“No, it’s true.” She frowned a second. “I don’t know even know why.”
“It offended your sensibilities, I’m sure.”
“It never occurred to me.” She tipped her head and looked deep inside herself for a long second. “My husband never asked.”
The deep look carried a measure of pain with it. “And now you’ve watched two men . . .” He let the words trail off. “I’m not sure I can bear to hear.” But he wanted the tale, for the sake of hearing her tell it, reliving it. “It excited you.”
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She laid her temple against the seat back and gazed at him. “It was extraordinary. Like they knew exactly how to excite each other, the way to hold each other, manipulate for the greatest pleasure.” She demonstrated with a twist of her wrist, then speared him with her gaze. “Is that how you jack off?”
Christ. There was a mixture of innocence and mischief in her eyes, wonder laced with a knowing. He pushed her hand down. “Someone might see that.” Not that he cared. He liked the playfulness, the tease.
“But is that how you do it?” She stared him down. He reached up and pressed the attendant button, never taking his eyes off Dominique. When the woman arrived, he asked for a blanket. “My lady friend is cold.”
Reaching above, she handed down two, and smiled at his thank-you.
“What are you planning?” Dominique whispered.
Gabriel spread the blankets over her lap and his, finishing with the rasp of his zipper beneath the material. “Give me your hand.”
Dominique glanced around, her blood pumping faster. “We cannot do that here.” Especially with him directing the action. She was supposed to surprise and shock him. But God, she was warm and wet. This is what she craved after last night—risky business.
He grabbed her hand and pulled it beneath the blanket. “Oh yes, we can,” he said, low and enticing.
His cock was already hard, his flesh heated, a tiny drop of moisture tracing her palm as he wrapped her fingers around him. “I’ll show you how I do it,” he murmured.
“I can’t see.” She didn’t want to miss one lovely sight.
“You can feel.”
Was this sex? Dominique didn’t care. She let him guide her, following his movements, losing herself in the silky feel of his flesh. He pulled one hand out and yanked their blankets high on their chests, then abruptly ceased any movement.
“For breakfast, we have—”
He cut the stewardess off, directing his question to Dominique. “Are you hungry, sweetheart?”
Hell yes, she was hungry, but not for any food they offered in first class. “No, honey, I’m fine. And weren’t you taking me to lunch when we get to Palm 165
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Springs?”
He drew his finger down her nose, and squeezed her hand around his cock until she felt the beat of his pulse through it. “Whatever my lady wants, she gets.” Then he raised his gaze to the attendant. “We’ll pass, thanks.”
“You are a bad man,” Dominique murmured when they were alone again, or at least as alone as they could be on a plane. She glanced to her left. On the opposite aisle, an elderly gentleman snored, and next to him, his wife had her nose buried in a book.
Gabriel nuzzled her ear. “No one’s watching.”
She realized he wouldn’t care if someone was. “This is sex,” she whispered back.
“It’s a demonstration.” He moved her hand, twisting at the base the way Simon had, then back up, closing her fingers around the crown. Precome coated her thumb, forefinger, and palm.
“Like this,” he said, pulling her down again, her pinkie finger hitting the open zipper of his black jeans.
“I can do that.” She needed to do it, badly.
“I know you can.” He tipped his head down, getting her to meet his gaze through her lashes. “You just have to be shown.”
Her breath caught in her throat, trapped there by an overwhelming need to have this man. Here. Now. Make the mile-high club, as she’d heard it called.
“There’s more.” He seduced with a whisper, sliding her back up to the ridge beneath the crown. With only their thumbs and forefingers, they stroked right there, a fast, tight pump just below the ridge.
“Yeah.” He groaned low, barely more than a rumble in his throat. “Just like that.” Their hands bobbed beneath the blanket, then he tightened his grip, holding her still, encompassing the head. He shuddered, but didn’t come.
“That was close. Almost went off.” He smiled, capturing her eyes. “Can’t come though. That would be considered sex.”
