A Bargain with the Enemy

by Carole Mortimer

  Bryn eyed Gabriel uncertainly, her mouth suddenly dry as he began slowly stalking towards her, a determined glitter in the intensity of his dark gaze. ‘Gabriel, what are you doing?’ She took a step back, only to feel the cold of the window down the length of her spine as she stood flush against it.

  ‘What I should have done the moment I saw you again,’ Gabriel growled as he stood in front of her, the heat of his body not quite touching hers as his hands moved up to rest on the glass of the window on either side of her head, effectively holding her captive within the circle of his arms. His breath was a warm caress across her cheeks, those deep brown eyes holding—possessing—hers as she found it impossible to break away from the intensity of his gaze.

  Bryn’s heart was pounding rapidly in her chest, and she couldn’t breathe, certainly couldn’t have moved, even if someone had shouted ‘fire’. Because the only fire that mattered to her was right here between the two of them as it blazed fiercely, heatedly, out of control.

  ‘That might have been a bit awkward, considering that Eric was in the room at the time,’ she said, attempting to lighten the tension currently sizzling between them.

  ‘Do I look as if I care who else was in the room?’

  The reckless glitter in his eyes answered with a resounding no to the question. ‘You do realise that this—whatever this is—is only going to complicate an already impossible situation?’

  He nodded briefly. ‘And I’m currently in the mood to complicate the hell out of it!’

  Bryn swallowed before running her tongue over her lips.

  ‘Did you know you have a habit of doing that?’ Gabriel murmured achingly.

  ‘I do?’ Bryn’s voice was just as hushed; the whole building was so empty and quiet at this time of night, with none of the sounds from outside penetrating the thick glass behind her either, giving the impression that they were the only two people in the world. The only two that mattered at this moment.

  ‘Mmm.’ He nodded, gaze transfixed on her slightly parted lips. ‘And every time you do it I want to replace your tongue with mine.’

  ‘You do?’ Bryn still couldn’t move, her heart beating even louder, faster in her chest, as a wave of heat washed over her, plumping the lips between her thighs, causing a fire in her belly, swelling her breasts, her nipples becoming engorged against her T-shirt, before that heat licked up the slenderness of her throat and coloured her cheeks.

  ‘Mmm.’ Gabriel gave another nod as he raised the fierceness of his gaze to meet hers. ‘And the way I see it, you have two choices right now.’

  She swallowed. ‘Which are?’

  He smiled slightly. ‘One, you can take me away from here and feed me. Two—and this is my personal favourite—we stay here instead and indulge a very different appetite.’

  Against her better judgement, the second choice was Bryn’s personal favourite too!

  Right here and right now.

  Later—much later—she knew she would feel totally differently about that choice, but the two of them were caught in a moment seemingly out of time, where there was no past and no future, only now, her body expectantly aroused, aching with hunger. For Gabriel. For the touch of his hands. The feel of his lips against her skin. Everywhere.

  She forced herself to make some effort at resisting that hunger. ‘There is the third choice of my just walking away.’

  Gabriel shook his head. ‘Not this time.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘No buts, Bryn.’ He rested the heat of his forehead against hers, those brown eyes now mesmerisingly close to hers. ‘It’s your choice, Bryn,’ he assured huskily. ‘But I advise that you choose quickly!’ he added urgently.

  Bryn felt surrounded by him, held captive by him—his physical presence, his heat, the sensual pull of that muscled body so dangerously close to her own—so much so that she knew that the choice had already been made for her.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  GABRIEL FELT AS if time had stopped as he waited for Bryn to answer—an answer that, knowing Bryn, could very well be her deciding to knee him in the groin, rather than choosing either of the two options he had so arrogantly given her!

  His only excuse for that arrogance was the need he felt, the burning ache he had, to make love to her—which he doubted the fiery Bryn would see as a reasonable excuse at all.

  His jaw was clenched, his forehead slightly damp against Bryn’s, his arms rigid as he kept his hands flat on the window on either side of her head. He continued to hold himself back from coming into contact with her body, his arousal a throbbing ache, his shoulders tense as he waited for her to speak. For her to decide, to choose, to determine what happened next.

