He knew he shouldn’t do this. Any more than he should have kept dating her when she’d come to see him in jail. Right now, by asking questions, he was stirring up things people had forgotten about.
She bit his lower lip. Surprised, he drew his head back.
“What was that for?”
“For not paying attention to the kiss. What’s distracting you?” she asked.
“I shouldn’t do this. Before I started asking questions I felt like you and I could have an affair and there wouldn’t be any repercussions, but now... I’m not so sure,” he admitted.
He wasn’t afraid to let her see the real man behind the confident swagger.
Gabi had always been the one person he felt he could let his guard down with.
“Let me be the judge of what’s right for me. I’m a big girl now,” she said.
But being a big girl had nothing to do with the ugly gossip that could come from nowhere. Even his wife had been painted with some ugly innuendo after they’d married. Jade hadn’t allowed it to bother her, but she’d been used to ignoring the paparazzi and Gabi wasn’t.
Gabi was a nanny who had spent most of her adult life taking care of wealthy children. There was nothing that would have prepared her—
“Stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Trying to tell yourself that I need you to protect me. I’ve gotten along just fine without you. I want you to see me as a woman. Not someone fragile creature you have to protect.”
“I always see you as a woman,” he replied. “In fact, it’s been damn hard to see you any other way. Every night when I saw Conner on the video chat I couldn’t help staring at you when he wasn’t looking. I think I’m obsessed.”
“Obsession isn’t necessarily a bad thing,” she said. “But I’m not an object you are watching from afar. I’m right here with you, and instead of talking about revenge and the past, how about we do something about it?”
“What did you have in mind?” he asked. Revenge was slowly being pushed to the back of his mind.
She eased her hands under his sport coat and slowly worked it off his shoulders and down his arms. He let it slide to the floor and then stood there waiting to see what she’d do next.
He liked Gabi like this. When she took control.
She went up on her tiptoes and twined her hands around the back of his neck. “Now, let’s try this welcome-home kiss thing again.”
“Oh, it was a welcome-home kiss?” he asked. Her breath was minty fresh and brushed over his lips when she talked. Her curvy petite body was pressed against his chest, and her fingers were fondling the back of his neck.
Shivers spread down his spine and he was suddenly very aware of every second since the last time he’d held this woman in his arms. He wanted her.
Blood pooled in his groin and his erection grew. He lowered his head slowly and this time thought of nothing but her full mouth and how she tasted when he kissed her.
She parted her lips under his, her tongue sliding deep into his mouth. He put his hands on her waist and drew her closer, rubbing his groin against her center. A soft little moan escaped her.
He was on fire.
He lifted her off her feet and turned to walk to his desk. He set her down on the edge of it without breaking the kiss and stepped between her legs. Now that she was seated on his desk, he was free to let his hands roam all over her. He caressed her back, squeezing her hips as he drew her even closer to his erection, rubbing against her as she deepened the kiss.
Her fingers tangled in the hair at the back of his neck and tugged as she bit lightly at his tongue.
He knew that he was going to have to stop soon. His son was just down the hall along with two women in their employ. This wasn’t proper behavior—but he knew he’d never really given a crap about proper behavior.
And he certainly wasn’t going to start now when he had Gabi in his arms and she was setting him on fire.
There was a knock at the door and he tore his mouth from hers.
“Who is it?”
“Mrs. Tillman. Sorry to interrupt, but Hunter is here and he says he needs to speak to you urgently.”
“Kingsley—for God’s sake, Mrs. Tillman, let me by,” Hunter said through the door. Kingsley wasn’t going to pull away from Gabi like an embarrassed lothario, but he didn’t want Hunter to say anything rude.
“Just a minute, Hunter.”
He kissed Gabi again softly. “Dinner tonight after Conner is in bed.”