He wanted her, even though he didn’t understand her. Even though there was still that something he couldn’t put his finger on—something out of place. And he was going to have her, exquisitely slowly, upstairs in his suite, not down here like a clumsy office boy catching a quick tawdry grope. Maybe then, when they’d given in to this insatiable need, the pieces of Kate’s complicated jigsaw would fall into place.
And yes, he knew that a better man would not take her deeper into his world when he could never give her what she’d no doubt ultimately want, despite her protestations to the contrary—a piece of his sullied heart. But they’d already crossed a line and there was no going back. He hauled her against his chest, fisted his hands in her hair and pressed his mouth over hers. Greedy, hungry. “I want you, Kate. Forget the past. I’m not going back there, not for you or anyone else. I’m going upstairs right now and you’re coming with me.”
Chapter Six
Kate imagined the penthouse suite was impressive, with panoramic views to die for and plush expensive furniture befitting one of London’s rich-listers, but she didn’t notice; her attention was focused entirely on the face in front of her. On the mouth that had already given her so much pleasure. Truly, she could have been back down in the office, on his motorbike, anywhere, just so long as she was in his arms. Money and power were nothing compared to this, to his touch, to his scent.
His kiss was slow and giving as he carried her to the bedroom. His tongue gentle against her neck, kissing a slick trail to her throat, heat rushed through her, pooling deep. I want to know more, she thought. An honourable man in a dishonourable world. He was nothing like the man she’d created in her head.
And she was nothing like the woman she’d created for him, a manufactured lie. But now she could show him who she was, what she wanted, what she could give. Who she could be. Now she could be real.
The bedroom was lit in soft golden tones, a large dark wood bed with gilded covers. She let him lay her down on the duvet and then she kneeled, reaching for the top button of the shirt he’d hurriedly thrown back on for decency’s sake as they’d navigated the back corridors and service lift. As she plundered his mouth she popped the pearl buttons, pushed the fabric from his body. Then she ran her fingers across tanned skin, the tight belly, ridges of muscles and dips. The defined abs were magnificent, a stepladder down to a fine trail of dark hair. She pressed her mouth above his belly button and inhaled his soothing, exciting smell.
“Not so fast. You first.” He lifted her hands from his body and wound his fingers into hers, lay her back against the sheet and kissed her again. His taste was fresh and new and yet familiar … addictive. Her hands went to his back, cupping his buttocks as she ground against him, desperate to feel him against her, inside her. But he pulled away a little, removed her blouse again and then paused as he looked at her. “I want to taste you.”
“God, yes,” she just about managed to say, before she gasped. His lips grazed first one nipple then the other. Heat coiled in her gut as he kissed down her stomach. Then he dragged her skirt off, discarding it on the floor, ripped her panties aside. His tongue tickled her thigh and she opened her legs for him. His mouth was hot against her curls and she thought … no, she lost all train of thought when his fingers parted her folds and his tongue was on her, in her, lapping against her nub.
Pure bright light flickered behind her eyes. Pressure began to mount deep inside her. She bucked against his mouth, against his hand. He slipped a finger inside her, two. And she was gasping and reaching for him, tugging her hands through his untamed hair and crying out. “Rey. Oh, God, Rey. That’s … that’s … Oh, my God.”
And he held her firm against the bed as the orgasm shook through her.
For a few seconds she lay gasping for breath, both depleted and energised at the same time, a smile she couldn’t stop on her lips. “That was … fun.”
“It certainly was.” Licking her nipples he nudged her back to life. “I reckon a man would never tire of watching you come. Quite a show.”
“Why thank you, kind sir. But now it’s your turn.” He was thick and hard beneath the suit fabric, pressing against her thigh.
But he didn’t seem to be in any hurry. “Na-ah. I can wait … I prefer to take the PADS approach.”
