A Diamond Deal With Her Boss

by Cathy Williams

  ‘Don’t say that,’ she whispered.

  ‘It’s the truth,’ Gabriel said huskily. This was playing with fire, and he had promised himself that it was something he wouldn’t do, but something was pulling him towards the fire and he wanted to plunge his hands in just to see how it would feel. ‘Don’t tell me you didn’t notice all those men looking at you.’

  ‘I don’t notice stuff like that,’ Abby squeaked. ‘It was probably the dress.’

  ‘You’re running yourself down. That creep really did a number on you, Abby. Is that why you hide behind those drab clothes?’

  ‘I don’t hide behind drab clothes!’ But she giggled, because he was just so predictable in certain ways. ‘I come to work, Gabriel. I’m not going to wear thigh-high boots and micro-minis!’

  ‘Shame. It would be interesting to see how you would look in that get-up.’

  ‘I’m going to sleep now.’

  ‘How easy are you going to find that?’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘You want to keep the walls up between us, but they’ve been coming down, haven’t they?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘It’s understandable, when you think about it.’ Gabriel overrode her protesting squeak. He wanted to touch her. She was so close, all tucked up in the sheets like a mummy. The overhead fan was on, a soft purring sound that was curiously restful, but she’d be hot under those covers. As hot as he was. Hot, hard and turned on by playing with fire.

  ‘I’m not interested in thinking about it.’ But, that said, she was still looking at him, mesmerised by his dark beauty and the seductive journey of his words, leading her down all sorts of taboo routes.

  ‘I mean,’ he mused, reaching to trail one finger across her cheek, ‘One minute you’re my perfect PA, and the next minute we’re engaged.’

  Abby barely took in the ironic, tongue-in-cheek wickedness of his observation because that finger on her cheek was devastating. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t blink. She heard herself sigh, an unthinkably telling sound that penetrated the silence of the room and shattered the illusion that she was in control of the situation.

  ‘We’re not engaged,’ she managed to croak and Gabriel smiled. She saw the flash of white.

  ‘No,’ he agreed softly, ‘We’re not. But tell me that we’re not in thrall to the same feeling.’

  ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘And have you asked yourself this...?’ He trailed his finger along her neck and noted the way she shifted, arching a little and half-closing her eyes. It was an instinctive reaction and it said a lot. ‘We could go there.’

  Had she asked herself that? No! Had she wondered what it would be like to touch him, make love with him? Yes! And not just now, not just in the past few days. She’d thought about it in that hazy window between wake and sleep. Thought about those strong, brown hands roving over her body and touching her.

  ‘We couldn’t...no...we definitely shouldn’t...’

  Gabriel smiled again, a slow, curling smile. ‘Maybe we shouldn’t,’ he conceded, ‘But we most certainly could.’

  ‘I... Gabriel, I’m not the kind of girl who indulges in one-night stands.’

  ‘And I’m not the kind of man who has ever mixed business with pleasure.’ He paused and his eyes dipped to her full mouth. ‘Are you sure you’re not a one-night stand girl?’ he murmured, more because he wanted to give breath to his curiosity than because he didn’t believe her.

  ‘I’ve never done that in my life before. Never even thought about it.’

  ‘Never thought about it? Sure about that? Not even when you were in that club?’

  Abby reddened. ‘Do you ever forget anything?’ she asked. His finger was still brushing her skin and she was loving it.

  ‘A long memory is the secret of my success. And you haven’t answered my question.’ He felt an amusing spurt of jealousy, and not just at the thought of her flirting with some guy but talking to him, opening up to him, sharing confidences with him. Had she done that?

  ‘I wasn’t interested in a one-night stand,’ Abby admitted. ‘I was interested in a possible relationship, but unfortunately...’

  ‘So where do we go from here?’ Gabriel traced the swell of her breast and she shuddered. ‘Admittedly this is no relationship, but neither is it a one-night stand. We’re here for another five nights.’

