The Montoros Dynasty. Katherine Garbera

the delegation had undergone fairly stringent physicals before leaving for the States. Though he had condoms with him, he found himself fiercely glad that they would be unnecessary.

      “Are you sure?” he asked hoarsely. “I don’t want you to think I’m coercing you.”

      For the first time since she entered his suite, her face lightened, and she laughed out loud. “I’m pretty sure you’re not. It’s a little insulting that I had to work so hard to get your attention.”

      He deposited her on the soft sheets and followed her down. “Are you kidding? I noticed you the first day you came to work for our company in London. But you were way too young and I was way too busy.”

      “And later?” Her arms remained at her sides, as if she were afraid to move.

      He traced a fingertip from the center of her forehead, down her nose, between her breasts, all the way to her navel, where he stopped to let both of them catch their breath. “In Alma I watched you bloom from a pretty young girl to a mature, fascinating woman. But we were both consumed with the work at hand—steering Alma’s fate.”

      “Did you have this in mind when you suggested me to be on the delegation?”

      Her quiet question caught him off guard. He was the one to flush this time. Had he envisioned this moment? Really? It troubled him that he couldn’t give her an unequivocal answer.

      She stroked his collarbone with both hands, moving down his chest as he leaned over her on one elbow. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Because even if you didn’t, I did. I’ve had the worst crush on you. Then somehow, when we got to Florida, everything got worse.”

      “Worse? Or better?” He lightly rubbed her nipples one after the other, breathing harder when she arched off the bed and called his name.

      This time...this precious first time. He knew he wanted it to be special for her, but lust rode him like a wild animal, consuming everything in its path. Honor...tenderness...gentle care.

      Maria trembled against him, as nervous as a wide-eyed cat. “Relax,” he muttered. “I won’t do anything you don’t like.” But when he buried his face between her thighs and feasted on the taste of her, nothing short of cataclysm could have made him stop before he pushed her off the edge of a choked climax.

      “More,” he groaned. “We’ll do more later. But I can’t wait.”

      He felt the last flutters of her climax against his shaft as he pushed his way inside her. The tight fit...the heat...all of it overwhelmed him. Because in the midst of intense physical euphoria he felt something else. A notion that terrified him and made him weak.

      He might be in love with her.

      * * *

      Maria still reeled in the aftermath of what had been an unprecedented orgasm. She’d been sure such things were the stuff of movies and books. Who could believe that the earth actually rocked on its axis when the right man staked a claim?

      Alex filled her completely, in a way she barely understood. He was a man with all the usual equipment, but even in her limited experience, she recognized that this was something far beyond a casual hookup. Maybe not for him, but certainly for her.

      And because she had courted this moment, watched for it, waited for it to happen, she would be the one with the most to lose. Alex Ramon was not available for everlasting love. He was smart and wonderful and passionate, but he was not hers.

      That dreadful reality refused to take root in light of the fact that he was thrusting inside her wildly, rolling to his back and encouraging her own acrobatics. “Take what you want, Maria. Take it all.”

      His breathless grin encompassed a masculine satisfaction that should have made her want to smack him for his impudence...if she hadn’t been trembling on the brink of yet another exquisite climax. “Who’s taking whom?” she asked primly, stingingly aware that he felt larger and more determined from this angle.

      “Doesn’t matter.” He groaned when she dared to reach behind and touch the base of his erection.

      Where his fingers gripped her buttocks, she would likely have bruises tomorrow. She looked down at him, seeing the power in his broad shoulders, the pleasing symmetry of his pectoral muscles, the sleek delineation of his rib cage.

      “You are a beautiful man,” she breathed, squeezing inwardly as he dragged her down onto his hard flesh again and again. “I never knew what you were hiding beneath all those hand-tailored suits.”

      His head pressed into the pillow as he gasped. “Well, we’re even then, because I may never let you get dressed again.”

      With one last twist of his hips, he took them both into the deep end. As the wave crashed over her, violent and deeply satisfying, she slumped onto his chest and counted the beats of his heart.

      * * *

      Alex couldn’t feel his legs. Paralysis was, as a rule, a frightening state. But at this particular juncture in his life, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

      Maria slept like the dead, her limp body draped over him as the softest, sweetest of blankets. Her hair was in his mouth and his nose, and one of her knees threatened his male anatomy. But all he could do was smile and thank his guardian angel for arranging this tryst.

      Did angels even know about sex? Well, of course they did, because it was pretty clear that he’d just caught a glimpse of heaven.

      His feelings were all over the map. Since he was not a man to even recognize the fact that he had emotions, the sharp shift in outlook was both alarming and bemusing.

      Maria. It was all about Maria. Offstage, problems loitered, ready to shatter his giddy, postcoital bliss. But he refused to countenance them. One night. One mad, insanely wonderful night. That’s all he wanted, all he asked for. When the sun rose, he would pick up the reins of civic obligation once again.

      But tonight was his. His and Maria’s.

      He woke her with a kiss. A kiss that started with a quick nibble on a tender earlobe and ended up with her stretched out on her back, his teeth raking the spot where neck and shoulder met.

      “What are you doing?” she mumbled, refusing to open her eyes.

      “If you have to ask, I must be doing it wrong.”

      “Alexxx...” Two syllables stretched to the breaking point.

      Her shoulder was particularly sexy. How had he never noticed that? “You’re sweet and soft and I want you more now than I did a half hour ago.”

      “Is that even possible?”

      He choked out a laugh, trying to decide what he should taste next. “Look at me and tell me you feel it, too.”

      Long lashes tipped in gold lifted. Her irises were more blue than green right now. Her pupils were dilated. She was sated and drowsy and completely irresistible.

      When she licked her lips, he could swear it was unconscious...that she had no clue what that little movement did to him.

      “I should go to my room, Alex.”

      He frowned. “Why?”

      “We have to be circumspect. You’re a very important man. Gossip could be detrimental to your career.”

      “Screw my career.” How could she even think like that? They were naked and wrapped in each other’s arms. It pissed him off that she had the presence of mind to be concerned about propriety.

      She feathered the fingers of both hands through his hair, sending a shiver down his spine. “Be sensible, Alex. Please.”

      “I’m always sensible,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’m sick of being sensible. As far as I’m concerned, you’re not leaving this room until Monday morning.”

      “What about the editing and revising?”

      Bless