Priceless (15 page)

“
Don’t shut your eyes,” he said, his head dipping down ready to make eye contact the second I followed his command and opened them.  “I need to see those green beauties on me when you say yes.”

I sucked in a sharp breath and got lost in his dark green ones.

“You can have carte blanche with my paintings if you like.  No pressure, but maybe you’ll find something that interests you and you’ll want to stay longer.”

God, he really had the art of persuasion down to a tee.  He
could pull out all the stops when he wanted.  He also knew what made me tick, and lucky for him, had the goods in his pocket to offer up.  It had been such a long time since I’d felt beautiful in the eyes of a man, and Ivan kept telling me so often it was hard to push him away.  Even if only for one night, he would make me feel alive and beautiful.  One night was all I deserved.  I’d have to be content with that.

“
No, just for tonight,” I told him.  “Tomorrow you take me back to Hallborough and nobody knows we ever did this.”

“Is that a ye
s?”

I nodde
d.  “But, Ivan, you need to know…I’m scared,” I blurted honestly.  It was the truth and he should know it coming from me.

“Of me?”  He
frowned, looking bothered by my declaration.

“No.”  I shook my head.  “I’m scared of me.”

SHE
felt scared.  Afraid of letting her inhibitions run free.  I could understand that bit.  I’d felt the same way before.  Many times.  But the prospect of being with Gabrielle didn’t scare me.  That wasn’t my issue at all.  I was very determined not to fuck up with her again.

Fuck?
Definitely yes.

Fuck
up?  Not happening this time.

Go slow.
  Tell her what you want.  Find out what she needs.  Give it to her.

“Shhh, don’t be scared.”  I brought her
to my lips and kissed her gently, thrilling at the soft trace of her tongue responding to my lead.  She was going to be perfect.  “Not of yourself, and not of me, okay?” I asked, dipping down to find her eyes.

“
All right,” she breathed.  I could feel her trembling underneath my hands.  What she didn’t know was her trembling was just the beginning of what I was going to pull out of her tonight. 

“What do you say
to getting out of this flying boat and up to the house?”

She nodded
“yes” but didn’t say anything as I unbuckled her from the seat and stowed her life jacket.  She watched my hands, and for some reason it was so fucking sexy coming from her.

I would be doing
a lot of things to her with my hands in a little while, and once I got started I wasn’t going to stop until I was good and ready to stop, and she was exhausted from the many orgasms I’d give her.

And she would take all of it from me.

I could hardly believe she was really here at all, and I couldn’t resist another kiss before leaving the plane from my pilot’s seat.  She tasted sweet.  So soft.  It was hard to reconcile her with the feisty creature I’d met on the road the time she’d come here before.  And she was so different with me right now.  A side of her I’d not seen before, and made me want her so badly, I could’ve gone for a quick grind right here in the back of the plane just to take the edge off.

“I’ll come around to you
r side and help you out, okay?”

“All r
ight,” she said, bringing a finger to her lips, touching where my tongue had just been.

My dick was brutally
stiff to the point it hurt to move, but move I did.  I needed her up in my bed like two months ago.

I opened the door for her.  “Just
step onto the base of the doorway.”  I held my arms up.

One long leg came into view and then the other as she stood up and balanced on the edge, her heels framing her feet while the dress fluttered against that banging hot body I couldn’t wait to see naked.

She was a fucking vision.  Portrait worthy.

“I’ve got you,” I said
, as I took her behind the knees with one arm while the other wrapped around her back, and just like that she was in my arms smelling sexy and sweet like berries.

Her hand gripped the back of my shoulder, the pressure of her holding onto me feeling
fucking perfect.  I didn’t want to set her down straight away.  She felt so right in my arms.

“How do we get to the house?”  She rolled one of her ankles and showed off what, if I had to guess,
were steely grey Manolo Blahniks with an open toe, and very sexy on her feet.  “I don’t think these will make it very far, and I really like them.”

I laug
hed.  “I really like them, too.”

“Are you going to carry me?” she asked coyly.

“I’d rather not.”

“Chivalry has died so soon, Mr. Everley.  So sad.”  She mocked a sad shake of her head
that made my cock even more twitchy.

“No, Miss Hargreave, it has not
died actually, but I am afraid my arms will die if I have to carry you the two miles distance it will take to get us to my house.”

She frowned adorably.  “But I can’t ruin my shoes.”

I kissed her, licking along her bottom lip until she opened for my tongue.  It was hard not to put her back in the plane and stretch her out in the rear cargo where I could get acquainted with her body sans the pretty dress.  She could even keep her shoes on if she liked.

But that wasn’t how this night was going to go down.  No, I had special plans for my Gabrielle.

My?

