Chapter 22

Dean couldn’t tear his eyes away from the satisfied smile on Gina’s face as she lay on the couch before him. With the firelight flickering over her damp body, she was a goddess, and he’d never seen anything more beautiful. Her complete willingness to trust him had been as arousing as her passionate response to his touch. It humbled and excited him at the same time.

His body ached, demanding he strip his clothes off and bury himself in her heat until she cried his name again. Instead, he slid his splayed fingers up her smooth stomach until finally—because it’d been killing him not to touch her breasts—he cupped both firm mounds in his hands.

Her eyes flew open, then just as fast her lashes fluttered down again.

She didn’t have big breasts, but they were the perfect size handful for him to use his thumbs and forefingers to roll her nipples. Her back arched, and though he wouldn’t have thought it was possible, her gasping moan turned him on even more.

“Dean…I think it’s…my turn…or your turn,” she panted.

“It is,” he agreed just before he sucked the tip of one breast into his mouth.

“Oh, God,” she breathed.

He took his time with each side, laving each one with his tongue, nipping, sucking until he was pretty sure neither one of them could take much more.

“Dean?”

“Hmm?” he hummed against her skin. Her hands were in his hair, fingers clenched as if to pull him away even as she held him closer.

“Just so you know, once I saw you, I didn’t see anyone else.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That night at the club. There was no one else but you.”

He stilled when his brain caught up with her words, then shifted until they were face to face. Her violet eyes held his, so full of trust and warmth and honesty that his heart slammed against his ribs. It took off at double-time as she smiled up at him.

“I don’t think you could’ve picked a better time to fix that,” he told her, leaning down to kiss her moist, swollen lips.

What started as a slow thank you heated up fast when her hands began their own exploration. First it was his shoulders and his back, then her fingers skimmed between their bodies and slid beneath the waistband of his pants. His stomach muscles clenched a second before her hand closed around his aching flesh, making his whole body jerk in reaction.

She stroked down to the base of his erection and back up again to brush her thumb across the tip. Good, God, that felt good.

“Take these off,” she commanded.

He stood to strip off his pants and boxer briefs when it dawned on him he was missing something. Shit.

“Stay here. Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

Without waiting for her response, he hurried up the stairs to his bedroom. He was half-way to the nightstand when the cougar stopped him dead. He did a quick spin to take in the transformed room.

Wow. They were coming back up here to christen this sonofabitch later.

Grinning in anticipation, he grabbed what he needed and returned downstairs. “Nice job on the room.”

She propped up on her elbows as he tossed a couple condoms on the table. “You like it?”

“I love it.” Almost as much as he loved her.

The thought caught him off guard, but he had no time to really think about it when she leaned and reached to snag the drawstring of his pants. An insistent tug brought him to the couch. There were times over the past couple weeks he’d glimpsed a hint of shyness in her. But right now, she sat up in front of him and all he saw was a beautiful woman more than confident in going after what she wanted.

She pushed his pants down and he kicked them aside as her fingers encircled his rock-hard erection. Her auburn hair had fallen forward to hide her face, but then she gave him one of her sultry, through-the-lashes glances and leaned forward to take him in her mouth. With both hands, he pushed her hair back and watched. The erotic sight of her tongue flicking out to circle his head made his fingers clench in her hair.

Shit. No. He was going to explode.

He pulled back with an incoherent protest and tried to lay her back on the couch. She resisted and maneuvered him onto his back instead.

“Now it’s my turn.”

The blanket she’d spread over the couch cushions was as warm and soft against his back as she was on his front. Her body covered his as she kissed her way from his lips, down to his navel, and back again. Eyes closed, he savored the fiery sensations that had every nerve in his body alive and screaming.

His erection strained against her, missing the wet warmth of her mouth even though he knew he wouldn’t have managed to last a minute. Hell, probably not even thirty seconds.

She moved, and cool air rushed over his skin. He opened his eyes to see her reaching for a condom.

Yes.

He thought he’d die as she rolled the protection on much too slow for his taste. Then again, watching her concentrate on the task was worth the wait. Once she was done, she moved up and straddled him with one knee on either side of his waist. A tortured groan ripped from his lips as she lowered her body and took his full length inside her.

Tight and wet and hot—she was heaven.

Then she moved, and he about near came apart. Looking up at her, a goddess bathed in the soft glow of the fire with her hair wild about her shoulders, he knew he needed to be in control for this first ride. He surged up and crushed her to him before flipping their positions so he was on top.

“Hey,” she protested.

“Next time,” he muttered against her lips. “Promise.”

