Tapestry of the Past (13 page)

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Kalesia
awoke with a start. She lay there for a moment, listening, hearing the plaintive call of a whippoorwill, the rustle of the river against the banks, the sound of a breeze in the saw grass and cattails. Reassured, she turned on her side, her hand reaching for Gabriel…and found cold sheets.

She bolted up, her heart pounding, only to slump with relief when she spotted Gabriel on the balcony.

Struck by the utter sense of isolation in his still form, she slipped out of bed and donned her robe. Tying the belt, she walked slowly to the open French door. The light of a nearly full moon turned his body to polished teak. Shadows sculpted the powerful muscles of his shoulders and back, contrasted starkly with the ridged bands of white mapping the glistening skin.

Even from here, she could sense he was withdrawing.

She stepped outside and touched him on the spine. Just a light touch to gain his attention. He exploded into action.

He spun around, his elbow hurtling toward her throat.

Kalesia
yelped and squeezed her eyes shut, sure she was going to die.

“Are you out of your goddamned mind? Don’t ever sneak up behind me again.”

She cracked open a lid and peeked from between her lashes. White lines bracketed the tight lines of his mouth and his eyes glittered. Her lungs started to ache and she released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in a long, tremulous rush.

“I’m sorry.” She placed a faintly trembling hand on his arm. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I woke and you were gone.”

“I don’t like people coming up behind me,” Gabriel said, his voice very, very contained. In stark contrast, the pulse in the hollow of his throat pounded.

Instinctively, she sought to soothe him. “I won’t do it again,” she promised, stroking and kneading his arm.

He watched the small motion. His expression, when he looked up, was oddly vulnerable in the moonlight.

Vulnerable was not a word one normally associated with Gabriel. Stubborn. Arrogant. Dangerous, yes but not vulnerable.

He gave a short, sharp sigh and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, turning them toward the night-shrouded river. “Hell, I shouldn’t have jumped down your throat like that.” He canted a sideways glance in her direction and his voice contained a note of hard warning. “I meant what I said, though. Don’t ever sneak up on me.”

“Don’t worry,” she assured him, swallowing hard. “I won’t.” Not even if she lived to be a little old lady of a hundred, would she forget the speed and power of his attack.

“Good.” She could hear a smile in his voice. His hand rubbed her shoulder.
Kalesia
couldn’t decide if it was a conscious act or not. When she went to move her hand from his arm, his other hand came up and covered hers, holding it there, the silence between them comfortable.

“Gabriel, do you mind if I ask you something?” she ventured, hating to ruin the companionable mood but needing to know.

“Umm.”

Talk about your noncommittal answers. But, she refused to be put off and forged ahead. “How did you get the scars?”

Tension hardened the muscles of his forearm. “I told you before, it happened a long time ago.” He slipped his arm off her shoulder. He stared out over the railing. “I’m sorry if they bother you.”

“Gabriel!” She was shocked that he had drawn such a conclusion. “I never meant you to think such a thing!” She gripped his forearm and held on when he started to move away. “You have to know they don’t bother me.” Heat stole into her cheeks. “I’ve never been like that before, wanting to touch a man the way I touched you.”

Gabriel turned so that he was facing her and propped one hip against the rail. He touched her hot cheek with his knuckles. “You like my flawed body, hmm?”

“Don’t call it flawed,” she said, filled with a sudden fury. “You have a beautiful body and you damn well know it!” How dare he call his body flawed! How dare he even think it?

A slow, wicked smile curved his sensual mouth.
Kalesia
didn’t trust it one bit. He parted her robe at the neck. Lowering his head, he placed a feathery kiss on her neck just under her ear, causing her to shiver. Taking his time, he placed another, slightly lower. The tip of his tongue brushed her skin.

“Gabriel?” she quavered, her eyes sliding shut. She hadn’t realized a single caress could be so arousing.

He trailed a path of fire to the curve of her throat, just above her collarbone. Warm breath sent tendrils of flame licking across her senses when he spoke. “Show me how much you want me. How much you like my body.”

“You’re trying to distract me,”
Kalesia
accused but without any real heat. Already, an ache was starting down low. She shifted her head to the side, wanting, needing to feel his mouth on her neck again.