Fuckin’ hell, I surely hoped so.  It had taken close to a miracle for me to find her
again.

With some superhuman effort, I pulled away from her luscious lips and carried her to the Jeep parked on the other side of the hangar.  I set her down carefully and motioned with my arm
.  “My lady, your chariot awaits and your precious shoes will be spared.”

“Ah, but what you really mean is your
precious arms will be spared.”  She teased me with a soft draw of her finger down the sleeve of my jacket.

“Of course.”  I gave her a wink
.  “I don’t want to waste all my energy up carrying you two miles over hill and dale when I could be using that same effort for
other
things.”

The sexual tension exploded between us as soon as the words left my mouth.

One second we were teasing each other, and the next second we definitely weren’t.

She reached for the door handle at the same moment I did, our hands colliding.

Fuck this, I thought.  Fumbling around was time wasted when I could be getting lost in her.

I put her in the Jeep, and had myself behind the whee
l with the ignition on about five seconds after that.

Yeah, she was going to be mine all right.  At least for tonight she would.  Gabrielle was on the exact same page as me with the sex.

As I floored the Jeep up the dirt road to the house, I had to ask myself one really important question.

Was I ready to do this again?  Because once I started down this path with her I wouldn’t be able to shut it off and stop.  I knew she wasn’t at all like the women who’d distracted me since Viviana.  Deep down in my bones I knew it.  Gabrielle would ignite in me emotions I’d buried because I understood
precisely what they did to me.  She’d begin a change in me.  I’d get possessive, and needy, and controlling.  My kink would emerge.  Those things I couldn’t alter about myself.  Is that what drew me to her so strongly?  Were we both feeling an innate sense of connection here?  But what if I was way off base?  She might not want me once she met
that
Ivan Everley.

But it w
ould be too late by that point.

She didn’t know it, but Gabrielle wasn’t the only one who’d been burned for trusting someone.

I looked over at her sitting beautifully calm beside me.  Gabrielle had already made her decision to be with me.  Her struggle had come before, and emotionally was behind her now.

That’s when I knew the reality of my situation.

It was too late for me already.  She’d already unknowingly begun the change.  Whether she wanted it or not, I was already hers.

I
led her up the stairs quickly, her left hand clasped firmly in my right, and her Manolos clutched in my other.  I was impatient and didn’t want her stumbling or twisting her ankle going up the massive staircase in those high heels.  I’d put them back on her later.  When she was gloriously naked.

This reminded me of the other time I
’d led her by the hand.  When I brought her in from the garage through the pouring rain.  I wondered if she remembered.  But that time was very different from right now.  This time I was taking her to my bedroom where we would fuck wildly and have a mutually pleasurable time together.
Finally.
  Two people on a mission to fornicate in the dirtiest ways possible, I hoped.

I brought her
to my door and then drew her inside with me.  I dropped her shoes and turned the lock, the mechanism sliding into its place a symbolic gesture.  There was no turning back now.  We were doing this.

“Step
into the middle,” I told her.  “I want to be able to see every inch of you in the light.”

So we begin
.

She
went forward slowly as I’d asked, standing calmly, and waiting for my lead.

Fucking perfection
.

I was behind her in two steps. 
Close.  Inhaling her scent, my lips hovering over her neck.

My fingers found the zip of her dress and took it down
.

My palms
moved under the fabric to her bare shoulders so I could push the sleeves over and off.

My hands swept
down the length of her arms all the way to find her fingers so I could intertwine them with mine.

Her
dress slid down to the floor to land in a puddle around our feet.

I lifted her arms above her head and spun her around to face me.

My eyes swept over her and took in her exquisite feminine beauty.  Long legs attached to a slim waist with hips generous enough for my hands to grip when my cock was driving into her.  And gorgeous tits.  I still hadn’t seen them yet.  Right now they were encased in a lavender lace bra but I knew they were magnificent.  I had to fight to keep myself from ripping those bits of lace off her.
Patience, you have her all night.
 

I
released her hands from over her head and brought her arms down to rest at her sides.  I stepped back just a bit, even though it was hard to move away from her.  I needed a better view for what was coming next.

“Take off the rest.”  My words
had an edge now.  I couldn’t help it.  The instant we’d stepped in here together and locked the door behind us, everything changed.

I understood.
  She understood.  We found our roles and slipped into our places.  The ambiance of
we’re-about-to-fuck
swirled around us in the room.

Gabrielle
reached around her back with delicate hands and found the hooks of her bra.  She released them in succession—one, two, three—small clicks I heard clearly in the otherwise silence of my bedroom.  She raised and then rolled her shoulders forward until the straps slid down her arms.  She held that position for a moment, as I held my breath, for one last second of modesty before letting the lavender lace drop away to land atop her dress already on the floor.