Endless Summer Nights (4 page)

Soon,
he mouthed, before turning away to walk behind Maya.

Sydni was shaken. Blood roared in her ears and she was actually thankful that Gabriel had a good grip around her waist.

They walked past the enormous bar, and took the glass-and-chrome dome-shaped elevator to the top level. The glass balcony held several intimate booths; each discreetly separated for maximum privacy, yet from every angle the dance floor was visible.

Gabriel helped Sydni into her seat.

Maya placed the menus on the table. “What can I get you both from the bar?”

“A bottle of champagne.”

“Right away.”

Sydni settled into her seat. “Champagne. What are we celebrating?”

“Our merger.”

This time dawn broke over the horizon when she experienced the full benefit of his smile. Oh, she could take that comment
so
many ways. “I see.”

“I hope so.” His attention was diverted by a clap on his shoulder. He turned to look up to see his brother standing behind him. “This is a surprise.”

“You didn’t say you’d be here,” he shouted above the music.

Sydni took him in. He was long and lean and movie-idol handsome. He reminded her of a younger Antonio Banderas with a hint more coffee in his cream.

“Max. Let me introduce you to the woman who is going to change me.” He leveled his dark gaze on Sydni. “Sydni Lawson, my older brother, Max Santiago.”

Max came around to Sydni’s side of the table. She extended her hand in greeting, which he drew to his lips.

“I’ve heard all about you. I hope you packed some miracles in your suitcase.”

She raised a brow. “Miracles?”

“That’s what it will take to change my brother. How are you finding our beautiful country so far?”

“Wonderful.”

Max gave a slight nod of his head, then turned to his brother. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Good.”

“My pleasure to meet you, Ms. Lawson.”

“You, too.”

Max turned and melded in with the crowd. Sydni turned her attention back to Gabriel.

“Let’s dance,” he commanded without preamble. He stood, took her hand and drew her to her feet.

Sydni followed him around the throng of bodies and down the stairs to the lower-level dance floor that vibrated beneath their feet.

“I’m really not that good at this,” Sydni shouted over the rhythmic beat of the congas and the blare of the horns.

Gabriel drew her flush against the long hard lines of his frame. He stared into her eyes. “Give your body to me...and the music.”

He held her with his eyes, led her with his hands on her body. It was magic. Her feet glided across the floor, following his every step as he spun, twirled, swayed, grabbed and released her. The pitch and dip of her hips matched his. They moved as one unit—as if this syncopated ritual was what they’d always done—and Sydni wondered if he’d move his pelvis the same way when held between her thighs.

Their skin grew damp, their breathing escalated, their bodies clung to each other while one dance turned to two, three and then four.

Heated, Gabriel looped his arm around Sydni’s waist and pulled her up against him. “Ready?” he nearly growled.

“For?”

“To leave...with me now...and breakfast tomorrow.”

Sydni’s eyes widened for an instant. There was no doubt what he meant. She should say no. She should even act insulted that he would presume...

“Yes. I’m ready.”

He leaned close and pressed his lips right behind her ear, then whispered, “Come.”

A shiver ran through her body as she followed him out.

Chapter 6

G
abriel drove the entire way back to his home with one hand on the wheel and the other just beneath the hem of Sydni’s dress. The tips of his fingers were iron-hot when they made tiny circles on the inside of her knee, or trailed just an inch between her thighs.... Not enough to slap his hand away, but enough to keep the fire stoked and her slit wet with anticipation.

Sydni tugged back the urge to clamp her thighs tight around his wandering hand and hold it in place. The subtle pleasure was maddening. Her nipples were so hard that they ached and the fine hairs at the back of her neck stood at attention. She bit down on her bottom lip to keep from moaning and when she dared to steal a glance at Gabriel, he appeared as calm and unaffected as if he were driving alone.

Gabriel’s vehicle hugged the winding roads like a possessive lover. He was in total control and that realization stirred something deep and carnal in the pit of Sydni’s stomach.

The gates leading to his secluded abode appeared before them. It looked even more isolated and intimate at night. The heavy arc of towering trees and bushes pushed shadows out onto the driveway and gave the house an almost surreal appearance, like something painted on a postcard. He brought the car to a halt in front of the entrance and before she had a moment to unbuckle her seatbelt he was pulling her door open and extending his hand. Sydni placed her hand in his and stepped lightly from the car. Gabriel led the way inside without a word.

When they crossed the threshold, soft lighting gradually illuminated the space, set off by unseen sensors. In the distance, she could just make out the sound of the central air kicking on. Her eyes scanned her surroundings. It was so much more intoxicating than it had been when she’d visited during the day. Maybe it was the soft lighting or the shadow of trees, the quiet that only nighttime can bring or the anticipation of what was to come.

“Something to drink?” he asked, breaking the spell.

Sydni focused on him. “Yes. Please.”

