Tempt Me (6 page)

Now she was on her back on the ground with her pants down, Gabriel’s head between her thighs, and family within shouting distance.

And she couldn’t care less.

The pictures he’d drawn in her mind with that husky whisper were shocking. Scandalous. Had she ever wondered what it would be like, having someone watch her? Now it was all she could think of.

The fantasy was so strong she opened her eyes, sure she would find a man watching from the darkness. A man wanting to touch her. Wanting his tongue, instead of Gabriel’s, gliding along the lips of her sex, wanting to suck her clit while his fingers plunged deep inside her.

For an instant she thought she saw . . . and then her eyes blurred with pleasure. She was coming. So hard the power of it pulled her off the grass. Her back arched and her teeth bit into her hand to stop her screams.

But he was nowhere near done. Her skin was still tingling from her orgasm, every inch scalded by his touch, and a lightning storm of energy and passion zapped along her nerve endings as he silently demanded more with his mouth. His fingers. His tongue.

She could almost feel it. She was dizzy. Light-headed. It was the strangest sensation, as though he was consuming her down to her soul. Every bit of her being drawn into him. This was more than desire. More than lust. But whatever it was, she didn’t care right now. She just didn’t want it to end.

His tongue curled inside her sex, vibrating with his moan as though he loved the taste of her. Couldn’t get enough.

Her hands reached down to sift through his hair again, loving the softness of it, the velvet waves curling around her fingers—the only thing about Gabriel that wasn’t rough and hard. The only thing she had to hang on to as he brought her back to the edge of madness with a few firm thrusts of his fingers.

His other hand reached up to grip one of her wrists, tugging her hand out of his hair and guiding it to her breast. She looked down at his green eyes, dark and sparkling like jewels, his intent clear.

He wanted to watch as she touched herself.

Angelique licked her lips, unable to stop them from curving up. Her other hand lifted to join the first and she cupped the heavy globes of her breasts, presenting them to him like an offering.

He gently bit the sensitive flesh of her sex in approval, and she shivered.

She squeezed her nipples between her fingers, a tight twist that made her thighs quiver and his gaze narrow. She did it again.
Yes
. She liked that. Liked the zap of pain, the flash of pleasure that followed in a rush behind it.

He did, too. But she knew what he would like even more.

She pressed her breasts together and lifted her head off the grass, her tongue darting out to lick one nipple, then the other.

Gabriel lifted his mouth and growled. “Again.”

Angelique obeyed. She moaned in disappointment when he rose to his knees, leaving her wanting. She was so close to coming again. So close to falling over that cliff that was quickly becoming her addiction. But one look at his expression and she knew he wasn’t going anywhere. His fingers, still damp with her arousal, reached down to close over the brass button of his pants. The sound of his zipper sent a shudder through her. This was really happening. Right here. Right now.

Oh God.

“Oh—um—well, shit.”

The unfortunately familiar female voice sent Angelique and Gabriel scrambling away from each other. She cursed silently as her sluggish hands readjusted her blouse, covering her breasts.

Her jeans and the remnants of her thong were a bit more difficult of a proposition.

She looked up at Gabriel, thankful that he’d moved to stand between her and Bethany as she got to her feet and hopped herself back into her jeans. She shoved a scrap of red lace into her pocket and tried to focus on the hushed conversation going on in front of her.

Bethany sounded strained. “They noticed Angelique was gone. We told them we saw her head toward the front door, and that we thought you’d gone home.”

“I appreciate the circumspection.” Gabriel sounded strange.

Angelique peered around his broad shoulders to study his face. Emotionless. Almost cold. Could he turn it off so quickly, then? She’d never been that good at hiding her emotions, and right now she was a tangled mass of nerves—not to mention frustration, embarrassment, and unbelievable arousal.

Bethany sent her a sympathetic glance just as her husband appeared behind her.

BD raised one elegant eyebrow as he took in the situation. He snared Angelique’s gaze, one side of his mouth quirking upward. “Yes. You are definitely my favorite Rousseau.”

