Midnight Alpha

by Carole Mortimer

  And yet underneath, where it mattered, they were the same. Two people who’d grown up too soon, with too many responsibilities, with no choice but to carry on as best they could.

  There was also this burning, explosive desire between them that raged out of control every time the two of them were alone together.

  Gregori may have thought he was claiming her a few minutes ago, but he now realized that Gaia had also claimed him.

  His semi-hard cock was still inside her, and it gave an answering twitch of interest, telling him that he could all too quickly become rock hard again. Except he was sure, no matter how much she might have enjoyed their lovemaking, that Gaia must be sore, inside as well as out.

  He really had turned into some Neanderthal caveman, Gregori realized self-disgustedly.

  “I have no idea what you’re thinking about so intensely that it’s making you scowl, Gregori,” she now drawled teasingly, “but whatever it is, it isn’t giving us an answer to our present problem.”

  Perhaps that was because Gregori was trying to deal with the issue of his need to possess this woman. With the desire between them that was so deep and so strong it went off like an incendiary device at the least provocation, chipping away and melting the ice about his emotions.

  Much more of this and Gaia really would only have to crook her little finger at him to lead him about by his constantly aroused cock!

  Talking of which…

  “Gregori…?” Gaia looked up at him doubtfully as she felt him once again hardening and lengthening inside her, stretching her already sensitized channel.

  “I’ll be gentle this time, Gaia,” he promised hoarsely, eyes dark and glittering as his hands squeezed the globes of her bottom. “I just… I need… Please.”

  It was that please that undid her.

  She had no idea what Gregori’s favorite color was. What foods he preferred. What he cared about apart from his business and his sister. What side of the bed he liked to sleep on.

  These were all things the glossy magazines said a woman ought to know about a man before allowing her emotions to become engaged.

  And it was all nonsense.

  Gregori really had wrecked her just now—had ruined her for any other man as he gave her everything she had never known she wanted—and by doing so he had totally ripped away the barriers she had built about her own heart.

  He got to her, touched her, connected to her in a place she had allowed no other man to go. And it was as if by doing so he knew her. That he actually saw the soft and vulnerable Gaia behind the smart mouth. No man had ever seen that Gaia before. No man had ever wanted to see that Gaia before.

  This man, Gregori Markovic, who on the surface appeared so cold and distant, saw into her very soul, to her deepest, darkest fantasies, and rather than being shocked or repelled by them, he fulfilled them. What happened between the two of them tonight had been wild and rough, and she would probably be sore for days—and she had loved every wild, rough, erotic moment of it.

  She met his questioning gaze without flinching. “Yes.”

  There was none of that frantic need, that desire to claim and be claimed, to their lovemaking this time. Instead Gregori rested his forehead against hers, their gazes locked, as he rocked gently inside her, the pleasure building slowly, exquisitely, and once again touching places inside Gaia no one else had ever reached.

  Their release, when it came, happened at exactly the same moment, and it was the most intensely intimate moment of Gaia’s entire life. A meeting of souls rather than just bodies.

  And in that moment Gaia completely saw the man behind the cool and controlled mask. She knew him. Not just Gregori, but his aloneness. An intense loneliness that was always with him. A painful loneliness that set him apart, always apart from those around him.

  She saw because Gregori allowed her to.

  In the same way that Gaia allowed him to see her.

  The moment passed, of course.

  It had to.

  It was too raw, too intimate, too intense to continue.

  The shutters came down in Gregori’s eyes first as he looked away and at something behind her. “Napkin,” he bit out abruptly.

  Gaia closed her eyes briefly, willing herself to take her cue from him and let the moment go. To return, if necessary, to their conversation from before they made love a second time.

  She knew, with startling clarity that was the way she would always think of this evening—as before and after the most intense and physically intimate moment of her life.

  Before, when she had only guessed about the passionate and sensitive man Gregori was behind the cool mask. After, when she knew he existed. That deep inside him was a man whose soul cried out in the darkness.

