Gabriel woke her once more with kisses down her back and Ava smiled. Rolling over, she smiled as he took up the kisses across her chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed. “That’s a wonderful way to start the day.”
“I’ll say.” He smiled. “It’s hard to resist such a beautiful woman who smiles in her sleep.”
Her gaze widened. “Was I smiling?”
He nodded. “Oh, yes, and I want to know what you were dreaming about.”
Sunlight slanted across the floor and speared the side of his face, casting a golden glow across his tousled, dark brown hair. “Very likely it was last night.”
“Care for a repeat?”
“Perhaps,” she whispered and drew him atop her.
She captured his mouth in a scorching kiss. His large hands clasped her hips and flipped her over onto her knees. She gasped at the sudden change of position and then moaned as the head of his cock swept along her dampened cleft. He eased his body inside, leaned down and bit one shoulder gently. Ava arched as delicious heat snaked through her veins. The man simply amazed her. He set a slow pace, a driving, but unhurried motion that drew her across a sensual torture rack. Blinding hot desire shuttered her lids in ecstasy. She tossed her head back and his lips coasted along her jaw line to her mouth. Turning, their lips melded, sealing all sound.
His deft fingers crept around her hips and between her thighs and toyed with her soft button. She bucked in response and moaned. He slid forward again in an agonizing measured tempo. His growl created shivers down her back. He was losing control. Ava lowered her chest to the bed and spread her hands to clutch at the sheets so that her rear arched in a sensual slope. Gabriel reared up, seized her hips in his fierce grip and hammered inside her.
She gasped and panted as raw lust took over. In seconds brilliant lights burst behind her eyelids as tiny cries ensued from her mouth. Her sheath tightened and convulsed around him, sending him over the edge as well. Together they trembled and strained as their climax shook them to the core. Together they collapsed to the bed.
They lay in silence, their harsh breath mingling. Finally, he moved to her side. “Are you all right? I didn’t mean to hurt you if I did. That was pretty powerful.”
She chuckled. No man had ever cared whether he’d hurt her or not, during sex. Most just rolled over and went to sleep. His compassion was a charming characteristic she’d never encountered before. It endeared him to her even more.
She smiled and rolled onto her side. The idea of living the rest of her life in his arms flitted through her mind for a second. A simple, unrealistic dream. She must never forget the reason they were both here.
He was a retired assassin.
She was a murdering courtesan. Or at least she would be once she killed Marco. Setting her course years ago had eliminated any chance of a happily-ever-after. Only the slightest pang of regret slithered its way inside.
The slow draw of his fingers down her side and then back up once again lulled her to sleep. “Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
She stirred at his voice. His intense gaze studied her. “You mean killing Marco?”
He nodded.
Ava sighed and drew the sheet up to her chest. “Yes, I haven’t changed my mind. Why?”
Gabriel leaned close and kissed her shoulder. “It’ll change who you are, Ava. Do you realize that?”
“I don’t care.” She scooted to the edge of the bed and adorned her housecoat to cover her nakedness. “I can’t let him live! It’s only a matter of time before he does to someone else what he did to my familia. Don’t you understand? Don’t you think if I could be assured that he would never kill anyone again, that I would never risk my life this way? But he will kill again. I must kill him before he does.”
An ache, a memory surfaced and a need to make things right drove her. For the last decade or more, Ava had planned her life. And things were working in her favor. She refused to let Marco go free. She would die making sure no one else ever had to endure the same pain and loneliness as she had.
“My father worked for him for years. But Papa tried to quit. He rushed home to pack us up, but we didn’t leave fast enough.”
Tears burned her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. “I was the youngest. My sister shoved me into a wicker basket when Marco came to find my father. I was forced to watch his men slaughter my father and mother like animals and rape my sister before my very eyes. She was ten and she leaned against the basket to help hide me. I saw everything. As she died, she wrapped her fingers through the wicker to touch mine.” She choked on the words. “It was her way to say goodbye.”
Ava sobbed into her hands and drew her legs up as pain wracked her. Gabriel’s arms wrapped around her and drew her onto his lap. He held her as she cried and for the first time since the death of her mother, she allowed someone to comfort her. She reveled in it.
She missed her parents and sister so much. Nothing could ever heal the wound Marco had dealt her, and nothing short of his death would ease the pain. She would do everything in her power to make sure he died as brutal a death as they had, even if it meant sleeping with the enemy.
Gabriel shushed her until she quieted and when she awoke next, she realized he was gone. Disappointment tore the center of her heart, right down its center as brilliant sunlight cast the truth around her. Gabriel had gone to kill Marco, and she would likely never get the chance to see him again.