  ‘Gabriel...’

  ‘I want you,’ he told her bluntly. ‘Trust me, I see the pitfalls, but hell, once we both know the nature of the road we’re walking down then where’s the danger?’

  ‘You make it sound so easy.’ Abby could scarcely believe that she was having this conversation because it went against every single thing she believed in. A one-night stand? Or, as he put it, a five-night stand...?

  But where had being sensible got her? One date since Jason and that had been a disaster. She hadn’t even fancied him! She’d been so busy ticking boxes that she had forgotten that there was one very important box that had to be ticked—the sexual attraction box.

  Gabriel didn’t tick any boxes but the sexual attraction one. She should be running a mile from this situation. She had given herself long lectures on the importance of avoiding anything like this, yet here she was, with his finger touching her oh, so lightly and setting sparks off in parts of her she’d never known existed.

  Temptation kicked in hard and fast. She knew the score. She probably knew the score better than anyone else because she’d seen him in action, had witnessed the ease with which he moved from woman to woman—had even clocked the way he had reacted to his broken engagement. He didn’t do relationships. He didn’t do commitment. He did sex. One day he would get married but the marriage, as he had pointed out, would be an arrangement that suited both parties involved. There was no room in his life for love. Oh, yes, she knew the score all right.

  ‘It’s only hard when wires get crossed,’ Gabriel murmured. This touching business was driving him insane. He honestly had no idea what he would do if she gave the matter some thought and decided against it. He’d never had to take so much time before and it was agony.

  ‘There’s no chance of crossed wires,’ Abby murmured unsteadily.

  ‘No, we’re on the same page. We may not be in Las Vegas, but what happens here stays here. Then we go back to London and we return to reality. It’s as easy as that. But, if you have any doubts, then I’ll respect that and you won’t have to fear that I’ll make a nuisance of myself.’

  ‘I know you’d never do that.’

  ‘I’d even take the floor.’

  ‘No, you wouldn’t,’ she said wryly and Gabriel burst out laughing.

  ‘See?’ he teased huskily. ‘You know me better than anyone. We go into this with our eyes wide open and, trust me, I’ll take you places you’ve never even dreamed about.’

  ‘You’re so arrogant, Gabriel.’

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he cut off anything else she might have been thinking of saying. He was fed up with chat.

  Abby was pressed back as his mouth hit hers in a hungry, greedy, demanding kiss that took her breath away. She clasped his shoulders, digging her short nails into his skin and rearing up to meet his devouring kiss. Tongue melded with tongue and, as he kissed her, he dispensed with the cocoon of sheets and blankets in which she had encased herself.

  Abby was aware of bed linen slipping off the bed, being kicked to the side as he positioned himself over her, straddling her without removing his mouth from hers.

  Wild with desire, she opened her legs, wrapped them around his thighs and groaned into his mouth when she felt the rock-hard bulge of his desire. Every forbidden fantasy, all those fantasies she hadn’t admitted even to herself, exploded in a burst of desire that brought a surge of heat between her legs. She squirmed against him, and he reared up and looked down at her.

  She was beautiful. Exquisite. Not in the obvious, ‘if you’ve got it, flaunt it’ kind of way of the women he had dated in the past, and not in the rake-thin, all le
gs and jutting cheekbones way that Lucy had had. She was slender, soft and irresistible in the way she looked at him, wide eyed and wanting, but trying to resist being obvious about it.

  The sexy little nightgown was every which way and he hooked his fingers at the hem and gently tugged it up. As soon as it was over her head, she folded her arms across her breasts and looked to one side, blushing furiously and breathing hard.

  Very gently he unfolded her arms and pinned them to her sides. He had to close his eyes and breathe in deeply because the impact of those naked breasts on him was like nothing he had felt before.

  Stunning.

  Her breasts were small, round and pert, with nipples that were big for the size of them and very well-defined.

  He linked his fingers through hers, spread her arms wide and lowered himself to her breasts.