  Just as Gaia’s did.

  Their raw and primal passion followed by that achingly emotional lovemaking had forever changed her.

  Because of this complex and self-contained man who had let her inside, if only for that short, illuminating time.

  Gaia knew she would forever keep that gift, cherish it close to her heart, no matter what became of them in future…

  Chapter 12

  “I thought the idea was to keep Gaia Miller hidden away until we know if she has any involvement in what’s going on here?” Nikolai scowled darkly as the two men waited in the sitting room for Gaia to come downstairs. She’d gone to her bedroom a few minutes ago to change so that she could accompany Gregori to Utopia.

  “It was.” He nodded, knowing that when it came to Gaia he was no longer able to think logically or objectively.

  Especially when he was still inwardly shaken by that…that… What the hell had that been between them the second time they made love?

  Nothing like that had ever happened to him before, Gregori was certain of that.

  It had been as if a door had briefly opened inside him, showing him the things he wanted, craved, hungered for, before he’d had to forcibly close it again. Physical hunger and emotional connection weren’t for men like him. They couldn’t be. That sort of vulnerability could be exploited. By men like Ivan Orlov.

  Which meant this had to stop now.

  Whatever this was.

  “You said you haven’t found any connection between Gaia and Ivan?”

  “I haven’t found any proof there isn’t one either,” the other man pointed out impatiently.

  Gregori shrugged. “So for the moment we’ll go with believing there isn’t.”

  Nikolai scowled. “I’m not sure—”

  “I have decided, Nikolai,” he interrupted evenly and softly, using a tone of voice, The Markovic voice, he had never used towards the other man before tonight.

  Nikolai drew in a deep breath. “Okay.” He nodded abruptly.

  Gregori felt himself relax as he arched a mocking brow. “Surely you trust your own security measures, Nikolai?”

  The other man gave him a censorious glance. “I trust my own men implicitly.”

  He eyed the other man curiously. “But not Dair’s?”

  “I don’t know any of them well enough to trust or distrust them, and this guy Lijah—”

  “You’ve met him before, in Venice five months ago.”

  Nikolai nodded. “And I can’t access any personal details on him at all.”

  Gregori gave a rueful smile. “Which means you tried.”

  “Hell, yes, of course I tried! Just because he works for and is a friend of your brother-in-law doesn’t mean I have the same trust in him.” Nikolai moved restlessly. “There’s no information on Lijah Smith. He doesn’t exist.”

  “Not as Lijah Smith, no,” Gregori conceded quietly.

  The other man frowned. “But as someone else?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who?”

  “Who he is isn’t important, Nikolai,” Gregori dismissed briskly. “As long as he does his job, which he will, that is all either of us needs to know about him.”

  “I just found out a few minutes ago that he dismissed your driv
er this evening and insists on driving you himself.”

  Gregori gave a rueful smile. “I’m sure John loved that.”

  “He was furious. Gregori, Smith is a maverick,” Nikolai persisted impatiently. “A totally off-the-charts renegade. He certainly can’t go inside Utopia dressed the way he is.”

  “Did you try telling him that?” He knew he shouldn’t be amused by Nikolai’s discomfort with the other man, but he couldn’t deny it was amusing to see Nikolai so disconcerted.

  “I did, yes.”

  “And?”

  “And he told me how he dresses is none of my fucking business— Holy fucking hell!” Nikolai’s gaze was riveted on the doorway and his mouth gaped open.

  Gregori knew exactly whom the other man was staring at with such male appreciation.

  He had intended on phoning an exclusive dress shop and having a suitable evening gown delivered to Gaia today, but in the end he had decided that he couldn’t leave that choice to a shop assistant. Gaia had an amazing figure, but she wasn’t particularly tall—that is, when she wasn’t wearing those high-heeled shoes she had complained of several times—and the wrong gown would detract from her assets rather than enhance them. Consequently, Gregori had gone to the dress shop himself and chosen what he hoped was the right gown.