His tongue delved deep, claiming her as his own as he began to move inside her. Slow to start, then faster as they both reached for the building crescendo. He fought to hold on as long as he could, muscles so tense his whole body ached. Pushing up on his hands, he changed the angle.

“Oh, God, Dean…God, yes,” she moaned.

Her fingers dug into his forearms. Head thrown back, eyes closed, lips parted…she was close—so close, but…

He grit her name out between clenched teeth and spoke one word to go with each driving thrust. “Gina…now…please.”

His guttural plea triggered her release. As her muscles clenched around him and she cried out his name, he let go and hurtled over the edge with her.

* * *

Dean woke up slowly as details registered on his consciousness. Gina lay curled up against his side, soft and warm and gloriously naked in his new bed. The night had been beyond his wildest dreams and more than worth the wait, even though now that he’d slept he could feel the effects of the accident in every aching, stiff joint of his body.

With a press of his lips to her forehead, he softly finger-combed her hair from her face before turning his head toward the windows. On the nightstand, the numbers on his alarm clock blinked the wrong time. The power must’ve come on in the past couple hours because it wasn’t much before dawn that they’d fallen into exhausted slumber. The sun was shining outside, but it was definitely still morning.

Gina made a cute little mewling sound in her sleep, and turned away from him to snuggle into the thick comforter.

He lifted the covers a tiny bit and slid his gaze along the line of her spine, down to the dimples above her sweet ass cheeks. She’d alternately giggled and quivered last night when his tongue had traced that same path. Then he’d flipped her over and licked his way back up. Finally, he’d made good on his promise for her to be on top.

Biting back a groan, he dropped his head back to his pillow. Time to get moving before his growing hard-on demanded attention.

He eased from the bed, showered, shaved, and dressed, all without her moving. He would’ve loved to wake her up, but while he was used to nights of only a few hours of sleep, she probably wasn’t. Not to mention, his sore body protested each movement he made.

Downstairs, he started a pot of coffee and leaned against the counter as one specific memory surfaced in his fully-alert mind.

“I love it.” Almost as much as he loved her.

This morning, the thought didn’t even surprise him. Probably because of the soul deep connection he’d experienced with her last night. His mouth quirked at the corny, sappy notion…and yet, there it was.

He did love her. Couldn’t imagine going a day without her in his life. By his side. In his bed. Maybe someday their bed—she had picked it out, after all. That she was upstairs sleeping in it right now gave him every confidence the future would be theirs, and he smiled.

The gurgle of the pot signaled the brew cycle was done, so he poured a large cup and went straight to his office. Water dripped from the roof in front of the windows, evidence the temperature had warmed up again and the sunshine was making quick work of the ice outside. It was quarter after eight on a Saturday morning, but he had plenty of work to do inside until she woke up. Then he was taking the rest of the day off.

He sipped the steaming caffeine as his computer booted up, then clicked over to check his email before he became engrossed in code work.

Skim—delete. Skim—save for reply later. Skim—delete. He skipped over the Tech Industry News Briefs, but then came back to it after replying to something Mike had sent last night.

Opening the TI newsletter, he relaxed back in his chair to scan the latest software news as he enjoyed his coffee.

The very first headline fucked up his entire morning.

Technology Software announces new release!

His fingers tightened on his mug as he sat forward to read the highlights of his software, then read them a second time. Somehow the bastard had gotten hold of his program and done it again. Now he’d change just enough to be able to claim it as his own and anything Daley Solutions released would be secondary in the market.

How the hell had this happened?

He carefully set his coffee mug down before he gave in to the urge to hurl it across the room. Then he dialed Mike from his office phone and didn’t even care about the sleep-rough voice when his friend answered.

“The sonofabitch did it again,” he bit out. “It’s frickin’ right there in the TI News.”

“What?” Shock echoed in Mike’s suddenly alert voice. “You’re kidding.”

“Yes,” Dean replied with vicious sarcasm. “Because I’ve got nothing better to do on a Saturday morning than play practical jokes on you.”

“Whoa, man, I’m not the bad guy here. Look, I know you’re pissed, but—”

“Damn right, I’m pissed, Mike! Get Quinn on the phone and find out if Ty had anything to do with this. I want to know how the hell this happened. While you’re working on that, I have to call Wesley to find out if we have any legal recourse to get a look at the coding before it’s released so we can prove it’s my design, not his.”

“I’m on it. But, um, Dean…”

Mike’s grim voice stopped him from hanging up. “What?”

“Gina was at the house by herself for a number of hours yesterday, wasn’t she?”

His entire body stiffened. “And?”

“And you can’t ignore the obvious just because you like her, man.”