Her skin flushed with heat, air almost painful in her throat, and her panties wet with need, she didn’t give a damn about whether it was sex or not. She wanted it. And dammit, that’s exactly what he wanted. Her capitulation. No way. She was supposed to be teasing him to the point of begging, not the other way around. She would make him crazy.
Withdrawing her hand from beneath the blanket, she raised her damp fingers 166
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to her nose. First, her eyes closed, she scented his come, salty like sea air. Her mouth watered. Raising her lids, she mesmerized him with her gaze and her fingers on her lips. Then she let his taste take her under. Sliding one finger all the way in, she sucked and licked it clean as if it were his cock. God, the man was ambrosia. She’d never found the taste of come so sweet. It was Gabriel. It was the moment. It was the way his eyes darkened and his nostrils flared. She was getting to him.
She licked the rest from her palm, then closed her eyes with a hum of appreciation as if she’d eaten . . . bread pudding with brandy sauce at Vatovola’s.
“You’re going to pay for that,” he murmured.
She opened her eyes, smiling with a self-satisfied grin she knew would make him nuts. “I like come,” she said. She’d never have said that before. Yes, she’d sucked men’s cocks and she’d swallowed, but she’d never . . . savored any of it the way she did his. Why not admit it? “But I love your come.”
“Wench,” he muttered, followed by the rasp of his zipper.
“Slut,” she purred, “and proud of it.”
Then he grabbed her hand and sucked her finger just as she’d done. “You will dine on my come one of these nights.”
Yes. She would. She might even do it without payment.
HE’D BOOKED AT A SUMPTUOUS RESORT WITH A SUITE FACING THE golf course. In Palm Springs, everything was on a golf course. He gave her the large bedroom with the Jacuzzi tub and took the smaller room. The beds, however, were of equal size. She could do him in either. She could even do him in the tub. The living room and full kitchen lay between them like an ocean. They met in the middle.
“Would you like a swim?” she asked. They’d passed a massive pool complex on the way in.
“How about a little shopping instead?”
“Shopping?” What man liked to shop?
“I’d like to buy you a special outfit for tonight.”
An outfit didn’t constitute payment. Okay, maybe if it was designer quality.
“It’s just a gift,” he said, “not a gift.”
All right, not payment. “I brought a short strapless cocktail dress.”
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“Will you allow me the pleasure of picking for you?”
He waited. She couldn’t read his expression.
“I’ve never dressed a woman before. I’d like to try.”
Edward had never chosen her clothing. Most of the time, he barely seemed to notice. She couldn’t have anticipated the thrill Gabriel’s desire would give her, a rush of pleasure straight to her chest. “That would be very nice.”
He took her to El Paseo Drive in Palm Desert, which was considered the Rodeo Drive of the Palm Springs area. Good Lord, the man had actually researched on the Internet. The store names sported all the major designers and some she didn’t even recognize. The weather was exceedingly warm even for February, in the low eighties. She
He directed everything, choosing outfits for her to model, from sexy cocktail dresses to long evening gowns.
“Let’s find something with a little more cleavage showing,” he told a salesgirl in one exclusive little boutique, then waved her away to do his bidding. The threat of exposure sent a thrill through Dominique, straight to her pussy.
“We need something tighter,” he instructed an older female clerk at the fifth store they entered, then winked at Dominique. Her heart fluttered in her chest. He had her parade before him, circling his fingers for her to turn, giving him a three-sixty view.
In a corner jewelry store, he fastened diamonds at her throat, sapphires at her wrist, and silver around her ankle. His light touches made her tremble. In the end, he chose the anklet.
Of course, nothing had price tags, and he didn’t let her see the bill. “This isn’t payment for sex,” he said as he carried the packages to her room in the suite.
“Certainly not.” Yet the gifts delighted her.
“I simply wanted to dress you in beautiful things.”
The sentiment made her stomach fluttery.
