Exhale, page 14
“What’s wrong?” His voice had all but disappeared in his desire.
Gabby glanced up at him and shook her head. “Nothing. I’ve never seen you fully naked before. I was just looking…and liking.”
His satisfied grin took on an almost predatory cast. “I’m at a bit of a disadvantage here. You’re still clothed.”
Gabby leaned forward over his chest, her long hair falling over her shoulder and trailing over his heated skin. “Tough. You wanted me to undress you. You can wait.”
Taka’s hands slid up her thighs, but she slapped at them and put them back at his sides.
“No. Wait your turn,” she said, laughing at his inability to keep them to himself.
She squealed when he grabbed her waist and threw her onto her back, his hands whipping the shirt up and over her head before she could react.
Taka leaned down low over her and whispered in her ear. “You wanted something…and now you’re going to get it.”
His mouth took hers, invading her, teasing with a promise of what was to come. He stripped her shorts from her hips, shifted himself over the top of her and pushed between her legs. Gabby gasped against his mouth at his urgency. His hand ran up the outside of her thigh, pulling her hard against him as he grasped her bottom.
Reasoning deserted her. Taka’s mouth, tongue and hands destroyed all sensible thought whenever he touched her. She didn’t want to. She just wanted his hands on her body, making her feel like this. He was devouring her, mind and soul, and there’d be nothing left but stardust when he finished with her.
Fire engulfed her from the heat of his lips on her neck. If he continued like this, she was sure she’d spontaneously combust. Her whole body was a seething mass of wanting. Need for him outstripped everything else.
Taka moved again. His length pressed heavily against her, rubbing over her clit. Gabby opened her eyes as he slid over her again.
His lips brushed hers ever so lightly. “You want this, do you?” He rocked his hips a little, sliding, teasing and tormenting her.
Gabby jerked against him, trying to take him inside her, but his hand on her hip held her firm to the mattress. He shook his head at her.
“I don’t think so. Two can play this game, my beautiful redhead.”
Need shuddered through her, shaking her body as he pushed into her, then withdrew.
“I want to hear you say it. Tell me you need me.” His voice cracked, heavy with need, his body strung tight and hard above her.
Her stomach decided to interrupt, letting out the loudest grumble she’d ever heard.
Taka paused, then his face erupted in a sexy grin. “I take it you’re still hungry?”
Gabby nodded and slapped her hand to her mouth to try and stop the laughter escaping.
Oh, this was too much.
Here she was, right where she wanted to be, with Taka naked on top of her, and her stomach growls. This crap only happened in bad movies.
“I should feed you first, shouldn’t I?” he said, his face solemn. Dark eyes glittered with suppressed humor. “You have to keep your strength up, you know. I can’t have you passing out from hunger before you start screaming my name. It would be rather hard to explain to your son if you keeled over.”
Gabby started to laugh, then gasped. Taka raised his eyebrows in question.
“Matt! Oh, no!” She shoved hard at Taka’s chest. She pushed him off her and scrambled off the bed.
Taka stared at her like she’d finally lost her mind. Gabby stopped dead halfway to her bathroom.
“Matt… He’s picking up your parents on his way home from night shift!”
“Oh…I forgot about that. Looks like their flight was late.” Taka’s mouth split into a grin. He leaned back into the pillows and crossed his arms behind his head, making himself more than comfortable. “Lucky, that.”
Gabby shook her head at his cheekiness and bolted into her bathroom, slamming the door behind her. She turned on the shower full blast.
His parents could be here any minute. They were due in from a flight from Australia over an hour ago, and here she was in bed with Taka. Yumi and Mas could’ve walked in on them. She felt sick just thinking about it. That wasn’t the way she wanted her best friend to find out she loved her son. It would be unforgivable.
Taka’s voice reverberated through the timber door. “I’m going to head home. I’ll see you later, okay?”
Gabby yanked the door open again, surprised. “You’re going?”