  Nikolai’s reaction told him that it was.

  The fact that Nikolai was almost panting with his tongue hanging out of his mouth meant he appreciated Gaia’s appearance just a little too much for Gregori’s liking.

  “If that remark was meant to be a compliment, Mr. Volkov, then thank you,” Gaia now drawled dryly from behind him, confirming Gregori’s suspicions.

  He swallowed the last of his brandy to delay turning and looking at her for a little longer.

  “Jesus, Gregori!” Nikolai seemed unable to drag his gaze away from Gaia.

  Further irritating Gregori as he shot the other man a frowning glance before finally turning—only to then bite down painfully on his bottom lip to stop himself from making an equally irreverent outburst. But there was nothing he could do about his cock’s reaction as it surged up in full and instant arousal, and that was despite the fact that he had come twice just a short time ago.

  Gaia had suggested black, but Gregori had known as soon as he saw this shimmering, knee-length, midnight-blue gown that it was perfect for her.

  God, had he been right…

  The material gathered at her shoulders before fitting lovingly over the fullness of Gaia’s breasts, and it was snug at her waist before flaring slightly at her hips. It didn’t leave a single dip or curve to the imagination concerning her body beneath.

  What made it even more revealing was the fact that Gaia’s nipples, obviously over-stimulated from their lovemaking earlier, were for the moment permanently swollen.

  It took every effort of will on Gregori’s part to raise his gaze from those swollen nipples to instead look at her face. The small strip of gauze was barely noticeable on her cheek, and her hair was soft and silky about her semi-naked shoulders, a pair of pearl earrings completing the outfit.

  His jaw tightened slightly when he saw the look of challenge in her gleaming golden eyes.

  His gaze hardened. “It would seem we are ready to leave, Nikolai. Nikolai!” he rasped his impatience as the other man still seemed mesmerized by Gaia’s appearance.

  Nikolai dragged his gaze away with obvious effort. “The car is waiting outside,” he murmured distractedly, his earlier irritation with Lijah Smith’s arrogance and appearance obviously forgotten.

  Gregori gave an impatient sigh: if Nikolai’s reaction to Gaia’s appearance was any indication, then this promised to be a very long night.

  “Nothing to say for yourself, Gregori?” Gaia taunted as the two of them walked out into the hallway.

  He didn’t so much as glance at her, but a telltale nerve pulsed in the tightness of his jaw. “There will be plenty of men to tell you how beautiful you look this evening.”

  She laughed softly at the stiffness of his tone. The same stiffness she had seen swell in his trousers the moment he turned to look at her a few minutes ago, and which a brief glance downwards told her was still there.

  The laughter died in her throat when she stepped outside and saw the man who had just moved to open the back door of the car. A man she knew for a fact she had never seen before. His body was tense, his gaze watchful, and he kept looking about him as he waited for the two of them to get inside the car.

  She turned to Gregori. “What—”

  “Just get in the car, Miss Miller,” he rasped as he nodded briefly to the other man.

  Gaia moved into the back of the car, and Gregori followed soon after, but she hardly noticed. Her attention was still on the other man as he climbed in behind the wheel and started the engine.

  She turned to give Gregori a questioning glance.

  “Don’t ask,” he dismissed wearily.

  “But…” She gave a shake of her head. “What’s with the…” she whispered as she indicated the Stetson on the driver’s head. “And the—”

  “Best not to judge a book by its cover, Miss Miller,” the man in the Stetson advised mockingly, his deep indigo eyes glancing at her briefly in the mirror. “Isn’t that right, Nikolai?” he taunted the man seated beside him.

  Gaia was even more confused after hearing the man speak. He was very tall, with overlong dark hair, a hard rather than handsome face, and a body that appeared to be mainly muscle. He also wore the Stetson and cowboy boots, along with a short-sleeved black shirt and faded blue jeans, and yet he spoke with an English accent that would have put some of the royal family to shame.