“Oh yes? Which is?” Her hand strayed to his trousers, tugged on the zip, her knuckles grazing against his erection, his groan sending shivers of heat skittering across her belly. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“It stands for: passion, attitude, determination and sacrifice.” He ticked the words off on his fingers. “It’s how I got where I am. It’s my approach to life, work and fighting.”
“And hopefully sex?” Because it would be a damned shame if it wasn’t.
“Hell, yes.”
“I like the way you think.”
His hand stilled hers along with the zip. “So now, back to you. I get to give you what you want … and only then do I get what I want. Although watching you come again would hardly be a sacrifice.”
“But what if I want to watch you come too?”
“All in good time.” He dipped his head and kissed her mouth. This time there was raw heat, a deeper soulful kiss that had her wet and hot and desperate for more. Passion—check.
But she couldn’t wait. She was nothing if not determined.
“You know what? PADS can go take a hike. I want to touch you. I want you and that would be the furthest thing from sacrifice that I can imagine. Give and take, Rey, give and take.” She tugged hard on his zipper, dragged his trousers off. Shoes had been kicked off somewhere on the journey to the bed. Then she ran her palm along the soft fabric of his black boxers, and the hardness underneath. He shuddered against her touch, groaning into her hair as she released his erection, relishing the heat and the length of him. He was big and so, so hard. “Oh. My. God. Firm, but not too forcefully? Right?”
“You’re a quick learner.”
“When it matters.”
“Well, you’ve definitely got attitude,” he groaned as she lowered her mouth over his tip. “Shit, Kate, the things you make me feel.”
If they were anything like the way she was feeling right now they were on the road to somewhere between Paradise Found and Hell’s Gate. Dirty, sexy, more turned on than she’d ever been, she sucked him in deep and hard, her eyes fixed on his as he groaned, fists tight against her shoulders. His expression caught on the edge of pain and ecstasy and that’s exactly what this was. Contrast and conflict. Exciting and dangerous. Heat and ice. His eyelids fluttered closed as he inhaled sharply, growling, “Stop. Stop. For God’s sake …”
Then he was dragging her up and away. “Condom. Just …” He reached into the bedside drawer, found a foil and was sheathed expertly in seconds. Then he pressed her back against the bed, pushing her legs apart, the tip of his erection enticingly at her entrance. “Are you sure about this?”
“God, yes. I want you so much.” She wrapped her arms around his waist, fingers gripping his buttocks and pulling him closer, then he was pushing inside until he filled her, shockingly, achingly, to the hilt.
Raising her bottom off the bed she adjusted to take him fully, arching for more and deeper when he pulled out. The pleasure and the pain and the fierce fire inside her burst into a million bright lights that caressed her skin. His touch was pure gold. He thrust into her again, and again, grabbed her wrists and held them above her head as he began to pump hard and fast.
Then she took control. Wriggling her wrists free she scraped her fingernails down his back, rolled him on to his back, taking her with him until she found herself on top. His raw savage gaze sent her spiralling upwards and outwards from herself and towards him, with him. With each thrust a meshing of souls, as she met him rhythm for rhythm.
Then all control was lost as she rode him, the intensity astonishing and yet so sublimely perfect it made her heart hurt.
His fingers played a dance across her most sensitive area as he rocked into h
er and she forgot who she was, what he had meant to her, what she was supposed to be doing to him, in the name of her brother. She knew only this moment—as he cried out and she joined him in a shattering release—that everything had blurred, boundaries were straddled, sensibilities lost. She knew only one true thing: Rey Doyle.
* * *
Rey lay still for a minute, catching ragged breaths in lungs that seemed filled with a thick bright light. That was the most honest thing he’d ever done—laid his emotions out for her to trample all over, but she hadn’t. She’d responded in kind. As if, by some strange force, she’d known exactly what he’d needed. What they’d both needed.
But now, as he stroked her thigh, her bluest of blue eyes staring up at him, he wasn’t sure what to do next. What to think. What to say. Would she want all the kind of promises his other girlfriends had asked for and he’d never been able to give?
