Alex's arm tensed around her. Beth wasn't sure if it was meant to be reassuring or if he was just trying to keep her upright. Either way, it worked. She didn't crumble to the floor. She didn't bolt for the nearest exit sign. Her pants even stayed dry.
“Everything is all right,” Alex whispered in her ear.
Like hell it was. In fact, this was the furthest from all right that she could imagine. She was in a room with a man who wanted to kill her. Not metaphorically. Not socially. But actually, physically, no-pulse, corpse-on-a-slab dead.
But all that she could manage to say to Alex was, “Really?”
“Everything is going to be all right,” he amended. “There are three other agents besides me in this room right now. Two in the lobby and two at the back exit. No one is going to let anything happen to you. Do you understand?”
Beth nodded slowly. She wondered if he was lying, but why would he? So far as she knew, everything he'd told her had been the truth.
But it didn't matter whether he told the truth. What mattered was the effect of his words. Her heartbeat slowed to the rate of a hummingbird's, and some of the feeling came back to her toes.
She wished that they'd never left the room. That this was all some big joke. That it really was as simple as him being a gigolo.
“So sip your champagne, and smile some more. Our only hope now is to keep him guessing.”
Beth tried to smile. She really did. But it seemed like her whole body was shaking. Salvatore had found her and was openly staring at her. He wanted her dead, plain and simple.
She tried to take another sip of her champagne, but her hand shook so hard that little droplets flew, misting the front of her dress.
She wasn't doing a very good job of playing it cool. She was no good under pressure. She was going to blow this whole thing. They would find her body floating in the bay tomorrow morning.
Oh, God.
Alex wrapped his fingers around her wrist. They felt warm and strong. “Just look at me.”
He propped a shoulder against the wall, and she mirrored his pose.
“Don't worry about out there,” he said. His voice was low and gravelly again. She wanted to lean in and let the sound wrap around her. “Just be here with me.”
Some of the shaking left her body.
He took the glass from her hand and put it on the table behind him. Then he lifted his fingers to her face, stroking down the curve of her cheek, and for a brief moment, her shaking turned to shivers, the kind that made her want to burrow deep inside his arms.
“He’s not coming over here, Beth. He’s staying on the other side of the room, just looking at us,” he whispered, his sexy tone rumbling through her like a physical force, but the words weren't ones that she was hoping to hear.
Well...they were. There was no way in hell that she wanted Salvatore Munoz coming toward her. Still, the topic was far from sexy.
“Now smile at me, Beth. Just a little. Like I just told you that I wish I could get you away from all of these people.”
The heat of a blush began to burn her cheeks. She looked down at the floor to try to hide the smile that pulled at her lips.
“That's good,” he said. “Now say something back to me. It doesn't matter what. Just act like you're a little nervous about it.”
She looked up from the floor and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I don't know what to say.”
“That will work just fine.” He inched closer, and Beth felt her blood start to heat. His lips were just inches away. His eyes locked with hers. He wrapped his arm around the curve of her waist and drew her closer.
For a second, all other thoughts were blocked out. Who the hell cared if people thought she was a slut, or if foreign agents were trying to murder her? Alex Tanner, the hottest guy she'd ever laid eyes on, was looking at her like she was on the dessert menu.
“Now, look at me like I just told you that I want to get you alone. And that once I’ve gotten you there, I'm going to kiss you, and I'm not going to stop until I've tasted every part of you.”
Her breath hitched. She nervously licked her lips.
“That I'm going to take my time stripping off your clothes, so that I can savor every inch of your skin.”
She tilted her head closer. His breath washed over her cheek, warm and soft.
“That I'm going to spend the whole night doing things to your body that you never even knew were possible.”
She closed the gap between them, crushing her lips against his. He tightened his hold around her waist, his tongue teasing her bottom lip, coaxing her mouth open. She drank him in. The hypnotic swirl of his tongue against hers was too much. Her blood began to heat. Want took over. Damn, she was nearly drunk on it.
Alex broke the kiss suddenly, and glanced across the room. He grasped her wrist and started pulling her toward a door marked exit. Heaven help her, Beth didn't care anymore what people whispered tomorrow as long as she got to taste even a sliver of what Alex was promising.
He opened the side exit door and slid them through. The door led into a service hallway. A man in a suit talked on a cell phone just outside.
Alex’s demeanor changed instantly. All of the languid passion that had drawn her in was gone in a heartbeat. He was all business.
