Private Lies

by Wendy Etherington

  She laid her hand against his bare chest, and, if he wasn’t mistaken, let her gaze rove leisurely over his body. “Wear a turtleneck.”

  He stroked the soft skin between her breasts. “Same goes.”

  She groaned. “This is harder than I thought.”

  He raised his eyebrows. He could definitely relate.

  “That’s not what I meant,” she said primly, though she slid her hand across the top of his shoulder. “Pretending,” she whispered.

  “Who’s pretending? I want you. I always want you.”

  Her throat moved as she swallowed. “I want you, too, but—”

  He pressed his lips to hers again. “Let’s just leave it at that.” He dropped into his chair before she justified or explained her desires. If this was the pretend world, he’d reside here happily the rest of his life.

  But after another half hour of teasing, touching and flirting, he was on the verge of screaming. Every brush of her fingers or glimpse of her smile had his erection swelling, his muscles contracting.

  “I’m turning over,” Roxanne announced suddenly, dropping the back of her lounge chair and flipping over onto her stomach.

  Thank God. If he watched one more bead of sweat disappear between her breasts, he was going to lose it.

  She extended the bottle of sunscreen. “Could you rub some lotion on my back?”

  Gage glanced from the bottle to the slope of Roxanne’s tanned, bare back, the scrap of red material covering her backside, the length of her legs. His erection pulsed.

  She waggled the bottle. “Come on, Gage.”

  He grabbed the bottle and swallowed hard as he sat on the edge of her chair, his hip brushing her side. Letting the lotion dribble onto her skin, he licked his lips, then set the bottle aside and flexed his fingers. It’s a tough job…

  As he rubbed the lotion over her shoulders, he bit back a groan. Warmed by the sun, dampened by sweat, her skin felt like silk.

  “Mmm,” she moaned.

  Sweat rolled down his face. He massaged the slippery lotion down her spine, feeling her muscles bunch and release, her breathing quickening. His hand nearly spanned her waist, and the sight of the two dimples just above her butt was beyond erotic. He couldn’t resist sliding his fingertips beneath the edge of her bikini bottoms.

  Her breath caught as he caressed the top slope of her backside. Knowing that dozens of people, in addition to the mob, surrounded them lent a forbidden thrill to his touch.

  But she didn’t push his hand away. She lay still as a statue, her hands gripping the chair’s edge. Her knuckles were white.

  Smiling, he trailed his fingers across the slick material of the bathing suit. He smoothed lotion on her legs, lingering on the inner curve of her thigh. When he brushed the heat between her legs, she twitched. Further encouraged, he worked one finger beneath the elastic of the suit, finding her damp, hot, aroused. He moved his finger up, then down, then up again, reveling in the way her body quivered, as if asking for more.

  Hiding his explorations, he leaned over her, brushing her hair away from her neck. “Comfy, darling?” he whispered in her ear.

  “You’re making me crazy,” she said breathlessly.

  “I’m so glad I’m not alone.”

  He placed a kiss beneath her ear as he gently pushed his finger deep inside her body.

  She gasped. “Gage, please.”

  In pain himself, he shifted, deciding they’d hung out at the pool long enough. If he didn’t get Roxanne naked and horizontal and in a bed, he was going to—

  “Damn.”

  As he stilled his hands, Roxanne tensed. “Gage?”

  He glared at the waitress serving the elderly couple across from them. “We’ve got a problem with a waitress.”

  Roxanne lifted her head. He had no doubt she was glaring at him from behind her sunglasses. “What are you talking about?”

  He turned her head to the right.

  “That’s no waitress. That’s Toni.”

  8

  ROXANNE WAS ABSOLUTELY going to shoot that woman.

  Clear as day, clad in her white-blond wig and a pool-waitress uniform, talking to an elderly couple, stood Toni. Nerve endings that had been primed for lovemaking fizzled. Anger took the edge off her arousal. Gage moved his hand.

  All in all, the mood was completely ruined.

  “What does she think she’s doing?”

