~*~
Ava didn’t resist him. Gabriel drew her closer by the hand. Her breath quickened, and his gaze settled on her mouth. She had a delectable, full mouth. Lips he could kiss for eternity. Her tiny tongue snaked out to trace their shape as he placed her soft palm on his shoulder.
“What have you done to me?”
“Brought you to life,” she whispered.
She had. Years had passed since the death of his family, when the dead weight of guilt had entered his heart, blotting out everything else. Pleasure, joy and ecstasy had simply vanished.
Not even sex left him satisfied anymore. A darkness left a void in his life he could no longer fill. And so he’d simply survived each day. He’d lost all feeling, until he’d met Sin.
Excitement surged through him and his erection filled to the brim with a power he hadn’t experienced in years. “I should leave,” he whispered.
“But you won’t.”
He shook his head as his hands wrapped her into his embrace, her arms twining around his neck. “I don’t think I can.”
“I don’t want you to.”
He seized her mouth in a searing kiss and she surrendered easily under his assault. Her fingers twined through the strands of his hair and every thought scattered.
He broke the kiss. “I came to talk you out of it.”
“What?”
“Killing Marco. Seeking revenge.”
She nibbled at his lower lip. “No one can sway me from my goal. Not even you.” Her hands splayed and flattened over his chest muscles. “Do you really wish to discuss this now?”
He exhaled. “No.”
The sweetest hint of jasmine and almond oil intoxicated him, lured him closer, disregarding every goal save one: getting her naked and under his hands.
His arms wrapped around her and he kissed her lips, sucking at the soft flesh. She parted her lips and he plunged inside to taste her. His tongue delved deeply and twined with hers. Every ounce of his flesh burned in the sweetest agony.
Her soft sigh escaped and he drank it in, deepening the kiss. His lips trailed a gentle path to her chin, across her jaw and into the sweetest spot beneath her ear. Ava inhaled deeply.
Pressing against her, he lifted her legs around his waist and carried her back through the door she’d exited earlier. Without stopping, he tumbled them across the bed, wrapping them amongst the sheer coverings.
She laughed softly as she untangled them but he seized her mouth once again, plundering her depths. He couldn’t wait. He couldn’t slow down. He needed her.
His hands slid up her sides to the edge of her breasts, their fullness begging for his touch. The thin cotton of her camisole was little barrier from his gaze and he soaked in the vision she created. An ethereal being in white. Her exotic eyes and the cream of her flesh beckoned his mouth.
Her chest rose and fell with every breath, teasing him, taunting him. Cupping her breasts, his palms filled with their weight and the pads of his thumbs grazed her erect nipples.
She moaned softly against his ear. Thrusting against her body, he ground his hardness into her soft belly. Good God. Had it been so long since he’d enjoyed sex so much?
What made it so different this time?
Soft fingers sank into his hair and urged him closer. Hot breath fanned one nipple before he sucked it between his lips. She shivered against him. Male possession surged through his veins. By God, he’d make her scream.
She tossed her head back, exposing every delicious inch of her skin and he couldn’t wait any longer. Gabriel yanked the front ties of her gown open to reveal perfect, round globes. He worshiped them as they were meant to be worshiped, giving each delicious ounce of flesh his full attention until she panted under his mouth.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered. And he meant it.
Those words hadn’t passed his lips since the day he’d buried his wife.
Gabriel reared upright, away from her, and sat back on his haunches. He panted and attempted to catch his breath. An image of his wife eradicated every sense of lust in a cold splash of memories. He gasped. What had made him stop? This was just sex. He’d had sex plenty of times with women since Elizabeth’s death. Why was this time so different?
Because I enjoyed it.
Chills traced his spine. He had enjoyed every second. This woman created something inside him he couldn’t define. Something he wasn’t ready to name. And he wasn’t ready to let go of his past.
“What is wrong?” she questioned, confusion marring her brow.
He leapt from the bed. Her tousled look acted as a reminder of his surrender. “I can’t do this.”
“Why not?”
“If I take this job, our relationship must remain platonic,” he lied. How could he admit to someone, even a courtesan, he still grieved for his dead wife even a decade after her death?
She sat on her elbows. Her look clearly erotic, a temptation his throbbing cock didn’t miss as it reared against the fabric of his jeans. “I don’t mix business with pleasure.”
“Neither do I, Mr. Stone.”
“It’s not the same. Your business is pleasure. I must keep my head or else I’ll wind up dead.”
Sin rose in sultry slow motion, her camisole sliding off one shoulder revealing one beautiful breast. “You mistake me, Stone. I remain aloof from my clients for the simple reason I cannot afford to lose my heart. So let me remind you of this, I have not hired you...yet.”
Her hands splayed across his chest and yanked open his shirt to reveal his naked flesh to her eyes. She drank him in. Gabriel couldn’t remember a more erotic moment in his life. Her sheer pleasure just from gazing at him showed in every detail of her face. The soft “Oh,” she whispered and the widening eyes all said she liked what she saw.
She stepped forward, gingerly, testing the waters. Her hesitation was a lure in and of itself. She lowered and placed a soft kiss under his chin and then trailed her tongue to his collar bone. Fire heated his veins.
A slow heat grew inside him as her fingers drifted up his arms to his shoulders. Chills traced their path.
Slowly, she kissed her way down his chest to his stomach. Gabriel’s body was set aflame. His erection strained against the fabric of his pants as her eager mouth crept closer. No, his mind argued but his body didn’t listen.
Sin settled on her knees and tugged the jeans open, freeing his cock from its restraints. Her gaze widened at his size, and he throbbed painfully.
He should leave. He should tell her no.
But his hands slipped into her hair as her mouth brushed a breath across his head, and he groaned in surrender. Her mouth slid down his length and sucked him inside. How could he possibly resist this woman?
Tender, gentle ministrations turned into longer, stronger suction until he near burst inside her mouth. When her hands joined the fray and stroked him with both her mouth and palm, he almost lost himself.
Ducking down, he lifted her onto the bed and shed her camisole from her body. He looked his fill, her legs dropping open to reveal the treasure he sought without shame, and her boldness drove him to distraction.
“I can’t resist anymore.”
“I never wanted you to, Gabriel.”
His name on her lips sent a thrill through him. “I haven’t taken the case yet, and I’m making no promises.”
Her hand clasped his member and stroked him until he gasped. “The only thing I want from you right now, Gabriel, is you inside me.” Whatever thoughts he’d had scattered and his surrender to Sin was the sweetest he’d ever experienced.