Killian (Dance with the Devil 3) Read online

  Killian stood abruptly. “The bastard stole your designs?”

  Tears began to cascade down her cheeks as she nodded. “I was so upset and disappointed after he told me my designs weren’t good enough that I didn’t bother to take back the bigger designs in the portfolio I’d given him to look through. I still have all the originals in my sketchbooks, but I doubt that’s enough to convince anyone that a man like Henri, so respected in fashion, stole those designs from me.”

  Killian’s eyes glittered darkly. “I’m convinced.”

  She gave a tearful smile. “Thank you for that vote of confidence, but I doubt your opinion would hold much sway in the world of fashion. Do you know what the worst of it is?” she choked. “Those designs were a resounding success. The whole collection was a success. When it was over, the audience stood and cheered. They cheered.” She raised her hand to cover her face as she began to sob in earnest.

  A knock sounded on the bedroom before Killian could step forward and take her in his arms.

  “Natalia, are you okay?”

  Her head shot up. “P-Papa?” She looked at Killian for confirmation.

  He gave a rueful grimace. “He flew over on the jet with me. Carla too. And the rest of their security detail.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me that immediately?” she demanded as she hurried over to unlock and throw open the door. “Papa!” she said again before she launched herself into his arms and began to sob again.

  Killian hadn’t told her Leon was in Paris too because he had wanted a few minutes, just a few, of having Natalia to himself again. But he’d known Leon wouldn’t give him any longer than that. The older man was…

  What the—! What had Natalia said just now about Asselin?

  Clothes I’d designed for that reason and which Henri told me three months ago weren’t good enough.

  Jeezus, was it possible Killian had made a mistake those same three months ago? That the reason Natalia had been so upset when she parted from Asselin after dinner that evening hadn’t been because she was in love with him and he’d rejected her, but because the man’d had the unmitigated gall to tell her it was the clothing she’d designed that “wasn’t good enough”?

  Was that possible?

  Or was Killian just grasping at straws and Natalia was now so devastated because she couldn’t believe the man she was in love with could have done something so heinous to her?

  “I think I, along with several of my men, need to introduce ourselves to Count Asselin,” her father said grimly. “The sooner the better.”

  Natalia winced at the underlying fury she could hear in his voice now that she’d told him exactly why she’d been so upset last night and today. Why she was still wearing the same dress she’d worn the evening before. Admittedly, she’d kicked off the high-heeled shoes as soon as she returned to the hotel last night, but it was still obvious she was wearing an evening gown.

  She shook her head. “He’s going to deny he stole my designs.”

  Her papa’s laugh lacked genuine humor. “I’m sure I can…persuade him into telling the truth. For the good of his health,” he added in a hard voice.

  Natalia sighed heavily. “He’s already shown those designs as being his latest collection.”

  “And later today, he’ll be holding a press conference,” her father assured in a cold voice, “in which he’ll reveal last night’s designs weren’t his at all but those of the extremely talented new designer, Natalia Brunelli.”

  Carla nodded. “It’s going to be such a great name to have on a designer label.” She gave Natalia a hug.

  Natalia still frowned. “But what if—”

  “No what-ifs allowed,” her father rasped. “This Asselin needs to learn what happens when anyone messes with my daughter’s happiness.”

  Talking of which…

  Killian and Jericho were standing together by the window of the sitting room of the hotel suite and had been the entire time Natalia told her father and Carla exactly what had happened to upset her. Neither man had spoken a word, and it was impossible to tell by their expressions what they thought of the situation.

  Natalia still had no idea how Killian could ever have thought she had feelings for Henri. She had never so much as kissed the other man—

  But Henry had kissed her, she recalled.

  Maybe only on the cheek in the usual French greeting and parting from a friend, but it was still a kiss, and one that Killian could have misunderstood.

  Even so, that didn’t explain why Killian could possibly have thought he was a stand-in for Henri.

  Then she remembered. The night the two of them made love was after that upsetting dinner with Henri, when he had told her the designs she’d asked him to look at weren’t professional enough.

  Her disappointment had been so acute, she’d cried in Killian’s arms and sobbed out her misery. She couldn’t quite remember exactly what she’d said that night, but she was pretty sure it was something like “Henri told me I’m just not good enough.”

  Had Killian misinterpreted that remark and thought she was romantically interested in Henri, and in turn she was heartbroken because he didn’t return her feelings? That she had used Killian that night to help dull the pain of that rejection?

  It certainly seemed a possibility.

  Could Killian really be that unaware he was the only man she’d ever loved? Would, or could, ever love.

  “Natalia, are you listening to me?” her father demanded.

  “Actually, no. No, I’m not.” She gave an apologetic grimace at his scowl. “I was just— I hope none of you mind, but I need to speak to Killian in private for a few minutes.”

  Her father’s brows rose. “Are you asking us to leave?”

  “No, of course not.” Color warmed her cheeks, and she couldn’t even look at Killian. “The three of you remain here, and we’ll go to my bedroom and talk.”

