by Maya Blake
Javier beat her to it.
Releasing her, he took a casual step back and extracted his phone. ‘My lawyers will have the financial amendments to the contract drawn up and delivered for you to sign by lunchtime. Felipe will witness it,’ he stated matter-of-factly. ‘I’m assuming you don’t want the usual cooling-off period to apply?’ He raised one eyebrow at her.
To counter the bereft feeling spiking through her, she crossed her arms. ‘No, I don’t. I believe in getting the inevitable over with.’
‘I’ll assume you’re talking about your father, and not us. If you’re referring to us, then please accept that there will be no getting it over with any time soon.’
Her insides jerked in alarm. ‘Are you sure? Your attention span when it comes to your women hasn’t changed, has it? So if I’m lucky, I’ll only need to amuse you for two weeks, maybe three at the most?’
He sauntered towards her, his fingers tapping out numbers on the flat screen of his phone. He lifted it to his ear as he reached her, his free hand capturing her chin, his thumb conducting a lazy, fiery sweep over her bottom lip. ‘I’ve waited three years to have you again, dulce Carla. If you think there will be a swift conclusion to what is about to happen between us, you have my advance sympathy.’
Before she could speak past the bolt of consternation that lanced her, he was turning away, speaking clear instructions into the phone. The buzzing in her ears prevented her from hearing what was being said, and, in a way, Carla was thankful. At some point in the night, she’d convinced herself this would be short-term thing, a way for Javier to satisfy his need for vengeance before he finally set her free. The idea that he didn’t intend to do just that was scary enough, without listening to him spell out his full ownership of her to faceless lawyers over the phone.
She jumped when his hand arrived at her nape. A swathe of hair was pushed out of the way as his other arm reclaimed her waist, this time bringing her back to his front. His mouth found her heated skin, and trailed lazily over it, before drifting to her ear. ‘I have to head to the office now. If you need any clarification on the contract, feel free to call me. Otherwise, Felipe has instructions to pack a suitcase for you. I’ll see you at the airport tonight.’
She turned sharply, and his lips grazed the corner of her mouth. Before she lost the already fraying train of thought, she blurted, ‘Airport? Where are we going?’
‘We fly to Miami tonight.’
Miami. Where she’d first lost her head, and her innocence to him. ‘I...why do I need to come along for a business trip?’
He tasted her with a light bite, then soothed the graze with his tongue. Carla couldn’t help the desperate shiver that coursed through her.
‘It’s not a business trip, amante. I’m going to try that time-off thing again. First, to celebrate you returning to my bed. Then to celebrate my birthday in two weeks’ time.’
CHAPTER TEN
JAVIER’S LUXURY BEACHFRONT property was just as resplendent and opulent as she remembered it. Set over three floors with a master suite poised on a mezzanine level above the top floor, the all-white mansion was ablaze with strategically placed floodlights as Javier guided her across the large expanse of green grass that separated the helipad from the residence.
The hand at her back stayed as they entered and were greeted by the six-strong staff. Carla tuned out as Javier conversed in rapid-fire Spanish with the buxom older woman who was his housekeeper. Instead, she looked around the interior, memories flooding her brain.
The huge main salon beyond wide double doors was where she’d seen Javier the moment she’d entered the house with Maria and Draco three years ago. It’d been almost as if he’d been waiting for her, his eyes had zeroed in on her instantly, and he’d never let up the intensity of his scrutiny and attention. Not for one moment.
Not until she’d been in his bed.
Then it’d increased a hundredfold.
‘Taking a trip down memory lane on your own, querida? You don’t think it rude not to wait for me before reliving the spectacular experience of our first coming together?’
She jumped at the mocking voice. Face flaming at the thought that he’d say such a thing in front of his staff, she turned away from the colonial Spanish-themed décor, away from the sweeping staircase where he’d nearly lost control and taken her that night. But the staff were nowhere in sight, having been dismissed while she’d been lost in her lustful recollections.