  “Close the privacy window, if you please, Mr. Smith,” Gregori bit out impatiently.

  He shrugged. “You’re the boss.” For now seemed to linger silently in the air at the end of that statement. The smoky black glass rose between the back and front of the vehicle.

  “Mr. Smith is an employee of my brother-in-law, sent to assist with security,” Gregori told her in a voice that warned against voicing any further questions regarding Mr. Smith.

  That was fine with Gaia. Mr. Smith was definitely a curiosity, but there was too much else going on in her life for her to want to pursue the subject.

  Instead she turned to look at Gregori beneath lowered lashes.

  She had taken a bath earlier, in the hopes of soaking some of the aches from her body. It had worked. Until she starting getting dressed. The black thong—damn Nikolai Volkov—continually rubbed against the soreness between her thighs and reminded her all too forcibly of having Gregori inside her. Just as the gown, as she had guessed that it would, chaffed against her swollen nipples and resulted in them remaining in a constant state of semi arousal.

  The only reason she forgave Nikolai for the abundance of thongs he had packed for her was because he had also brought along the small jewelry box from her dressing table, allowing her to wear the pearl earrings tonight that were all she had left of Angela.

  The coldly aloof Gregori now seated beside her didn’t look capable of that raw, uncontrolled passion the two of them had shared earlier. Let alone the connection she had felt between them when they made love a second time.

  He may not look capable of it now, but it was enough that Gaia knew he was. “Speaking of which…is Nikolai any closer to confirming who shot at us last night?”

  Gregori’s jaw tightened in reaction but he didn’t turn to look at her as he answered. “I told you I already know who shot at us, Miss Miller.”

  She raised her brows when he added nothing further. “I guess from your silence you don’t intend on sharing any more information with me?”

  He drew in a sharp breath. “Do I need to?”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “Nothing,” he sighed his irritation.

  “Oh it’s definitely something,” Gaia said quietly as she looked at him searchingly but the shutter was firmly down, preventing her from having any i
dea what he was thinking. “Why don’t you… You don’t seriously think I had anything to do with the two of us being shot at last night?” she gasped as understanding dawned.

  “Nikolai is the one with the suspicious nature.” He shrugged.

  “Like hell he is!” She turned fully in the seat to glare at him. “God, what sort of world do you live in that you would even think I could have— And then afterwards the two of us— And again this evening…” She broke off as she gave a disgusted shake of her head.

  “I live in a dangerous world, Miss Miller,” he bit out coldly. “One in which people really do end up dead.”

  She knew that. He had told her that. She had witnessed that violence for herself last night. She just—“To hell with what Nikolai thinks, do you believe I’m somehow involved with this man who wants to hurt you? Never mind,” she dismissed tightly as he took too long answer her.

  Gaia had no idea why she felt the sharp sting of tears in her eyes as she turned away. She had guessed earlier how it was going to be between them when they met up again. Had known Gregori would retreat back behind that cold façade. And she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was a façade. A mask to hide the true depth of his emotions.

  His distrust hurt anyway.

  Entering and walking through the nightclub, not as an employee, but as Gregori Markovic’s guest, was an experience in itself.

  Everyone, from the muscled guards on the door and the glamorous guests entering and leaving, to the hostess who greeted them at the door, treated Gregori with a deference that Gaia knew had been lacking in her own dealings with him since that night in his office. Gregori may be able to turn off his emotions at will, but she found it a little difficult to behave coolly towards the man who’d had his tongue inside her!

  “Do you find something amusing, Miss Miller?” He prompted as she gave a self-derisive snort.

  “Not in the least,” she assured him with feeling as she pulled her arm out of his hold to step away from him. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll leave you to do your meet and greet and go and talk to Rick and Claude—”

  “That was not our arrangement.” Dark eyes glittered down at her as he turned his back on the beautiful woman who had been about to greet him, blocking the rest of the room from Gaia’s view.