  “Just to talk?” Carla teased.

  She gave her stepmother a rueful smile. “Yes, just to talk.” But only for now, she hoped.

  Even if a private conversation between them could straighten out this misunderstanding with Killian—and there was still a possibility her explanation would make absolutely no difference—she very much doubted he would be agreeable to the two of them making love again while her father, Carla, and Jericho were all waiting for them in the sitting room.

  But the misunderstanding regarding her feelings toward Henri needed to be addressed now.

  “Killian,” she prompted firmly when he made no move to accompany her.

  Killian had already decided, as he half listened to Natalia telling her father and stepmother about her dress designs and how Henri Asselin had stolen them, that he and Natalia needed to have a private conversation at some time. That they needed to straighten out the misunderstanding of three months ago, at least.

  But he wasn’t sure, from the warning glance Leon was now giving him, that with her father also in the hotel suite, this was the right time for them to do that.

  Except Killian was even less convinced there would ever be another chance for him and Natalia to talk in private if this whole situation with Henri Asselin exploded later today in the way it seemed likely to do.

  When, not if, Natalia Brunelli became the latest fashion designer sensation.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “I wasn’t in love with Henri Asselin three months ago. I’m not in love with him now. I never will be in love with him.”

  Killian had followed Natalia to her bedroom, and listening to her now he felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his chest. Natalia’s statement ensured there was absolutely no room left for doubt as to her feelings toward the Frenchman, either in the past or present.

  “I did admire him,” she continued. “But now I feel nothing but utter contempt for him that he could do something like this to a young and unknown designer, let alone someone who had made it clear, by allowing him to look at my portfolio, how much I respected his own work and op
inion.”

  “So three months ago…?”

  She gave a self-derisive laugh. “That was all you, Killian. Every pleasurable groan and sigh of it.”

  He released a shuddering breath. “I thought you were in love with another man.”

  “But you made love to me anyway.”

  “Of course I fecking did,” he bit out frustratedly. “At the time, for whatever reason, you wanted me, and I’ve wanted you since you were too damned young for me to even be having such thoughts.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “How long?”

  “You were eighteen and having a pool party with your friends when I realized I wanted the whole fecking lot of them gone before I slowly removed that scrap of material you called a bikini and kissed every delicious inch of you!” He sighed. “They weren’t exactly appropriate feelings coming from a man fifteen years older than you.”

  She drew in a shaky breath. “I was thirteen when I realized I only had to look at you for my immature breasts to swell, my nipples to tighten, and a hot gush of juices to wet my panties.”

  He winced. “Infatuation for an older man is pretty standard stuff for a teenager, isn’t it?”

  Her eyes flashed a dark gray. “Don’t mock my feelings, Killian.”

  He sighed. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to cast doubt on what you were feeling then.” If anything, it was his own, totally inappropriate thoughts and feelings toward an eighteen-year-old, he had been deriding.

  “What I still feel,” she added softly.

  His eyes widened. “You only have to look at me for your mature breasts to swell, your nipples to tighten, and your panties to become wet?”

  She looked at him consideringly for several long seconds. “Do you want to know what I think, Killian?”

  He instantly felt a wary tightening of his chest. “Of course.”

  “I think you’re scared. I think you ran away three months ago because the intensity of what happened between us that night frightened the hell out of you.”

  Killian’s instinct was to immediately deny the claim.

  Except…

  He had been running scared after their night together. Apprehensive too, that Natalia was only playing with him because she couldn’t have the man she really loved. So instead of waiting for her to talk to her father and have him removed as her bodyguard, Killian had done it for her.

  He swallowed down his defensive instinct. “And if that’s true?”

  She held his gaze as she took a hesitant step toward him. “I was scared too, Killian. I’m still scared.”

  “Of what?” Never in the ten years he’d known her had he ever known Natalia to back down from anything.

  She gave a rueful smile. “Have you ever looked at yourself? I mean, really looked at yourself? You’re…you, and I’m…me. I might try to give the impression I’m self-confident and enter a room as if I own it, but I have only to look at you to question everything about myself. You’re older and more mature than me, handsome as sin, muscular in a not over-the-top way—you, in a pair of jeans with no shirt on and bare feet is almost enough to give me an orgasm just looking at you. And I’m—”

  “Fecking gorgeous,” Killian assured gruffly as he finally took her in his arms. “Right now, you need to put some weight back on.” He frowned at the loss of pounds he could feel now he was holding her body closely against his. “But you’re so beautiful. And sexy. And feisty. You’re every man’s wet dream.”

  Her eyes widened, and a delicate rose blush entered her cheeks. “Have you had wet dreams about me?”

  “Hundreds of them,” he admitted self-derisively before sobering. “We’re going to talk about this again once this situation with Asselin is sorted. Right now, we need to get you the prestige and recognition you deserve.”

  “But—”

  “I can’t make love to you when your father is in the next room,” he reminded gruffly.

