Page 75 of Corrupted Empire

Gabriel traces a finger up the inside of my leg and dips it under my skirt to skim along my naked thigh. I desperately want him to continue this exploration, to reach all the way up to my sex. He doesn’t. He removes his hand and breaks the kiss.

I open my eyes and watch as Gabriel lowers to his knees. He must read the question on my face as he grins and yanks my ass to the edge of the chair, then scrunches the skirt up over my hips.

Gabriel lowers his mouth to my now-bare thighs, and I let out a low moan.

“Are you distracted yet?” he asks between kisses.

“Nope,” I lie. “I’m still very, very tense and upset.”

He chuckles, and the sensation of it vibrates over my skin. I feel so exposed here, with the city wide open behind me and my skirt around my waist. But that only adds a level of excitement to the already erotic sight of Gabriel kneeling between my legs, his lips hovering teasingly over my panties.

He kisses me through the fabric. His breath is hot, his touch soft. I moan and let my head fall back, vibrating with my need for more. Gabriel obliges, pressing harder against me. He kisses my left thigh, then my right, and then starts to peel my panties over my legs. When he tosses them to the floor, he reaches up to grab my chin, forcing my head down so our eyes meet as he runs his tongue between my cleft.

I lose myself in the pleasure and Gabriel’s swirling, dark irises. He adjusts my legs so they are over his shoulders and then proceeds to lick and suck at an almost lazy pace. My body thrums with electricity.

I tangle my fingers in his silky hair and forget all time and space. I forget that I’m in my office, that it’s the middle of the day, that at any moment my receptionist could buzz in and announce the arrival of any number of people whose only intent would be to ruin my day. Ruby Flint, Felicity Huffman, Kevin Lynch…Those names fly out of the window because the only name my brain has space for is Gabriel Bellucci. He is the only thing that matters. His lips, his tongue, the nibble of his teeth.

Gabriel is an expert when it comes to bringing me to orgasm, and it isn’t long before I feel that molten awareness sizzle up from my belly. He looks up at me, a challenge in his eyes. If his mouth wasn’t on me, Gabriel would be commanding me to come. And I would, because obeying Gabriel is its own special release.

His tongue swirls faster. He moans against me, and the sensation makes me throw my head back in ecstasy. I feel it build and build and build and then...

“Oh God!” I hiss as my body ripples. For a second, the entire fabric of reality ripples too. I squeeze my eyes closed as sweet serenity floods my veins and relieves my senses of any last shreds of thought. Now there is no more Gabriel, no more anything. Utter darkness.

And when my thoughts come sashaying back in, I open my eyes and look down at Gabriel, who has sat back on his heels and is staring at me appreciatively.

“Well,” he says. “I suppose we should both be getting back to work.”

“Yes.” I clear my throat. “Work...is a thing. That I do.”

Gabriel chuckles and stands up. He kisses me on the forehead. “Until next time, Tiger.”

25

Gabriel

Alexis fiddles nervously with the bow on her shirt. I watch her, amused by how cute she looks with her nose wrinkled, batting at the piece of silk like a curious feline. As though she feels my eyes on her, she pauses and looks up.

“What?” she says.

I smile. “Nothing.”

She frowns but misses her opportunity to retort when Laura knocks on the door and leads our guest into the office. Alexis wanted to do this interview alone, and I understand why. Victor Crawshank claims his article will focus on Alexis’ work in Bellucci Inc.’s charity division, so she doesn’t need me for that. However, I’ve met Crawshank before at a couple of PR events, and as far as I’m concerned, the man’s a snake. I told her not to take the interview, but since she insisted, I’ve decided to sit in on it just in case.

I wouldn’t be so worried if we hadn’t had a run of tricky interviews recently. With the murder investigation still ongoing, Alexis and I have been very much in the public eye. And that has made fighting a war that much harder.

Crawshank glides into the room on a cloud of expensive cologne. He’s in his forties and has silver streaking through his neatly combed hair. He wears a simple polo shirt and chinos, like he has just come off the golf course, and gives Alexis two air kisses before shaking my hand. I can tell she begrudges him for it.

“Thank you for seeing me,” Victor says, settling down on the chair opposite us.

“Thank you for coming,” Alexis says with an easy smile. “Would you like a drink?”

“Oh, just a black coffee for me,” he says in Laura’s direction. To us, he adds, “I’m fasting.”

“How nice,” Alexis says, that same smile still firmly lodged on her cheeks.

Victor pulls a notepad out of his satchel and fluffs his feathers. “I must say, when I heard I was going to get to sit down with both yourself and the CEO of the company, I felt like a very special boy.”

“I had a free afternoon, and it has been such a long time since we last spoke,” I reply congenially.

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