Meeting his bold gaze, she fought not to blush again. He meant to torture her at every turn. But she was a step away from learning the truth about what happened to her mother. She had to hold that thought firm and true to see her through this. Even if the anticipation of what was going to happen here tonight rushed a continuous stream of almost debilitating excitement through her blood.
‘I thought it would be rude to force you to relive something you obviously still find a touchy subject,’ she countered.
His lips compressed. ‘But I intend to replace those unfortunate memories with better ones.’
‘Is that why you brought me here? To rewrite history?’
‘Trying to rewrite history is impossible. But there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be allowed to make a better impression this time round.’
‘Has anyone told you how impossibly arrogant you are?’ she launched from the depths of the trepidation shaking through her.
‘Has anyone told you how utterly delicious you are when you’re trying to hide your anxiety with useless bravado?’
She flicked a dismissive hand. ‘You’re being ridiculous...again.’
He caught her hand, used it to pull her to him, then dragged her behind him to the breathtakingly beautiful salon. He paused in the middle of the gold-carpeted room and captured her jaw in his hands. ‘And you’re acting like a timid little virgin.’ His face hardened. ‘Drop the act, Carla,’ he sliced at her. ‘I’m choosing not to dwell on the other lovers you’ve had since you were last in my bed and what they would’ve wanted from you, but if you think that you playing some sort of sacrificial damsel turns me on, trust me, it doesn’t.’
She barely managed to suppress a gasp, and tore her gaze from his.
‘You know how crazy it makes me when you don’t look at me when I’m talking to you, querida.’
She shook her head. ‘Santa Maria, can we please just get this over and done with?’ she blazed at him, still studiously avoiding his gaze.
‘We will not, as you say, get this over and done with. Constanza is preparing our dinner, which we will enjoy—’
‘I’m not hungry,’ she interjected. ‘I had a late lunch.’
‘Indeed you did, but I have it on good authority you barely touched the insubstantial sandwich you had Felipe prepare for you. So perhaps you want to come clean, and tell me what’s really bothering you?’
She cast around for something to say, anything that would disguise her internal chaos. But the more she dwelled on what was to come, the more her senses unravelled.
She cast a swift glance at him, but the moment their eyes connected, she couldn’t look away. Her breath shook out of her lungs as she blurted, ‘I’m not... I don’t...’
A look crossed his face, a flash of frightening bleakness before his expression settled back into its usual haunting, arrogant beauty. ‘You don’t...what? Want me?’ he queried icily.
Saying yes she wanted him more than her next breath was dangerous. Saying no would be a lie. She hesitated, and with each second his expression grew tauter. Knowing she was only damning herself, she licked her lips. ‘Javier...please—’
He swung her into his arms before she managed to form the right words. In quick, commanding strides, he crossed to the far side of the room. The lift tucked discreetly into the corner of the room blended effortlessly with the décor. A thumb print scan granted them access
. Javier entered and the doors slid shut, sealing them inside.
Carla tried to wriggle free, but he held her tight, a warning growl emitting from his throat as the lift shot upward. She was still grappling with her words when it stopped and the doors slid open.
She hadn’t forgotten the sheer magnificence of the master suite in Javier’s mansion. But three years ago she’d been too intoxicated with his presence to take in the smaller details. This time she forced herself to look around, tried to find anything that would ground the runaway emotional freight train inside her. The retractable roof that displayed the spectacular skylight at night was still above her head, half opened to catch glimpses of a few bright stars set against a velvet backdrop. Unlike the priceless works of art that decorated his house, his bedroom only boasted four pieces. A bust of some god-like icon, two Renaissance paintings she knew without looking too closely were masterpieces, and, in the space between his bedroom and private living room, a white baby grand piano on top of which stood a simple wooden-framed picture.
Carla hadn’t had the chance to get a closer look at the photo, but she thought it was of his mother.