  She looked up at him. “You most certainly can.” She rubbed her heat pointedly against the hardness of his erection. “But you won’t,” she added disappointedly.

  “No, I won’t,” he confirmed lightly. “And the reason I won’t is because I want privacy for us so that I can take my time kissing you and making love to you. I want to explore all of you and have you explore all of me, both knowing how much we want each other. Are you okay with that?”

  Was she okay with Killian taking his time to kiss her and make love to her the moment they could be alone together again?

  Killian’s words weren’t a declaration of love, and maybe they never would be, but for the moment, it would do.

  “I’m very okay with that,” she assured him. “I’m also okay with you coming back to work as my bodyguard,” she added hopefully. These past three months without him at her side, even if Jericho was nice enough, had been pretty bleak.

  Killian frowned. “That’s something else we’ll need to discuss in more depth.”

  She sensed his reticence. “Why?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not sure I’m the right person to be your bodyguard anymore.”

  Natalia scowled. “Why the hell not?”

  “Because the reason I left three months ago still stands. I’ve allowed myself to become too close to you to be able to deal with any protection situation involving you in the dispassionate way it needs to be approached.”

  Again, it wasn’t a declaration of Killian’s love for her, but it was more than she’d had before. “You’re right, we do need to discuss that, along with several other things, before making any decisions. Now will you at least kiss me before we rejoin my father and the others?” She linked her hands at the back of his neck as she gazed up at him in challenge.

  “There’s the Natalia I know.” He gave a wolfish grin. “And I’ve been longing to kiss you again since the moment I saw you again this morning!”

  There was no hesitation, no gentleness, when Killian’s mouth claimed hers, and his tongue was a sword of ownership as it entered and claimed her mouth, seeking out every hollow, igniting nerve endings until Natalia was trembling with desire.

  Killian wrenched his mouth away from hers to look at her from beneath hooded lids. “To hell with it,” he muttered before reaching down to grasp behind one of her thighs and lift until her leg was wrapped about his waist.

  It was the most natural thing in the world for Natalia to wrap her other leg about his waist too, pushing her dress up to her hips and revealing the black lace panties she wore beneath.

  And for Killian to press her back up against the wall, the long length of his aroused cock pressing hotly between her legs. It also left his hands free to roam restlessly over her curves as his mouth claimed hers once again before settling to cupping her breasts.

  Natalia groaned as Killian rolled her aroused nipples between fingers and thumbs, her back arching when he pulled the stretchy material down enough to free both her breasts and allow his mouth to latch onto an already sensitized nipple.

  She gasped, nails digging into his nape, and she became lost to the pleasure as he sucked and licked first one swollen bud and then the other, the slow roll of his hips rubbing his cock against her swollen clit.

  “God, Killian. God, God, Killian!” she cried out, burying her face against his throat as her climax exploded into myriad pleasurable sensations.

  Wave after wave of her release swept through and held her in its grip as tightly as Killian now held her as he continued to stroke the hardness of his cock against her clit, lengthening and deepening her release until she shook and trembled in his arms.

  “Now I know that’s all for me,” he murmured into her soft hair.

  She raised her head to look at him, smiling as she saw the male satisfaction in his expression. “It’s always been for you. This is for you too,” she added huskily, holding her gaze with his as she unlocked her legs from about his waist to place her feet firmly on the ground. She continued to hold his gaze as she slid down onto her knees in front of him and then unfastened the butto
n on his jeans before slowly lowering the zip.

  “Natalia—”

  “Don’t you dare tell me to stop,” she warned fiercely, pulling those jeans down to his thighs and revealing he wore another pair of black boxers beneath. She hooked her fingers into the waistband of those and pulled them down far enough to release his fully engorged shaft.

  It sprang upward, long and wide, with that thick vein pulsing along its length.

  Natalia leaned forward to run the moistness of her tongue along that vein.

  Killian’s hands clamped down onto her shoulders, holding her still. “I’m not sure I can look your father in the face when we go back into the other room if I allow you to suck my cock until I come.”

  “Then don’t look at him,” she dismissed. “Because this is definitely happening.” One of her hands wrapped about his shaft; the other cupped his balls. “And you aren’t allowing me to do anything, Killian. I’m taking it.” She ran another slow and moist lick along the length of his cock. “Okay?”

  “Okay,” Killian groaned, leaning his head back on the wall behind him and easing his grip on Natalia’s shoulders as he continued to look down at her from beneath lowered lids.

  Her hair was a wild and dark cascade over her shoulders and down her back, her cheeks flushed, those gorgeous bow-shaped lips wrapped about his cock, her head bobbing as she took his shaft in and out of the wet heat of her mouth. She rolled his balls in her palm as she took his cock deeper with each downward movement.

  Killian drew in a sharp breath, knowing he was about to lose his battle to maintain control when the sensitive tip of his cock hit the back of her throat at the same time as one of her fingers pressed against the sensitive perineum behind his balls.