Sapphire (18 page)

The sight of her swollen folds slick with her fragrant dew was enough to make him cream his pants. Forcing her legs wider apart, encouraged by her wrenching cries begging him not to stop, Jase bent over and began to feast on her succulent folds. She tasted as sweet as he knew she would. Running his tongue along one side off her vagina then the other, he bent lower and traced his tongue up and over the weeping entrance.

Gabriella cried out, writhing under his relentless invasion. Pressing her head against the top of the desk, she threw her arms up over her head. She arched her hips, crazy to have his tongue deeper inside of her. She should have been shocked at his explicit language. His insistence that she was his for the taking. In any way he chose. She should have pushed him away or at least tried to get control of the wildly disintegrating situation. But her control was shot to hell. Rather, she wanted so much more. Wanted him to do all the things he was clearly preparing to do and not hold back.

She wanted his mouth on her throbbing clit. She longed for him to suckle it, bite it, do anything to drive her to her release. That was when it hit her. She wanted him in a way that she had never wanted a man. She wanted to rise up in his arms and come like she never had. And, oh God, she was so close, so very close. Her body felt like it was on fire. Her nipples and her clit were throbbing. She had never felt this level of passion, of need. She was climbing higher and higher reaching for an orgasm that she knew that if she couldn’t attain it, she would die.

She heard herself begging, crying out for more. Pleading for Jase to let her come. Gripping her hips, he bent her legs over his arms, spreading them further then mercilessly circled her clit with his tongue. She heard Jase’s harsh murmurs encouraging her. Urging her to let go.

“That’s the way, Gabriella. Jesus, darling, look at you! You are so hot. So fucking beautiful.” When she cried out and pressed her hips up against his mouth, he groaned a harsh male sound of approval. “Hell yes, baby. Now you’re gonna come for me. Aren’t you? Oh hell yes, baby! Give in to it. Just like that! Come all over my face, darling. Let me taste you—all of you.”

His explicit command shocked her and drove her frenzy further. And then she felt it. An explosion of blinding passion that took her breath, stole her senses. Gasping for air, she heard the excited cries, the screams of passion, stunned to realize that they were coming from her. She was flying, riding the ecstatic release that was ripping through her. Her pleas for more, the tears dampening her cheeks, spoke to an orgasm the likes of which she’d never had. Later she would be horrified that she had done exactly as he commanded. She had come all over his face, giving in to the tortuous orgasm that was washing over her.

Somewhere in the tumultuous fervor straining every over-sensitized nerve in her body, Sapphire felt Jase pull back. But she was too dazed by the waves of passion flooding her to understand. In the fog of her partially sated passion she heard Jase’s murmured cautions. He wrapped his arms around her holding her protectively against his chest. His harsh whisper was hot against her ear.

“Gabriella, baby. Hold on to me. Don’t worry, I won’t let you go. Someone is at the door, sweetheart. Fucking Christ. I think it’s Noah.”

Later Gabriella would wonder how she’d made it into her bedroom, knowing that she never could have if Jase hadn’t swept her up in his arms and rushed her through the door. He held her tightly murmuring comforting assurances.

“It’s okay, darlin. Let me hold you. I’ve got you.”

Hearing the pounding on the door, Jase groaned and stood Gabriella on the floor, but didn’t let go of her. If anything, he held her even more tightly against him.

“Okay, Baby. Listen up. Noah would never come here unless something’s up. I’ve got to let him in. Do you understand?”

Sapphire struggled to get control of her breath, and managed to nod. She buried her head against his shoulder wishing that he was wrong, but knew that he wasn’t. Agents didn’t appear unexpectedly unless there was a crisis. She nodded again and tried to push away from Jase, stand on her own, but he shook his head.

“Uh uh, baby. Let me hold you until you get your sea legs. And hell, until I get mine!”

He held her for a long moment and then stepped back.

“Get dressed, honey. I’ll hold him off the best I can.”

Jase gave an aggrieved sigh.

“Let’s face it baby, there’s no way we can keep him in the dark but at least we can give it a try. Do you think you can manage it now?”

