Tapestry of the Past (6 page)

How could eyes the color of liquid mercury be so cold? Pinned in place by that frozen gaze,
Kalesia
stared up at him, her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

“Understand?”

Her instinctive protest stilled at the aura of suppressed violence that shimmered around him. This was no dime store cop blustering but a lethal, dangerous predator laying down the law.

She had two choices—accept his methods and cooperate, or walk out the door. Her first instinct had been right. Gabriel Steele was no alley cat open to coaxing but a full-fledged jungle cat with a taste for blood.

She unstuck her tongue. “I know because I saw scuff marks and felt my knees hit the mud.” At her surrender, the large form relaxed, a subtle release of tension that took his muscles from poised for battle to merely alert. “And because I sensed violence at the scene. Part of it is physical and part is like being certain someone is watching you without turning around.”

It was a surrender,
Kalesia
acknowledged to herself, as the tautness inside her eased in response. Both of them knew that with her compliance she ceded control to him. She waited for resentment. She’d been taking care of herself for a long time. To her surprise, she found it didn’t bother her as much as it should. Before she could ponder that revelation, Gabriel moved back and settled in his chair, continuing his questioning as though nothing had happened.

Three hours later, her temper was fraying.

“Was there any similarity between that murder and this one?”

She drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair and contemplated throwing the pillow at his head. “I told you. That happened years ago. Nothing ever came of it. No one believed me when I reported that woman’s murder five years ago. Just as no one believed me when I reported a child’s murder two years before that.”

She put a hand to her throat, hoping to ease the ache there from the effort not to scream in sheer frustration. The man was worse than impossible He grabbed on, refused to let go, made her go over each vision time and again. Asked the same questions over and over, as if he just asked often enough, she’d change her story. He couldn’t get it through his thick skull that this was the way it always was. She’d see a murder and then would have to live with the knowledge that no one believed her. That maybe, just maybe, she could have helped to hold someone accountable if only people were willing to listen, to believe.

“Tell me again,” he ordered, ignoring her outburst.

Her hand dropped from her throat to curl on the arm of her chair. “Tell me again. Tell me again,” she mimicked. “I feel like a suspect in a police interrogation. What are you? A cop or something?” The minute the question was out of her mouth, she was ashamed. It wasn’t fair to throw his retirement in his face. Gabriel was still a young man, should have had years left on the force. A man like Gabriel didn’t just change careers without a very good reason. Not that it was an excuse but she was so sick and tired of having to always defend what she saw. Once, just once, why couldn’t someone just believe her?

“Or something,” Gabriel agreed in a neutral tone.

The quiet admission stopped her cold. Gabriel met her eyes squarely, the gray gaze shuttered.
Kalesia
was shockingly aware of having stumbled onto something dark and forbidden. Something intrinsically dangerous. Something that was better left alone.

Her mouth went dry. She ran the tip of her tongue across her bottom lip.

Swirling hunger filled the crystalline eyes.

All at once the lateness of the hour, the fragrance of orange blossom, gardenia and honeysuckle from the nursery, the intimacy of the warm glow of the single lamp spelled danger of a different sort.

Capturing her gaze with his, he got up from his chair. Most men his size, well over six feet and heavy with muscles from work and not those from a gym, didn’t move with lethal, sensual grace the way Gabriel did. It riveted
Kalesia
. Never failed to remind her of a large cat. Give him green eyes and the resemblance between him and a prowling panther would be startling.

It also never failed to rouse every feminine instinct she possessed.

A deep, wary excitement fluttered low in her stomach. The hand holding the pillow pressed hard against her stomach while the other clutched the arm of the chair as if it were a lifeline. Tiny hairs all over her body lifted just as if she’d stood in the midst of a fierce lightning storm. The sensation caused her nipples to pucker and goose bumps to race over her skin.

Gabriel stopped in front of her, his legs brushing hers. His gaze went to the pillow and the corner of his mouth lifted. It wasn’t a smile, his expression was too intense for that.

So what was it?

His gaze met hers and the breath hitched in her chest.