  “Causing trouble—as usual.”

  “Where did she get that waitress uniform?”

  “I don’t want to know.” He patted her leg. “Come on. We need to go before she does something ridiculous.”

  “You mean something besides stalking us?”

  He wrapped a towel around his waist and scooped up the sunscreen. “Besides that.”

  How could he sound so calm? Roxanne felt as if her heart was going to jump onto the pool deck. Gage had told her Stephano’s men were hanging around, but he hadn’t said where. She’d been glad. She didn’t want to get caught staring. But now her former best friend could blow their cover—and possibly get them all killed—with a wrong word or two.

  Gage slid his arm around her waist as they strolled—though Roxanne felt like running—across the pool deck and toward the entrance to the hotel. She indulged in another moment of ogling the man next to her. Sleek muscles, tanned skin sprinkled with black hair and the confident, controlled way he moved all rolled into one irresistible package.

  She sure hadn’t been resisting.

  And the desire flowing through her body still pulsed just beneath the surface of her fake calm, waiting to spring, fighting for release.

  When they stopped in front of the elevators, a familiar voice from behind them said, “I’m watching you.”

  Thankfully, the hallway was deserted, but who knew when Stephano’s goons would show up? “Go away,” Roxanne whispered to her friend.

  “You two are hiding something.”

  Roxanne whirled. “Who could with you around?”

  Toni simply sashayed toward the door, her trim butt swaying in the tight blue shorts of her uniform. “I won’t abandon you.”

  Even as Roxanne sighed over Toni’s persistence, she couldn’t help smiling. A more loyal friend she’d never find. And at least Toni wasn’t mad anymore. She was just really in the way.

  As the elevator doors opened, Roxanne said quietly to Gage, “She thinks she’s protecting me.”

  “As long as she keeps out of my way.”

  He was annoyed. Well, she could hardly blame him. Toni could blow this case in a big way. The silence grew uncomfortable on the ride up to their room. Roxanne bit her lip, not knowing how to get his mood back on the romantic side. If she had to spend the night trolling casinos, she wanted to at least be able to pretend they were on a date and enjoy Gage’s attention and company.

  He pushed open the door, then let her precede him inside.

  “I’m sorry, Gage. She doesn’t mean—”

  The next thing she knew, her back was flat against the door, with Gage’s hot mouth pressed to hers.

  She thrust her arms around his neck, pressing her aching breasts against his warm, bare chest. Oh, God, it felt good to be close to him. He pinned her against the wall with his hips, and she had no doubt he’d managed to set aside his frustration at Toni and maintain the desire started at the pool. His erection, pressed against her stomach, sending her head spiraling.

  His tongue tangled with hers. He grabbed a handful of her hair as he kissed her, holding her head at the angle he wanted, making sure escape wasn’t an option.

  She had no intention of going anywhere unless he was with her.

  She poured all the desire, frustration and need of the last several hours into her kiss. She wanted him to want her above all else, beyond reason and thought, until she was the only thing in his life, heart or soul.

  He jerked back suddenly and, breathing heavily, he stared at her. With his sunglasses on he looked dark and dangerous. Her heart hammered, her blood pulsed
. But, wanting to see his eyes, she pulled his glasses off.

  Regret shined back at her.

  Oh, no, you don’t. She stalked forward, even as he retreated.

  “Rox, I lost it.” He tunneled his hand through his hair. “I don’t know what—”

  She planted her mouth over his, clutching the back of his neck as she kissed him and held him to her. “Do you know how much I want you right now?” she asked against his lips.

  Then, she bit him.

  He jolted back in shock, then wrapped his arms around her. “I got the idea.”

  She kissed his throat, savoring the rapid pulse beating beneath her lips.

  Cupping her backside, he pulled her tight against his erection. “Ah, better.”

  As she tried to catch her breath, she squirmed. “Not enough.”

  He hooked his thumbs around the waistband of her bikini bottoms, yanking them down. She kicked them off even as his towel dropped and she tugged down his swim trunks, wrapping her hands around the hard length of him.

