a measure of scepticism.
Raúl inclined his head. ‘So the pilot told me. I’ve been raising hell trying to track down your movements.’
Oh, dear, she hadn’t thought of that.
‘I intended to,’ she said with innate honesty.
‘What stopped you?’
For a moment she just drank him in…the essence of who he was beneath the sophisticated façade…the man she loved beyond all else.
One word, just one. ‘You.’
‘Leaving was your decision.’
‘The wrong one,’ she managed simply, and saw his eyes darken.
For a moment she imagined he struggled with the power of speech.
Except this was Raúl…someone who could fell a person with just a look, a powerful man never known to be lost for a word in any situation.
He stood aside and gestured for her to enter…and she did, hearing the solid clunk as the double wooden doors slid shut, aware in her heart that there was no going back as she turned to face him.
Her gaze was steady, her eyes luminous with the strength of her emotions. ‘I love you.’
Raúl closed his eyes, then opened them, blazing obsidian and flagrantly emotive as he lifted a hand and brushed light fingers over the soft curve of her lower lip. ‘Gracias de Dios. I never thought to hear you say it again.’
The warmth of his smile almost melted her heart.
‘I never stopped.’ Anything else she might have said remained unuttered as he pressed her mouth closed, then lowered his head and angled his mouth over her own in a teasing salutation she returned in kind.
Together they indulged in a leisurely exploration, until the tasting wasn’t enough, and Raúl held her head captive as he increased the pressure, sweeping her mouth with his tongue as he circled it with his own in a mating dance that would have only one end.
Unbidden, her hands slid beneath his shirt to explore the taut muscle and sinew covering his chest and ribs, before moving to push the gaping edges over his shoulders in an effort to dispense with the restriction as she sought one dark male nipple with her lips, alternately caressing and nibbling the pebbled nub with her tongue…and heard his faint groan as she rolled it between the edge of her teeth.
With a sense of desperation she pulled his shirt free from his trousers and dispensed with it, revelling in the satin smoothness of his skin as she shaped him with her hands.
‘Too many clothes,’ she declared in a voice she barely recognised as her own, and heard his soft laughter as she reached for his belt, unfastened it, then worked the zip fastener free.
He lowered his head and lightly nipped the vulnerable curve at the edge of her neck as he dispensed with her jacket and dealt with the buttons on her blouse.
The bra came next, and she uttered a faint gasp as he lifted her high against him and eased her thighs around his waist, held her there with one arm while he captured her head with the other…and covered her mouth with his own in a kiss that reached right down to her soul.
On some level she became aware of being carried, the almost silent click of a door closing, then he released her to stand before him.
‘I should never have left,’ Gianna said quietly, then fell silent by the sheer expediency of Raúl pressing a finger to her lips.
‘Later.’ His mouth curved into a warm smile, and his eyes…so dark and liquid with desire. She couldn’t think of a word to say. ‘Later we talk.’ He trailed light fingers over each cheek and traced the outline of her mouth. ‘For now, I have plans.’
A faint bubble of laughter rose in her throat. ‘You do?’
‘Sí.’ He brought her close, moulding the length of her body against his own so there could be no doubt as to the strength of his arousal.
She lifted her face to his, and her eyes held an impish light as she sought to tease. ‘Isn’t it a little early for bed?’
‘I don’t have sleeping in mind.’
‘Good.’ It was a matter of simple expediency to pull his head down to her own and take possession of his mouth. Although it soon became debatable who possessed who as the kiss became something else…hungry, increasingly urgent, intensely sexual.
What remained of their clothes was rapidly discarded, and Raúl tore the covers from the large bed, then tumbled them both down onto the sheets.
His powerful body loomed over her own as he braced his weight, then he sought the sensitive hollow at the base of her throat,