Tapestry of the Past (16 page)

Damn, it felt good knowing she was waiting for him. It was a unique feeling. Strange but satisfying. One that he could get used to all too easily.

One he would miss when she was gone.

Gabriel shoved that depressing thought into a mental closet with all the other depressing thoughts. Thoughts like how much it was going to hurt when she left. If he felt alone before, what would it be like when she was gone? And with still other, more dangerous thoughts, like what if she didn’t find out?

He shut and locked the bedroom door. The bedside lamp was on its lowest setting. His clothes straggled in an untidy trail to the bed. Gabriel was in bed, his mouth on her breast when
Kalesia
said, “Rear Echelon Mother—” He sealed her mouth with his own, smothering her delighted laughter.

Not until laughter had turned to pure, hot need did he lift his head. A hint of lingering laughter vied with passion in the vivid green eyes. “Okay, spill it. How did you learn the meaning of REMF?”

Kalesia
scooted down until she could touch the tip of her tongue to his nipple. Gabriel refused to be distracted.

“I,” she announced against his skin, “have connections.”

His nipple puckered as each word puffed warm air over the sensitive nub. He managed, barely, to retain his train of thought. “Don’t keep me in suspense.” He restrained a shudder when she bit down with exquisite care.

“I called Tom Harley.”

“You what?” Gabriel came up onto both elbows, disbelief pulling his brows together. “At one thirty in the morning?”

“Uh-huh.” She sucked on the spot between the swell of his pectoral muscles. “By the way, you better go see Tom and apologize. I might have,” she moved to the other nipple, one tiny kiss at a time, “implied you said to ask him.” She shimmied to the side, a look of impish innocence on her face.

“Damn, woman, that was just plain mean. After years of working the graveyard shift, Tom likes his sleep. Not to mention,” he growled in mock displeasure, “you’ve landed me squarely on his
shi
— On his list of least favorite people.”

She didn’t look the least bit worried. Small, neat teeth flashed. “Oh, before I forget. Is he married?”

“No, not anymore. Why?” he asked. A distinct tinge of wariness sprang to life at the mischievous gleam in her eye.

“Oh dear. In that case, it might be safer if you called instead of seeing him in person. Tom wasn’t asleep. Nor was he alone.”

Gabriel couldn’t help it. He began laughing. He was still laughing when
Kalesia
slid one silky thigh up the inside of his and pushed on his shoulders. He obligingly rolled over, bringing her with him so that she ended up on top. He cupped one hand around the back of her head and exerted just enough force to lower her mouth so that he could take it.

Slow. Deep. Thorough. He tasted her, teasing her tongue into playing with his. His free hand palmed her breast, savored its weight. She arched, pressed deeper into his palm. Tonight he planned to take his time. No headlong rush into the fire but a long, slow fall.

Gabriel looked forward to the drop.

Lips pressed to his, she asked, “Why are you smiling?”

Smiling? Hell, he was probably grinning like an idiot. Gabriel found he didn’t care. He couldn’t ever remember being this contented. “Because I want to.” Their breaths mingled. The moment had a heart-stopping intimacy he’d never experienced before.

She pulled back little, searched his eyes. “You say that like it is unusual.”

“It is.”

Her voice deepened, became sultry. “Then let me see if I can make you smile again.”

It wouldn’t take much, he knew. Already, he could feel a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Hmm.”
Kalesia
folded her hands on top of his chest. She propped her chin on them and stared at him solemnly, as if she were contemplating the mysteries of the Sphinx. Her eyes, though, were sparking with mischief.

“You have to promise not to move.”

Now, that sounded downright promising. He spanned her waist with his hands and waited to see what she’d do.

“Can you do that?” she purred, her voice deep and throaty.

Oh, hell yeah. He could do that. “Sugar, I can take whatever you dish out.”

One elegant brow arched. “Is that a challenge? Are you certain you’re up to it?” Slender fingers twirled and tangled in his chest hair. She acted as though she didn’t realize what she was doing. The little witch knew exactly what she was doing. And the effect she was having on him. It wasn’t like he could hide his growing erection.

