After a delicious dinner in the hotel’s gourmet restaurant, Damien took Emma for a stroll down Lincoln Road to enjoy the night air and the outdoor mall. Emma had been a charming dinner companion, tasting and rating every dish. When she’d closed her eyes and licked her lips after sampling the chocolate cake, it had been all he could do not to carry her up to his room. “I’ve called my brother and he’s taking us out on one of his yachts tomorrow. But you can go shopping the day after tomorrow while I’m catching up on some of my work. Use my card.”
“Oh, I keep forgetting about your card,” she said and abruptly stopped, her brown knee-length skirt swishing around her curvy legs. Her silk top emphasized her delicate shoulders and draped over her breasts. Damien was enjoying Emma’s South Beach dress far more than her conservative office attire. She pulled out his credit card and held it toward him. “I don’t need this anymore. Actually, I never did. I was able to find a few things on sale, so…”
“You didn’t use my card?” he asked in disbelief.
She gave an uncomfortable shrug. “No. It just didn’t seem—” She seemed to read his expression of disapproval. “I found bargains, so it wasn’t necessary.”
“I told you to use my card,” he said, torn between dismay and anger. He’d never had a problem getting a woman to use his credit card for shopping before. “I knew you would need different clothing for this trip and it was appropriate for me to provide for that.”
“I’ll wear it again,” she said.
“When?” he asked.
“Maybe on a date,” she said, lifting her shoulders and smiling. “Mallory’s determined to match me up with her friends.”
Her reply irritated him. “So you’ll wear that black bikini on a blind date?”
Her mouth opened and she paused before she closed it and bit her lip. “Well, maybe not, but I needed a new swimsuit anyway. Why is this such a problem? I was trying not to take inappropriate advantage.”
Yet, she wouldn’t bat an eye before betraying him to her former bosses. “It’s insulting.”
Her eyes widened. “I certainly didn’t mean it that way.” Her brow furrowed. “How could it be insulting?”
“I offered to provide clothing for a mandatory business trip and you rejected it.”
“I apologize. I didn’t look at it that way.” She took a quick breath. “This trip has been wonderful so far. I just appreciate being able to be in this amazing place with—” She broke off suddenly as if she didn’t want to finish the sentence. She didn’t want to be happy being with him.
Another step closer, he realized with a sliver of satisfaction. He was making progress. Soon enough she would give him everything he wanted—her passion, and the information he needed to get De Luca. “Keep the card,” he said. “Maybe you’ll find something when you get a chance to go shopping. A souvenir.”
After their walk, they returned to the hotel’s nightclub, which featured subdued lighting, white sheetlike drapes that extended from the high ceilings to the floor, couches and free-flowing martinis. A band played Cuban music, luring listeners onto the dance floor.
“I know Vegas has some hot nightspots, but like most natives I don’t get out to them,” Emma said as she sipped her martini. She glanced around. “There’s something sybaritic about this place. How is your mojito?”
“A little sweet. I prefer my drinks dry. How is your martini?”
“Delicious and generous,” she said. “After my full day, I’m almost afraid to drink it.”
“It would be a shame to waste it,” he said, looking at her mouth, wanting to taste it. The restless, irritable feeling inside him grew, but he tamped it down. “We should dance,” he said.
“We should?” she echoed after taking another sip from her martini.
“We have to make our charade believable,” he said and extended his hand. She followed him onto the dance floor and allowed him to pull her against his body.
The music shifted to a rhythm-and-blues tune and Damien decided, for once, to enjoy the moment. For just this song, he would steep himself in the scent and sensation of her and seduce her just a little further. Damien knew that anticipation was half the game.
He dipped his lips to her shoulder and glided them over her bare skin. She gave a delicate shiver, but didn’t pull away. In fact, she lifted her arms and looped them around the back of his neck. Gratifying, he thought.
He slid his hand down to the small of her back and drew her intimately against him. Her breath caught, but still she didn’t move away.