Taka held her gaze for a moment, then glanced away, his face a study in neutrality. He lifted an indifferent shoulder. “Yeah. It’ll be awkward to explain to everyone what I’m doing here so early.”
She tried to get him to look at her. His abrupt change in manner and lack of expression concerned her. Was he embarrassed about what they’d almost done? “If you’re sure.”
Taka nodded. “I still have heaps to do for tomorrow.” He turned around and grabbed his clothes from the floor. He shrugged his jeans up his long legs and over his tight butt. He threw her a half-smile over his shoulder. “I’ll catch up with you later when you all come for dinner.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
She waited until she heard him gun the engine of his motorbike before she closed the bathroom door and leaned against it, confused as hell.
He hadn’t tried to follow her, hadn’t tried to finish what they’d started. He’d just got dressed and left the room as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
He’d forced her to admit she wanted him, even made her say it. Then he’d turned it off like a tap.
If he could be so blasé about sex with her, how in hell would she hold his interest? Because if he’d been half as turned on as her, he’d have followed her in here to finish what they’d started. She ached for him even now, and he’d brought her to orgasm. But he hadn’t come. He’d still been hard when he’d grabbed his clothes.
Reality brought her back to earth with a thump. Even though he stopped by every other day, not once had he tried to touch her. She was some harmless fun—when she offered. She wanted his heart, not just his body.
But could she ever be enough for him?
Chapter Twenty
Matt held the door open for them before they had even finished shutting the car doors.
Gabby shrugged off her coat and hung it in the closet by the door. It was so lovely and warm in Taka’s home. She straightened her long sleeved, fitted turtleneck over her slacks and removed her boots.
The fresh scent of floor varnish permeated her lungs as she breathed. Taka had just had the floors redone, and she didn’t want to be responsible for scratching the finish. It was the final part of his renovation of the place, and boy, did he have it looking good.
She followed as they all wandered into the lounge room and hung back while Taka welcomed his parents and the twins.
She wandered into the kitchen to compose herself. She needed to tell Taka about the note that had been left for her. He deserved to know, even though it seemed the threat was now gone. It had been bothering her to keep it from him. She knew he’d be furious with her. That was one of the reasons she’d kept quiet.
She felt weird, like her stomach was tied in knots. Maybe it was nerves.
Gabby picked up a sauce bottle and glanced at the label. Taka had been busy. All the ingredients for his stir-fry were sitting on the bench top beside the wok, ready to go. None of that pre-packaged stuff for him. He made it all from the basic ingredients. It was one of the advantages of having a genius in the kitchen for a mother.
A hand slid around her waist, the warmth seeping through her shirt to her skin. Taka moved in beside her, humor sparking in his eyes.
“You checking out if I’m going to poison you?”
Gabby grinned. “Yep. Can’t be too careful, you know. You might want to do me in and hide my body in your garden.”
“Nah. I’d have to dig up my shrubs and I’ve grown rather fond of them. I’ll just throw you off a cliff somewhere. There are plenty of deserted beaches up this way.”
Gabby’s laughter filled the large kitchen. “Thanks, friend. Nice to know. Have you decided what you want for your birthday? You haven’t given me much time to get something.”
“I have something in mind.” His tightened his arm around her waist, pulling her closer.
Gabby gazed at him expectantly. “Care to fill me in? I can’t get it for you if you don’t tell me.”
His sexy smile almost curled her toenails.
“Maybe later.”
She shook her head at him. “Men. You’re all impossible. Well, don’t blame me if I get the wrong thing when I go shopping tomorrow.”
She picked up a broccoli floret and tossed it at him. It hit him square in the middle of his chest. Gabby raised an eyebrow in a silent challenge.
“So, it’s going to be like that, is it?” Takeshi grabbed a handful of ice from the ice bucket sitting on the bench in front of him.
Gabby stepped back. “You wouldn’t.”
He didn’t answer and stepped forward. Gabby spun and ran for the door but he was too quick. His arm went around her waist from behind as he shoved his hand up the back of her shirt. She squealed, the intense cold sending shivers all over her body. She writhed against him, trying to get free.
