Sex, Lies and Valentines (12 page)

Danita wet her lips. A warning shiver tingled down her spine. This shouldn’t feel like a trap, but suddenly she felt like she should be stepping very, very carefully. This man was a criminal mastermind, she reminded herself. But she was a highly trained, very talented FBI agent. She could handle him.

“Danita’s living with me,” Gabriel interrupted.

What? She kept her expression clear and made sure her smile didn’t waver. But what the hell was he trying to do? Was this some macho protect-the-little-woman thing? Or was he afraid she’d say something and ruin his game?

Either way, she wasn’t letting him run roughshod over her. This was her case, dammit.

Before she could say anything, he continued. “I like keeping her…close.”

“Is that a fact?” Tobias asked, his gaze never leaving Danita’s face. She saw something in his eyes. Concern? Or triumph? It was gone too quickly for her to decide.

Danita narrowed her eyes, trying to read the subtext. Before she could catch a clue, though, Gabriel stepped around his father to offer her his hand. Without thinking, she slipped hers into it and let him pull her to her feet. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her tight to the warm length of his body.

“We should go, Blondie.”

She flicked a glance up at him. Then, noting the tension and what looked like sadness in his eyes, she frowned and, without thinking, slipped her arm around his waist to rub the small of his back in soothing circles.

As she turned to say goodbye to the group, he said in a voice meant for her ears only, “I think we need to have a little talk. In private.”

Suddenly Danita didn’t know what she wanted more.

To stay right here in this room filled with confusion and con artists.

Or to get back to the pseudo-privacy of their hotel room, and see just what Gabriel’s
little talk
felt like.

6

“LOOK, I’D RATHER YOU didn’t pour the extra dose of charm over my family.”

Tossing her purse on the dresser, Danita gave him a puzzled look, then shrugged. “You brood in silence for the entire drive home, and that’s the first thing you decide to say to me?”

Shoving his fists in the pockets of his slacks, Gabriel tried not to grit his teeth. He’d stayed silent on the ride home because he knew damned well if he made that demand aloud, he’d sound like a jackass. Always nice to be proved right.

“What’s the big deal?” she continued, hanging her coat in the closet. “We’re here to do a job. I’m here to prove your father is running this little crime ring. You’re here to prove he isn’t. Either way, we have to work together. And the faster we get it done, the better. People talk to people they like, so I was likeable.”

His jaw had clenched when she mentioned her main objective—arresting his father. But he didn’t comment. Instead, he asked, “Is that what you call it? Likeable?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I call it. You’re acting like I hit on your father and tried to talk your brother and his fiancée into a threesome.” Running her fingers through her hair as if to loosen the curls, and her fake persona, Danita gave him a long look, then pulled her largest suitcase out and laid it on the bed. The luggage distracted Gabriel’s unexplainable frustration for a second as he watched her set the neatly folded stacks of clothes on the bed.

He tried not to drool over the bits of black lace and filmy red fabric that were surely something sexy. He didn’t even need to see what it was to imagine that soft fabric draped over her pale, silky skin. His earlier frustration was quickly disappearing as desire rose.

Then she unzipped the bottom of the suitcase. Gabriel frowned, wondering what she was going to pull out of her FBI bag of tricks next. A cache of weapons? A computer station complete with homing signals and listening devices? Some weird but erotic form of bondage so she could tie him to the bed and ensure he didn’t run off and get into trouble during the night?

Gabriel shifted, his hands fisting a little tighter in his pockets as his body stirred at the image. He’d never been a man to give up control, in any way, but the idea of playing tie-me-up with Danita was making him hard.

But what she pulled out of the bottom of the suitcase wasn’t sexy or intriguing. It was big and squishy.

“Is that a sleeping bag?” he asked, squinting at the moss-green fabric.

She shot him an amused look as she rezipped the case and started stacking her clothes again. “What? You didn’t think I was going to share a bed with you, did you?”

Gabriel grinned. “Is that a challenge?”

“Hardly,” she said. But he saw the nerves in her eyes, in the way her fingers clenched the handle of the suitcase as she set it back in the closet. “Knowing our cover as a couple meant we’d have to share a room, I came prepared.”

“You’re going to bunk on the floor in a sleeping bag,” he mocked. “Sounds comfy.”

“It will be,” she tossed back with a chilly smile. “Especially with the gun I’ll have under my pillow.”

“Is that for me, or for the bad guys?”

“That’s for anyone who interrupts my sleep.”

Gabriel’s voice lowered to a husky purr. “Sweetheart, if I interrupt your sleep, you’ll be thanking me. Not shooting me.”

“Only in your dreams.”

“You were a lot more fun when you were kissing my family’s ass,” he muttered, walking over to look out the window. He didn’t know why her rejection bothered him, except that it did. Not in an ego-crushing way. He frowned at the dark view as he considered. No, it was more a hurt feelings kind of thing. Which was stupid. When had he started having feelings for her? And what the hell was wrong with him for letting that happen?

“Of course I was nice to your family. What’s your problem with that? You’re the one who claimed me as your fiancée instead of sex-for-hire,” she reminded him. “All I did was play the part.”

He glanced at the sleeping bag again and hunched his shoulders. Who the hell was she? The tough federal agent? The sweet girlfriend who’d charmed his family? Or the sexy siren who made a man so crazy he’d drop a few grand for a single kiss and then give thanks. Were they all parts she was playing? Who was the real Danita?

