“Did you use him to look for me?” A slow smile curved his mouth. “I’m flattered. Is it because we never had sex? Do you regret that, Marie?” He reached for her. “I regretted it, too. But we can fix that tonight.”
Before she could tell him no he grabbed her and yanked her in for a kiss. Marie pulled her right arm back, made a fist and prepared to drop him like a sack of rocks.
Then he was gone.
Marie staggered unsteadily, surprised and not sure what was happening. She heard the fight before she saw it. Fists hitting flesh. Someone crashing to the sand. A moan of pain and then Gianni was there in front of her, grabbing her up and pulling her in tightly to him. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” She locked her arms around his neck and held on. She could have handled Jean Luc on her own, but having Gianni ride in on his metaphorical white charger had been...nice. Romantic. And feeling the frenzied strength in his arms as he held her now only made that moment even more deeply felt.
She tucked her face into the curve of his neck and shoulder and breathed deep, drawing the scent that was purely him deep into her lungs. How he’d known to come to her she didn’t know. But she was glad he was here and when he kissed her hungrily, Marie kissed him back, knowing that the now they were experiencing was going to change everything.
* * *
Gianni held her as tightly as he could and still wanted her closer. When he’d rushed to the beach he hadn’t really thought Marie was in danger. He’d been prepared to lecture her about leaving the suite when they’d agreed that she would stay hidden away. But then he saw Jean Luc grabbing her, touching her, attempting to kiss her—and the world was lost in a wash of red.
He’d never been so angry in his life. Hadn’t really believed he could feel such wild passion and rage. But the thought of another man’s hands on Marie had pushed Gianni over the edge.
Threading his fingers through her hair, he pulled her head back, looked down into her eyes for a long, pulse-pounding moment, then lowered his mouth to hers. There was no gentle seduction here. There were only flames licking at them both. Fire erupting, engulfing, and they each rushed at the inferno, throwing themselves into the maelstrom like so much kindling.
She lifted her legs, wrapping them around his hips. He cupped her behind, holding her in place so that her body cradled his. He felt her eagerness and shared it. All he wanted was her and he knew that he had to get her back to the hotel. Fast. But first...
Gianni tore his mouth from hers, and grabbed a gulp of air like a drowning man breaching the water’s surface. Looking down into her eyes, he said, “Let’s get Jean Luc tucked away, then we’ll—”
Her gaze shifted beyond him. “He’s gone.”
“What?” Still holding her, he turned to where he’d left the other man sprawled on the sand. But there was nothing. In the moments Gianni had lost himself in Marie, Jean Luc had disappeared. “Damn it. He’s long gone by now.”
She cupped his cheek and turned his face back to her. “Who cares?”
Surprise flickered through him for a second. Jean Luc had been the focus of her attention since she’d first come to him. Now, though, seeing the heat in her eyes, feeling the trembles wracking her body, he knew she was feeling what he was. The only thing that mattered right now was what was between them.
“You’re right,” he said, dropping a quick, hard kiss on her mouth. “Let’s go.”
He set her down, took her hand and led her back through the darkness toward the hotel. The echoes of music and laughter followed them, drifting from the showroom, but neither of them paid attention. They were focused on the hunger driving them.
In minutes, Gianni was leading her into the suite they’d shared for days. He slammed the door shut, turned to her and she jumped into his arms, as breathlessly impatient as he was. He held her close, and as she wrapped her legs around his waist, he skimmed his hands up beneath the dark green silk shirt she wore.
She sighed and arched her back as his hands cupped her breasts through the lace of her bra. He felt her nipples pebble into his palms and he nearly groaned with the satisfaction rolling through him. Damn, it felt as if he’d waited years for the touch of her skin beneath his hands.
“Gotta have you,” he whispered, dragging his mouth down the slim column of her neck, nibbling as he went.
“Yes,” she answered breathlessly. “Oh, yes.”
Setting her on her feet, he pulled that silky top up and over her head then slid her bra straps down her arms and let the filmy fabric drop to the floor. Then she reached to unbutton his shirt and Gianni helped her with that, in a rush to feel her skin against his. When their clothes were on the floor, he tipped her back onto the mattress and when she fell, a startled laugh shot from her throat.
Gianni grinned, stretched out alongside her and immediately ran his hands up and down her body, following every luscious curve. She reached for him and pulled him down for a kiss, parting her lips for him, taking him into her heat. His tongue slicked against hers in an erotic, desperate tangle of need and desire.
Her fingernails scraped across his back and he felt each scratch like tiny flames. He swept one hand down her body to the juncture of her thighs and she opened her legs to him, inviting him to touch, explore, caress. Gianni groaned into her mouth, letting her heat spiral through his body and pump back into hers. They were linked by a slender thread of desire that wove itself around them so tightly, they couldn’t have been separated even if they had wanted it.
Tearing his lips from hers, he dipped his head to take first one hardened nipple and then the other into his mouth. He licked and sucked and pulled at each one until she was writhing beneath him. He cupped her heat, rubbing the heel of his hand against that most sensitive spot. She whimpered and he groaned with his body’s demand to be inside her, to feel that wet heat surrounding him, drawing him deeper, tighter.