  Bryn’s tongue flicked nervously across her lips, only for her to quickly bring a halt to the nervous movement as she saw the way the darkness of Gabriel’s gaze was now fixed so intently on those parted and moist lips.

  She breathed raggedly, unevenly, her gaze continuing to hold Gabriel’s as she spoke in a hushed voice. ‘I’m getting a neck ache just looking up at— What are you doing?’ She gasped as Gabriel skimmed his hands lightly down her arms, placing them on her waist before moving down onto his knees in front of her. Bryn was forced to reach out and grasp onto the support of his shoulders as she tottered at the suddenness of the movement, Gabriel’s eyes now level with her breasts. ‘Better?’ he murmured throatily.

  Better wasn’t quite the word Bryn would have used—she would have described their current position as very dangerous.

  Gabriel was so close now, his face just a breath away, allowing her to see the fire in the depths of those chocolate-brown eyes up close and very personal, the darkness of his hair falling rakishly, enticingly, over his forehead, those sculptured lips parted oh-so-temptingly.

  The warmth of his hands on her waist seemed to burn through the cotton of her T-shirt. Big hands. So much so that they almost spanned the slenderness of her waist completely.

  Bryn had felt surrounded by Gabriel before, but now she felt totally overwhelmed by his close proximity, the burning heat of his hands on her waist, that same heart burning in his eyes as he looked up at her. ‘You do realise this isn’t going to change anything, right?’

  ‘I don’t want to change anything. I’m more than happy with exactly where we are right now,’ he assured huskily, his hands shifting, gaze dropping lower to watch as his fingers slowly pushed up her T-shirt to bare the smooth and silky skin of her abdomen. ‘Very happy, in fact....’ he murmured throatily, his breath warm against her skin as his lips trailed lightly, caressingly, across her bared flesh.

  This wasn’t what Bryn had meant, and Gabriel knew it. But she ceased to care at that moment as her every thought, every sensation, came down to the feel of Gabriel’s lips and the rasp of his tongue moving caressingly against her skin.

  She gasped low in her throat, her back arching, her fingers tightly gripping on to Gabriel’s shoulders as his hands now moved up beneath her T-shirt and cupped breasts covered by nothing more than a black lace bra.

  ‘You are so beautiful, Bryn,’ he growled softly. ‘I’ve thought of doing this for longer than I care to think about—’ he pushed the T-shirt higher so that he could kiss the tops of her breasts ‘—and this.’ He pulled the T-shirt up and over her head before discarding it onto the floor, his eyes dark and hungry. He looked at her appreciatively for several seconds before reaching up to tug the lace cup of her bra down and bare one of her breasts, the rosy nipple already hard and pouting. ‘And, oh, God, this!’ he groaned, his hands resting on her hips as his mouth closed over the tip of that bared breast and he sucked her roused nipple fully into the heat of his mouth.

  Fire surged and swelled inside Bryn, making it difficult for her to breathe at all as she felt that pull on her nipple accompanied by the rasp of Gabriel’s tongue, the place between her thighs dampening as h
er fingers became entwined in the darkness of his hair and she held him closer to her, needing more, wanting more.

  Receiving more as Gabriel deftly unclipped and removed her bra completely before suckling and feeding on her other nipple as his hand caressed its twin.

  ‘Could we at least move away from the window? We can be seen from outside the building.’ Bryn gasped in half protest, too aroused, too greedy for more, to be able to call a halt to this. Gabriel’s breath was hot against the dampness of her breast as he reluctantly released her nipple. ‘The windows are reflective. No one can see in. Only we can see out.’

  ‘Oh. Ah!’ Bryn gasped breathlessly as Gabriel’s hands moved to unfasten the button of her jeans before sliding the zip slowly downwards.

  He sat back on his heels, eyes so dark they appeared as black as the lace panties now revealed, the air cool against Bryn’s heated flesh as Gabriel slipped off her trainers before slowly pushing her jeans all the way down her legs and removing them completely.

  Bryn had never felt so exposed, so desired, as Gabriel glanced up at her briefly, searing her with a single, heated glance, his gaze moving lazily downwards.