Ice skittered across the floor where it fell from his hand under her shirt. Her stomach muscles clenched at the icy wetness as his hand slid round to the front, holding the ice directly on her stomach. Gabby was laughing so hard she was nearly crying, squealing for him to let her go at the same time.
Taka’s laughter mingled with her pleas for him to let her go. “Like that, do you? How about this?” His hand shoved the ice higher up her ribs.
“Just what do you think you’re doing to my mother?”
Matt leaned against the doorway with Akei peering around his broad shoulders. She grinned in delight at Gabby’s situation.
Gabby held a hand out to him, the other one holding Taka’s hand tight beneath her shirt, trying to stop him going higher with the ice. “Get him off me! He’s got ice!”
Matt’s face erupted in a huge grin. “Looks like you’ve got things under control in here, Taka. Akei, let’s just go back to the dining room.” He turned and disappeared from view.
“No! Come back, Matty!” Gabby’s knees gave way as she twisted in Taka’s arms.
Mas, Taka’s father, appeared in the doorway. Amusement shone in his eyes in contradiction to his stern face.
“Takeshi, let the poor girl go. You’re going to freeze her to death.”
Taka loosened his grip around her waist. Gabby pulled away and ran past Mas into the lounge room. He followed. She held out the bottom of her shirt. Half melted chunks of ice clattered to the floor at her feet.
Taka pointed a wet finger at her. “He saved you this time, lady, but next time you won’t be so lucky!”
“Ergh! I’m all wet.” She glanced up at him. “You’re plain mean. I’m going to have to borrow one of your T-shirts now. This thing is all cold and clammy.” She grinned at him around her words.
“What if I say no? That you can’t have a shirt. What’ll you do then?”
Gabby watched Mas shake his head and leave the room, following Matt and Akei into the dining room. The door to the dining room shut quietly, leaving them alone.
She straightened up and stepped backward into the hall. She threw him a sassy look and yanked her shirt over her head, standing in her scarlet balconette bra. She balled up her wet shirt and threw it at him. It hit him mid-chest.
“That’s what I’ll do. You’ll just have to look at me like this all night.”
She was rewarded with his struggle to keep his gaze on her face. Her cleavage won. She stood with her hands on her hips for a moment, her lips twitching, trying hard not to laugh. She turned and flounced down the hall, pretending to be offended.
Taka straightened up, staring at Gabby’s near-naked back disappearing down his hallway, stunned.
He thumbed the material as he stared down the hallway. So soft. The brushed cotton almost burned his fingers with her lingering body heat on the fabric. He closed his eyes and fought hard to control himself. After almost having her this morning, being so damned close, it had taken him all day to calm down. He’d nearly gone back there a dozen times today. He’d had to force himself to stay away.
Leaving had nearly killed him. If he hadn’t, she’d have found out exactly how frustrated and worked up she’d gotten him in that shower, Matt and his family be damned. He shoved the thoughts away, hard. He had no intention of embarrassing himself with his parents in the next room over, regardless that they knew how he felt.
He breathed deep and hurried down the hall, stopping in front of his ajar bedroom door. He pushed it open, hoping like crazy she’d still be topless in front of him.
Gabby turned to look at him as he stepped into the room, dangling the damp shirt from his finger. She smoothed the hem of a borrowed shirt into place as he walked toward her.
“Missing something, Gab?” he asked.
The cheeky grin that surfaced on her mouth sent heat zinging to areas of his body that simply weren’t appropriate, considering his family, not to mention her son, were on the other side of the house.
Tomorrow. Just remember—tomorrow.
She stepped forward and reached for it, but he jerked it up and out of reach before she could grasp it. She raised an eyebrow at him and placed a hand on her hip.
“Am I going to get that back, or are you going to keep it as some kind of trophy?”