“You’re damned good at playing,” he muttered.

Eyes wide, she crossed her arms over her chest and jutted out her chin. “I beg your pardon?”

“How do women do that? Put so much disdain and ice in four simple words.”

“How do men manage to walk upright with such huge egos cutting off their circulation?”

“As long as it’s stroked nicely, my ego feeds my circulation.”

Danita rolled her eyes, but he saw the flash of amusement in those blue depths.

“Look, we’re stuck together for the rest of the week, so you might as well get over whatever’s got you in a snit.”

“And you need to start following the rules,” she snapped back.

Sick of rules, sick of someone else calling the shots, Gabriel strode over, grabbed her shoulders and took her mouth in a quick, searing kiss. Her lips melted beneath his, soft and welcoming.

His body hardened. But before things could get interesting, she pressed her palms against his shoulders.

“This is crazy,” she protested, pulling her mouth from his and stepping quickly away. So quickly, she almost tripped over her own feet and landed on the bed. She grabbed the footboard for balance with one hand while shoving the other through her hair. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head in protest.

“Crazy,” she repeated. “You need to stop doing that. I’m a federal agent. You’re in my custody. Quit,” she stopped, as if she’d run out of words. Instead she waved her hand in the air to indicate whatever had happened before and grimaced. “Just quit.”

“But I like it,” he said with a grin as he leaned against the headboard and crossed his arms over his chest. He liked her all flustered and out of control, too. The more confused she was, the more confident he was that he was in charge of this little game. And as his daddy had taught him when he was young, confidence was key to everything.

He stepped closer, trapping her between the footstool and the hard length of his own…body. His muscles tensed, hardening right along with his dick as he watched her breath shudder. Her pupils were huge as she ran her tongue along the lush deliciousness of her lower lip.

His eyes narrowed, taking in the rapid pulse fluttering against the delicate line of her throat, the gorgeous sight of her nipples pebbling against the soft fabric of her black sweater. She was incredible.

And he was going to have her.

Keeping his hands to himself, he leaned in, brushing a soft whisper of a kiss against the pulse pounding in her throat. She moaned. He leaned back and grinned.

“Get a grip, Black. We’re here to do a job,” she reminded him, her words coming out in a gasp. “You’re just getting carried away with the roles we’re playing.”

“Roles?”

“Right. This isn’t real,” she claimed, sounding desperate. He figured she was trying to convince herself as much as him. “None of this is real.”

“Didn’t you hear? The food at that little gathering was all made up of aphrodisiacs,” he said, his fingers sliding along the silky-smooth curve of her cheek before tangling in her soft blond curls. “You know the thing about aphrodisiacs? They don’t create desire. They amplify it.”

Her breath shuddered, washing over his lips like a soft caress.

“So baby, all this heat between us? Those oysters and asparagus, the chocolate and cayenne, they’re just turning up that heat. And that heat is real. Do you like how it feels? Aren’t you curious about how much better it’ll be when it hits a boiling point?”

This time he pressed his lips to the delicate line of her jaw, whispering tiny open-mouthed kisses all the way to her ear, where he blew softly before nipping at the soft flesh of her earlobe.

Her tiny mewl of approval made his dick dance with happy joy. Damn, she was responsive. This was going to be one hell of a hot night.

Before he could step things up, though, she gave a little moan. Then she pushed him away. Again. Gabriel bit back a growl of frustration. “That’s crazy. There is no such thing as aphrodisiacs. Just like there’s nothing between us. Circumstance and proximity don’t equal true attraction.”

Amusement faded along with the tentative shift he’d made into a good mood. Anger, frustration and an unexplainable sadness overwhelmed him again.

“Blondie, you are one hell of a lousy actress for a professional liar.”

“You’re the professional liar,” she snapped, sidestepping him and hurrying over to the dresser so the wide expanse of the room was safely between them. “And I save all my acting skills to pretend I’m attracted to you when we’re around other people.”

Gabriel had no idea why, but he was suddenly furious. He hadn’t signed on for this lousy game. He’d lost a cool mil already because of the sexy blonde standing there, and now she was telling him she didn’t feel this intense, wild attraction between them. He’d had to face down his entire family, knowing they were all in jeopardy and the futures they were so happily planning could easily be screwed to hell if he wasn’t careful.

And now, the woman whose mouth had melted under his not two minutes ago was claiming she had to pretend to be attracted to him.

She was going to deny the heat he’d felt? The way she responded to him? Pretend it was all about the job?

Well, screw that.

Thoroughly fed up with all of the lies, all of the pretenses, Gabriel grabbed Danita’s forearms and lifted her off her feet.

“What the—”

Before she could finish spewing her outrage, he pushed her back against the wall and trapped her body there with his own. The hard planes of his chest pressed against her soft curves, his thighs nestled so tight between hers that he knew damned well she could feel his dick hardening against her.

He took her mouth. All the fury, the frustration he felt poured into the kiss. There was no apology on his lips, no gentle request in his actions. It was pure demand.

His tongue thrust, his hands clenched. He pulled her tight against his body, letting the feel of her curves send him even higher.

Her fingernails dug into his shoulders. Her lips danced against his, her tongue tangling temptingly. He felt like his body was set to boil. Desire, sharp and a little edgy, gripped him in a tight fist.