Bethany dug her elbow into his ribs and he winced. “What? You didn’t marry a puritan, Blue Eyes. And it’s not as if you don’t enjoy a touch of risk now and then. I distinctly remember a certain store’s dressing roo—oomph!”

Angelique tried to hide her smile when Bethany whirled around and covered her husband’s mouth with her hand. “Public displays of affection aren’t the issue here, okay? And keep your voice down.”

Understanding dawned in BD’s amber eyes and he tugged Bethany’s hand away from his mouth, kissing it apologetically. “The players and not the game. I see. And you’re right as usual, my love. Rousseau is more the punch first, think later sort. Especially when it comes to things he can’t explain. Like me.” He smiled, lost in a memory. “But he usually comes around.”

Angelique shook her head. Yes, she might have chosen a more secluded spot, if she’d known how well and truly lost to Gabriel’s touch she’d become. But she wasn’t sorry it happened. And she wasn’t going to act like a toddler with a hand in the cookie jar. “Well, you may see it, but I don’t. What I choose to do is exactly that. My choice. My brother needs to get used to that.”

She placed her hand on Gabriel’s arm and his muscles tensed. He backed away from her and ran a hand through his hair. “It isn’t about you at all, Angelique. It’s about me.”

He refused to look at her, to look at any of them, as he continued to back farther away. She watched his gaze dart around the yard, peering through the shadows. “I shouldn’t be here. I have to go. Forgive me.”

She stood beside the tree and watched him disappear around one side of the rambling old mansion just as her brother and Ben appeared from the other.

Son of a bitch. What was wrong with that man? She knew it wasn’t fear of Celestin that sent him racing off into the night. No. Something else was going on.

Maybe, she admitted silently. But she didn’t think so. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did. Gabriel’s responses to her had been real. The chemistry she’d been feeling between them was real. And so volatile it had overwhelmed her.

A part of Angelique was still reeling from the experience. She’d come alive for the first time in a way she could hardly explain. Her miniature obsession with the scowling bad boy had taken an unexpected turn. Now that she knew what he could do to her body with a single touch . . .

She just had to find out what he—what
everyone
—was hiding from her about him. Now more than ever.

Bethany’s words fell right in line with her plan. “Babe, could you distract the boys and tell Michelle and Allegra we’ll be back in a few minutes, please? I think we need to have a girl talk.”

BD bowed quickly and winked at the women. “For you? Anything.” He raised his voice and headed toward the two scowling men who’d reached the gazebo. “Rousseau, Ben, did I ever tell you about the time I was called to help a certain senator with a penchant for, shall we say, letting someone else have the
reins
?”

Bethany sighed and sat down beside the tree, where Angelique had been on her back only moments before. “I’m exhausted. Come on, have a seat.”

She sat down, studying the woman who was studying her. Noticing the evidence that Angelique could feel all over her face. The heat and redness on her cheeks and neck from Gabriel’s stubble. The swollen lips. She braced herself for the imminent interrogation.

“What do you want to know?”

Angelique frowned. “Huh?”

Bethany lifted one shoulder. “We have a couple of choices here. Number one, I could let Michelle talk to you. But if past experience is anything to go by—and trust me, it is—she’ll warn you to stay away from Gabriel. She’s protective; it’s just her way. And she’s already worried about her brother.”

Angelique figured as much. She wrapped her arms around her knees and sighed. “What are our other choices?”

“We could let
your
brother see the way you look right now and step aside while he pummels Gabriel into a handsome pile of goo, but I don’t think any of us wants that.” Bethany twirled a broken twig between her fingers. “Or . . . I could just satisfy your curiosity about him, and let you make your own decisions.”

Angelique reached out and squeezed Bethany’s hand. “That’s the nicest choice anyone has ever given me.”

“Trust me, I know how you feel.” Bethany grinned. “You asked what happened last year? Well, other than Allegra loving your brother so much that she offered a Loa a gift he couldn’t refuse to free him, and me discovering said Loa was my reincarnated lover who was waiting for a second chance with me . . .” She stopped at Angelique’s confused expression and laughed. “
You
wanted to know. Allegra’s writing another story about them. I mean us. Marcel and Isabel. It’s confusing. I’ll tell you about it sometime, but I think you wanted to know about what happened to Gabriel.”