“Come in. Relax. Make yourself comfortable. Would you care for wine or something stronger?”

“Wine.” She wanted to feel a bit mellow, but still needed to have her head as clear as possible.

She strolled over to the couch, put her purse on the low table and sat down. Soft music began to play on cue. She smiled to herself.

Gabriel appeared with two glasses of wine. He handed one to her. When she glanced up at him she was struck once again by how incredibly handsome he was. Gabriel exuded a tightly wound sensuality that put one in mind of a preying panther—sleek, sensual, quick and potentially deadly.

“Thank you.” She took the glass from his hand. He lowered himself next to her but not too close, giving her enough space.

“How did you enjoy the evening?”

Her eyes lit up. “It was wonderful. The restaurant was exquisite. The food...” She shook her head in delight. “And the club... That was fun.” She laughed. “I can’t remember the last time I danced so much. I’m sure I’ll pay for it in the morning.”

He slowly reached toward her and gently tucked a spiral of hair behind her ear. “I hope that the dancing will not be what you’ll pay for in the morning. I can think of other things.”

She teased her bottom lip with her tongue.

“I’d like to taste that.”

“Taste what?”

“Your tongue... To discover if it’s as sweet as it looks.”

Her mind went blank. She couldn’t respond and she didn’t need to. Everything in her extended vision was blocked as Gabriel moved toward her.

And then his mouth covered hers and all reason escaped as her senses exploded from the contact that she had only imagined.

His full lips were firm and soft and sweet as they moved possessively over hers, inching her mouth apart in increments of pleasure. The tip of his tongue slid across her lips, teased the inside of her mouth, moved slowly in and out. Gabriel’s moan deepened while he played with her tongue, danced with it, captured it, made her mouth one with his.

Sydni’s heart banged mercilessly in her chest. His arm slid around her and pulled her close. Fire licked her insides, and like butter on a hot skillet she felt her body melt into his. Her arms wound around his neck. Their sighs became music that they moved to, that led them up the stairs to Gabriel’s bedroom at the end of the hall.

He pushed the door open with his shoulder and pulled her in behind him.

“I’ve wanted you since I first laid eyes on you,” he said before taking her mouth again. His hands roamed along the dips and curves of her body, dispensing with her dress in the process. He eased the zipper down and the straps fell from her shoulders. The dress slid silently into a soft puddle at her feet. “Beautiful,” he murmured deep and hot into her ear.

Her hands splayed across his chest and the hammering of his heart vibrated beneath her fingertips. It stirred her with the knowledge that she was exciting him the same way he was exciting her. She gave in fully to his kiss, his possessive caresses. A part of her knew that this was every which way wrong. She was about to have an all-out, curl-your-toes sex romp with a man she was sent to do business with. A man she barely knew. But her heart and body didn’t give a damn about any of that—at least not right now. Not when his fingers were playing with the band of her panties and pushing them over her hips, and his mouth was leaving a burning trail along her collarbone down to the swell of her breasts. All she wanted was to find out if he would be half as good as she imagined.

Gabriel smoothly guided her toward his king-size bed. She lowered herself down on the side, where he joined her.

* * *

Everything shifted around her, receded into a space beyond the room. It was only the two of them creating this incredible heat that set off a series of sparks that popped back and forth between them. Hands and fingers and mouths and tongues sought uncovered surfaces to explore and conquer.

Gabriel stretched Sydni out on the bed like fine linen being prepared for a feast to be set upon it. Hungry eyes rolled over her, eating her up without touching her. Her pulse thumped in her veins, making her feel as if she was vibrating. Gabriel eased the straps of her bra over her shoulders, peeled down the D cups of her bra to push her breasts higher to meet his eager mouth. He sucked a taut nipple into his mouth and her body spontaneously arched up off the bed, hit by a lightning bolt of pleasure.

“Sweet,” he murmured, while his lips savored the succulent fruits that rose and fell and blossomed under the attention of his mouth, his tongue and the caress of his powerful fingers.

Sydni’s soft moans grew deeper, ragged almost, as Gabriel’s mouth and tongue seared a slow path down to her stomach, teased her navel until the muscles of her stomach quivered.

“I want you,” he breathed against the length of her inner thigh. He placed hot kisses there and along her calf and behind her knees and the dip in her ankle, then back up and down again until Sydni was one electrified nerve. Her fingertips pressed into his scalp and clung to the silken hair when his mouth settled over the hot apex of her sex.

Her mouth opened, emitting a strangling cry as he laved her through the near-sheer fabric of her panties. He held her hips down on the bed, weighing her into the mattress. The tiny crotch of her thong was soaked from Gabriel’s attention and her own heightened excitement. She was so ready.
So ready.