Searing heat. Desire. Need.

Satisfaction.

He knew she wanted him.

Not looking away, he snagged the pillow from her grasp and tossed it over his shoulder. It felt as if he’d just stripped her naked. He planted both hands on the arms of the chair and leaned down until his face was level with hers.

His stance was the same as earlier in the evening when he’d used intimidation to gain her cooperation. Then she’d felt threatened. She still felt threatened but in a way that made her excruciatingly aware she was female and he was male. A way that no other man had ever made her feel.

Common sense told her to flee.

Instead, she ran the tip of her tongue around her lips in a quick, nervous swipe and cast common sense to the wind.

She leaned in until not even a breath separated their lips.

Gabriel went still.

He even seemed to stop breathing.

In the hush, the sound of her heart beating in her ears nearly deafened
Kalesia
. His lips remained motionless under hers. She almost retreated, embarrassed that she’d misread his interest, then she stiffened her spine. There was only one way she’d know for sure. If she were wrong, she could always dig a hole and pull it in after her. But at least she’d know.

She traced the seam of his mouth with the tip of her tongue.

He released his pent-up breath with a shudder that bathed her face in heat. Long fingers tightened on the arms of the chair.

Encouraged, she teased the moist lining of his lips. Her hands came up to cup his cheeks. She rubbed her palms on the stubble, loving the rasp of evening whiskers against her sensitive palms.

He purred.

That was all she could call the deep rumble that emerged from the depths of his chest. Against his mouth, she grinned. Oh, she wanted to pull that sound from him again.

With the tips of her fingers, she traced the uncompromising line of his jaw, the bold shape of his nose before trailing her fingers up to his temples. On his left temple, she felt a small, irregular scar and smoothed the pad of her finger over it.

He tensed slightly and
Kalesia
remembered his reaction when she touched the scars on his wrist. She slid her tongue over his, a warm, wet glide that both teased and promised, an unspoken agreement not to talk about his scars. The pulse in his temples jumped.

Kalesia
did what she’d been dying to do since she met him, she slid her fingers into the night-dark depths of his hair. She was the one to purr now. Oh God, he felt good. She kneaded his scalp, her mouth frantic on his.

Gabriel sank to his knees.

“Put your legs around me.”

Dazed, she stared up at him, trying to make sense of the harsh command.

“Do it. Wrap your legs around my waist.”

If she did as he ordered, she’d be wide open to him. Tension hardened the already harsh lines of his face as the seconds ticked past and she didn’t move. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth.

Slowly, she spread her legs.

He surged into the space she created.

“Around me. Wrap your legs around me.” Dark color slashed the high bones of his cheeks.

She’d never had anyone want her like this. It was more than a little heady. And scary. What would happen when he learned she couldn’t live up to his expectations? Would he turn on her like Christopher had? Would he flay her with words meant to wound? Her teeth sank deeper into her lip.

He tugged her lip free with his thumb, the work-roughened pad running over the abused flesh. The gesture was oddly soothing. Unable to resist, she swiped his thumb with a quick lick.

Ocean. He tasted of the ocean.
Kalesia
closed her eyes, savoring his flavor.

Gabriel pushed his thumb in her mouth. Without thought,
Kalesia
closed her lips around it and sucked.

His groan filled the air around them.

“Come on, sugar, put those beautiful legs around me.” Voice thick with desire, he ran his free hand down her leg, from knee to ankle. The delicate silk of her stocking caught on his calluses.

He thought her legs were beautiful?
Kalesia
lifted her lids a fraction. Looking into the harshly drawn lines of his face, wonder filled her. As amazing as it was, Gabriel Steele thought her legs were beautiful. She shook her head. The man was blind but who was she to correct him?

Maybe it was just passion speaking, maybe he would find her disappointing before the evening was over. No matter. Tonight she wanted to discover if the real thing came even close to her dreams of the past week.

She lifted her legs and locked her ankles behind his back, her heels resting on the muscular swell of his buttocks.