He flipped his wrist to glance at his watch. “I’ve got reservations in two hours.” He glanced up, a smile lurking in his eyes. “Enough time to get ready?”
“Barely,” she said dryly, “but I’ll make it.”
She ran a bath in the huge tub and soaked with the fragrant salts provided. Dreamily she imagined him with her, what she’d do to him, what she’d have him do to her. She lay back, a hand between her legs in an idle stroke. She didn’t 168
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want to come, just heighten the desire. Then, finally, she took care of all the necessary womanly activities. Everything was in the prep. The short black velvet dress he’d chosen caressed her bare skin as she slipped it over her head. The cut was low, with a squared neckline revealing her breasts almost to her nipples. The sleeves were long, thank God, keeping her warm. The dress was smooth over her abdomen, then the skirt flared, reaching to her knees, and he’d given her black thigh-highs and a lacy thong to wear beneath. Balancing one foot on the edge of the tub, she fastened the silver anklet. Instead of jewels, he’d opted for tiny bells. “So I can hear you coming,”
he’d whispered in her ear.
The double entendre heated her through.
He’d finished her off with high-heeled strappy sandals. Standing before the mirror, twisting from side to side, she glowed with how perfect the outfit was. Red hair, green eyes, and all black.
He was already in the living room and looking luscious in a black tux and charcoal shirt.
“Do you ever wear anything besides black?” she asked.
“Black is easy: I always match.” Then he raised one brow devilishly. “And I match you perfectly.”
He didn’t say she looked gorgeous, but his eyes followed the length of the dress all the way to the fuck-me high heels and back up, sweeping her breasts and nipples, then rising to her face. “I was remiss in not getting you a necklace.”
Then he held out a matching velvet cape. “You’re going to need this.”
That look of his made her tremble as she wrapped herself in the luxury.
“Where are we going?”
He shook a finger. “It’s a surprise.”
God, she wanted his surprise. Badly.
She wanted so badly, she was in danger of paying him to give her what she craved.
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9
HALF AN HOUR LATER, THEY PULLED INTO THE LOT AT THE BASE of one of the area’s largest mountains. Rising like a behemoth, it blended into the night sky behind a low-slung building.
“They’re open after dark?” She’d been to Palm Springs before, but never taken the tram to the top.
“They’re open to us,” he said, climbing out and coming around to her door. The night air bit into her cheeks as she stepped out. She pulled the velvet cape close. The building was empty, with few lights gleaming. Gabriel rapped on the glass door. An elderly man unlocked and let them in, then led them to the tram.
She gazed at Gabriel in awe. “You rented this just for us?”
“You challenged me. Our date had to be spectacular.”
No man—not Edward, not a client—had ever done anything like this for her. What was Gabriel trying to prove? All he had to do was pay her what she was worth and she’d sleep with him.
The tram car itself had a heater, yet once they were in and the door closed, Gabriel moved close behind her and wrapped her in his arms. Framed in the building’s window, the elderly gentleman tapped a few controls, and the car pulled away, rotating slowly as they rose above the valley floor.
“It rotates three hundred sixty degrees,” Gabriel said at her ear. “You won’t see as much at night, except the lights.”
The lights of Palm Springs and the surrounding towns looked like a thick carpet of bright stars. Far out they ended and gave way to another rise of mountains silhouetted in the distance. Dark against darker, then above, the twinkle of real stars.
“It’s gorgeous,” she whispered as the tram car turned slowly, revealing more lights, more city, more mountain.
“Yes.” He leaned over her shoulder, his cheek close to hers as he nuzzled her hair. “You smell like grapefruit.”
She laughed. “I found grapefruit bath salts by the tub.”
He tightened his arm beneath her breasts, easing her ever closer against the bulge of his cock at the small of her back.
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He licked the nape of her neck. “It tastes good, too.”
