A Taste of the Forbidden Read online

She wrapped her fingers about that thickened shaft, instantly enthralled by the way the pulsing hardness leapt in response to her caress, and creamy liquid escaped the slitted tip.

  ‘Lick me, Grace,’ Cesar groaned. ‘Madre mia, take me in your mouth and lick me! Unless you would rather not?’

  ‘Teach me—tell me how to please you,’ Grace encouraged, her caresses becoming more daring as she followed Cesar’s hoarse instructions and felt and saw his uninhibited response.

  ‘Oh, yes!’ Cesar hissed as he felt the heat of Grace’s lips and tongue, as she first licked his length from his balls to the bulbous tip, lingering over that sensitive spot just beneath the head, before moving up and over him as she first licked up the escape of fluid from the tip before taking him fully into the heat of her mouth.

  Cesar’s back arched even as his fingers tightened in the long length of Grace’s hair, holding her to him, over him, as his hips instinctively thrust up into the heat of her mouth, her tongue now a moist rasp across and around that swollen and sensitised head as she eagerly lapped up his escaping juices, all the time her fingers gently pumping.

  ‘Like that, yes!’ It was both exquisite pleasure and exquisite torture as Grace’s other hand now cupped beneath his sac, gently squeezing, as she continued to suck and lick the throbbing tip into the heat of her mouth in the same rhythm as her fingers pumped and caressed.

  Over and over again, round and round, those fingers pumping up and down, Cesar no longer needing to encourage her as the pleasure she gave him became all that mattered, all that Cesar knew, his sac tightening as that pleasure reached an unbearable pitch.

  ‘You have to stop now, Grace.’ He groaned low and long as she experimented and sucked him deep to the back of her throat. ‘I am going to— I do not think— Grace...!’ Cesar gave up all hope of maintaining control as he felt the lava-like heat of his release course down the length of his shaft before exploding into the welcoming, lapping warmth of Grace’s mouth. Pulsing, releasing, again and again, Cesar’s breathing a harsh rasp in the silence as he continued to thrust mindlessly to the back of her throat until he knew he was completely spent. ‘Oh, God, Grace, I did not mean— I should not have— I have more control than to— Correction, I usually have more control,’ he amended. ‘Are you all right?’

  She sat back to smile down at him shyly. ‘Are you?’

  ‘Very much so. But I—I did not hurt you?’ He looked up at her with concern.

  ‘Of course not. Did I hurt you?’ Her cheeks coloured prettily.

  ‘You may “hurt” me like that again any time. What the—?’ Cesar broke off with a muttered expletive in his own language as a knock sounded on his bedroom door.

  ‘Grace?’ He looked up at her regretfully as she moved back sharply, her face paling as she turned to look at the door. ‘Grace—’

  ‘You should get that,’ she muttered awkwardly as another knock sounded on the door, scrambling over to the side of the bed before standing up jerkily to quickly gather up her blouse and holding it in front of her bared breasts as she turned away.

  Cesar scowled darkly as he sat up to adjust his own clothing, before standing up to refasten his denims. ‘Grace.’

  ‘Not now, Cesar.’ She stepped back to avoid his touch as he reached out for her, her gaze now lowered uncomfortably to the carpeted floor.

  ‘But—’

  ‘I am sorry to interrupt, Cesar.’ Raphael’s voice came urgently through the closed bedroom door. ‘But I must to speak with you immediately!’

  Cesar gave Grace one last regretful glance before crossing the room to wrench open the bedroom door, knowing by the way Raphael’s gaze moved briefly over Cesar’s dishevelled appearance, before shifting behind him to the ruffled bed—and possibly Grace herself?—that the other man was aware of at least some of what had just taken place in the bedroom. ‘This had better be good, Raphael,’ he warned in a low and dangerous voice.

  Grace took advantage of Cesar filling the bedroom doorway to quickly pull on her blouse and refasten it. She had no hope of understanding the two men’s conversation as they spoke rapidly in Spanish, but she could see Cesar’s profile and saw the way the colour drained from his cheeks.

  Whatever Raphael was telling him so urgently it wasn’t welcome news...

  CHAPTER TEN

  ‘I HAVE TO GO, Grace!’ Cesar turned to her as Raphael left, his face a sickly grey colour, his eyes pained. ‘There has been an accident. My parents. On the way to the airport earlier. Raphael has been trying to locate me for the past two hours.’

  ‘No!’ Grace breathed shakily as she reached out to the edge of the bed for support.

  ‘They are both still alive,’ Cesar assured her grimly. ‘My father received only superficial wounds, but Mama suffered a head injury and is still unconscious. I have to go to the hospital immediately, to be with them.’

  ‘Of course you do,’ she accepted softly.