She wasn’t granted a chance now as he swung sharply towards the bed.
‘You insist on denying what’s between us when we both know it’s a useless lie. You want me to force you to admit you want me, is that it? So that when you close your eyes to sleep you can pretend every whisper and moan was coerced from you?’
‘No, Javier—’
‘Well, think again.’ His voice was soft and deadly. ‘Before we’re done tonight you will beg me to take you. And you will beg for it each time after that.’
She gasped as he caught the hem of her long-sleeved, cowl-neck dress and pulled it over her head. It landed at her feet without ceremony, leaving her in the platform heels and the matching peach bra and panty set she’d donned before they left New York.
The bite of hunger on his face was undeniable, but his mouth still twisted as he stared down at her. ‘At least you didn’t wear white. That would’ve taken things a step too far, sí?’
She shivered at his raw, intense scrutiny, her nipples peaking with harsh demand as his gaze dropped and lingered at where the lace cupped her breasts. Heat lanced her, the ferocious fever roaring through her veins just from the look in his eyes.
With the grace of a magnificent predator, he circled her, eliciting decadent goosebumps on her flesh as he trailed sultry air over her with his movements. He stopped for an interminable age behind her, until every nerve in her body screamed for relief.
‘Exquisite,’ he rasped.
Finally, she felt him reach out and slowly untie her hair from its customary knot. The tresses fell heavily onto her shoulders. His fingers sank into them, much as they had this morning on his terrace in New York.
‘I don’t like your hair all caught up. I want it free to run my hands through whenever I feel like it. You will not wear it up again while we’re here. Understood?’ he rasped in her ear.
Another shudder rolled over her. Her throat clogged, she could barely answer. ‘Yes.’
‘Good.’ Sliding his hands from her hair, he grasped her shoulders and turned her round. For an instant a naked, bewildered look was on his face, then it disappeared just as quickly. ‘Kiss me, Carla,’ he demanded.
Her heart faltered, then banged with renewed vigour against her ribs. Swallowing, she closed the gap between them, her heels lending her a fleeting confidence as she lifted herself the last few inches to press her lips against his. A snapped-off growl punched between them. Head swimming, she opened her lips and tasted him. Hot and virile, he was like a drug she couldn’t stay away from. Feeling bolder, she deepened the kiss, her arms lifting to slide around his neck, then glided her tongue along his lower lip.
Firm hands grasped her waist, plastering her to him before his hands slid down to cup her pert behind. In a move that was shockingly erotic, he rolled her against his raging erection, the blatant intent behind the move arrowing need straight between her thighs. Unable to help herself, she pressed even closer.
A harsh exhalation burned her lips before he took over the kiss. Commanding, potently male, he devoured her mouth with ruthless vigour. Just when she didn’t think she could stand the flames of desire, he picked her up and laid her on the bed.
Heart racing even faster, she watched, dazed as he ripped his buttons free and tugged off his shirt. Dry-mouthed, Carla stared at the sleek beauty of him. Smooth and toned without a spare ounce of flesh, Javier was truly breathtaking. Her awe at his amazing body tripled when he unbuckled his belt and kicked away his trousers and boxers.
Dio mio, he was impressive. Far more than she’d allowed herself to remember during those secret nights when she’d been unable to stem the memories. Her breath stalled as he prowled to the bed. Slowly, he tugged her shoes off, swiftly followed by her bra and panties. From the bedside drawer, he extracted a condom, which he tossed on the bed.
Then he wrapped his hands around her ankles and drew her legs apart. From head to toe she was exposed before him. And she was incapable of hiding. Her limbs were his to command as he pleased. He arranged her legs around him, then he bent his impressive body over her.
He kissed the silken space between her breasts, taking his time to cup each mound, mould her flesh in his big hands and roll her turgid nipples between his fingers.