And there he was jumping ahead of himself. She wasn’t his girlfriend. She wasn’t anything to him except another woman in his bed.
And yet, she was. The dark sullied thing he called a heart thumped hard and loud in his chest at the realisation; he wanted something from Kate that he had never wanted from anyone. He wanted more. Which made her a threat and a risk.
“Hey there.” Her voice was sated and soft as her fingers lazily stepped across his belly. “That was … amazing.”
“The pleasure was all mine. Really.” He pecked a quick kiss onto her forehead, inhaled the scent of her, of himself. The musk smell of us. A man could too easily get used to having a beautiful naked woman in his bed, some kind of light trip going on in his chest. Honesty. Life laid bare.
So yes, she was a threat. Because all the worries of Macau and the security hack had dissolved for those few moments with her. All thoughts of his past and his father. Of the fight club. Of what he couldn’t give to anyone, of the folly of making false promises.
All those stultifying thoughts had disappeared for a few precious minutes but they were back, reminding him that trust was a dangerous game. That love made a fool out of men.
Kate’s head was on his shoulder now, she was looking up at him, soft and searching—like before, as if she’d wanted to understand what he’d endured at his father’s hand. What his mother had. Rey didn’t know why the hell he had even said those things to Kate. He didn’t fit with her and yet … being with her made the blackness almost bearable.
She wriggled to the edge of the bed and wrapped a sheet around her sensational breasts. “Goodness, it’s getting late. I guess I’d better get going before I get the sack. I have a real doozy of a boss.”
“So I heard.” He lay on his side, leaning up on an elbow. His other hand was on her back, stroking down the knots of her spine. The bones were so delicate, her English rose skin so translucent, it looked like a string of pearls, not a backbone. But he knew different. Her fragile appearance belied an inner strength. There was steel in there. She stood up for what she believed in and wasn’t afraid of voicing her opinions. She believed in doing good and wasn’t driven by money. She was an exceptional woman. “I also heard he’s busy tonight and won’t notice you’re not in the bar.”
She looked at him over her shoulder, the last vestiges of sex fading from her eyes. “I doubt that, he’s very hands-on. But seriously, they’re a man down in the VIP lounge. I really should go. God knows what Carlos is thinking. He’s probably sent a search party out for me.”
“Forget it. One phone call and I’ll sort it out. Stay.” The word flew from his mouth before he could rein it in. So, yes, it turned out that he was indeed a fool. But just looking at her exquisite naked body had him hard for her again. He didn’t need to love her, just spend some time with her. It wasn’t asking too much of his heart. Was it? He could indulge himself in this for a short time. Why the hell not? It wasn’t going to turn into anything serious, he’d make sure of that. He touched her thigh. “Stay all night.”
She turned to face him. “I can’t.”
“Or won’t?”
“I have things to do. Responsibilities …” Slipping from his touch she stood, the sheet dropping to the floor. First time he’d asked a woman to stay, first time he’d been rejected. There was a lesson there. And yet he knew she’d been there in that zone a few minutes ago. Those eyes couldn’t lie, not then, not when they’d been so freaking connected. So why the quick get out?
Maybe she was the same as him. She’d said she didn’t want anything from him, she didn’t believe in all that fairy-tale guff. So, he should have been grateful. He wasn’t, he was thrown off balance. “I told you, I’ll fix work.”
“It’s not just work, there are other things …” Her mouth formed a thin line as she bit down on her bottom lip. She opened her mouth to speak … then didn’t. Then … “Look, I have someone I need to be home for at the end of my shift. I try to be there for breakfast, to make sure he has a decent start on the day. Otherwise he’ll eat junk and that’s not good for him.”
Him? Rey bolted upright, pain lancing his chest. “You have a husband? Boyfriend? You said you were single?”
“Simmer down, I am single.” She shook her head, looking angry, but not sounding it. There was laughter there. They hadn’t done much of that tonight—it had been too intense—but he’d make up for that another night. Geez, there he was planning already. He never planned. “What kind of woman do you think I am, Mr Casino King?”