Sapphire nodded and moved unsteadily to the bed reaching for the foot board. She forced herself to speak as normally as she could.

“I’m okay, Jase. Go answer the door. I’ll be out in a minute. I’m fine, really.”

Jase studied her as he fastened his trousers over the still apparent arousal and grunted.

“Hell, baby, you are so goddamned fine I can’t find words to describe you.”

Jase’s eyes gleamed with lust and concern. The crease in his cheek and hard jaw telegraphed his tension. He shook his head and sighed. Reaching for her he pulled her next to him. Sapphire tried to resist, but she gave into her need for the fleeting comfort of his arms around her.

His voice was low, gruff. Brushing his lips across her ear, he murmured, “Sapphire, you are the most extraordinary woman I’ve ever known. I didn’t know it was possible to be as hungry for a woman as I am for you. Baby, we are far from finished with this ‘thing,’ this attraction between us. You know that don’t you?”

He leaned down and kissed her cheek. Not waiting for an answer he turned and left the room closing the door firmly behind him.

Sapphire clung to the bed post forcing herself to suck in calming breaths of air. She didn’t dare look in the mirror. She could only imagine what she looked like. She realized that she hadn’t bothered to answer him. She didn’t have to. Both of them knew that they’d have to deal with the fire raging between them. Pretending it wasn’t there wasn’t an option. But, then, from the way her legs were still shaking and her heart was racing, extinguishing it wasn’t an option either.

Chapter 19

J
ase ran a distracted hand through his tousled hair. A quick glance in the mirror confirmed that there was no way to hide the telltale signs of what he and Sapphire had been doing. He snorted as he made one last effort to rezip his pants. Hell, it would probably take at least an hour to lighten the flush staining his cheeks, much less reduce the tenting of his trousers to an acceptable level. Giving up, he left his shirt untucked. It was better than openly acknowledging his raging arousal—although he sure as hell wouldn’t be fooling his long time agent and friend.

Noah was nobody’s fool. He and Jase had shared women on a number of occasions, and Noah was as knowledgeable about the aftermath of a steamy tryst as Jase was. Jase conceded there was no use trying to minimize the obvious. Not with his worldly friend. Although he admitted that Noah would be surprised that Jase had come on to one of their fellow agents—in the middle of a mission, no less. Hell, Jase had surprised himself. Not by taking Sapphire but my how much he had wanted her. He shrugged. Protocols be damned. Face it: nothing was going to stop him from taking the woman who had gotten so far under his skin it would take a skilled plastic surgeon to remove her. And damn if the tummy tucker could get rid of the scars that would surely be left.

But Jase’s major concern wasn’t himself. Or even that he’d set a bad example for his team. His concern was Sapphire. Unfortunately she wasn’t as experienced as he and Noah were. He frowned. No doubt she was in her room struggling with how to become “presentable.” An impossible task when a blind man could see with a cane what the two of them had been doing.

Focusing on the mission, Jase reminded himself that Noah would never have tracked him to Sapphire’s condo if there wasn’t a damn good reason. Shoving at his chagrin at the position he’d put Sapphire in, Jase strode to the door as another more urgent knock landed on the heavy wood paneling. Swinging the door open, his frown deepened seeing not only Noah but Grayson Webb, another of Ian’s high level agents who was working with him on the mission. At this point, Webb had established himself, along with Noah, as one of the trusted guards at the
Caligula Club,
but Jase hadn’t yet introduced him to Sapphire. The presence of the two serious men standing in the doorway sent a streak of warning up his spine. Without asking, he knew his premonition of danger was warranted.

Stepping back, he waved the two agents into the room and closed the door behind them. He kept his tone languid, a challenge given the circumstances.

“Don’t tell me. The
Caligula
ran out of booze and you were forced to seek refreshments elsewhere?”

He went over to the bar, but not without acknowledging Noah’s raised eyebrow and Grayson’s soft chuckle, confirming that they hadn’t missed his ruffled appearance.

He held up the bottle of
Glenmorangie 18 Year Old
Scotch. At their nods of assent he poured three healthy shots of the $100 bottle of liquor and handed a glass to each of his friends.