  Sucking in a breath, he dropped his head back and closed his eyes. “Oh, man.”

  The need for completion wracked her insides, but she was so enthralled with the pleasure clearly swamping him that she simply stared, her hands trembling as she stroked him.

  Then he lowered his head. His gaze met hers.

  The heat in his brown eyes and the tossed strands of his ponytail threw her for a second. He was her same old lover, yet he wasn’t. Two sides of a complicated man. Maybe life wasn’t as simple as she had tried to make it. Gage was more than she thought. She was more than she thought. Love was more than she thought.

  He kissed her fiercely as he lifted her above his erection, pressing her back against the wall, then buried himself deep inside her body.

  She gasped.

  Had it been forever since she’d been a part of him? Since she’d felt this pulsing fullness and hunger, needing him with desperation, knowing she could really only possess him until his own desire was sated.

  He lifted her, then lowered her again, and she held on tightly to his neck, wrapped her legs around his hips, her back leveraged against the hard wall. His strength and power and control seduced her. She’d been pulsing on the edge of satisfaction since he’d first touched her by the pool, and now it took very little movement to coil her tighter, bringing her higher and closer to her climax.

  “Gage,” she moaned as he pressed deeper inside, withdrawing and thrusting quickly, as if he, too, was caught in the roaring tide.

  Her breath hitched suddenly as the peak came. The pleasure shuddered into spasms, then blossomed and spread. She dropped her head on his shoulder, bracing herself as he drove into her one last time, his own climax taking over his movements.

  As her sweat-slicked thighs slid from his hips, she wondered how she’d ever let him go.

  GAGE BRACED his arm against the wall and his body against Roxanne. “We didn’t make it to the bed.”

  Her breath still coming in spurts, she leaned drunkenly against his chest. “Nope.”

  She tried to stand straight, but wobbled, so he wrapped his arm around her waist. She still wore her bikini top and her wig was crooked, but she had a sated smile on her face.

  He pulled the wig off, and strands of her own dark red hair tumbled free. “That thing must be hot,” he said, tossing the hairpiece on the sofa.

  “A bit. Thanks.”

  He searched his feelings for regret and could find none. He’d lost all semblance of control and finesse, but he didn’t care. He’d made her happy, put that sappy grin on her face, that flush on her cheeks. He wouldn’t let her leave him. No matter what he had to do.

  Digging for strength, he straightened his swimsuit, then scooped her into his arms, carrying her into the bedroom. They had a few hours before they had to head to the casinos, and he wasn’t wasting a minute.

  He kissed her lips softly and laid her on the bed. “You want anything?”

  Smiling, she drew her hand down his chest. “What are you offering?”

  He’d captured her hand, pressing his lips to her palm. “Something to drink…for the moment. Later, anything you want.”

  “Mmm.” She kissed the base of his throat, and his pulse leaped. “In that case, water would be great.”

  Reluctantly, he left her, walking into the living area to grab a bottle of water from the minifridge. Need for her touch still hovered just beneath his calm surface, and for the first time in his life he considered chucking his duties and responsibilities. He could call his father, tell him to stuff his rules, his threats and his case, and take Roxanne away from all of this.

  When they took down Stephano, another scumbag would just rise up to take his place. Nothing ever seemed to change. But as he turned the bottle up and drank, he rejected the idea before it took root. He had to see this case through. After Stephano was behind bars, he wasn’t making any promises to the department, but until then he’d make the necessary sacrifices. He was sure of very little these days; he couldn’t lose his honor, too.

  When he returned to the bedroom, she was lying on her side, completely nude.

  He halted in the doorway, momentarily struck by her simple beauty. When she smiled and crooked her finger, he went to her, of course, holding out the water bottle, trying desperately to get a manageable hold on his desire.