Pure masculine satisfaction turned the silver of his eyes molten. He withdrew his thumb from her mouth slowly, painting her lips with moisture.

“That’s the way, sugar.” He moved his hands to her waist and pulled her toward him until his cock nudged her damp panties.

Kalesia
caught her bottom lip between her teeth again at the tantalizing touch.

“Uh-uh. If anyone is
goin
’ to chew on that bottom lip, it’s
goin
’ to be me.”
Kalesia
about melted as a hint of a Southern drawl slipped into the rich, dark tones.

He dipped his head, catching her lower lip between his teeth, the exquisite press of his teeth both persuasion and domination. Excitement and anticipation surged through her blood, heating it. Her heart began pounding, slow and hard.

Kalesia
thought it was going to beat out of her chest.

Would he be gentle? Or would he give a sharp nip that bordered on pain?

A single, slow glide of his tongue swept across the tender inside of her lip.

Gentle.

Her hands gripped his forearms, tested the hardness and strength of the muscles beneath the long sleeve tee shirt. Even with the material between them, heat poured off Gabriel. This close his scent, already familiar, played havoc with her senses. She loved the fact that he didn’t wear cologne. He smelled of the outdoors and soap and Gabriel.

Then she stopped thinking as he launched a gentle assault against her mouth. He nibbled from one corner of her mouth to the other. He seemed particularly fascinated with the bow in the middle of her upper lip, playing with it until the sensation became almost too much.

She caught his head in her hands. “Gabriel.” It was a plea, a demand for him to stop teasing her.

He brushed his lips over her cheek, the tip of her nose, both eyes. “What? What do you want,
Kalesia
? Tell me,” he coaxed, his mouth behind her ear.

Tell him? Was he crazy? She couldn’t tell him her name at the moment. She finally managed to
unstick
her tongue. “I want you to kiss me.” There, that should satisfy him.

“How?”

Her eyes popped open. Damn him, he was just toying with her. She opened her mouth to berate him and a tiny growl slipped out instead. “Properly.” She gave a sharp tug on his hair, pulling his head away from her neck.
Kalesia
glared at him. “I want you to kiss me properly.”

“All you had to do is ask, baby.”

There was not a thing in his voice to indicate he was amused but
Kalesia
couldn’t shake the feeling he was laughing at her. Frustrated and mad, about ready to shove him out of the way and storm up to her room, Gabriel stole her ire by covering her mouth with his. His tongue slid into her mouth. A slow, thorough invasion that sent sparks through her body.

She moaned as his mouth trailed to the pulse pounding in her neck. He bit lightly at the delicate cord running the length of her neck.

So this is what they meant by having your socks blown off, she thought in dazed wonder. She tightened her thighs around his waist, rubbing her pussy shamelessly on his denim-covered erection. Bolts of sensation jolted through her swollen flesh. A flood of moisture soaked her silk panties.

So she did it again.

Son of a bitch.
Gabriel swore again as
Kalesia
dragged her pussy the length of his aching cock. It was so hard, he was afraid it would shatter. He grabbed her hips and held her still. He was so close to the edge, all it would take was a couple more strokes of her pussy and it’d be over before he even began. She moved restlessly against him, rubbing her breasts back and forth over his chest. Small pleading sounds broke from her lips.

The feel of the hardened peaks damn near did him in. If he’d been standing, his knees would have buckled. Son of a bitch. She was hotter than an August afternoon in South Florida. The woman was going to burn him alive.

Damn, what a way to go.

He felt her hands fumbling at the button of his jeans. He started to reach for his wallet to get a rubber only to remember he hadn’t carried one in a couple of years.

He dropped his head back with a disgusted groan. “Son of a bitch.” He caught her hands before she could pull the zipper down. Thumb beneath her chin, he tilted her face to his. “We can’t, sugar. No condom.”

He saw realization slowly sink in. Disappointment flashed in those beautiful green eyes.

Her pussy was still pressed up against his cock. The heat, the wetness from it soaked through the thick material of his jeans. His cock jerked. Gabriel gritted his teeth, furious with himself.