“You have such pretty skin, Charlotte,” he said, running his fingers down her arm. “So soft and golden.”
He drew his palm back up her arm, tugged on the strap. He could see her pulse skittering in her throat, but she hadn’t gone motionless like a small animal in front of a predator. Senses on alert for any change, he bent down and did exactly as he’d said—he pressed his lips to her skin and licked out. Just a little. Just enough to make her jump.
Smiling, he broke the kiss and blew on the spot.
She shivered.
So he scraped his teeth over her before kissing her again.
A tiny whimper escaped her throat.
With any other woman, he’d have curved his hands around her front, cupped and squeezed her breasts as he got serious, his mouth ravenous on her neck, but Charlotte needed him to go slow.
Slow could be fun, he told his rigid cock, and tugged the strap back into place.
CHARLOTTE COULD FEEL GABRIEL’S kiss long after he returned to his seat. His mouth, his tongue… She shivered again, unable to imagine how she’d bear it if he ever kissed her as intimately as he’d described the first time she’d been in his kitchen.
“Don’t forget the chocolate chips for yours.”
His voice made her toes curl, her nipples already throbbing points. “Thanks,” she managed, and turned to shake some into the rest of the batter, and a few minutes later, the two of them were feasting on pancakes.
Instead of the awkward, painful morning she’d expected, she spent it bathed in sunshine while Gabriel sat across from her. There was some outrageous flirting, but they also talked about a couple of work matters. “We should go in, do the paperwork,” she said, knowing exactly how much time he’d sliced out of his schedule for her. “Otherwise you won’t have time to breathe tomorrow.”
“Excellent. You can tell my mother I took you to work for our date.”
A date. The sound of that made her smile widen. “It’ll only take a couple of hours.”
Gabriel looked at her, a tenderness in his expression that made her hurt in a sweet, wonderful way. “I have something for you,” he said, to her surprise. “I’ve had it for a while. I don’t know if today’s the right day to give it to you, but I want to.”
Charlotte squirmed on the breakfast stool, filled with curiosity as he disappeared upstairs. When he came back down, she couldn’t see anything obvious, though one of his hands was loosely fisted. Coming around the counter, he took her wrist; she bit down on her lower lip… and then she was scowling.
“I don’t want a used bracelet!” Outraged, she tried to wrench back her hand.
It was the bracelet he’d made her choose in Queenstown after dragging her around all the high-end stores. Now he had the nerve to laugh and hook the platinum, emerald, and diamond piece around her wrist.
“How many women do you know who have wrists this slender?”
Still scowling at his audacity, especially given how much she’d loved this piece—the design a delicacy of flowers and exquisitely shaped leaves—she said, “Statistically, at least a number of the women you dated.”
“So suspicious.” Flicking his thumb against the little oval platinum tag near the clasp, he said, “Good thing I got this.”
Looking down, she felt her heart slam into her ribs. It was inscribed to Ms. Baird. “Ms. Baird?” she said, a little teary.
“My Ms. Baird.”
She couldn’t believe it. He’d bought this months ago. Lower lip quivering, she pushed at his chest. “You are a horrible man.” It had infuriated her to be asked to choose a gift for some unknown woman. “Why did you torment me?”
“I was flirting with you,” he said in a growl of a tone. “I figured you’d work it out when I made it clear I wanted your opinion and your opinion alone.”
“How was I supposed to figure it out?” Sunshine from the skylight sparked off the stunning piece of jewelry as she glared up at him. “I told you, men like you don’t hit on women like me.”
His expression altered, pure sin in his eyes. “That’s one punishment,” he said in a tone that was a rasp of rough silk over her skin. “We’ll figure out a payment schedule you can handle.”
Chest rising and falling as she inhaled and exhaled jerkily, she refused to back down. “I can’t accept this.” It was valued in the serious five figures. She knew because she’d taken great delight in watching him pay for it, figuring that was his just deserts for dragging her along on the excruciating exercise.
“Try to give it back.” It was a dare.
Taking it, she went to undo the clasp. Tried again. “Gabriel, what did you do?”
He pressed his lips to her shoulder again in response, his hand warm and possessive on her back. “I’ll show you how to take it off when you stop attempting to give it back.”
“This is ridiculous. There must be a way…” But try as she might, she couldn’t figure out how to undo the clasp. “I can’t go around wearing a bracelet worth half my annual income!”
He shrugged and put a strawberry to her lips. “Bite down.”
When she did it with force, he raised his hand to play with her dress strap. “Still doesn’t put me off that luscious mouth.” Stroking the remaining half of the strawberry over her lips, he leaned down and whispered, “You wouldn’t bite my cock, would you, Ms. Baird?”