“Up to it?” One of them was up, that was sure. He stifled a groan when she put her index finger in her mouth and sucked on it. He couldn’t take his eyes off her mouth as her cheeks hollowed around the slender digit. The inside of his mouth went as dry as dust at the crystal clear memory of the last time he watched her cheeks work around something.

She pulled her finger out of her mouth with a soft pop that made his cock jerk and swell even more. In the muted light of the bedside lamp, her finger glistened. She swirled it over his collarbone, painting him with moisture. She leaned down and blew softly.

Damn, who knew his collarbone was an erogenous zone. Fine chills raced across his flesh and his cock nudged her thigh, begging for attention. He buried his hands in the cool fire of her hair and tried to guide her mouth down to his aching flesh.

“Ah, ah, ah. You moved.” Her eyes laughed down at him.

Son of a bitch. That quickly, he’d forgotten. Gabriel dropped his hands back to her waist. “I won’t again,” he promised.

She was shaking her head. “Too late.” She tilted her head to one side. Her hair flowed across his chest, tangled in the dark hair on his chest and pooled across his throat in a fragrant, silken puddle. Gaze bright, she grasped one of his wrists in each hand and sat up. He sucked in a breath when he felt her wet heat against his stomach. This close, he could smell the sweet scent of her arousal, see the drops of moisture gleam in the deep red hair of her pussy.

She shifted forward, urging him to wrap his hands around the carved posts in the headboard. Gabriel heard the slide of a drawer. His attention was focused elsewhere, though. Like the luscious breasts swaying in front of his face, the tight nipples just begging to be taken into his mouth.

“Son of a bitch!” In the blink of an eye, his passion was replaced by cold, lethal rage. “
Just what the hell do you think you’re doing
?”

Kalesia
froze mid-tie, one end of the scarf in each hand. The cheerful yellow and white swirl looked ridiculously feminine against the hair-sprinkled width of Gabriel’s wrist.

She looked down, into a cold, completely contained expression. She forgot to exhale.

“Get. It. Off. Me.” Each word dripped with lethal intent.

Air rushed out of her lungs as she scrambled to remove the scarf. The tips of her fingers brushed the ridges of old scars as she fumbled with the half-formed knot.

Kalesia
closed her eyes in remorse. Oh, sweet mercy. How could she be so stupid?

Opening her eyes, she finished untying the scarf. The delicate material caught on one of the intricate carvings and ripped in half. Just like her heart.
Kalesia
swore she actually felt her heart tear as, behind the contained rage in his silver eyes, she saw panic. And pain.

Stupid, thoughtless fool.
How could you not remember
? she berated herself as she crumpled both halves of the scarf into a ball, hand clenched into a fist behind her back as if she could hide the evidence of her stupidity. Astride him, his heart pounded like a trapped animal against the inside of her thigh. Each rapid, ragged beat ripped her heart anew.

Kalesia
stared down into the eyes of a stranger. No longer the warm, eager gaze of a lover but that of a man struggling to survive. Tears burned the back of her eyes. Dear God, she’d do anything to erase the past few minutes. Take that look from his eyes. As she watched him, she saw his right hand flex, close into a tight fist, then slowly straighten.

Control.

Almost more than he needed his next breath, Gabriel needed to be in control.

She had taken that control away.

Now she had to find a way to give it back.

Kalesia
brought her hand out from behind her back and opened it.

The two pieces of delicate silk lay on her palm like an offering. A tiny ray of sunshine to vanquish a nightmare.

Comprehension seeped into the tarnished silver gaze. An understanding that beat back the panic and pain.

Kalesia
waited, her heart in her throat. Desperately, she wanted him to understand what she was offering. All she was offering with that simple gesture.

He closed one large hand over hers, folding her fingers over the silk.

Her hand began shaking. It spread up her arm until her entire body was trembling. Did he…did he mean what she thought? She was almost afraid to hope. “Gabriel?” Try as she might, she couldn’t read the expression in his eyes.