Gabriel tugged at the delicate black strings of fabric. Sydni gasped at the sound of shredding silk. He moved slowly back up her body, anointing her with kisses along the way until he was braced above her. His dark eyes bore into hers, holding her completely captive. He reached over into the nightstand and took out a condom packet. He held it between the tips of his fingers and gave it to Sydni.

Her teeth tugged her bottom lip while he rose up onto his knees, putting on display his erection that was magnificently full and hard and pointed right at her.

Sydni swallowed, took the packet between her teeth and ripped it open. Gingerly, she took out the thin sheath and reached for him. Her fingers wrapped around him. She drew in a sharp breath as the sensation of his silken skin over the incredible stiffness of his erection set her pulse racing. He was—in a word—magnificent to behold and to touch.

She took the rim of the condom between her thumb and forefinger and placed it over the head that was already wet with the dew of his arousal. Slowly, she unrolled it, covering him inch by incremental inch.

The air crackled with electricity. Gabriel let it surge through his limbs, igniting him even more. As desperately as he wanted her he willed himself to take his time, to savor every inch of her sweet flesh, to make her remember this night long into her future. He used his mouth, his tongue, to tease, taste and explore her from her eyelids to the dip in her ankles. He cut a searing path along her body, then used his mouth again and again to put out then reignite the fire within her.

His long fingers stroked her hips, massaged her thighs until they were as weak and pliant as a newborn. Her moans excited him as he’d never been before, and the way her body opened and responded to him held him as a willing captive.

“You... I have to have you,” he ground out between the swell of her breasts. “Tell me you feel the same,” he demanded of her.

“Yessss,” she hissed between her teeth and gripped the sheet into her fists as he slid his middle finger inside of her.

“You’re so wet,” he whispered. He slowly moved his finger in and out of her until her body found and matched his rhythm. He flicked his thumb across her pulsing clit and her cry pierced the sultry air. “Again,” he said. “Cry out for me again.” He pushed two fingers inside of her. A strangled sob escaped from her parted lips. He found the soft spot inside her tight wet walls and pressed his finger against it.

“Ohhhh!” Her hips rose up from the bed and her body shook with a pleasure so intense that it made her lightheaded. He did it again and again. Sydni pushed her pelvis against the thrill of his hand as the sensations rolled through her, taking her on a high that she never wanted to come down from. And then she felt it—the quickening in the pit of her belly, the tingling and tightening that began to spread from the soles of her feet, sliding up the inside of her parted thighs.

Gabriel felt it, too, and the realization hardened him even more. He would take her to the brink, but he would not release her. Not yet. He rose up on his knees, pushed her thighs back so that they rested against his. “Look at me.”

Sydni’s eyes fluttered open and the raw expression in his nearly sent her over the edge.

“I want to see you. I want to see your face, your eyes when I enter you.” He pressed the head against the slit of her opening. She moaned and gripped his shoulders. He grabbed her hips in his large hands and in one long hard thrust he drove deep inside her, expelling all the air from her lungs.

Her mouth opened but no sound emerged. She was full, full, it felt, to her throat. She didn’t think she could take it. Damn, he was so thick and hard and long. She couldn’t. She just couldn’t.

Gabriel saw the shock, the apprehension and the longing in her eyes. He remained perfectly still, allowing her body a chance to accept the weight and fullness of him. As much as he wanted to move inside her, give her the full pleasure of his loving, he held back. Instead, he tenderly kissed her lips, reawakened her tongue. He rained kisses along her neck and behind her ears, across her throat and down to the rise of her breasts. Gently he suckled her over and over until he felt her body begin to move, needing him as much as he needed her. Yet he remained still, allowing her to set the pace, determine her need.

Her gaze leapt to his. What she saw in his eyes reflected the maddening desire that she had for him. She looped her arms around his neck and spread her thighs even farther. She couldn’t breathe. She felt her body resist the swell of him, then give as he pushed and widened her and filled her and she ceased to be a separate being.

His dark, hot gaze bore into her. He draped her thighs over his arms and slowly pulled out until only the head was left inside her walls. Her body trembled in response.

“Please,” she begged as her fingers pressed into his rear. He moved in and out, slow and deep and steady, gritting his teeth to keep from hollering with pleasure.

They found that perfect tempo that gave as much as it took, rising and falling like the waves of the ocean rushing toward the shore.

Gabriel had held back for as long as he could. They were both on the edge. He’d felt her insides begin to tighten, saw the perspiration glisten on her face, listened to her breathing escalate, her moans lengthen, and felt her fingers dig deeper into his skin. And then her insides clutched him, sucked him in, wrapped around his cock like a vise and pumped every ounce of his essence from his body. He growled deep in his throat in a combination of agony and ecstasy. “So good,” he moaned. “So good.”

Their bodies locked together in unison, becoming one entity before bursting apart into a million fragments of pleasure and then reuniting on a bed of sublime release.

They cried and whispered and roared each other’s names while the thrill of their union ebbed and flowed through them until they were spent.