“Munoz has arrived,” he said to the stranger.
The other man nodded.
Embarrassment flooded her. Of course. It was an act.
Alex’s business was keeping her safe, and he'd gotten her away from Salvatore without anyone knowing the real reason why they'd fled. She should be grateful. He'd coaxed her into putting on one hell of a convincing show. Every person in that room believed that she was running off to a night of hedonistic debauchery, not fleeing for her life. The wedding guests had bought it. Salvatore Munoz had bought it. Hell, even she had bought it.
Alex didn't look back as he pulled her down the hall, walking so fast that Beth struggled to keep up in her heels. She didn’t trust herself to talk. She was still recovering from that blistering kiss.
All she could think about on their way back to the room was that if that was the way the man kissed when he was acting, what was it like to be the focus of his passion for real?
Alex didn’t say a word as he closed the hotel room door. He threw the bolt lock, tossed down the room key, and slipped off his jacket and gun holster. He walked across to the window and looked outside, his expression distant.
Beth stood awkwardly in the center of the room, mustering the courage to speak. “Thank you,” she finally said.
He turned around, his brow furrowed in worry and confusion. “For what?”
“For getting me out of there safely. You calmed me down.”
“Is that what I did?” He pulled off his tie as he walked toward the bedroom.
Beth followed. She put her hand on his shoulder, and he froze in the archway between the rooms. She could feel the pent-up energy underneath the thin material of his shirt.
“Okay, maybe that’s not exactly how I felt. I’m sorry. I was nearly in a full panic back there, and you did what you had to do to snap me out of it. So, thank you.”
She slid her hand down his arm as he turned around to face her, not wanting to break contact. His eyes glistened with a hot emotion she didn’t dare name.
Still, she had to try and fix whatever rift had suddenly formed between them. She put her other hand out to him. “Friends?”
He looked down at it for a long second. She was just about to give up and pull it back when he grasped it.
It happened faster than she could react. One second she was standing in the archway, the next her back was up against the wall, her arm pinned above her head. Alex's body pressed against her, holding her immobile.
“This is what I am, Beth. This is what I can do,” he said. “You don't thank me, and you sure as hell don't apologize to me.”
He knew the way to make a point. He held her so that she couldn't get away, but she wasn't afraid. Not even close. He didn't want
to hurt her.
Suddenly, she understood the look in his eyes. It was longing. It was want. It was the same desire that was burning a path through her body.
She wrapped her free hand around his neck. Then she pulled his lips to hers.
His mouth crushed hers. His tongue swept inside, drinking her in, filling her up with desire. She kissed him back, hoping that she could return even a fraction of the pleasure he was giving her. Her mind cleared of thought as sensation took over.
She squirmed against him, desperate to feel the sensation of his body moving over hers.
He moaned, a deep guttural sound that set off a physical reaction in her. Dear God, she'd do anything to hear that sound again. He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers.
“Beth.” He said her name with such longing. Warmth rushed between her legs. “I’m trying to tell you, I'm not a good guy. I'm not Charlie.”
A bubble of laughter escaped Beth's throat. She couldn’t help it. She'd nearly been killed. She’d become a social pariah. Her emotions were far past the boiling point. She needed release.
She needed him.
“I don't want Charlie. I made him up for everyone else's benefit. He was never mine.” It was hard to get out the words with him staring at her lips. She didn't want to talk any more. She didn't want to think. She just wanted him.
Maybe it would be better if she just told him that.
“I want you,” she said.
She pressed closer for emphasis. His delicious groan was her reward. She saw the moment that his resolve broke. A sense of victory swept through her. She was willing to bet that there weren't many people in this world who could claim to have done that to Alex Tanner.
She didn't have long to gloat. His mouth was back on her in an instant. He pulled her away from the wall, just far enough that his hand could find the zipper of her dress. His mouth moved to her neck as he slid the soft silk over her shoulders. His hands swept up the exposed skin of her back. Her fingers curled deeper into his shoulders. He flicked at the clasp of her bra.
She wasn’t about to let him have all the fun. Beth went to work on the buttons of his shirt. Her fingers brushed against the hard ridges of muscle as she pushed back the white material. He felt as smooth and solid as he looked.
She went for the waist of his pants just as his mouth closed around her earlobe. Suddenly, her fingers weren't quite so deft. She fumbled with his buttons for a moment before the fly popped open.
Oh dear God, he even had abs down there. Was that even possible? She felt her mouth go dry. Ancient Greek statues didn't have bodies this perfect.