  She lifted up on her forearm and drank, her gaze fixed on his face. She looked confident and sexy. The combination was different than he was used to from her, but intoxicating nonetheless. His betrayal had hurt her, he knew, but he wondered if this whole mess had also made her stronger. It had certainly drawn them closer together. Until this weekend, he hadn’t realized her deep insecurities regarding him. It was almost funny that while she hadn’t known what he saw in her, he’d wondered what he’d ever done to deserve someone like her. Before, he’d thought quiet shyness was dominant in her personality, but she’d revealed a bold, self-possessed side that intrigued him even more. He was falling for her all over again.

  With the tip of his finger, he drew a gliding line down her side, from the tip of her shoulder to the curve of her waist and down her thigh and calf. “You are so beautiful,” he said huskily.

  She blinked, then her eyes went sly. “Yeah? You’re kind of beautiful yourself.” She tugged him down by the string on his bathing suit. “But you’re overdressed.”

  He knelt at the end of the bed and took the water from her hand, setting the bottle on the floor. Then he slid his hand across her silky stomach. “What did you have in mind?”

  She reached out and grabbed his ponytail, lazily threading her fingers through the long strands. “Making love until we pass out.”

  He brushed aside her hair and kissed her neck, inhaling the spicy, sensual perfume he’d bought her earlier and the womanly scent that belonged only to Roxanne. “I could go for that.” When she continued to play with his ponytail, he added, “I think you like that thing.”

  “Maybe you should grow one.”

  He stilled briefly, wondering if she’d be around long enough to see his hair grow. Not wanting to break her relaxed mood, he continued trailing kisses down her throat. “Maybe I will.”

  He moved down, over the slope of her breast. He flicked out his tongue as he drew circles across her skin, drawing closer and closer to the nipple. Her breathing quickened. One hand clenched his bicep. When he sucked her nipple into his mouth, her back arched off the mattress.

  The leisurely pace, the subdued lighting of the hotel room in the middle of the day, reminded him of a weekend they’d spent at a bed-and-breakfast in the mountains of North Carolina. They’d barely left the room, except to explore the woodsy trails surrounding the property. Room service, music, slow dancing, wine and sex had been the order of the day. He wanted more days and nights like that. Carbon copies, variations, new inventions. He wanted it all. With her. He just needed to figure out how.

  As he lavished attention on her breasts with his mouth, he trailed his hand do
wn her stomach, dipping between her legs. Wet heat surrounded his fingers. He stroked her rhythmically as she gasped for air, as she clutched the bedspread, as she tightened her muscles.

  His own body hardened and throbbed. He so enjoyed exciting her.

  Then he remembered the champagne.

  The weekend of the bed-and-breakfast, they’d drank champagne after dinner, most of the bottle winding up on them instead of in them. He wanted, needed to remind her of those simpler times.

  “Be right back,” he said, placing a quick kiss on her stomach.

  “What?” She raised her head, no doubt glaring at him as he darted from the room.

  Heart racing, he retrieved a mini bottle of champagne from the fridge. He popped the cork as the walked through the bedroom doorway.

  Her eyes widened. “What’s that for?”

  He drank a quick sip from the bottle, then held it out for her. She wrapped her hands around the bottle’s neck, sipping, her gaze locked on his, though she still looked confused.

  But when he took back the bottle and drizzled the champagne across her stomach, she sucked in a surprised breath, and her eyes lit with understanding.

  He smeared the liquid down her side, dipping his finger in her navel, then licking the effervescence from her skin.

  She moaned, dropping her head back, burying her hands in his hair.

  Smiling against her stomach, he drew his tongue in a circle, starting in the center of her belly button, slowly widening the arc, until he’d scraped the undersides of her breasts, then the hair at the juncture of her thighs. Where he poured more champagne and drank from the wet heat of her body.

  Her hips came off the mattress. Silently begging him for more.

  More champagne accompanied his journey down her inner thigh, behind her knee, across her ankle, between her toes.

  When he rose to start at her other hip, she jerked upward, grabbing the waistband of his bathing suit, twisting the fabric in her fist. “You start on the other side, we’re gonna have words.”

  He smiled, nibbled her lips then drizzled champagne down her chest.