For One Night Only: Reckless Night in Rio / To Love, Honour and Betray / A Night of Living Dangerously

He grabbed two towels from a uniformed attendant. “Tell my driver we are ready to depart.”

The man hurried away. Gabriel took Laura outside to wait in the warm sun, away from prying eyes. Kneeling before her, he skimmed one plush towel over her bare skin, over her legs, her arms, the plump fullness of her breasts. Rising to his feet, he licked his lips and realized he was breathing hard.

He saw her swallow. Felt her tremble.

“Gabriel,” she whispered, her voice hoarse, “Please…”

The Rolls-Royce pulled in front of the mansion, and Carlos leaped out to open the door, looking dismayed at his boss’s early departure. He’d probably been playing dice with the other servants, Gabriel thought, but at this moment, he didn’t give a damn about any man’s pleasure but his own.

“Get in the car,” Gabriel ordered Laura, his voice sounding admirably civilized compared to the roaring animal he felt like inside. When she didn’t move, he grabbed her arm and pulled her roughly into the backseat.

As the driver closed the door behind them, Laura ripped her arm from Gabriel’s grasp. “You don’t need to be so rude!”

“Rude?” he growled. “Yes, rude!”

Gabriel could tell she was hurt and angry. She thought he was being cruel. She didn’t know it was all he could do not to push her back against the leather seat, to lay her flat on her back and rip off the little triangles of bikini. That all he wanted to do was taste those luscious breasts, throw himself over her, fill her completely. He clenched his hands into fists, shuddering at the sensual images that overwhelmed him. He wanted her—now. And he almost didn’t care who saw them.

As Carlos started the engine, Gabriel forced himself to release her. He could wait until they got home. He could wait…

He repeated the mantra again and again as the car drove through the city. His body ached from the effort it took not to seize her in his arms. The slow drive though crowded streets, with police diverting traffic around sections closed for early evening parades, seemed to take forever.

Gabriel glanced at Laura sideways. The towel had slipped from her hands and the air-conditioning in the limo was no match for the way his temperature climbed every time he looked at her. Especially when he saw what the cold air was doing to her nipples beneath the bikini.

Water was still trickling from her wet hair, running slowly down her bare skin, down the valley between her large breasts. He wanted to run the edge of his fingertip down that trickle of water. He wanted to lap it up with his tongue. He wanted her spread naked across his bed, his body over hers, as he lowered his head to taste her, thrusting inside her, so deep, so deep.

As if she felt his gaze, she turned. Judging by the expression on her face, she hadn’t been having such sensual images of him—oh no. She wanted to skewer him with a knife.

But as their eyes locked, her expression slowly changed. The glare slid away and her face turned bewildered, almost scared. With a visible tremble, she pulled the thick white towel tightly over her naked skin and looked out the window.

With a dark smile, Gabriel turned away.

She knew.

She knew what waited for them at home.

Memories of their one night together had caused months of hot, unsatisfied dreams for him. Now that he finally had her in Rio, he wasn’t going to let her go. Not until he was completely satiated. He was done being unselfish when it came to Laura.

The car pulled up behind their building, but she didn’t wait for Carlos to open her door. She flung it open herself and dashed out, heading for the private entrance.

It gave her a head start.

A low growl rose from the back of Gabriel’s throat as he flung open his own door and raced out in grim pursuit. As he came around the car in the street, heading toward the curb, a red sedan nearly hit him. The driver honked angrily, but Gabriel didn’t even pause, just leaped recklessly over the hood. He ran into his building’s private lobby, across the marble floor. Ignoring the greetings of the guards, he ran for the private elevator just in time to see the silver doors slide together in front of Laura’s face. Their eyes met for a single instant, and he saw the small smile that curved her lips. Then she was gone.

Gabriel cursed under his breath. He pressed the elevator button impatiently, multiple times, then rushed inside as soon as the door opened. When he arrived at the penthouse, he followed her voice.

“So Robby had a good day?” he heard her say from the terrace.

“Yes, Senhora Laura,” Maria replied. “He had a good lunch, good play and is now having his second nap.”

Breathing hard, Gabriel saw them through the windows, out on the terrace. The older woman was sitting in a lounge chair, with a glass of lemonade and the baby monitor on the table beside her, placidly knitting in the warm Brazilian sunshine.

“Did he miss me?” Laura’s voice trembled. “Did he cry for me?”

“No, Mrs. Laura,” she said kindly. “He had a happy day. But of course he will be glad to see his mama. He should wake soon. Perhaps you would like to take him on a walk?”

“Yes, I would like that. Thank you, Maria.”

Laura turned and headed back inside. Gabriel ducked into the corner as she opened the sliding glass doors. Still holding her towel over her body, she started down the hall toward her bedroom.

He moved fast, springing like a jaguar. He heard her gasp as he shoved her through the open doorway of his room, pushing her against the wall. The towel dropped from her hands as he closed the door behind him with a bang. Grasping her wrists, he held her against the wall.

Without a word, without asking permission, he kissed her.

He felt the heat of her skin, covered only by the tiny bikini as he crushed her against the wall with his bare chest. Releasing her wrists, he grabbed the back of her head with his hand. Holding her tight against him, he kissed her savagely, hard enough to bruise, ruthlessly taking his pleasure.

CHAPTER NINE

WITH a gasp, Laura pulled back her hand and slapped his face.

“How dare you!” she cried.

The sound of the slap echoed in the bedroom. He stared at her incredulously, his hand on his cheek. Then his eyes narrowed. “Why are you pretending it’s not exactly what you want?”

Laura sucked in her breath, feeling overwhelmed by need for what she could not—could not—allow herself to have. “Even if I want you, Gabriel, I know you’re no good for me. It nearly killed me last year after our night together when you kicked me out of your life—”

“Kicked you out of my life?” he demanded. “You’re the one who left!”

“You didn’t try to talk me out of it. You didn’t even ask me to stay!”

“I was trying to do what was best for you,” he said. “I knew you wanted a husband, children. You needed a boss who didn’t demand your life and soul. You needed a man who could love you as I cannot. So I gave you up, when it was the last thing I wanted! And what did you do?” He glowered. “You let yourself get pregnant by some cold bastard who cannot even be bothered to pay child support or visit his son!”

Tears streamed down her face as she shook her head. “Why do you keep torturing me about my pregnancy?”

“Because it means I sacrificed you for nothing!” “Sacrificed?” she cried.

He grabbed her shoulders. “Don’t you know how much I’ve wanted you, all this time?” His eyes searched hers fiercely. “Do you know how I’ve dreamed of you? In my office. In my bed!” His fingers tightened painfully on her shoulders. “If I’d known you would settle for so little, I would never have let you go!”

Panting with anger, they stared at each other in the shadowy bedroom, the only sound the violent rasping of their breath. His eyes were dark and furious with denied desire. His gaze fell to her lips.

“Laura…” he whispered.

She jumped when she heard Robby suddenly crying on the other side of the wall. All the shouting and the banging must have woken him.

“I’m not that virgin secretary anymore,” she murmured, “free to make whatever stupid choices I want. I’m a mother now. My baby comes first.” Setting her jaw, she pulled away from Gabriel. Stopping at the door, she looked back at him. “I gave in to passion once before,” she said quietly. “And it nearly killed me.”

Leaving him, she went to her own bedroom and locked the door behind her before she gathered her crying baby in her arms. Robby’s plaintive wail instantly stopped as she cuddled him close. She breathed in the sweet smell of his hair.

She heard a low knock on the door.