Keeping Gemma (Holiday Cove 2)

“And is he important now? I hardly think it’s a coincidence you showed up here today,” I kept my tone light. I didn’t want her to think I was running an interrogation. But she was telling me just enough to answer my questions without really saying much of anything.

She smiled and traced a finger up my forearm. Flames danced over my skin, up my arm, and my cock stirred to life, remembering the way her mouth had fit over me. “Henry was very upset over losing the plane at the Edwards auction,” Talia explained, her eyes still full of heat as she dragged them over my body, as though only halfway paying attention to what she was saying. It was obvious that her mind was elsewhere. She licked her lips slowly before bringing her gaze back to mine. “He insisted we drive out here today. When he finds something he wants, he wants it immediately. He’s going to make you a deal.”

“A deal?” I scoffed, shaking my head. “No, I’m not interested. The F-4 isn’t for sale.”

She shrugged. “You can tell him that. Henry’s world is one where everything has a price. Everyone has a price.”

I stared at her for a moment, trying to separate myself from the heat and desire she was sending over my body. I needed to untangle the meaning of her words, but it was damn near impossible when she stared at me, her red lips parted like that…

“So, this isn’t about land development?”

Talia dropped her hand from my arm. Her dark eyes flashed and I could see that she was tiring of my questions. I reached for her as she started to walk away. I caught her hand and brought her back to me. I flipped her hand over and pressed my lips to the palm of her hand. She gasped as I flicked my tongue in a suggestive pattern along her skin. She dropped her head back and I got a flash to how she’d looked, naked, straddling me, as her hips rolled and rocked.

“God, Talia, I want you…”

She had me under her spell and there was no breaking it. Rich, powerful boyfriend, or not.

I no longer cared.

6

Talia moaned as I reapplied my tongue along the palm of her hand, then lapped over her wrist. “One last question,” I said, my words humming against her wrist as I pulled away a fraction of an inch. My eyes met hers, then closed to drop another long, lingering kiss. “Last night. Did you know who I was?”

She shook her head, her dark hair swinging. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Henry didn’t tell you about our fight?”

“Fight?” Her dark eyes went wide.

“After the auction.” I lowered her hand but kept a hold on it. “We got into it in the parking lot. If this guy hadn’t pulled me off, Henry’d still be in the fuckin’ hospital.”

She pulled it away. “After the auction, Henry was in a terrible mood. He didn’t want to talk about it, though. That’s why I went out dancing with my friends. To get away from him.”

I nodded, but her answer only filled my head with more questions. Had he hurt her? Was he the type to take his anger out on her in that way? If so, that would make it my fault…What would he do if he found out about what else I’d taken from him that night?

“Henry was only at the auction to get that plane. Well, that and to be seen with all his filthy friends,” she scoffed, waving her hand dismissively. “He probably bragged about that plane all day.”

“So, when I won it…”

Talia’s eyes flashed back to me. “He was angry. He felt slighted, I suppose.”

“Then, why didn’t he bid higher? Surely his pockets are deeper than mine.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. He probably didn’t want to make it look like a struggle. Easier for him to try and buy it from you after the fact. In a few weeks, no one will remember that he didn’t win the auction. Just that he got what he wanted.”

“Why are you with a guy like that?” The question ran away from me before I could remind myself that I didn’t care. Talia had been a one-night stand—a helluva good one—but regardless, I had no business getting tangled in her personal life, especially not her love life.

“Why not?” She answered, shrugging off the question. “He’s rich and he fucks like a god. Anyway, he’s married, so it’s just a fling.”

I snorted at her answer. “Well, okay then.”

After that, I left it alone, reminding myself that it was none of my business. But her answer annoyed me. Talia was hardly the type of woman to just let life happen. She must have been getting something from Henry. Money was the obvious answer, and maybe that’s all it was. She’d already said that she’d had affairs, and Henry had his own. She didn’t seem broken up about his wandering ways.