“You’d be a fool not to sell me Açoazul,” Gabriel said sharply. “No other competitor has offered you a fraction of the price. Théo St. Raphaël certainly won’t. Don’t lose a fortune based on some unfounded fear!”
The older man stiffened. “I’m not afraid. And it’s not unfounded.”
Gabriel nuzzled her neck. “I’m not interested in any woman except Laura.”
She leaned back against him, closing her eyes. The feel of his lips and the nibble of his sharp teeth against the sensitive flesh caused sparks to thrill down her body. She heard the other man hiss through his teeth, and opened her eyes. Felipe Oliveira and Adriana were staring at them with shock. Looking up at Gabriel, Laura shivered as a single bead of sweat trickled down her bare skin between her breasts. The air between them suddenly crackled with sexual energy.
“Come, querida,” Gabriel said in a low voice. “It’s getting hot. I need to cool off.”
Wrapping her hand in his own, he pulled her away from the cabana and across the terrace through the open gate, past the security guards to the private beach. Turquoise waves pounded the white sand with a rhythmic roar. Laura glanced back at the party behind them. She and Gabriel were still in full view of the mansion and terraces as he led her across the sand.
“You did it,” Gabriel said when they were out of earshot.
“Did I?” Looking up, she furrowed her brow. “He didn’t seem to believe us.”
“Of course he’s suspicious. The man’s not stupid. But we’ll soon convince him we’re in love.”
“How?” she whispered.
He reached down and stroked a tendril of hair from her face.
“To think all this time I had such a beauty working for me,” he breathed, then shook his head with a laugh. “I’m glad you didn’t look like this when you were my secretary. I wouldn’t have gotten any work done.”
“You wouldn’t?”
“It was hard enough as it was. You were always too pretty. I wanted you from the first day I met you, when you came up to my office wearing that old brown suit and big glasses.”
He remembered the clothes she’d worn the day they met? “You don’t have to talk like this.” Her heart was hammering in her throat. “No one can hear us.”
“That’s why I’m saying it,” he said. “Come on.”
He yanked off his flip-flops and shirt, leaving them on the sand as he pulled her into the sea. Kicking off her high-heeled shoes, she followed him, almost willing to follow him into the very depths of the ocean as long as he kept hold of her hand.
He led her into the water, deeper and deeper still. She looked at him in front of her, and her eyes hungrily traced the hard curves of his muscular back, his strong legs. She felt the shock of cool water against her skin as they walked through the ocean waves, moving slower and slower until the water reached their thighs.
He glanced behind her. “They’re still watching.” He smiled. “You make this too easy. Any man would want you. Half the men here are in love with you already.”
Laura swallowed, yearning to tell him she didn’t care, that he was the only man she wanted, the only one she’d ever wanted. She’d once loved him with all her heart, this man with the warm dark eyes that made her melt, who whispered words of adoration, who made her body sizzle even when they weren’t out in the hot sun.
Gabriel’s sensual mouth curved. “And you’ve proved yourself every bit the skilled actress I hoped you’d be. The way you shivered and leaned back against me when I kissed your neck, as if you were head over heels in love with me…they bought it all.”
Except it hadn’t been an act. Beneath the blazing sun, they stared at each other, thigh-deep in the cool turquoise water, swaying in the currents. She felt the splash of the cool waves against her hot, bare thighs.
He came closer to her. “The way you look at me sometimes.” His gaze searched hers. “It reminds me of something that Adriana said. As if you really…”
“Really what?” Laura whispered.
He pulled back, his self-mocking mask back in place on his darkly handsome face. “I think I really do need to cool off,” he said with a laugh, and he fell back with a splash into the water.
When he resurfaced, Gabriel sprang from the waves like a god of the sea, scattering sparkling droplets as he tossed his black hair back. Rivulets streamed down his tanned, hard-muscled chest. She couldn’t look away. She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted him to make love to her, hard and fast, slow and soft, and never stop. Most of all, she wanted him to love her.
He came toward her, his eyes dark. He took her in his arms, and she felt the hard muscles of his chest press against her bare skin. He looked down at her.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said huskily. “I know what you need.”
Her mouth went dry. “You—you do?”
Without warning, he lifted her up in his arms, against his wet, muscled chest. Her head fell back in surprise, and she had a brief image of the blue sea and distant green jungle before she realized what he meant to do. Holding her tightly in his arms, he fell back into the waves.
She had one instant to gasp in a breath before she felt the cool water splash against her skin and she was baptized by the waves.
When he lifted her back out of the sea, she sputtered in outrage, kicking her legs against his chest. “I can’t believe you did that!”
“Why?” he said lazily. “Didn’t it cool you off?”
“That’s not the point!”
“It felt good. Admit it.”
“It felt great,” she muttered. “But you spent a fortune to get me to look pretty, and now you’ve ruined it. They spent ages getting my hair just right—”
“I haven’t ruined anything.” His arms tightened over her bikini-clad body. She saw they’d gone farther from the shore. The water now reached his waist, and she could feel the slide of the waves moving sinuously and languorously against her backside and thighs. Her cheeks grew hot as she realized the crocheted yarn bikini, with all its tiny holes, was transparent when wet. “I’m done with this party,” Gabriel growled, looking down at her. His hands tightened. “I’m taking you home.”
At the rough sound of his voice, a shiver went through her. Tension coiled low in her belly as his dark gaze devoured her with ruthless hunger.
As he started wading back through the waves, clutching her against his chest, she felt their overheated skin pressed together beneath the hot sun.
Against her will, Laura’s gaze fell to his mouth, to the cruel, sensual lips that had kissed her with such passion. He looked down at her, then stopped. For several seconds, he just stood in the water, staring down at her.
Releasing her from his hold, he let her go, let her slide slowly down his body against him. She felt how much he desired her, felt his hard body beneath the water. His eyes were like fire.
Cupping her chin in his hands, he lowered his head to hers.
As he kissed her, she felt the hard press of his satin-smooth lips, the sweet, tantalizing taste of his tongue, the salty taste of his rough skin. She surrendered in his arms in the swaying ocean, floating on waves. Drowning in him.
As Gabriel kissed her, standing in the ocean, he felt the warmth of her naked skin in the swaying, cool water. He tasted the wet heat of her mouth. Suddenly, he knew he had to have her. Now.
He heard catcalls behind them in Portuguese and realized he’d forgotten about the party. He’d forgotten about Oliveira and Adriana. At this moment,