He hissed in a breath as she traced her fingers down below the waistband of his pants. He stiffened. All of him stiffened. She moved her finger slowly, exploring the plane of his lower belly, the ridge of his hips, but always keeping her fingers inches away from the part of him now straining the material of his pants.
It gave her a thrilling sense of satisfaction to know that she could affect him that way. He eased her dress over the swell of her hips and let it fall to the floor. Her panties followed a second later. He stopped kissing her long enough to pull back and look at her.
Beth couldn’t help the sinking feeling deep within her belly. She wasn't someone with particularly low self-esteem. At least she never thought of herself that way. Of course, when she did her thinking on the subject, she was usually fully dressed and in the company of people that she had no intention of getting sloppy with. Sometimes she was even wearing a turtleneck. Standing before a modern-day Adonis, she found she couldn’t muster the same certainty.
The fire in his eyes darkened as he looked at her. It grew...hungrier.
“Oh, God, Beth,” he said. He started kissing her again. His mouth moved over her neck, her shoulders, down to the curve of her breast. He drew a nipple into his mouth. Beth's eyes closed as delicious sensation swept through her.
A second later she was being lifted up.
He carried her over to the bed and sat her down.
She pushed down his pants over the hard ridge of his hips. He kicked them down the rest of the way. He was perfect.
She wrapped her fingers around his shaft, his erection heavy in her hand. He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. It was a heady feeling being able to affect him like this—the same way he affected her.
He dragged his hands up her body, peppering kisses across her skin. Then he leaned her back over the bed. She clutched at his shoulders and took him with her. Her heart thundered in her chest, blood pounded through her veins.
He positioned himself between her legs.
For half a second, Beth worried about how this was going to work. She hadn't been with anyone for a while, and he was bigger than most—hell, he was bigger than anybody she had ever been with. How would he fit?
He slid his fingers down until they found her clit. Instantly, those thoughts—all thoughts—fled her mind. Her head fell back against the pillows, and her back arched as he caressed the most sensitive part of her. She shouldn't have worried. She was plenty wet to take him. Just the thought of him was enough to make her ready.
Alex's breath against her ear became ragged. His cock nudged against her. He waited a second. Two seconds. Just long enough for Beth to fear that he had changed his mind.
With a long exhale, he pressed forward, slowly sinking inside her body. She grabbed on to him, desperate to keep her hold on him as he slowly pulled out. With each stroke he filled her deeper, until their bodies met.
Her body swam with pleasure. She couldn't be closer to him if she tried.
He pivoted and sat up, pulling her with him, until she was nestled on his lap. She wrapped her legs around his back and ground against him. Each stroke drove her closer to the edge.
He wrapped his arms around her back, cradling her, holding her steady. His mouth bathed her neck in kisses. She found a rhythm and stayed there. One step away from wild, she took her pleasure from him. Her heart pounded so hard she thought she could hear it. It was a reminder that she had survived. That she was alive. And for the first time since she could remember, she was taking what she wanted. What she really wanted.
He felt it too. She saw it in his eyes. Tasted it in the swipe of his tongue against hers. This was passion. This was life.
Tension built inside of her. A fire that refused to be tamed. And for the first time she could remember, Beth didn't care about anything else. She wanted to know what it was like to throw herself over the edge with abandon.
She didn't have to wait long. His body just felt too good. All the tension inside her broke. She shuddered around him. Her back arched as blinding pleasure swept through her.
He was close behind. He guided her down on her back, so he was above her. He took her hard and fast. His body tensed as he came. He buried his face in her neck and pressed his body against hers. She felt every second of his release, felt it run through every muscle in his body. Only then did he relax against her.
A long moment passed before Alex rolled onto his side. His face was still nestled against her neck. She felt his breath slow, until long exhales caressed her skin.
After another minute had ticked by, he pulled her close. She rested her head on his shoulder and draped her arm over him.
Beth traced her fingertips over his chest and belly. He caressed the back of her neck with his palm. She breathed in the scent of him, and burrowed deeper into his chest. Her legs wrapped around his.
She tried to fight off the decadent feeling that threatened to carry her off to sleep. She didn’t want to go there, not just yet. Even with all the danger that surrounded her, she felt safe in Alex's arms. She knew it was unfair to put such a burden on him, but just for a few minutes she decided to enjoy the sensation. After all, she wasn’t sure when she’d get another chance.
Chapter 9