Angelique nodded, her eyes wide. “Yes. But later, I definitely want to know about Marcel and Isabel.”

Bethany’s smile disappeared. “You know about Michelle’s ability to see ghosts. What you don’t know is that there was a time when she tried not to. Back when we first met. Michelle came back to New Orleans because she was faced with something she couldn’t avoid. A violent spirit who liked being noticed almost as much as he enjoyed inflicting pain.”

“Oh my.”

But Bethany wasn’t done. “It followed her back home. It waited. And when Gabriel showed up out of the blue, having just discovered most of his life was one mean, hurtful lie . . . the spirit possessed him to try and hurt his sister. And it very nearly succeeded.”

Angelique placed her fingers at her temple and rubbed. She felt like she’d jumped into this conversation in the middle. Or into a strange piece of fiction. If zombies suddenly sprang out from behind the gazebo, she wouldn’t be surprised.

“So he was possessed? But how? I mean, doesn’t he have abilities that protect him? Like Michelle’s?”

Bethany shook her head. “I don’t think so. Michelle had her gift for as long as she could remember, but Gabriel never showed any signs.” She leaned her head back against the tree, lost in thought. “Michelle told me they were eight when his father took him away to Italy. That she found out after the attack about the priests and all the beatings he suffered to make sure he wasn’t like her. Really horrible stuff. I imagine that kind of abuse would knock the magic out of anybody.”

Or the hope. Angelique ached for him. The story explained the stark loneliness in his eyes. The vulnerability that he covered up with his gruff demeanor.

“What about this last year? Why did he leave?”

Bethany lifted one dark brow. “Would
you
want to stay? He tried. Mambo Toussaint told me he stayed up several nights reading all the letters his sister had written to him through the years. The ones his father had sent back unopened. He spent a little time with his mother, looking at some old pictures and letting her feed him, but after a month or two he took off. All we know is he didn’t go back to Italy. And that he seems to be, well, worse than when he left.”

Bethany bit her lip, as if holding something back.

“You may as well tell her, my darling. You’ve given her everything else.”

Bethany looked up at her husband and wrinkled her nose. “What part of
girl talk
don’t you understand, Sugar Cakes?”

BD knelt down beside them, an offended expression crossing his stunning features. “I know all about this girl talk of which you speak. Sometimes it leads to girl pillow fights, girl kissing—” He laughed when Bethany swatted his arm halfheartedly and glanced at Angelique. “There is something in the air around him. Something strange. But our Michelle can’t see it with her vision. And from what Benjamin just told me, when he shook Gabriel’s hand he sensed it as well. Something just out of reach. Something with him, blocked from both of them. It scares them. For Gabriel’s sake, and everyone else’s.”

Angelique shivered.

Something
with
him? Maybe that was what he was talking to when she found him—had it been little more than an hour ago?

It was hard to wrap her mind around. Or her emotions. She was angry for the little boy who’d been torn from his mother and abused. Horrified over the terrifying scenario of possession Bethany had described. And still curious about the mystery surrounding him. Where had he been? What had happened to him? And why was he back?

“Fate. Destiny.”

Angelique and Bethany both stared at BD in question.

“The Marassa Twins wouldn’t leave the brother of a
bon ange
out in the darkness alone. Whether they gave him gifts or not. Maybe they’re giving him a chance to really find his way back home. Maybe now was exactly the right time.”

“Marassa Twins?”

Bethany let BD pull her closer as she answered. “The Loa that gave Michelle her gift. The ones that watch over twins, and sometimes grant them special abilities.”

Angelique tilted her head. “See, that doesn’t make any sense. That they would only give
her
special abilities. Has anyone ever asked him?” Not that she really knew anything about the whims or personalities of voodoo spirits, but that didn’t seem very fair.

What if Gabriel did, after all, have some kind of ability that made Michelle and Ben, both powerful in their own right, nervous?