Page 8 of Turning Up the Heat

At the back of the full elevator car, Tom placed his hand very low on her back. But it didn’t stay there long. Her breath caught when his hand smoothed down over the curve of her ass. She stepped closer, and he gripped her, his fingers digging into her flesh, as the rest of the people in the elevator remained oblivious. It made her breath stop in her chest. She didn’t dare move, afraid that if she did, he might pull away.

The elevator stopped again, and everyone else disembarked. Thankfully Gemma and Tom were left alone again. His hand went lower, feeling her through the thin, flowy skirt of her dress. Through the material of her dress, he slid his finger along the crack of her ass and touched her pussy from behind. She gasped, the light, but potent, touch sending a shock wave through her body.

Finally, they came to their floor, and the doors opened in front of them. Tom removed his hand from her and stepped out of the elevator. But Gemma hesitated. What was she doing? This was Tom Cain—her rival. The Cains had almost ruined her family, and even though she was attracted to him and wanted nothing more than to go to his hotel room and do all sorts of terrible things with him, this all felt like a betrayal to her brothers.

He must have noticed that she wasn’t following, and he stopped, turned his head and cocked an eyebrow. “You coming or not?” He repeated her words from moments before in the bar, challenging her.

Gemma completely forgot her trepidation, and the betrayal, and followed him into the hallway. “Where’s your room?”

“Just down here,” he told her, taking her hand. They walked past the door of her own room, and that of her brothers’, and she knew that if either Reid or Quin opened their doors as they were walking past—hand in hand—there would be hell to pay. But the same thought that terrified her also emboldened her. It made what was about to happen sexier, more illicit, and she smiled to herself, looking at Reid’s closed door, daring him to come out at that moment.

Instead of walking further down the hallway, however, they stopped outside the room next to the one Reid and Lila were sharing, Tom’s room. Well, this is interesting. Tom unlocked the door and pulled her inside. When the door was shut, he pushed her against it. He took her hands in his and raised them above her head. She thought he might kiss her, but instead he just looked down at her while inhaling heavily through flared nostrils.

“You know, this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, this has been a long time coming for me. Seeing you at other conferences, at industry events, was always a highlight. I’ve always wanted you.”

“Me too,” she revealed. He’d always been strictly off-limits. But those boundaries didn’t exist at the moment.

Especially when his mouth crashed down on hers. There was nothing preliminary or tentative about the touch of his lips. Their tongues stroked together, wrapping around one another, battering each other, plundering. The kiss was almost combative. Just like their relationship.

He still held her hands over her head, and she wanted them free, to feel him all over. But he held her in place. When he pulled away suddenly, she gulped for breath. “Worth the wait?” she asked.

“Definitely.” He released her hands and smoothed his own down her body. She tried not to giggle as his touch tickled her ribs, before he gripped her hips roughly with his large fingers. He pulled her closer against him, and she moaned when she felt the rigid, hard length of his cock through his pants.

Tom lifted her easily and walked them to the bed. He stood her at the foot and kissed her again. His hands went to her back, and he lowered the zipper of her dress. Gemma quickly shucked the material and let it fall to the floor in a pool around her feet. She stepped out of it, kicking off her shoes, and she crawled onto the bed and leaned against the plush pillows at the headboard. She was still in her bra and panties, and with her knees bent and parted slightly, she watched him as he unbuttoned his shirt.

This was it; she was about to actually see him naked. The night before, she’d felt all of the lean muscles underneath his clothing, but that wasn’t enough. She bit her lip, unable to take her eyes from him as he revealed his broad chest—well-formed muscles and neat, short hair that covered his chest and spread down his abdominal muscles and disappeared beneath the waistband of his pants. She moaned in satisfaction, and he paused unbuckling his belt.

“Like what you see?” he teased.

“I do. But there will be time to admire you later. Just hurry up and get over here.”

He snapped his belt from the loops on his pants and tossed it to the side, and he pushed down his pants and boxer briefs at the same time. He stood before her naked, and she was stunned into silence. He was all lean muscle and tanned skin. He strode purposefully to the head of the bed, but instead of joining her on the mattress, he grasped her thighs and pulled her to meet him.

He lifted her ankles and held them to his shoulders. His hungry gaze roamed over her body, and he made her feel more desired than she’d ever felt. He reached down and pulled her panties from her body and threw them over his shoulder. “Lose the bra,” he rumbled, dropping to his knees.

He spread her legs and leaned into the crevice formed by her spread legs. She pushed herself so that she was sitting. She removed her bra, just as he’d told her to do, and she watched as he extended his tongue and drew it up her seam. She gasped sharply at the contact and he looked up at her. He pulled her hips, and she fell back to the mattress as he tasted her again. His tongue teased her clit, drawing circles around the small bud, but then he used his fingers, dipping in and out of her. Gemma arched her back and pushed herself against him. His mouth was incredible, but she wanted more.

She grasped his hair in her fingers and pulled. “Ow,” he protested. “That hurt.”

“Well, get up here,” she told him. “I need you.”

“Glad to oblige,” he whispered. He left her only long enough to reach for his pants and pull out a condom from one of the pockets.

“Prepared.”

“I knew I’d have you today. I wanted to be ready in case you pulled me into another closet.”

“Thank god for that.”

She watched as he knelt over her and ripped open the packet and rolled the latex over himself. Using his forearms, Tom lifted her thighs, raising her hips to him, lining her up, and he slid easily into her.

Their combined moans filled the air. Using controlled movement, he pulled back and then pushed into her again. He did it again and again, each long, slow thrust filling her, scorching each of her nerve endings. He began to lose control, and his thrusts became more frantic as she started to feel the burgeoning orgasm low in her core. She cried out his name, and he responded by pressing his body down against hers, still holding her thighs, and spreading her legs at an angle she hadn’t known was possible. Her hips stung with the pressure, but with the change in angle, his cock hit her in a new, different place. It was enough to make her break apart and explode into a million different fragments. She cried out as she rode out the wave, feeling every last drop of the pleasure before he stiffened, gave a guttural sound and collapsed on top of her, releasing her thighs and supporting his weight on his arms.

With the exception of their heavy breaths, the room was now silent. She smoothed her hands up and down his back and heard conversation coming from the neighboring room—Reid’s room. Then she heard Reid laughing through the wall. Her brothers were both in the next room together, and gone was the daring feeling she’d had when she’d entered Tom’s room. It was replaced with the reminder that she was with Tom Cain, and what they’d just done—while incredible—was a complete betrayal of her brothers.

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