She felt so warm, so mesmerized by the slow turn of the car, his heat surrounding her, his scent, something subtly spicy with a hint of musk. And the soft kiss of his lips against her neck.
“I bet you taste like this everywhere.” He caressed her belly, then made a brief foray between her legs.
She thought her knees would collapse. They might have if she hadn’t been leaning against him. God, she needed sex, she needed him. Her body moistened, readying her. Her mouth watered, anticipating the salty deliciousness of his cock.
“You’re trying to seduce me,” she murmured as the car turned slowly away from the light, into the darkness of the mountain.
“Is it working?”
She laughed softly. God yes. “I once heard someone say that oral sex wasn’t sex.” She turned in his arms, setting her hands on his shoulders. “It might have been an ex-president.”
“Then it definitely must be true.” He leaned back far enough for her to see the sparkle of stars in his eyes. “Does that mean it’s okay for me to bury my face in your hot pussy?”
His dirty talk excited her, the thrill of it pebbling her nipples. “It means that as long as I don’t swallow, I can suck.”
Against her, his cock surged. She rubbed him with her abdomen. He clamped his hand on her butt and rocked harder. “I’m okay if you don’t swallow.”
“Okay” wasn’t good enough. She waited for him to beg.
“But you want to swallow all of me, don’t you?” More sparkle in his eyes. The car revolved, the lights now appearing behind him, and his gaze became a dark pool of desire.
“I can take it or leave it,” she lied. She wanted his taste on her lips, her tongue, sliding down her throat, filling her. “But only if I don’t ruin my lipstick.”
He took her mouth in a hard kiss, licking, sucking, going deep, backing off, taking her again. Until she couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stop wanting. The car jerked to a stop as they docked at the top. If the ride had lasted five more minutes, they would have arrived with her down on her knees, his cock in her mouth, and she damn well wouldn’t have cared who saw.
The man was too potent.
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The bells on her anklet jingled as Gabriel guided her from the tram, past a young man who’d been handling the controls. Gabriel smiled and handed the boy a bill just as he had the older guy manning the control box at the bottom.
“Up the stairs, sir,” the kid said. “The observation deck is pretty much freezing right now, but you can see virtually the same view from the restaurant.”
The lights were low, perhaps only a quarter of the normal number lit, as Gabriel ushered her to the top of the stairs and pushed through a set of glass doors to the outside.
The wind blasted them, the cold bite of mountain air tearing through her velvet. Gabriel pulled her to the railing, then cocooned her with his body heat as he had on the tram. “Isn’t it the most magnificent sight you’ve ever seen?”
The wind roared so loudly, he had to yell, and yet it was beautiful, the lights across the valley floor, then the darkness of the mountains opposite. The puniness of man’s creations against the vast awesomeness of nature. She felt small against it, yet special in Gabriel’s embrace. His touch transformed the sight from simply beautiful to absolutely spectacular. Tears stung her eyes from the brutal cold whipping past them. Yet for this moment, there was nowhere else she wanted to be, wrapped in Gabriel’s strength and warmth, safe.
Then he pulled her back inside. The howl of the wind still rung in her ears. Gabriel traced a finger beneath her eyes, gathering the moisture. “You had to feel it, you had to see it.”
She had to feel him, see him. The view was immense, but Gabriel was here and now, bigger and better. “I have to fix my lipstick,” she said because she was afraid anything else might reveal the feelings that had swamped her out on the observation deck.
He took her hand. “Your lipstick is perfect.”
She knew it wasn’t, but she let him guide her along the hall, a row of floor lights leading the way, moonlight falling through the windows. Up another flight of steps, they entered the restaurant, where again, the lights were low, candles on the tables bathing everything with an intimate glow. An unobtrusive piano instrumental filled the room from hidden speakers. Gabriel led her to a table at the bank of windows overlooking the city lights and pulled out a seat for her. Taking her cloak, he laid it across a chair back behind them. Then he sat beside her, facing the glorious view without the wind biting 172
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