He lifted his head, a purely masculine grin causing her heartbeat to double. He didn’t bother to deny it. “Is it working?”

“Yes, darn you.” She sighed, her arms going around his neck. “You’re not going to have everything your way, you know.”

“Care to make a bet on that?” he asked, his hands dropping to the sash of the robe as his strong, elegant fingers worked on the knot.

Leaning forward,
Kalesia
touched the tip of her tongue to his flat nipple. “Never dare a redhead.” She emphasized the warning by closing her teeth around the hard nub.

“Witch,” he growled, his hands clenching into her waist. His eyes glittered in the moonlight. “I never lose.” But he seemed to lose patience with trying to untangle the knot and rent the fabric with a casual strength.
Kalesia’s
robe pooled at her feet.

The sound of his breath hitching was almost as arousing as the rough warmth of his palm cupping her breast. His free hand splayed across her lower spine and pressed her into his groin. He ground his heavy arousal against her stomach.

A soft moan slipped past her lips.

“Do you know what it does to me when you make that noise?” he asked, his words ragged as he took the lobe of one ear in his mouth. He bit gently.

Chills shot out from that point, pebbling her nipples and flooding her pussy with moisture. She shook her head, moaning again as his long fingers found the dark cleft of her buttocks.

“It drives me crazy.” His fingers trailed lower and she froze as he rimmed her nether entrance with the tip of his finger. A breath rushed from her, whether in relief or disappointment she couldn’t say, when his fingers slipped still lower, to the wetness between her thighs.

He gathered her feminine cream on his finger and used it to paint her areola. She couldn’t take her eyes off him as he licked it off in one, long, slow swipe of his tongue.

“You’re the one trying to drive me crazy. Gabriel!” she cried as he skimmed his tongue down the slope of her breast. He spoke against the turgid tip, each word a puff of moist heat.

“Not this time, witch. This time we’re doing it my way. I intend to take my time.” He forged his knee between hers, using his thigh to open her to his exploration. He traced random patterns on the soft, inner skin of her thigh, weaving a spell that
Kalesia
was helpless to resist.

“Gabriel, don’t tease me!”

“Do you like this?” he taunted, tracing another intricate pattern, his knuckles just brushing the silky curls. She arched, seeking more.

“Oh God, yes!” She sank her teeth in thick muscle above his nipple when he refused to deepen the caress.

“What about this?” He combed his fingers through the damp curls, the masculine planes of his face stamped in hard lines.

She opened her legs wider. If he didn’t touch her harder, deeper, she was going to scream. Her teeth clamped tighter. His skin tasted faintly salty.

“Tell me what you want,
Kalesia
. Tell me!” he demanded.

“I want you to touch me,” she said, her breath coming in uncontrolled little bursts.

“Where? Here?” He slid his palm down her spine. “Or here?” he asked, drawing the tip of her breast into his mouth and sucking strongly.

“Blast you for an arrogant tomcat. Here,” she mumbled into his hair, shoving his hands back between her legs.

“Ah, sweet witch. You ask so nicely.” Laughter rumbled up from the depths of his chest.

She felt an answering, rueful amusement curve her lips even as she leaned back to glare at him. “Gloating is a terrible thing.”

“Don’t be an ungracious loser.” He kissed the tip of her nose. Passion drowned amusement as he stared down into her eyes. He found her slick passage and pressed inside, then withdrew just as slowly.

A moan of protest formed on her lips.

“Be patient,
darlin
’,” he rasped.

“I can’t,” she gasped. “I need you too much.” She rocked against his hand, only to gasp again as the hair-roughened flesh of his thigh abraded the sensitive folds of her pussy. She threw her head back. “Yes,” she groaned, her nails biting into his arms.

He dropped to his knees, his mouth seeking and finding her engorged clit. She did scream then. The musk of his arousal and the softer, more feminine smell of her own arousal, surrounded them. Gabriel used his tongue with wicked effect, rhythmically stroking the very core of her, drinking the flood of wetness that flowed from her.

Oh God, she was hot. So hot it was a wonder she didn’t go up in flames. Each rasp of his tongue on her clit stroked the heat that much higher. She buried her fingers in his hair, pulling his face harder against her.

He blew on the swollen nub. “Let go, sugar. Let go. Trust me,” he urged.