Her back arched off the bed as sensation snaked through her like a live wire. Each moan was answered with a deeper caress, a harder nip until her head was thrashing on the pillow. Catching one nipple in his mouth, he rolled the tight peak over his tongue before he sucked deep.
‘Ah, Dio,’ she gasped as harsher sensations arrowed between her legs.
She was burning up. Every caress drew her closer to the peak she’d only experienced at this man’s hands. Her hips twisted, need wild and untamed clamouring through her. His lips finally left her breasts, trailing lower down her body, bestowing hotter, more fervent kisses over her skin.
He reached the juncture of her thighs and she stopped breathing. Intent fierce and clear on his face, he lowered his head. At the first bold kiss, her eyes rolled shut.
He pulled away and froze.
‘Eyes open, Carla. Tell me you want this. There will be no more hiding,’ he instructed hoarsely. ‘No more pretending this isn’t happening.’
She forced herself to stare into his molten gaze and not drown in the torrential storm raging over her senses. ‘I want this. Please...’
His nails raked lightly over her lower belly. Then again, harder. Pleasure like never before exploded beneath her skin. ‘Again,’ he demanded fiercely.
‘I want you, Javier,’ she murmured his name, needing to ground herself. Another drag of his nails.
With a deep groan, he rolled his tongue over her, expertly finding that most sensitive bud that sent her wild. His exploration was brazen, his determination to wring every ounce of response from her a purpose that raged from his every pore. From one heartbeat to the next, she was cresting that blissful peak, her senses in free fall as ecstasy slammed into her.
The sound of foil ripping was the precursor to the deeper, longer, more decadent pleasure she knew awaited her when she surfaced from the depths of her blinding release.
Javier reared over her, taking hold of her injured hand to rest it on the pillow above her head. Then he planted himself between her thighs, his full weight supported on his elbows as he stared down at her.
‘Who do you belong to?’
‘You. I’m yours. Please,’ she gasped.
A hard, possessive kiss on her lips, followed by a deep exploration with his tongue, then he surged into her with one deep, true thrust.
The pace was steady, his gaze fierce on her face as he took complete possession of her. Carla wanted to look away, suddenly afraid of what he would see in her ey
es, especially since she wasn’t sure what her raw emotions betrayed. But the dark depths of his gaze held her prisoner, each gleam mesmerising, his open hunger almost as absorbing as what his body was doing to hers. Uncontrollable shudders rolled through her as pressure mounted. Her moans mingled with his deep groans until they melded into one erotic litany that swirled around them.
‘Carla,’ he whispered her name as he plunged his fingers into her hair and ramped up the tempo of his thrusts.
The sound of her name on his lips, like this, shattered something inside her. As much as she wanted to convince herself this was an emotionless coupling, she knew it wasn’t.
Not when she was floating out of herself, her heart unfurling like a flower towards the sun.
A touch of panic seized her. ‘Javier, non posso... I...please...’
Javier felt a deep shudder reel through him, the last vestiges of doubt washing away beneath the pleasure overtaking him. He’d pondered whether he’d done the right thing by acting this way, by bringing her here, to the place where she’d scored a direct hit to his pride. Right in the moment, he knew nothing could persuade him otherwise. She was exactly where he wanted her to be, in his bed, beneath him, his name on her lips and ecstasy stamped in her gorgeous eyes. He trailed a hand down her side, felt her very skin strain towards him, and he wanted to roar his triumph.
For far too long, he’d wanted her. Had wondered whether he’d dreamed their potent chemistry and was savagely delighted that he hadn’t.
She made another fractured sound, a twist between a sob and a moan. That singular sound that spelled how close she was imploded every useless thought. Her hips twisted up to meet his, her slick channel a hot fist around his manhood.
The roar that punched from him was as alien as the peak he crested a minute later. Both far surpassed the norm and threw him headlong into a kaleidoscopic unknown. Breathing ragged and desperate, he buried his face in her neck and deliberately emptied his mind of thought.