Every time she submitted to his physical approach, she bumped up his arousal another notch. He was already hard and allowed her to feel it.
He wanted nothing more than to take her mouth with his, but he waited. It killed him, but he waited, instead caressing her smooth neck. She felt pliant and willing in his arms. He decided to go a little further and slid his thigh between hers.
She gave a little whisper of a groan that intensified his arousal another degree. “Do you want me to kiss you?” he whispered against her ear.
She sighed, arching against him as if she wanted to be closer.
“If you want me to kiss you, lift your mouth,” he told her, his voice sounding gritty with desire to his own ears. He waited and the seconds beat inside his head like a low-pitched bell that vibrated through his body. One, two, three…
She finally lifted her head, her eyes dark with need. “Kiss me,” she whispered, and he lowered his head.
Her mouth felt like silk and satin and every sexy, soft thing he’d ever tasted. He lingered on her lips, savoring the sensation of her pliant mouth beneath his. Soon enough, though, it wasn’t enough and he slid his tongue between the seam of her lips to taste her.
She gave a sexy little sigh, and allowed his entrance. She tasted sweet and forbidden. Her tongue wrapped around his, drawing him deeper. She may as well have been stroking him intimately for the effect she had on him. He couldn’t remember a woman making him this hot. He wanted to touch all of her at once. Sliding his hand up her rib cage, just brushing the side of her breast, he continued to take her mouth.
She rubbed against him and he wanted to pull up her skirt so he could touch her sweetness. He wanted to drop his mouth to her breasts. Despite the fact that they were dancing in a darkened corner, he restrained himself.
“I want to put my mouth all over you,” he muttered against her mouth. “I want to taste you. I want to make you so hot you can’t stand it and beg me for more. I want to slide deep inside you and fill you all the way.”
She pressed her open mouth against his in sexual invitation. He kissed her once more, taking her mouth in only a fraction of the way he wanted to take her body. “There are beds with curtains by the pool. I could take you there.”
“Oh,” she said, taking in a quick, sharp breath. She met his gaze, her eyes full of wanting. “I don’t know. It’s so—”
“Decadent,” he said. “Primal.”
“Yes.” She took another breath.
“It’s up to you. I won’t force you. I’m going outside to one of those beds. I have protection,” he assured her. “We won’t go any further than you want to go.”
She licked her lips and he couldn’t withhold a groan.
Her eyes widened at the sound. “I can’t promise—”
“No promises,” he said. “Just pleasure. I’ll wait there for fifteen minutes,” he said and pressed his mouth against hers before he walked away.
She would join him. He was confident of it. He should be feeling more of a sense of triumph. Especially for the larger goal of getting information from her. Instead, though, what he wanted more than anything was to feel her arms and legs wrap around him while he plunged inside her with nothing between them but skin and pounding blood. Damn, if he could explain it, but he wanted her affection and devotion, too.
Emma felt as if her brain had been scrambled. During the last three minutes, all her mental electrical circuits had fried to smithereens. “Come on, rational brain. Save me,” she muttered as she glanced in the direction of the deserted beds by the pool. The beds featured curtains that shielded against prying eyes.
Damien Medici had just issued the wildest invitation she’d ever received in her life. Did she have the nerve to accept it? Perspiration dotted her forehead. Did she have the good sense and fortitude to turn him down or, if necessary, just run away to her suite upstairs?
Emma took another sip of the martini, despite the fact that she knew it wouldn’t help clear her mind. Every fiber of her being craved Damien. She wanted to feel his skin against hers. She wanted him to make her moan. She wanted to make him groan.
If she followed her sensible self, she would run. It was insane.
It was also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
She knocked back the rest of her martini and pushed aside her professional concerns. For the next hour or two, she wouldn’t think about MD. She would think about Damien and her.
