The Billionaire’s Fake Christmas Engagement - Leslie North Page 0,36

want to,” she whispered back.

He lifted her off the couch and took her to the bedroom, where he lingered over the undressing process. Gabe slowly pulled her dress over her head and inched her tights down her legs. He traced the lace on her bra, tugged the straps down her shoulders one by one, and then unclipped it with infinite patience. He drew his fingers across the matching pattern on her panties before taking them off, eyes shining like he was unwrapping a Christmas present.

Gabe bent his head and kissed her an inch below her belly button. Anna was so ready for him that she arched upward, getting caught up in another demanding kiss. He kept kissing her in between his efforts to undo his pants, rid himself of his shirt, and roll on a condom. Then he was nudging between her legs. Oh, she wanted more of that. He let out a low groan at the way she tilted her hips up, begging with her body, and pushed inside.

It felt like coming home.

All the air went out of her lungs and flooded back in with a hundred times the oxygen, making everything seem bright and fresh. Gabe filled her in all the ways she needed. He drove out everything but him, and when he moved into a slow, patient rhythm, it was like being rocked by the ocean. Inevitable and sexy and so much bigger than she was. Bigger than her past, bigger than the future—the moment surrounded her.

Something broke within her as desire wound tighter and tighter at her core. A slow progression that nearly drove her crazy with how deliberate he was. Gabe was completely focused on her—a master in control who constantly adjusted so that her clit got maximum attention. Tears slipped out from the corners of her eyes.

This was the closest they’d ever been.

She’d thought it had been earlier when they’d made the bed a tangle of sheets and shut the world out with pure physical frenzy. But this was different. There was no looking away from Gabe. No feeling anything but him.

And he saw her.

His eyes raked over her again and again. “Yes,” he murmured. “That’s it.” Anna knew he’d been watching her so intently that he knew, he knew, that the pleasure had built to a peak and was about to crest.

Her orgasm tumbled over her in a tidal wave of sensation. Gabe kept moving, and before she’d even come down from the high, another one was building. Anna dug her nails into his shoulders, and only then did he pick up the pace. Only then did his expression shift, becoming fiercer and almost elemental somehow.

Her second orgasm came quicker, like it was moving at a dead sprint, and Gabe tensed above her, driving in deep. Deeper. She could hardly breathe and didn’t want to. She just wanted him. She wanted more of him, until her shuddering finally stopped, and he dropped his head onto her shoulder.

She wasn’t sure how much longer it was when they lay back against the pillows and pulled up the blanket. Delicious tiredness enveloped her along with Gabe’s arm. She could drift off right now if it weren’t for one thought.

Borrowed time.

This moment with him, in bed, his warm, hard body next to hers—it was all on borrowed time. It was easy enough for him to say that Anna didn’t have to be ashamed of her past and that Freddie had been wrong, but that didn’t mean his family would ever agree. And Gabe seemed to dance along the edges of communication with them. He didn’t want to let them in, just like she hadn’t wanted to let him in on this, either.

Stay with me, she wanted to say, breaking apart the agreement they’d made and putting it out there that she wanted more from him. But what would the outcome be? If he had the choice between a relationship with her and maintaining a relationship with his family, he might choose them. Gabe had admitted he didn’t fit in and admitted he’d had to buck their pressure to start his own career, but the pull of family was strong. A man couldn’t stand up to it forever.

She wouldn’t risk it now.

Gabe’s breathing evened out. Too late, anyway. Besides, with her muscles so tired and pleasure still clinging to her veins, it was difficult to stay awake.

15

The knock at the door of the suite the next morning startled Anna awake. She threw back the covers on instinct, but