Taka couldn’t help the laugh that burst out at her question. “To be a proper trophy, I would have to have taken it off you myself. Not had it thrown at me. Although, if you put it back on, then I could take it off and it would be one. Of course, you will have to remove that shirt first.”
Oh, did he want her to take that shirt off.
Gabby crossed her arms under her breasts and glared at him, trying to stop her lips twitching.
“We’re getting awfully flirty this evening, aren’t we, Mr. Nakamura? Have we been hitting the booze earlier than expected? Your birthday’s not until tomorrow, remember?”
Taka shrugged a shoulder, acting as nonchalant as possible when his blood was almost boiling in his veins. The sight of her breasts straining the material of his favorite t-shirt almost did him in. He wanted nothing more than to throw her on the bed behind her and show her what he thought of her cheeky attitude tonight.
“I’m just teaching you a lesson about throwing your clothes all around the place. You’re lucky I’m not some randy teenager who took that the wrong way and followed you in here to jump your bones.”
Gabby’s throaty laugh made him want to do exactly that. She snapped her shirt from his hand and strolled to the door, shaking her head. She stopped in the doorway and turned to gaze at him, mischief sparkling in her eyes.
“What a shame.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Gabby picked up her glass of water and sipped, nodding at Yumi’s question.
“It’s been great, actually. I took a month off and have been keeping an eye on my contracts from here. I can control all of it by phone and email. They’ve all been so understanding that I wasn’t able to fly. I can now, of course, but so far I haven’t needed to be physically present. Over the next few weeks, I’ll pick up again, but I think I’ll keep things fairly low key for a while.”
“Why is that? I thought everything was fine now,” said Yumi.
Gabby shrugged. “It’s weird. Everything has healed properly according to all the tests, but I feel so washed out. I have no energy. I even fell asleep on my sofa while I was watching a movie at lunchtime yesterday. Matty took some blood for testing. He thinks maybe I caught a virus.”
Yumi frowned, concern etching her brow. “When do you know the results?”
“Monday.”
Gabby looked up at Matt coming toward them, dinner plates in hand. Taka followed closely behind him. He stopped in front of her placing the plate with a flourish.
“You missed your calling, Yoshi. You should’ve been a waiter.” Gabby couldn’t help herself. She loved stirring him.
His eyes brightened. “I know, right? But I had this strange compulsion to cut people open. Thought I’d better do it the legal way. Go figure,” he said with a shrug.
Mas stared at them, his humor evident. “You two are hopeless, you know that? Talk about a macabre sense of humor.”
Gabby suppressed her grin with obvious effort. “He’s your son, Mas. I have nothing to do with it.” She glanced down at her plate and took a deep breath. She loved Taka’s cooking and adored Asian food.
Gabby picked up her chopsticks and attacked a piece of meat. She was ravenous, but the instant it touched her tongue, she gagged. She spat it out into a napkin and sat it beside her plate. Her stomach somersaulted like crazy, the sudden wave of nausea making her head spin.
“What’s wrong, Gabby?” Taka glanced down at her plate. “Is something wrong with your food?”
“I’m sorry, Taka. I think the meat’s off,” she said, poking at the discarded piece of steak with her chopstick. “What?” He picked up a piece himself and tasted it, frowning.
Matt looked at her strangely. “No, it’s not. I’ve been filching bits while Taka was cooking.” He picked up a piece of meat from her plate and popped it straight into his mouth. “It’s fine, see? Here, taste.” He picked up another and held it to her lips.
Gabby pulled back in disgust. “Doesn’t anyone else smell that?”
“Smell what? It’s fine, Gabby.” Yumi tasted her own food. “There’s nothing wrong with it.”
Gabby glanced around the table. They were all looking at her like she’d gone mad. She leaned forward tentatively and took the meat Matt offered. The feel of it in her mouth was horrendous. She forced herself to chew it and swallowed.
Her hand flew to her mouth. She jumped up and bolted from the table.
She reached the bathroom just before the contents of her stomach made an escape. Gabby pulled the lid down and laid her head on her hand. The whole room spun.