  The ache in his groin was suffocating. He wanted to take her, forget about the foreplay, but he wasn’t going to do that because something in him was propelling him to take his time, to be gentle, to give her the space truly to open up to him.

  He nuzzled the soft, pale orbs, latched onto one pulsing nipple and suckled, drawing it into his mouth, enjoying the way she moved, sighed and writhed underneath him. He drew back and then devoted time to her other nipple, nuzzling and taking his time, and only finally releasing one hand so that he could play with her between her legs, feel her wetness through the sexy knickers and then, sliding his hand underneath them, through the skimpy underwear.

  Abby gasped. She was bombarded by racing sensations in every part of her body. She felt faint when she glanced down to see his dark head at her breast.

  He looked up, caught her eye and moved to cover her mouth with his. Touching him was a journey of discovery, a forbidden journey, and her fingers trembled as she traced the back of his neck and then the muscular cords of his shoulder blades as he continued to kiss her.

  ‘You surprised me with your choice of underwear...’ he broke apart to say.

  Abby blushed. ‘Did you think I might wear granny knickers?’

  ‘Your choice of work gear doesn’t advertise someone wild and daring underneath.’

  ‘You’re accustomed to women who let it all hang out.’

  ‘More fool me. I’m finding that I like the element of surprise. Silk and lace...nice...erotic. Do I make you feel erotic?’

  ‘Gabriel!’

  ‘I’ve always liked the way my name sounds on your lips,’ he murmured, nipping her ear gently. ‘When you say Gabriel, all sorts of enticing images enter my head. Throw in the unexpected nightwear, and I’m an engine revving to hit the tracks.’

  ‘The nightwear’s only unexpected because it’s on me and you’ve never got past thinking of me as someone whose dress code is all about looking right for an office. There have been times when I’ve smiled thinking of what you were looking at on the outside and what was underneath.’

  ‘Well, well, well... The things we discover about one another... I’d never have guessed...’

  ‘I haven’t discovered anything about you,’ Abby said on a hitched breath as his exploring hand found her damp crotch and began massaging her through the lacy material, which she had yet to remove.

  ‘That’s because you know everything there is to know already.’ He slipped his hand under the lace and stroked gently, rhythmically, until she was moaning and breathing fast.

  Her thoughts became tangled. He was touching her, making her body sing, and right here, right now, he was no longer her boss and she was no longer his PA. He was a man, she was a woman and they were wildly attracted to one another. Abby had never thought about the power of lust because she had always assumed that it was just a sort of bonus with the bigger player, which was love. She had thought that she loved Jason. In retrospect, she had drifted into something that had felt comfortable, and had been more in love with the feeling of being in love than anything else.

  Jason had held no surprises.

  This man was all surprise. He was also teaching her what it felt like to be at the mercy of her body.

  There was no common sense left in her when he touched her the way he was touching her now, sliding his fingers into her, teasing her until she wanted to scream.

  She clung like a limpet, twisting and turning as he stroked and sent her pulses soaring into the stratosphere.

  When he broke apart, she felt bereft.

  ‘Needs must,’ he said, sliding his legs over the side of the bed and standing up to reach for his wallet, which had hit the floor along with his trousers.

  Abby could detect the unusually husky undertone, and she knew that he was as out of control as she was, although he was a lot better at camouflaging it.

  That afforded her a surge of heady pleasure that this man, who could have any woman he wanted, might go weak for her.

  She looked at him from under lowered lashes and her breath caught in her throat as he began removing the loose, cotton bottoms she assumed he had donned for the sake of decency.

  He retrieved a condom from the wallet. She knew that without having actually seen him do it.

  She was holding her breath and she exhaled very, very slowly as he was revealed to her in all his glory.

  She sat up as he sauntered to the side of the bed and, before he could slide in to join her, she took him in her hands, caressed his impressive girth and then took him into her mouth and began sucking.