He didn’t just like her, he loved her. Not that he was about to tell his VP that right now. “So her help the past week means nothing to you?”

“Think about it. It gave her access.”

“With our supervision the entire time.”

“Except for yesterday.”

He opened his mouth to tell Mike to go to hell, then took a deep breath for control as a tiny sliver of doubt crept in. “Just see what Quinn has to say and get back to me.”

He slammed down the receiver and cursed both men to hell and back.

She did not do this. She wouldn’t have.

Unbidden, his gaze shifted to the conference table where Gina had worked side by side with them over the past week. The neat and tidy surface brought to mind the tray of dirty dishes beside her laptop out on the coffee table in the great room.

He stalked through the kitchen and into the other room to stare at her computer. Hands on his hips, he cast his troubled gaze toward the loft, toward his bedroom where she still slept. He could go ask her.

More like accuse her.

Exactly. And what kind of future would that give them? She’d trusted him last night; he needed to do the same for her now.

He ran his hands though his hair and clasped them behind his head as his gaze lowered to the coffee table once more. She’d never have to know. And besides, he wouldn’t be invading her privacy so much as proving her innocence. Right?

The rationalization didn’t absolve his guilt as he moved around and dropped to the edge of the couch. After one last hesitation, he shoved the notebook aside and grabbed the laptop. The computer powered up to her security screen, and he tapped his fingers on the keys without actually keying in any letters.

She’d changed her passwords after the break-in. Would she have memorized them, or written them down like before? He reached for the notebook and thumbed through the pages. Just when he decided it was crazy to think he’d find them that easy, he came across a page of random design terms, both for software and her interior decorating business.

It took a moment to realize the basic camouflaging code she’d used, then another to determine the password to unlock her computer: 1PrinceCharming.

He grinned as he keyed in the number and letters.

The smile disappeared when he accessed her email program and found the message sent to JBrady@TechnologySolutions.com at ten-fourteen yesterday morning. She’d attached a compressed and encrypted copy of his program without their hidden coding, and he also found the copied files saved in her documents folder.

His body flashed hot, then cold. He’d believed in her. Trusted her. Now, with the evidence staring him right in the face, it literally hurt to breathe. He consciously drew in a breath and let it go.

Again.

And once more.

At some point, the pain of betrayal morphed into anger. That he’d fallen for her when she’d been playing him all along. That she’d given anything to that sonofabitch Brady after what he’d done to her. Made him wonder if Mike had been right about the assault, too. Had they staged that?

Was any damn thing real since the moment she’d kissed him at the club?

Memories flooded in from last night. He closed his eyes against the agony threatening to clog his throat.

Then confusion hit. Why? The crappy apartment suggested it was all for the money, but she’d turned down his offer to advance her commission. And she’d given him receipts to cover every withdrawal from the house decorating expense account, right down to the penny.

None of it added up, and yet, he couldn’t deny the damning truth in front of him. Would she?

He snapped the laptop screen shut and set it on the table with precise control. Time to wake up Cinderella and see what the hell she had to say for herself.

As he started around the couch, his gaze lit on the clothes littering the floor, and he scooped up her things. Last thing he needed was the naked visual reminder to all he’d gained and lost in less than twenty-four hours.

A flicker of movement through the narrow glass panels by the main entrance caught his eye when he straightened. Jaw clenched tight, he tossed Gina’s clothes on the back of the couch and strode over to open the door for the police officer who’d just stepped from his car. It appeared his morning was getting better and better.

“Mr. Daley?” the man inquired as he approached.

He moved outside, pulling the door almost all the way closed behind him. “That’s me.”

“You reported a vehicle roll-over last night?”

His tension eased as he nodded. “I did.”

“There was another accident not far from here, so we’re going to pull your vehicle out. I’ll need you to come with me to fill out a report and collect anything you’d like from the car before we haul it in.”

“Right now?” he asked with a frown.

“Yes. I’m sure you understand the necessity of clearing all the roads as soon as possible.”

His SUV wasn’t anywhere near the road, but he didn’t bother pointing that out. Maybe this was a good thing. It would give him a chance to calm down and think of the best way to approach Gina when he returned.

The officer glanced toward her charcoal gray Mazda. “Is this a second vehicle of yours that you can use to follow me?”

“No, but I have one in the garage. Give me a minute and I’ll be right out.”

Over at the coffee table, he took a moment to scribble a note for Gina in case he wasn’t back by the time she woke up. Then he located the socks she’d brought down last night, grabbed her computer so she couldn’t erase evidence while he was gone, and headed for the garage door.