But it’s four a.m. and I, for one, would like to get a few more hours of sleep before work. Surely it would be best for both of us to go back to bed for a few hours.”
Back to bed. What in the world was wrong with her that his words made her think of something very different from sleep? Involuntarily, a slightly hysterical giggle left her lips.
“Something amusing?”
“Just that I was thinking that, since you’re a prince, you should have tried kissing me when I was asleep. I wonder if that would have worked, like in the fairy tales?”
Lord, she must be delirious. Appalled that she’d blurted her thought out loud, the feeling faded as their eyes met. His seemed to blaze at the same time his lids lowered in a look that made her quiver. “Excellent question, bella. Next time, I’ll try that to find out, hmm?”
“There won’t be a next time. But I guess you’re right about it being silly to go home right now.” She gulped, searching for her common sense. Time to shut down this sensual back and forth between them that she had a feeling could easily get out of control. “I’ll just get back to sleep and we can leave for work in the morning. I always keep extra clothes there, anyway.”
He inclined his head again.