The kind with secrets. “So do you have a son? What? You can’t possibly have someone old enough to be left on their own?”
“A brother. After mum died I put my hand up to be his guardian. He was nine at the time, I was just about eighteen. They couldn’t say no, I was legally old enough, or would have been by the time they’d dragged it through the courts. We’ve had our ups and downs but we’re getting there.”
“It must have been hard on you?”
She shrugged, clearly trying to brush off something that still caused her pain. “It was. I nursed mum through cancer; losing her was hard. Losing my anchor was one thing, but taking on another person’s life, being his one and only has been the single most difficult thing I’ve ever done. It’s not easy being a nag and trying to be a friend at the same time.”
“He doesn’t like being told what to do?” Rey couldn’t hide his smile. “A family trait?”
That raised a smile. “He’s definitely a handful at times.”
“I’ll bet, if he’s anything like his sister.” He thought back to the mouthy street kid, to that gangly broken kid Ted had let in to the fight club who just wouldn’t give up even when he was beat, and he remembered being a teenager himself. “Kids that age think they can rule the world. They’re stroppy, testing the boundaries. It’s a lot to take on. And now you’re studying too?”
Tears filled her eyes unexpectedly. “Look, I lied to you, Rey. I’m not a nursing student. I made that up on the spot when you asked me. I wasn’t expecting you to even glance in my direction, never mind talk to me. But I just didn’t want you to know anything about the real me. I didn’t know you then, like I do now.”
“And now? More lies?” He felt the tension coil through him, starting in his chest. Trust no one. It had held him in good stead for years. Why he’d suddenly changed his stance now he didn’t know. But it had clearly been a mistake. He knew all about the sugar-coated smiles, the reality simmering underneath. Lies again and again. I love you, son. I’m sorry. So sorry. It won’t happen again. Until it did. “How about the truth? I told you I don’t like being taken for a ride.”
She sat back on the bed and covered his hand with hers, and he had to admit she did look genuinely sorry and contrite. But then they always did. “Whatever I’ve said to you in the past, I want you to know that what we just did was real. From the heart.”
“From the heart? Those are lofty words, Kate. Straight after you’ve admitted a lie.”
“Yes, utterly from the heart, straight after we’ve had sex … made love, whatever you want to call it. Don’t
you think there’s something happening here?” She bent forward and trapped his gaze. “If you think … if you think that what we’ve just done was ordinary then that’s okay too. I understand.”
Ordinary? “Whoa, you’re mixing lies up with making love and tying everything in knots. Let’s separate it out, one step at a time. I thought I was spilling my guts to a totally different person, making love to a nurse, for God’s sake. Turns out you had an agenda.”
“Doesn’t everyone have some kind of an agenda, Rey? On day one I didn’t know you, I misjudged you. I had preconceived ideas about you, about casino life, about everything … but can you really say you were up front about everything too? Don’t forget that the first thing you asked me to do was pretend to be someone I’m not. Seems to me you were okay with that back then.” At least she looked him in the eyes—his father had never been able to do that.
“That’s business, it’s different.”
“So it’s okay to lie in your professional life? Really? How is that better? It’s not as if you meet someone for the first time and regurgitate your life story straight away, is it? We all keep things back, make ourselves out to be better than we really are? Project a better side, the side we want to be, the side we want others to see? Come on, Rey, have you been truly honest with me about everything?”
He would not answer that. But she was right, she wasn’t the first person to guard her privacy, or to pretend she was something she wasn’t. He hadn’t exactly been honest about a few things himself. Like … the answer to, do you still fight? But that would be true soon enough. One last fight then he really was done. “Okay, okay, I get it. You’re not the first person in the world to elaborate. And let’s face it, the truth was there anyway if only I’d wanted to look, you’re the world’s worst liar. I’ve never seen anyone with such poor waitressing skills, for a start.”
A Deal With the Devil Page 8