Walking toward the beds by the pool, she had second and third thoughts. She kept walking, though, glancing at the loungers, roped off from the crowd inside and on the patio. A little further and she began to feel uneasy. Perhaps she should go to her room. Perhaps this was totally insane. It was totally insane, but maybe he was worth the insanity.
Emma walked past one more bed and felt the chicken in her start to squawk. Stopping, she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself. She felt her nerve begin to dissolve.
Maybe…
“Emma,” Damien’s voice, low, but strong, reached out to her. “I’m here.”
Sucking in another deep breath, she slowly turned toward him. He stood just outside one of the poolside beds, the light outlining his tall, powerful frame.
Wanting washed over her. She wanted to be with him. She wanted to touch him. Gathering her nerve, she walked toward him. “I almost left,” she confessed, looking into his face, half shielded by the darkness.
“I’m glad you didn’t,” he said and lifted his hand to her hair.
“Come inside,” he coaxed.
With only his hand on her hair, she followed him inside, distantly aware of the swish of draperies closing behind her. The music from the live band played from a speaker in the pool area, adding to the sensuality of the atmosphere.
“Put your arms around me,” he told her, and she did.
“This is crazy,” she said, inhaling his scent from his open shirt.
“Yeah,” he said, rubbing his forehead and nose against hers as he slid one hand underneath her hair and the other around the back of her waist. “Wanna stop?”
Her heart tripped over itself. “No,” she whispered.
He pressed the small of her back, guiding her pelvis against his arousal. She felt herself grow hotter with each movement. The air inside the curtained area grew more steamy with each passing breath.
His movements were carnal and suggestive. She wasn’t the least bit threatened, though. She wanted more. Lifting her head, she met his gaze and he guided her against him in a rhythm as old as time.
He swore, pulling her mouth against his and squeezing her bottom. Her heart raced and she felt light-headed. She had never felt this much want, this much need.
Tugging blindly at his shirt, she fumbled with his buttons. He pushed her hand aside and loosened them himself. She spread her hands over his warm, muscled flesh. So strong, so male.
His strength was an aphrodisiac. Distantly sensing his hands on the buttons of her blouse, she felt a draft of air on her back and her chest as her blouse dipped to her chest. One, two, three more seconds and her bra seemed to dissolve.
Her breasts meshed with his chest and she couldn’t withhold a moan. He thrust his tongue into her mouth while he stroked the sides of her breasts. Her nipples peaked even though he hadn’t touched them. Lower, she grew wet and swollen.
“So sweet, so good,” he said, sliding his mouth down her throat, down her chest to her breast.
Emma held her breath, wanting, aching for more.
He gently pushed her back on the lush lounge and followed her down, taking one of her nipples into his mouth.
She arched toward him in pleasure and need. “Oh, Damien.”
“I love the sound of my name on your lips,” he muttered, sliding his lips down to her abdomen, pushing away her skirt. He skimmed his hand beneath her satin panties and found her most sensitive spot with unerring ease.
Emma shuddered at his intimate touch. She felt her body tighten with each stroke of his fingers, each breath that blew over her bare belly. He dipped lower and took her with his mouth.
Pleasured in a way she’d never experienced, she felt as if he were claiming her with his hands, with his mouth. Of its own volition her body shook with the beginning waves of climax.
Pulling away just before she soared, he skimmed his mouth back up her body. Every cell inside her was begging for him to finish her, to fill her up and take her the rest of the way. Her craving for him stole her breath.
“Inside,” she said, clinging to his shoulders, drowning in his black gaze full of potent arousal. “Inside.”
He pushed down his slacks and pulled on protection, then pushed her thighs apart. “Hold on tight,” he said in a voice rough with need. Then he thrust inside her in one mind-blowing stroke.
He filled her, stretching her so that she could barely catch her breath. The way he took her, the way he looked at her felt somehow primitive, as if he was laying claim to her and she would never be the same. Her heart pounding with overwhelming sensations and feelings, Emma couldn’t tear her eyes from his. She lifted her hand to his face, touching his scar. He closed his eyes for a heartbeat, then rubbed his mouth over her hand.