“You’ll be glad to know that our blond-haired, bodacious cohort likes expensive booze as much as we sorry bastards do.”

He picked up his glass and raised it to them with an ironic grin.

“Í will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you wouldn’t have tracked me down unless it was a serious crisis.” He added with a snort, “At least for your sakes, you better hope it’s important. Tell me what the Master of Mayhem has done now to send you two scurrying into the dark night looking for your commander.”

Before either of the men could respond, the door to the bedroom opened and Sapphire entered the room. She paled at the sight of the two newcomers which only served to make the flushed patches on her fair cheeks more striking. Jase couldn’t hold back a sigh. Christ, she looked like a frightened doe, caught in the forest by three drunken hunters aiming Remington Sandero SS11’s at her head. She had scared up a fresh pair of sweats and a tank top and even secured her long, sunshine streaked hair in a high pony tail. The casual clothes and the fact that she’d forgotten to put on shoes made her look innocent and vulnerable as hell.

Jase was at her side in seconds, reaching for her arm. Pulling her next to him he nodded to his buddies.

“Noah, you’ve already met Sapphire, one of the members of the infamous Ladies of the Night squad.” Keeping a firm grip on Sapphire’s arm, he glanced at Grayson. “Gray, meet the woman who has boldly offered herself as bait to capture the most dangerous son of a bitch any of us has chased.”

Jase turned back to Sapphire. “Agent Shaw, you met Noah today and saw him at the
Caligula Club
. This good-looking charmer is Agent Grayson Webb, who has also wrangled his way into the elite guard surrounding Roberto Ventrilo.”

Sneering at the shaggy, blond-haired, dark-eyed man standing next to Noah, Jase added, “Don’t let his all American surfer dude looks fool you, Sapphire. Gray is a mixed marshal artist that even you might have a problem taking down. As it is, Noah and I make a point of never doing anything to rile up Captain America unless we’re prepared to endure some of the dirtiest and most effective MMA moves I’ve been subjected to.”

Gray’s lips quirked in a grin as he reached for Sapphire’s hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Agent Shaw. I’ve heard a lot about you. Someday I hope to see the video that had your boss, and my boss, shrieking at your sheer chutzpah. May I call you Sapphire?”

When Sapphire flushed brighter at the mention of the infamous video, Jase pointed to the dining room table.

“Let’s sit down over there and find out what Mr. Madness has done to screw up our carefully made plans. I know you two well enough that it must be a fucking big deal for you to ask me to intervene.”

When Noah and Gray moved toward the table, Jase ushered Sapphire to the chair on the opposite side of the table.

Meeting her gaze, his lip curled up at the corner.

“May I offer you some of your excellent Scotch that the three of us are enjoying?”

At her affirmative nod, he headed to the bar and brought the glasses that he’d placed there earlier and the bottle of expensive Scotch to the table. He sank into the chair at the head of the table, then topped off Sapphire’s glass and handed it to her. Raising his glass in a pro forma gesture he focused a hard gaze on his two cohorts.

“Okay, men, enough of the foreplay. Why the hell are you here?”

Noah’s sigh was deep, troubled, as he met Jase’s hard gaze.

“We haven’t been able to prove, at least with a body, but the word is that one of Roberto’s subs was killed tonight—by Roberto.”

Jase was curt. “How, and how do you know?”

Gray weighed in, his expression as rigid as Noah’s.

“The word is that after beating the shit out of her, he insisted on a little erotic asphyxiation play and forgot to loosen the tie.”

Noah’s frown darkened.

“As for how we know, Ruby was there. She was part of the group of supposed gaspers who saw the whole goddamn thing. Ruby said that Roberto refused to cut the girl down when it was clear she was strangling. Even though most of the people in the room, including her, were shouting at him to do so. One of the guards broke through and cut the rope. According to Ruby, Roberto simply kicked the girl out of the way, grabbed another glassy eyed bitch, and headed for his private playroom. Ruby and another guard—not one of our men, tried to revive her, but it was too late. Said her hyoid bone was fractured in the fall.”