Scandal Never Sleeps (The Perfect Gentlemen 1)

taste. I want to kiss you so long and hard that you’ll forget you were ever kissed before.” He lifted his head up and dragged in a breath. “So what do you say? Will you have dinner with me?”

She swallowed. His words made everything but her need fall away. “It’s not dinner I’m interested in anymore.”

THREE

That’s one suite for the night, Mr. Bond. Do you need any help with your luggage?” The woman behind the counter at The Plaza arched a brow as she glanced at Eve, who stood in a corner, staring up at the coffered ceilings and the huge chandeliers of the elegant, marbled lobby. In fact, since they’d arrived, she’d looked everywhere but at him. Doubt was creeping in. Her darting gaze and tense body language told him that. She didn’t do this kind of thing often, he’d bet. If he let her think for too long, he could lose her.

Gabe tapped his fingers impatiently at the desk clerk as Eve adjusted her purse, her hands skimming along the strap with nervous energy. She definitely wasn’t cool and calm about the one-night stand she’d agreed to.

A gentleman would put her in a cab and send her home, but he wasn’t a gentleman tonight. Maybe he never had been and old Ogilvie had been right. Yes, he knew it wasn’t fair to mask his grief with the lust he planned to slake on her. But he needed her too much now to play fair.

“I don’t need help with luggage, but I do need something else.” He fished out a couple of hundreds. “Keep my stay here quiet. I don’t need reporters showing up.”

“Sir, at The Plaza we believe in the strictest confidentiality,” she said, but she took the cash anyway.

When he was done in a few hours, he would leave out the back entrance, or better yet have Roman pick him up so they could start prepping for this meeting on Monday with Mad’s lawyer. If there was a person on earth who knew how to avoid the press, it was the White House chief of staff.

Gabe knew that a smart man would not spend this evening with Eve, but would go home and prepare all weekend for Monday’s legal skirmish. He intended to fight for his niece’s or nephew’s rightful inheritance. He didn’t care what the will said or what charity Mad had left his money and worldly goods to. The safety and security of his fortune belonged to Sara, damn it. But Gabe didn’t want to think about that now, not when he had a warm, intriguing redhead to help him temporarily forget.

He stared at her. She made his blood pump, made him feel alive. No way he would let her off his hook tonight. He needed some of her softness, a few hours where he didn’t have to think about anything but pleasure. Monday would be soon enough to battle Mad’s final wishes and his own demons.

After taking the keycard and shoving it in his pocket, he strode to Eve and slipped his hand in hers, tangling their fingers together. He didn’t usually engage in public displays of affection, but the skin-on-skin contact made him feel connected to her. Knowing what they’d do next gave him something to look forward to. Even better, the gesture seemed to reassure her. He needed that because they were about to be alone. Gabe planned to have her aroused and naked in the next five minutes.

As they strolled to the bank of elevators, her heels clacked against the sleek floors. He was grateful as hell that most of the tourists seemed to be out for the night, likely heading to Midtown for a show.

With a ding, one of the elevator doors opened to reveal a uniformed attendant. “What floor, sir?”

The young man’s earnest question made Gabe grit his teeth. There was already too much space between him and Eve, too much time between now and the moment he sank deep inside her. He fished out another bill. “I’ll give you fifty if you sit this ride out.”

The attendant was more than happy to comply.

Once they were alone, he hit the button for the nineteenth floor. The doors closed.

Eve sent him a puzzled stare. “Why did you—”

Gabe didn’t let her finish the question, merely backed her against the wall and fastened his mouth over hers. Demonstrating his hunger was way better than explaining it.

The second his body pressed flush against hers, his senses rioted. He noticed a million things about Eve at once. She smelled decidedly feminine. Her curves were lush. Even in heels, she was petite, barely reaching past his shoulder. She fit naturally in his arms. And damn, she radiated warmth like the sun after a bitter winter.

Eve gasped slightly before she yielded to his lips, but she kissed with a passion that stemmed from her whole being. The woman ignited him.

Since the first kiss had already addicted him, Gabe went in for another.

As he molded his lips to hers again, he buried his hands in the silk of her hair and tugged with enough force to tilt her face and grant him easier access to her mouth. She responded perfectly, following his lead, answering with abandon. When he let his tongue run along her bottom lip, her mouth flowered open for him.

Fuck, he wanted to eat her up.

His heart pounded as Eve kissed him with artless enthusiasm and anchored her hands on his waist—as if she needed to steady herself while he devoured her mouth. Her fingers explored the muscles of his back, clutching him as if she’d never let go.

As the elevator ascended to their floor, she slid her leg against his in blatant invitation. Gabe wasn’t about to refuse her. He took total possession of her mouth, plunging his tongue deep to stroke hers.

Normally, he preferred to play the smooth lover. He usually dated women who wanted to prove they were as good in the bedroom as they were in the boardroom. Most of his lovers had been cool and practiced—and not one of them had made him as crazy as Eve.

She hesitated at first, her tongue tentative. But he persisted until she met him with an endearing hesitance that rapidly turned bold, then demanding. Gabe gladly accepted the challenge.

He glided a hand down to cup one cheek of her incredible ass. The flesh in his grip was round and juicy, and he was sure she probably bemoaned her curves but they were perfect. His free hand joined his other, and he filled his palms with her lush derriere and used the leverage to drag her hard against his body, rubbing himself against her belly. She gasped.

“Are you all right?”

She blinked up at him, her eyes heavy with arousal. “Yes. I just . . . I don’t . . .”

He shook his head. “No don’ts tonight. Tell me what you want. Tell me what you like.”

Her lips curled up in the sexiest little grin. “I love it when you kiss me.”

No problem. He was going to kiss her. Everywhere.

The elevator stopped. The doors slid open. He felt like he was freaking sixteen again and he couldn’t wait. He needed her on a physical level and he wasn’t going to be satisfied with anything less than total possession.

She headed out of the little car but walked too slow for him. Maybe she wasn’t comfortable in the heels she wore. Maybe her mind was hazy with arousal. Maybe she was rethinking everything. Gabe couldn’t allow that. Their suite was at the end of the hall, and he had to get her inside before she changed her mind.

He bent and shoved an arm under her knees, his other around her back, and hauled her against his chest.

“You picked me up.” She was very observant.

“I’m a full-service lover,” he offered wryly as he strode down the elegant hallway, focused on getting inside that room and getting her naked.

Her grin became a smile. “That’s good to know, Gabriel.”

He liked how she said his name. Somehow she made it lyrical, as though she was savoring the syllables. She drew them out like his name was the most sensual word she’d ever spoken. He didn’t correct her. All of his friends called him Gabe, but he liked Gabriel with her. “You are incredibly beautiful. Did I mention that?”

She wrapped her arm around his neck. “And you’re both gorgeous and strong. I don’t think a man has ever picked me up.”

So strength was a turn-on for her? He could show her a thing or two because he definitely wanted to impress the lady.

But mostly, he was desperate to get insid

e her. The need rode him hard.

He had to set her down when he reached the suite and scrambled to find the key. He was never nervous and fumbling. Damn it, he was usually smooth, always in control. He blamed Mad. He blamed her.

Gabe stopped caring whose fault it was the second he managed to slot the keycard in the lock and slide the door open. Finally, they would be alone.