  Her own daring shocked her. She stroked him with her tongue and felt his unsteadiness when he plunged his hand into her hair and guided her movements, his feet squarely planted, his breathing as raspy as hers.

  ‘That feels so bloody good,’ Gabriel said in a driven, strangled undertone. He’d died and gone to heaven. He could barely comprehend the level of pleasure she was giving him and, for the first time in his life, he knew that reluctantly he’d have to stop her from doing what she was doing or else it would be over between them all too soon.

  He eased her off him and took a few moments to rescue some of his self-control, then he was in the bed with her before she could wreak more devastation.

  ‘You’re a witch,’ he growled, covering her body with his and kissing her until she was bucking and pulling him hard against her.

  He wanted to take his time but his need to be sated was pulling him in a different direction. He wanted to be in her, thrusting and feeling her tightness around him.

  Instead, he controlled the impulse, even though it took almost more will power than he had at his command.

  He explored her body with his mouth. He returned to her breasts and lost himself in their soft perfection. He teased her stiffened nipple with the tip of his tongue and then suckled it until she was writhing under him.

  He placed his big hand on her hip and then slid it along her thigh, all the while easing himself down her body, his mouth never breaking contact with her skin.

  He luxuriated in the salty taste of her body. She was perspiring, just as he was, as hot as he was. He circled her belly button with his tongue and then moved lower, amused when she tried to snap shut her legs.

  ‘Gabriel!’ Abby squeaked breathlessly, and he raised his eyes to her and grinned.

  ‘Yes?’ he queried innocently. ‘Instructions? I don’t need any. I can find my way down all by myself...’

  ‘Somehow, this feels wicked.’

  ‘Naughty but nice? It’s going to be a whole lot better than nice. Trust me on that, cara. Once I start, you’re not going to want me to stop.’

  And strangely, even though part of her brain was saying otherwise, she did trust him. She abandoned herself to an experience that felt shockingly and thrillingly intimate.

  He settled between her legs and began to taste her with his tongue, licking, probing and teasing, and she groaned softly, wriggled and groaned again. She reached down and curled her fingers into his hair and, God, he was so right: she didn’t want him to stop because it felt so good.

  Her legs fell apart then she wrapped them around him and arched a little
as he reached underneath her, pushing her up against his questing mouth.

  She sucked in her breath and didn’t release it as her body began ascending to its orgasm.

  ‘No,’ she managed to croak, by which she meant, I want you inside me...

  If she hadn’t been as weak as a kitten, helpless in the face of this deluge of physical sensation, she might have done a little more than just moan and whimper as her movements under him became more frantic. And then she was toppling over the edge, crying out as she climaxed in long, shuddering spasms against his mouth.

  ‘Not fair,’ she managed to gasp as he drew up so that he was once more kissing her. She could taste herself on his mouth. If felt wildly, wildly decadent.

  ‘Don’t worry.’ Gabriel heaved himself up on both arms only to bend so that he could nuzzle the slender curve of her neck. ‘We’re not nearly finished yet.’

  He wasn’t lying. He had stamina and he was intent on pleasuring her.

  He was a considerate lover, barely thinking about himself as he stroked and teased her body back to a place where she was hot for him all over again, and this time he didn’t take her over the edge. This time, he reached for the protection he had flung onto the bedside table and levered himself up so that he could carefully roll it on.

  Abby could barely contain her excitement as he entered her, slowly at first, stretching her because he was so big, but their bodies couldn’t have been more fashioned for one another. Her wetness embraced him and, as he thrust deeper and harder into her, a whole new world of physical satisfaction opened up.

  She couldn’t get enough and she urged him on, her body gradually moving in perfect tempo with his until they were as one.

  She felt him climax just as she felt herself come undone once again. She cried out, arching against him, her small breasts pushing up, her whole body bathed in perspiration.

  Her orgasm seemed to go on for ever, until finally she was utterly and totally spent and she sagged like a rag doll, eyes closed, cheeks flushed.