Page 36 of A Diamond Deal with Her Boss
He shifted and watched as Abby dove into the pool. She was a graceful swimmer and, unlike the sort of women he was accustomed to dating—unlike even Lucy, who had not been anything like the women he was accustomed to dating—Abby actually didn’t mind getting her hair wet. Lying and tanning seemed to hold little interest for her.
She was sporty, he had discovered. She enjoyed hiking. In the idyllic, rural bubble in which she had been raised, she had surfed, gone camping and explored the countryside by bike. He had pieced together a picture of someone whose life had followed a pleasant if predictable path, culminating in her engagement to the guy who had ditched her when big city life had begun to weave its spell.
She’d toughened up, built a shell around herself and taken refuge in her privacy, but underneath the walls there was a completely different woman.
He wondered what it might be like to go on a proper holiday with her, one that hadn’t stemmed from unusual circumstances, and he frowned, because it was the last sort of idle speculation he should be indulging.
‘You’re not thinking about work, are you?’
Gabriel sat forward, arms draped over his thighs, and stared at the bikini-clad figure of his so-called fiancée who was peering at him from the pool, hair plastered around a face bare of any make-up. She was one hundred percent natural and, if he closed his eyes, he could almost smell her clean, floral scent, the one that filled his nostrils and made him want to make love to her over and over again.
‘Really want to know what I’m thinking about?’ he drawled, vaulting upright and strolling towards her.
Abby’s eyes darkened and she laughed, because she could read the intent in his eyes and it fired up something in her, something that made her want to leap out of the swimming pool and drag him off to the nearest empty room so that she could have her wicked way with him.
‘Are you thinking that the pool looks really inviting and you’d like nothing better than to join me?’
‘I can certainly think of nothing better than joining you,’ Gabriel agreed. ‘But it’s only...’ he glanced at his watch ‘...five-thirty, which means I have to endure a few more hours before I can get you where I want you.’
‘You shouldn’t be wishing away your time here,’ Abby chided, but she was still laughing as he slid into the water and kissed her briefly on the mouth, before ducking under and surfacing to shake his head like a dog shaking off water. ‘You should be hoping it passes slowly, all the better to enjoy your grandmother’s company. She’s just so thrilled to have you here. I can’t believe she’s actually given her housekeeper the rest of the week off so that she can cook all your favourite meals.’ Abby swivelled so that she was backed against the side of the pool, elbows supporting her, treading water as she looked at him. ‘It’s no wonder you’re so spoiled.’
‘I admit I don’t have a problem when it comes to getting my own way.’ He knew that his grandmother was resting. She’d actually made it to the pool and had swum a few laps, encouraged by Abby, but that burst of activity had taken it out of her and she had retired half an hour ago to have a lie down.
With that in mind, Gabriel caged Abby in, his muscular arms on either side of hers, and he kissed her, a long, drugging kiss that barely allowed her to come up for air. Keeping his eyes on the house, he casually reached down and cupped her between her legs.
‘I like the bikini, by the way. Good choice, although I have to say that if my grandmother wasn’t here I would consign it to the wardrobe and forbid you from coming into the swimming pool with anything on.’
‘Very chauvinistic,’ Abby said on a breathless whimper, as the hand cupping her began to work its way underneath the bikini bottom. He’d somehow managed to persuade her that anything remotely constricting as a bra was a disposable item of clothing, and her skin burned whenever she thought of him coming up from behind and slipping his hand underneath her top so that he could play with her breasts.
‘I’m a dinosaur,’ Gabriel agreed without batting an eye. ‘I like my women hot and ready for me. Like now. You’re wet, and it has nothing to do with the fact that we’re both in a swimming pool. Like me to make you even wetter?’
‘Gabriel.’ Abby breathed brokenly as he began to tease her with his expert touch. ‘This is not the time...oh, oh, Gabriel...or the place... Your grandmother... Oh, that feels so good...’
‘She’s sound asleep and this is just the right time and place for me to pleasure my woman.’ With one hand, he cupped the back of her neck so that he could kiss her, while he busied himself with his other hand, his fingers sliding up and down, gathering a rhythm that built and built and built until she was whimpering and moaning.
She gave a spasm against his hand and cried out as the orgasm peaked, taking her breath away and then gradually subsiding, leaving her limp as a rag doll for a few seconds. Then she slowly opened her eyes and looked at him, dazed.
‘I can’t believe you just did that.’ She breathed unsteadily and Gabriel grinned and kissed her, but this time a quick dip on her mouth.
‘I get a kick out of taking you places you haven’t been before. I like it.’
‘I wish I could do the same for you,’ Abby said fervently.
‘You do. I’m here, aren’t I? In a swimming pool, playing truant from work.’
‘You must have done that before, when you’ve gone on holiday with whatever buxom brunette you happened to be going out with.’
‘To tell you the truth, I haven’t taken many women on holiday. Anywhere.’
‘Why not?’
Gabriel shrugged. He knew why—because a holiday would have felt like a level of commitment and one that held no interest for him. Always on guard against any woman wanting more than he was prepared to give, he had developed a keen instinct for staying away from situations that could become complicated. Cosy holidays came into that category.
‘Naturally, there have been one or two brief weekends abroad. They usually involved expensive shopping or expensive skiing in a crowd. Do you ski?’
Abby laughed. ‘I don’t like shopping and I don’t ski.’
‘I’m surprised, given how active your childhood was.’