  Gabriel’s hands moved beneath the black lace as he breathed in the scent of her, a perfume that increased his own arousal, demanding that it be set free, to claim what it already knew to be his.

  A single glance at Bryn’s face had revealed the flush of arousal on her cheeks, the feverish glitter in her eyes. Her fingers tightened almost painfully in his hair as one of his hands cupped her mound, shifting the black lace aside and allowing his fingers to seek out the bare flesh beneath.

  Her curls were damp with arousal as his fingers moved lower before moving up and around the roused nubbin. Bryn gasped low in her throat, parting her legs as he slowly stroked her.

  Gabriel wanted to taste her, to feel Bryn fall apart as she climaxed. He wanted, needed— ‘You do know I just want to rip these panties off you?’

  ‘You’re the one who has too many clothes on, Gabriel,’ Bryn complained, desperate to touch his naked flesh in the same way he was touching hers. She wanted to run her hands over his bared shoulders, explore the hardness of his chest and stomach, to taste the heat of his skin beneath her lips. ‘Please, Gabriel,’ she groaned achingly.

  ‘Undress me,’ he invited throatily as he sat back on his heels and looked up at her expectantly.

  He looked so damned good, wild and seductive as a pagan god, with the darkness of his hair in disarray from her caressing fingers, eyes dark and glittering, his cheeks flushed, lips slightly swollen.

  The admiration in Gabriel’s eyes as he looked at her dispelled any embarrassment she might have felt at standing almost naked in front of a man for the first time.

  Nevertheless, her hands shook slightly as they moved to undo and remove Gabriel’s tie, unfastening the buttons of his shirt before pushing it off his shoulders and down his arms to fall onto the carpeted floor with her own clothes.

  Bryn’s breath caught in her throat as she looked down at his muscled shoulders, a deep V of dark hair covering his chest and leading down over the flatness of his abdomen before disappearing into the waistband of his trousers. ‘You’re beautiful,’ she murmured appreciatively as her hands trailed lightly over all that muscled flesh.

  ‘I believe that should be my line,’ Gabriel came back huskily.

  She smiled shakily. ‘Not from where I’m standing.’

  ‘Then let’s not stand any longer.’ His grin was entirely roguish as he stood up to sweep Bryn easily into his arms, carrying her over and laying her down on the sofa before straightening to strip off the rest of his clothes.

  Bryn watched unashamedly as he slipped off his shoes and socks before unfastening his trousers and allowing them to fall to his feet, carelessly discarding them as if they hadn’t cost what Bryn earned in a month.

  She had thought him beautiful before, but, wearing only black body-hugging boxers that clearly revealed the lengthy bulge beneath, he had to be the most sinfully gorgeous man Bryn had ever set eyes on: wide and muscled shoulders and chest, his waist tapered, thighs lean and powerful, legs long and lightly sprinkled with dark hair.

  Gabriel felt the painful swell of his shaft in response to Bryn’s appreciative gaze on him as he hooked his fingers into his boxers before slipping them down his thighs and legs, and then straightening.

  She drew her breath in sharply as Gabriel stood naked in front of her, her wide eyes darkening to gunmetal grey as she gazed up at him with open hunger.

  A hunger Gabriel was powerless to resist as he stepped closer, his breath catching in his throat as Bryn reached out to trail her fingers lightly down the silken length of his shaft, her face flushed with passion as she traced the engorged blood vessels along the length to the bulbous tip.

  Gabriel’s jaw clenched, hands fisting at his sides, as Bryn sat up and swung her legs to the floor, her breasts thrusting temptingly as she leaned forward to curl her fingers about his erection, her tongue moving distractedly over her lips as the soft pad of her thumb touched the moistness of that sensitive purple head. She looked up at him briefly before slowly lowering her head and lapping up those escaping juices with the soft rasp of her tongue.

  ‘Sweet—’ Gabriel muttered as he drew in a hissing breath, his whole body rigid with tension. ‘Are you trying to kill me, Bryn?’ he choked as she continued.

  ‘You taste delicious,’ she murmured appreciatively. ‘Sweet and yet salty too.’ The fingers of one hand remained curled about him as she parted her lips before taking him completely into her mouth.