He touched her again, pushing first one finger and then two into her depths and her hips came up off the bed, moving into his touch instinctively. He lifted his head, looked down at her and saw the wildness in her eyes. She rocked her hips into his touch, needing more and not afraid to reach for the climax that hovered so close. Gianni wanted this. Wanted to watch her shatter. Wanted to see her eyes glaze over with the kind of passion only he could give her.
So he redoubled his stroking caresses, pushing his fingers deeper and faster, he created the sort of friction that was designed to drive them both out of their minds with want. She moved with him, gasping for air, whispering, “Yes, Gianni. Yes. Please.”
“Take this from me, cara,” he told her, voice tight and low. “Come for me and let me see you.”
She opened her eyes, stared up into his and nodded. Breath straining, she moved into his hand, over and over again. Her bare feet slid on the silky duvet beneath them, but neither of them really noticed. They were wrapped up in each other and the moment hurtling toward Marie.
“Please, Gianni. I need. I need...”
“I know, cara. I see what you need.” His thumb rolled over that hard bud of flesh at the heart of her and as he did, she shrieked, calling out his name. Her hips rocked wildly and her breath was strangled as she moved through the climax that was tearing her apart.
He watched it all and felt his own heart fill. His desire pumped harder, faster with every shattered breath she expelled. He felt her body tightening and convulsing around his fingers and before the last of those tremors had ended, Gianni made his move.
* * *
Marie was blind.
No, she thought with a shocked gasp. Not blind. Eyes closed. Oh, my. Her body was shaking, trembling from her head to her feet, and her skin felt like she’d been electrocuted. She felt hot all over as if she had a fever, yet the silk duvet beneath her felt cool. She was actually buzzing and the ripples of that climax were still shaking through her when
she opened her eyes in time to see Gianni reach into the bedside table drawer. He pulled out a condom, ripped it open and sheathed himself in seconds.
Then he came back to her and sheathed himself in her.
“Gianni!”
He was so big. So hard. He filled her completely and she was so sensitive still from that mind-altering climax, she had another orgasm just from the friction of her body stretching to accommodate his.
She clutched at his shoulders, lifted her legs and wrapped them tight around his hips, holding him to her until those tremors could ease enough to make breathing less difficult. But he wouldn’t be held still. He pushed deeper and her body lit up like a neon sign in the darkness.
And then he moved in her, sliding in and out of her depths with an increased rhythm that she raced frantically to meet. Over and over again, he advanced and retreated, leaving her body quivering with reawakened need. She wouldn’t have believed it possible to feel more than she already had, but Marie looked up into Gianni’s dark eyes and knew that they’d only begun.
He was lighting her up, from head to toe. His touch electrified her. His gaze was powerful, holding hers, demanding that she see him and watch as the two of them together again created something uncontrollable and wonderful. She was drowning in those eyes. She was burning up from his touch and when this climax hit her, it was so much bigger, so much more overwhelming, all Marie could do was hold on to him and ride the sensations that carried her into a world where completion was just the beginning.
Her own body was still shaking when she felt him surrender to the inevitable and fall, crashing into her arms.
* * *
“We have to talk.” Marie sat up on the bed, pushed her hair out of her eyes and looked at the naked man sprawled in gorgeous splendor beside her.
He snorted a laugh. “Why is it women always have to talk after sex?”
Sex? That had been way more than just sex. At least to Marie. It had been life-altering. Amazing. Just this side of miraculous. But obviously, she wouldn’t be mentioning that to Gianni. Wow, just looking at him lying there atop the sea-foam-green duvet made her want to jump him. But she fought for control and finally found some.
“Come, cara,” he said, holding one hand out to her in a sexy invitation she really wanted to accept.
But first things first.
“Gianni, what about Jean Luc?”
“Ahh...” he sighed, grumbled something in Italian under his breath and then looked at her and shrugged. “He’s gone, cara. Even he is not foolish enough to stay on the island when he knows that we’re aware of him.”
“I know that,” she said, glancing at the French doors and the starlit night beyond. “What I want to know is what we’re going to do now?”
“About what?”
“Our little charade, Gianni.” A soft wind blew through the terrace doors and slid across her bare skin like a soft caress. “Your family knows the truth, Jean Luc is gone, what do we do now?”
He went up on one elbow, reached for her hand and stroked his thumb across her knuckles, sending new flashes of anticipation shooting through her. “What we had planned at the start of this. True, we no longer have to lie to my family, but I still have to watch this jewelry show for Interpol.”
“And then?”
“Then we find Jean Luc, get your necklace back and you give me the evidence you still hold against my family. Nothing has changed, cara.” He gave her a slow smile and tugged at her hand until she came closer, then he rolled her beneath him and bent to lavish attention on her breasts.
She sighed and held his head, watching as he suckled her and even through the pleasure he aroused in her, she could only think, You’re so wrong, Gianni. Everything has changed.
Ten
“That was good work.” Rico nodded to himself as he watched Franklin Hicks walk a handcuffed man to one of the tourist launches at the dock.