His grasp tightened a fraction causing
Kalesia
to glance down. She couldn’t look away. The sight of his hand, dark and strong from work, enclosing her more fragile one caused her stomach to flip-flop. He could so easily crush her hand. Instead he held her with a gentleness that brought tears to her eyes. As she watched, he released her and moved until he once again gripped the thick spindles.

One tear ran down her cheek. Sweet mercy. He did.

Beneath her, his rib cage expanded. Breath shuddered from the depths of his soul before he went perfectly still.

But
Kalesia
felt the hard, staccato slam of his heart against her thigh.

As she selected one silky strip, his eyes followed her every move with an intensity that she could actually feel.

But he didn’t shift an inch.

Amazing as it was, Gabriel seemed willing to trust her.

She would not screw up this time.
Kalesia
placed the piece of torn scarf in his right hand. The ends dangling down and touched the pillow.

The unfathomable expression vanished and his gaze became molten.

Kalesia
brushed her mouth over the hard lines of his. Just a quick touch before placing the second scarf across his palm. His hands closed about the heavy, carved spindles, the silk trapped between the wood and his callused flesh.

“Remember, you can’t move,” she whispered. They were so close, his breath became hers.

“Your bonds hold me.” Hot and clean, his breath flowed across her lips, heating her blood until it flowed thick and heavy and pooled down low.

She ached to ask if he referred to more than the thin strips of silk but bit back the question at the last moment. What if she was reading more into the moment than there was? Her track record wasn’t exactly something to brag about. Maybe if she had more relationships under her belt, she’d be better able to read between the lines.

Or maybe she was too chicken to ask because Gabriel had the power to do more than batter her heart. He could shatter it.

Kalesia
refused to examine that too closely. She shut her mind to anything other than right here, right now. She planted both hands on his chest and slid from his chest to the hard, ridged stomach.

Walking her fingers over his chest to his triceps. Like a blind person just learning Braille, she traced a slow path up the under side of his arm. She found every intriguing swell of muscle, followed the tensile strength of tendons until she finally reached the thick ridge of scar tissue around each wrist. In a deliberate motion, making no attempt to hide what she was doing, she wrapped her hands around his wrists. Her fingers didn’t quite meet.

Then and there,
Kalesia
made a vow to herself.

Before the night was over, not one scar nor one inch of his body was going to be left untouched. From the lace of scars that marked his beautiful back to the tiny nick behind his left knee. She’d give him so much pleasure that the old pain wouldn’t stand a chance.

For this one night, she’d give him peace.

There was something so sexy about the patch of dark hair under his arms. She couldn’t explain it but it got to her on a purely visceral level. Her breasts tightened.

She sat back.
Kalesia
didn’t know where to start first. Problem was, she wanted to touch him everywhere at the same time. The man was positively beautiful. A tiny grin touched her lips as she pictured his reaction to her calling him beautiful. Well, it was true. Not in any pretty boy, Hollywood fashion but in a raw, masculine fashion that caught a woman’s attention and stayed with her long after the Hollywood pretty boys were consulting high-priced plastic surgeons.

She allowed herself a long, head to toe survey.

Nope. Not a pretty boy but definitely all man.

A shudder of anticipation caused her to slide on his stomach. The thin line of hair that bisected his abdomen rasped deliciously against her clit. She grabbed her bottom lip between her front teeth, stifling a moan. More moisture flowed from between her legs, drenching the hair of her pussy and coating the inside of her thighs, coating his stomach.

Gabriel sucked in a hard breath.

Even that small movement was almost more than she could bear. She bit down on her lip harder.
Concentrate on Gabriel.
On pleasing him
. Her clit throbbed and burned. She ground her pussy against his slick flesh.

He arched beneath her.

A small moan wrenched free of her control. The small sound shocked
Kalesia
into awareness. A tremor went through her.
Kalesia
sucked in a deep breath. She dug the tips of her fingers into the hard muscles of his chest as she fought with the need to impale herself on his erection.

A pulse pounded at the base of the strong neck, his gaze was blazing and, with each breath, he lifted her. Sweat
sheened
on his face, made her hands slip on his chest. Whether it was from arousal or the restraint he was imposing on himself,
Kalesia
wasn’t sure.