  ‘You are trying to kill me!’ Gabriel’s back arched, his hands becoming entangled in Bryn’s hair as he began to thrust slowly, instinctively, into that hot, moist cavern as Bryn’s throaty chuckle of satisfaction vibrated along the length of his pulsing and sensitive shaft.

  Bryn hadn’t known—had never imagined—anything could taste and feel this good. She felt bold, totally empowered by Gabriel’s uninhibited response as her head bobbed in rhythm with his increasingly powerful thrusts, his hips bucking as those thrusts became more urgent still.

  ‘You have to stop, Bryn,’ he gasped, his fingers biting into the bareness of her shoulders as he halted her movements. ‘Or I’m going to lose this before we’ve even begun.’

  Her lashes rose as she looked up at Gabriel to find him looking down at her, his expression pained; eyes jet-black, cheeks flushed, his mouth twisted into a grimace.

  Even so, Bryn was reluctant to release him immediately, moving slowly down his length, lips squeezing just beneath the purple head before she released that pressure. He gave a strangulated groan.

  ‘Now it’s my turn to torture you,’ he added as Bryn finally sat back to look up at him with wide innocent eyes. ‘And I warn you,’ he murmured determinedly as he moved down onto his knees between her parted thighs before easing her back against the sofa, ‘I’m not going to stop.’ His head swooped down as he claimed one pouting nipple into his mouth, suckling deep and hard, as his other hand cupped its twin, finger and thumb plucking, gently squeezing.

  Pleasure raged through Bryn like wildfire at this full-on assault to her senses, and she realised that Gabriel had only been teasing her earlier, tantalising her. Her head fell back against the sofa, back arching, as his mouth drew hungrily on her nipple, his thumb and fingers matching that wild rhythm on its twin as heat poured between her thighs like molten lava. The tiny nubbin there pulsing as her hips began to move against him restlessly, pleading, begging for Gabriel’s touch.

  He growled low in his throat before his lips released her nipple and moved down over her abdomen, his hands moving to grip her hips, holding her unmoving as his lips and tongue sought and easily found the nubbin pouting and swollen amongst her curls.

  Her breath caught in her throat, heat engulfing her at the first caress of Gabriel’
s tongue across that sensitive bundle of nerve endings. He flicked his tongue mercilessly, again and again, across that pulsing nubbin.

  Bryn sobbed low in her throat as her hips arched up in rhythm with that torturously flicking tongue, gasping, keening, as Gabriel’s hand moved down and he slipped a finger inside her hot and grasping channel, gently thrusting. A second finger joined the first, her pleasure rising to fever pitch as his tongue flattened against her nubbin, pressing to the same rhythm as those thrusting fingers, until Bryn felt the pleasure rising, soaring, completely engulfing her, again and again, until she felt as if she had shattered into a million pieces.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Gabriel prompted with concern as he lay down on the sofa beside her and gathered her shaking body close against his.

  Bryn in the throes of orgasm had been the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and heard; little throaty sobs had caught at the back of her throat, her face flushed, throat arched, breasts jutting proudly forward, her hips rising to meet each thrust of his fingers as the muscles in her channel gripped tightly with each prolonged spasm of pleasure. A pleasure that Gabriel had drawn out to the fullest until Bryn was sobbing and the tears flowed down her cheeks.

  ‘I’m fine,’ she answered him shakily, limp in his arms as she lay draped across his chest. ‘Better than fine,’ she added. ‘That was the most amazing thing— I had no idea— It was truly amazing,’ she repeated breathlessly.

  ‘I aim to please, ma’am.’ Gabriel chuckled softly.

  ‘Oh, you did! You do,’ she amended huskily, hand lightly caressing his shoulder. ‘That was truly unbelievable. I— Are we going to stop now?’

  ‘Not a chance,’ Gabriel assured indulgently. ‘I’m just giving you time to recover. You seem a little overwhelmed.’

  ‘A little?’ Her laugh was shaky. ‘I could become addicted to so much pleasure!’

  ‘You’re doing wonderful things for my ego, Bryn,’ he murmured wryly.

  ‘I invariably tell the truth too,’ she assured quietly.