Whispered Lies

The growl that followed had an edge, warning her he wouldn’t hold back much longer.

She didn’t want him to.

She was more than ready for him.

He kissed her, moving his lips to her ear and whispering, “Exceptional is too understated for you. I’ll have to search for a better word.”

She shut her eyes tightly, not wanting a tear to streak loose. This man could touch a place inside her she’d shielded from others for a long time. No man had ever gotten close to her, not even Roberto. She’d been too young to know the difference between love and lust the last time.

She knew the difference this time.

When Carlos moved between her legs and kissed the inside of her thighs, all sane thought fled.

She gasped, gripping fistfuls of the plush duvet. The muscles inside her legs were taut, ready to snap. His mouth moved away, kissing a path to her navel.

He leaned over her and kissed her sweetly at first, then with heat. The tip of his erection prodded her, pulsing against her slick opening. He waited, then thrust a little harder.

Warmth rushed her when he pressed deeper. She locked her legs around him. He plunged all the way inside, filling her, then pulled back.

With each stroke of him sliding deep within her, his fingers worked magic, driving her back to that edge where she wanted to leap off into oblivion again. She met him stroke for stroke, determined that he reach the same mindless plane where he was sending her.

He moved his arms to support his body above her. She clutched his biceps that flexed hard beneath her fingers, his breathing harsh.

“I need you so much,” she rasped on a strained breath, then he moved one hand between them and fingered that one spot, taking her breath.

Her world broke into a thousand pieces. She cried out his name until she couldn’t anymore.

With both arms supporting him, Carlos lifted away, then shoved deep, again and again, powerful strokes. He growled his release, pumping relentlessly as he climaxed. Nothing would ever be as incredible as making love to him.

Carlos shuddered, finally collapsing and rolling to the side, taking her with him so they stayed joined.

He kissed her tenderly, his lips barely touching hers.

“I need to tell you something.” She ran her fingers across his face and damp forehead where she brushed a lock of hair back, wishing the lights were on so she could see his face.

“What?” he asked with a hint of concern.

“I don’t just do this…I mean, I haven’t done this since my divorce. Haven’t really dated.”

Carlos wasn’t moving again, his breathing as quiet as his thoughts. “I know you aren’t the kind of woman to play the field, but what stopped you from at least dating?”

“For one thing, I withdrew after divorcing Roberto and didn’t want much to do with men for a while. Then I had a couple near-miss accidents that scared me so I couldn’t risk meeting someone.” And she sure as the devil wouldn’t have met anyone who made her feel the way Carlos did, but she wasn’t saying that.

“Attacks on your life by the scumbag?” Carlos interjected.

“Yes.”

“Why do you think your ex is behind the accidents?”

“Because when we split up, he had an insurance policy on me for twenty million dollars we took out right after getting married that stays in effect as long as the premiums are paid. He made it very clear what would happen if I tried to cancel it.”

Carlos hugged her to him and muttered, “That bastard. But he has to know he’d be suspect even if you died in an accident.”

“No, he blackmailed me into keeping a joint life-insurance policy so it looks like we have one on each other, like we had an amiable breakup and kept those policies. If I hadn’t, he would have trashed me and my family in the tabloids, which would have had a devastating impact on my father.”

His lips touched her forehead sweetly, then he pulled back. “You were loose as Jell-O a minute ago and now you’re tense. What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Tell me.” He added a kiss to soften the gentle demand.

“I should have more experience by now. Roberto wasn’t much of a lover and rarely came home at night. I feel like I’m stunted in this department and I hate not excelling at something.”

“You’ve got it all wrong,” he whispered in a voice so erotic goose bumps pebbled along her skin. His hands ran along her back, stroking her. “Making love with you felt like a gift being shared. As for being good at something, I’m afraid to think how much better you could be in bed.”

Her glow of happiness returned.

Carlos embodied everything a woman could want in a man.

A man of honor.

A man capable of helping her take down Durand Anguis.

CARLOS SPUN THE shower faucets off and snagged the towel folded on a shelf above his head to dry off. The hot water had done nothing to help him regroup after the last few hours of making love to Gabrielle. He should sleep like the dead tonight, but damn his body, he wanted her again.

She wouldn’t be able to walk if they went another round.

Humming on the other side of the curtain let him know Gabrielle was still in the room with him.

Guilt jumped him the minute his lust cooled. He shouldn’t have stepped over that line and made love to her. Not just because of his position with BAD.

Because she was no onetime wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am kind of woman. He hadn’t thought she was, but neither had he been prepared for just how much she’d come to mean to him. How much he didn’t want her hurt by anyone.

Especially by him.

He’d guessed she hadn’t been with many men before she told him. One other man, to be exact, and the scumbag might as well have been nonexistent if not for the emotional scars he’d left.

Carlos smiled. She’d told him to surprise her. He might have done something more provocative with an experienced woman, but his instincts had been right to warn him to take care how he made love to Gabrielle.

He never expected to care for another woman. Not after watching one die sixteen years ago.

Pain and pleasure rolled around in his heart, banging the organ with an ache for his lost love and desire for the woman who gave life to something dangerously close to joy.

He’d enjoyed plenty of women, sweet ladies he’d met who clearly wanted no more than he had-a few days of rousing sex.

But Gabrielle was not like any other woman he’d met. Tonight with her had been different in a way that was hard to ignore. She was spectacular and naïve at the same time.

He flinched over recalling how he’d thought the same thing after making love to sixteen-year-old Helena when he’d been seventeen.

Helena Suarez, Salvatore’s goddaughter.

Her face had faded over the years, but not the painful memory from the last time Carlos looked into her eyes as the life seeped from her body.

And Helena had died because she’d been involved with him.

He wanted Gabrielle now with that same burning desire he’d had for Helena, but this time as a man who knew the risks they both faced.

Gabrielle would never be safe around him.

The best thing he could do to protect her would be to convince her to stop sending intel on people like Durand Anguis to security agencies and for Joe to put her into the WITSEC program if they could figure out how to do it without causing an international clash over hiding an heir to a dynasty.

That was if Carlos could prevent BAD from handing her over to Interpol.

“Are you going to come out?” she asked. The snicker of laughter that followed had him smiling.

“How about grabbing my phone for me?” He had to get her out of the room so he could put a shirt on. Getting into the shower without exposing the tattoo on his chest had been a chore in itself.

“Sure, sweetie.”

He peeked past the curtain. The minute she cleared the door into the bedroom, he was out and pulling clothes on.