He began to pump and the pleasure inside her quickly built again. The need edging toward desperation tightened. With each thrust, he took her higher and higher.
“I want it all, Emma. Give it all to me,” he muttered.
His demand, his powerful thrusts and all the feelings she was experiencing were too much. Her body clenched him and a deep spasm of pleasure shot her into a realm of ecstasy she’d never experienced. A second later, he stiffened and swore, shuddering in climax. The experience was so powerful it took her a full moment to begin to breathe again.
Feeling his heartbeat pound against hers, she opened her eyes, half wondering if the earthquake that had taken place between them had brought down their outdoor boudoir if not the entire hotel.
She met his gaze to find him looking at her with an expression of primitive possession and a twinge of surprise. “I knew there was something between us, but—”
“It surprised me, too,” she said, breathless.
“I want you to join me in my suite,” he said and pulled an extra key card from the pocket of his slacks as he got dressed. He handed her the key. “I want more time with you.”
Taking his cue that it was time to get dressed, she gathered her wits, pulled on her clothes and slipped his key into her small purse. She met his gaze. “Is that an order?”
“Not at all,” he said, leaning toward her and rubbing his mouth against hers. He arranged her blouse and smoothed her hair. The considerate gesture took her by surprise. “An invitation. You go first. I don’t want to leave you here by yourself.”
Her heart squeezed at his admission. “Why not?”
“Because you’re wearing the irresistible expression of a woman who’s just been thoroughly—” He broke off. “Trust me. One look at you and the hounds will be at your heels. Leave first and I’ll catch up with you.”
Feeling off-kilter, she stepped into her sandals and took a few deep breaths. She glanced back at him.
“I’ll catch up in just a minute,” he said.
She peeked out of the curtain and, seeing no one, she walked outside. The tropical breeze played over her skin, soothing her as she walked on the concrete next to the pool. What had she just done? she asked herself. Although Emma’s sexual history was rather sparse, she couldn’t recall any experience that had exploded with such passion. Physically, it had been unbelievable, but there’d been something deeper going on between them…unless she’d imagined it. And should she dare go to his room? Was she out of her mind?
Seconds later, she felt him step to her side and slide his hand around her back. “Okay?”
“Yes,” she said, but her hands were trembling.
He caught one of them and slid his strong hand over hers. “Liar.”
“I’m working on it,” she said defensively. “I don’t have that much experience with this kind of thing.”
“Sex?” he asked, as he guided her toward the elevators.
She didn’t want to admit just how limited her experience was. “With my boss in a cabana. New for me.”
He chuckled. “I’m glad I got you carried away.”
She took in a deep breath and entered the elevator as the doors whooshed open. She closed her eyes, hating how vulnerable she felt.
“What is it?” he asked.
They were the only people in the elevator. “This is going to sound really crazy, but I don’t want you to think I’m easy.”
He gave a bark of laughter. “Easy? I felt like I was breaking into Fort Knox.”
Her heart lifted and her lips twitched. She threw him a sideways glance. “Slight exaggeration.”
He shook his head. “I would have taken you in the office, in my car, in the limo, at the charity event…”
His confession squeezed her heart. “Why me?”
“You have something,” he said, his eyes darkening. “You have something I’ve never had before and I want it.”
The elevator dinged as it reached the top floor and he glanced at the doors as they opened. “But it’s up to you. You have the key to my suite,” he said and walked out of the elevator.
Emma followed him outside of the elevator and slowly walked to her room. Standing outside her door, she looked further down the hall to Damien’s room. She’d thought he was heartless and cold, but he was hotter than a fire on the coldest, scariest night of her life.
She wondered what she had that Damien could possibly want so much. Her heart did a strange flip-flop. Did she have the nerve to go to his room? Did she have the nerve not to go to him?