Everything inside her drew tight. Her back arched as the climax scorched over her.

Her knees were trembling and the only thing holding her upright was Gabriel’s hands on her hips. Small aftershocks still assaulting her senses, she mustered the energy to tease. “You follow directions very nicely…for a tomcat.”

A startled burst of laughter escaped Gabriel and then he was hugging her close. “Sassy and unrepentant to the end.” He shook his head. “What does it take to make you admit defeat?”

“Defeat? If that’s your idea of defeat, you have my permission to wage war whenever you want,” she purred. She became conscious of the hard thrust of his cock against her belly and trailed a nail down his pulsing flesh.

“I’ve yet to negotiate settlement. You haven’t heard my terms for surrender,” he rasped from between clenched teeth as she languidly circled the head of his shaft, spreading around a bead of pre-cum.

“By all means, let’s adjourn to a…bargaining table.” She closed her hand around his cock. It amazed her that she had taken all that inside her.

“Witch!” The laughing accusation turned passionate in intensity as he swept her up into his arms. When he lowered his head,
Kalesia
could taste herself and Gabriel’s own unique essence.

Chapter Eight

“Son of a bitch.”

Kalesia
awoke to a snarling hiss and an outraged curse of pain. A familiar warm weight rested on her chest. Turning her head, she saw Gabriel sitting up in bed sucking on his knuckles.
Kalesia
groaned as her rapidly clearing brain put together what had happened.

“Oh, dear.”

Gabriel’s attention shifted to her. “Oh, dear, my ass. Do you know what that refugee from a flea market did?” He glared at the black cat. Hannibal glared back.

“Hannibal’s very protective.” Hitching herself up higher on the pillows,
Kalesia
attempted to soothe both males at once.

“Protective!” He showed her his hand.
Kalesia
winced at the long, angry gashes and numerous punctures.

“He thinks it’s his duty to protect me.” Gabriel ought to identify with that, the man literally oozed with protective instincts.

His gaze switched back to her. She wished it hadn’t. An angry fire that boded ill filled his eyes.

“He didn’t want me to touch you. That damn cat wasn’t being protective, he was being territorial. Hell, I didn’t even know he was here until I reached out for you,” he muttered in disgust. Gabriel paused and then asked silkily, “Just what is he doing out of the laundry room?”

Hannibal, sensing something ominous in the quiet tones, bristled.
Kalesia
sighed. Was it too much to hope for that the two males in her life would get along? The male of the species could be a royal pain in the ass at times, she decided, annoyed.

“I let the cats out last night. He and Tia were pining. Besides, he always sleeps with me,” she admitted.

“Not anymore. I refuse to share my bed with that animal.”

“Gabriel, he doesn’t mean any harm…”
Kalesia
trailed off as he stared at her in open disbelief. “Well, not usually,” she qualified. “I don’t know why he doesn’t like you.”

“
Kalesia
.”

“All right. All right. He sleeps elsewhere.” Grumbling under her breath, she rose from the bed, clutching the irritated cat. “I still say it’s stupid.” She watched as Gabriel got out of bed, her breath catching as the sunlight clearly defined his form. Lord, the man was a sight to behold.

Sugar and spice and everything nice!

Defined muscles slid beneath his skin as he walked to the bureau. Her mouth literally watered as her eyes wandered from the broad shoulders, down the sleek lines of his back, to a tight ass. Memories of that ass moving beneath her fingers, of the muscles clenching and releasing as he drove into her, caused the lips of her labia to swell and her clit tingle with need. Her breath lodged somewhere in her throat when he braced his legs and she caught a glimpse of his heavy balls.

“Elsewhere,
Kalesia
,” he warned over his shoulder as he snagged a tissue and pressed it to his hand to stem the flow of blood. He shot the cat one last, baleful look as he headed out the door.

Kalesia
put the huge cat down in the chair next to her suitcase and fanned her hand in front of her face. Whew! What the man did to her was probably illegal in forty-nine of the fifty states.

If it wasn’t, it should be.

Ignoring the wetness between her thighs, she rummaged in the bureau and dug out a jonquil tee shirt and blue shorts. She headed into the adjoining bathroom and stepped into the shower. She poked her head around the curtain.