White clouds sailed across a blue sky while boaters were out on the ocean enjoying the day. Fishing boats creaked with the motion of the waves and from somewhere nearby, music drifted from a radio.
“He made it surprisingly easy,” Gianni said with a snort of derision. Marie stood beside him and when he draped one arm around her shoulders, he felt her stiffen slightly before relaxing into his touch.
But then it had been this way between them since the night they first had sex. There was a closeness there, but also a wall that seemed to grow thicker and more impenetrable with the passage of time. In the last two days they had come together many times and each time had been more amazing than the one before.
He hadn’t tired of her as he had so many women in his past. He’d assumed that as always, once the initial hunger had been satisfied, the need for her would ease. Instead, his desire had only increased until it was now a knot of need lodged constantly in the pit of his belly. He couldn’t assuage it and couldn’t ignore it.
It seemed that Marie felt the same. She was eager and passionate in their lovemaking but when it was done, she retreated into a corner of herself that he simply couldn’t reach. Although, he added silently, maybe it was that he didn’t really want to reach her. They had been through a lot together in the last week and yet, there were boundaries that neither of them could or would cross.
She was only with him because she had blackmailed him. She threatened his family and though he had the feeling she wouldn’t see his father imprisoned, how could he be sure? How could he trust her? And what difference did trust make, his brain argued. They weren’t a real couple. They were only together temporarily and when their time was done, they would each return to their opposite sides of the world and go back to the lives they knew best.
If that sounded empty to him, he ignored it.
“What gave this thief away?” Rico wondered aloud as they stood at the dock, watching Franklin’s prisoner being loaded onto the launch boat.
“I noticed that he wasn’t looking at the jewelry being displayed,” Marie said. “But he was checking the camera angles—and when he thought no one was watching, he was taking photos with his phone.”
Rico frowned. “Photographs were expressly forbidden inside the showroom.”
“Thieves notoriously don’t follow orders,” Gianni said wryly.
Rico’s frown only deepened. “That was it then, watching him check out the security?”
“That and the fact that he had a laser pen in his suit coat pocket,” Gianni said.
“How do you know that?” Rico asked, eyes narrowing on him.
“When Marie told me about him, I picked his pockets.”
“Oh, for—” Irritated, Rico stomped off a few feet, then came right back. “You swore you wouldn’t steal anything.”
“Stealing from a thief doesn’t count,” Gianni said.
He watched his brother-in-law fight for control and nearly smiled when the other man finally muttered, “Fine. Explain to me why you were worried about a laser pen?”
Gianni met his gaze. “It is a relatively new thing discovered by hackers. A laser pen can be used to hack a computer, picking up on keystrokes most often used and allowing the hacker to slide into your computer system with ease.”
“I don’t understand,” Rico admitted and he didn’t look happy about it.
Marie continued Gianni’s explanation. “If he hacked your security cameras, he would be able to slip into the showroom at night, unnoticed. There wouldn’t be a security breach because he’d have your codes.”
Rico blew out a disgusted breath and shoved both hands into his pockets. “And the safes? How would he have gotten past them?”
“There was a safe amplifier in his room,” Marie said, turning her face into the wind, letting it push her hair into the tangle that Gianni loved best.
“Safe amplifier?” Rico repeated.
&
nbsp; “It’s a kind of high-tech stethoscope,” Gianni explained with a little sigh of envy. He thought about the rush he used to experience when cracking a safe. Of course, all Corettis were trained the old-fashioned way and most of them could get any safe open in minutes without the help of gadgetry. Still, sometimes new toys were fun to use. “Earphones connected to an electronic device will amplify the sounds of the pins falling into place. A talented thief could get into any safe in a very short time with a tool like that.”
“Key word there being talented,” Marie said.
“Yes,” Gianni agreed. “The thief we caught was less than expert in his field. As evidenced by the fact that I could pick his pockets in a crowded room and he didn’t notice a thing.” Shaking his head in disgust, he added, “Shame, really. There’s no craftsmanship anymore.”
Rico just stared at him, a befuddled look on his face, but beside him, Marie chuckled and he sent her a smile. She at least understood what he was talking about. She might look at crime from the wrong side of the fence, so to speak, but she also had an implicit acknowledgement of the talents and skills required to be a successful thief.
“Speaking of less-than-talented thieves,” Marie said, slipping out from under Gianni’s arm to look up at Rico. “Did you ever discover how Jean Luc was able to get away?”
Gianni missed the feel of her pressed close to him, but didn’t make a move to bring her back into his side. She moved away a step or two, as if needing to be standing on her own as she faced Rico with her question.
“Yeah, Franklin looked into it. He printed a still picture of Jean Luc off one of the security feeds. When he was on hotel grounds, the cameras caught him. Anyway, Franklin showed the picture around in the village and down at the docks.” Rico frowned at the cluster of fishing boats gathered at the busy dock. “Finally got lucky with one of the local fishermen. Seems Jean Luc paid the fisherman to take him to St. Thomas. The man didn’t realize, of course, that Jean Luc was a thief trying to escape arrest. He believed Jean Luc’s story about having to go home quickly because of an emergency.”
The Fiancée Caper Page 13