  ‘You will come with me? A woman’s presence may be appreciated,’ he added gruffly as Grace gave him a startled glance.

  ‘Of course I’ll come to the hospital with you if you want me to,’ she assured him quickly, having no idea what she could do to aid the two strong Navarro men, but certainly willing to accompany Cesar if he wanted her with him.

  ‘What I want is for this not to have happened at all, and for the two of us to still be—’ Cesar broke off with an impatient shake of his head. ‘Can you be ready to leave in five minutes?’

  ‘Of course.’ Grace desperately needed to go to the privacy of her own bedroom and tidy her appearance and brush her tangled hair!

  No, she really couldn’t go there now, she instructed herself firmly. Or think of the fact that she was the one responsible for Cesar not having his security guards or mobile phone with him today. And that when his parents’ car had crashed the two of them were probably dancing the tango together. That when his mother lay unconscious in hospital the two of them had returned to the apartment undetected—because the security cameras were switched off!—and gone to Cesar’s bedroom to make love together.

  No, she wouldn’t think of any of that now. Perhaps later, once Cesar’s mother was conscious and they had all been reassured of her complete recovery. Then Grace could indulge in all the self-recriminations she wanted.

  As Cesar would eventually no doubt also realise that, but for Grace and her phobia about the security he surrounded himself with day and night, he would have known of his parents accident much earlier...

  * * *

  ‘I’m so sorry, Raphael.’ Grace winced as she looked up at the stony-faced man leaning back against the corridor wall outside the hospital room into which Cesar had minutes ago disappeared to be beside his father at his mother’s bedside.

  ‘It’s my fault, because I was so angry over being seen on those security cameras last night, that Cesar left his mobile phone in the apartment and refused his security today.’ She gave a shake of her head as she recalled how much she had hated the thought of facing Raphael again after what he had witnessed on the security footage last night; in light of what had happened today that embarrassment now seemed totally irrelevant.

  ‘Cesar is a grown man who is perfectly capable of making his own decisions,’ Raphael cut in frostily.

  ‘But—’

  ‘While your guilt is admirable, Grace, at this moment it is also misplaced,’ he added dismissively. ‘The omission of Cesar’s security and mobile phone did not cause the tyre to burst on Mr Navarro’s car, causing him to lose control of the vehicle and crash into a wall.’

  ‘But if you had been able to contact Cesar he would at least have been at the hospital earlier—’

  ‘Perhaps,’ he allowed grimly. ‘But whether Cesar was here or not would not have changed the fact that Esther Navarro has not regained consciousness since the accident.’

  Grace gave a pained frown. ‘You’re really very angry but hiding it well, aren’t you?’

  He bared his teeth in the semblance of a smile. ‘Yes.�
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  Grace chewed on her bottom lip. ‘I really am very sorry. I didn’t think—’

  ‘Grace, I was a soldier for many years, and as a soldier I have been trained to deal with what is, not what might have or should have been. Cesar was unreachable for over four hours today, and that is, indeed, regrettable,’ he bit out tautly, ‘but it is not relevant to the situation that exists now.’

  No, it wasn’t. And Grace was just expressing her own guilt rather than dealing with the situation that existed now; Cesar was all that mattered now, and the return to consciousness of his mother.

  ‘You’re right.’ Grace straightened determinedly. ‘You can tell me what you truly think of me later. Right now it’s Cesar and his parents who are important.’

  Raphael gave an abrupt inclination of his head. ‘In that, at least, we are agreed.’

  She chewed her bottom lips again. ‘Cesar told me that the two of you were at school together, and have remained friends ever since?’

  He glanced towards the closed hospital room door. ‘Did he?’

  Grace sensed that Raphael wasn’t too pleased at being the subject of one of their conversations. ‘He wasn’t breaking a confidence or anything, and only told me that much because I’d thought that the two of you were—’ She broke off as she realised she was just digging a bigger hole for herself, her concern for Esther Navarro causing her to babble.

  Raphael arched dark brows over piercing blue eyes. ‘The two of us were what?’

  She felt the colour warm her cheeks. ‘Well, the two of you are always together, and at the time I made the comment I hadn’t realised that you were his personal security guard, and so I thought—assumed—wrongly, as it happens—’

  ‘That Cesar and I are...?’

  Grace gave another pained grimace at the dangerous softness of Raphael’s tone. ‘Involved.’

  He continued to look down at her wordlessly for several long seconds, any number of thoughts going through his head—and none of them in the least readable from the blandness of his expression! ‘You know, Grace,’ he finally spoke softly, ‘for a woman who, for the past ten minutes or so, has been poised delicately on the edge of remaining standing in this corridor or being hurled out of a third-floor hospital window, you are continuing to display a remarkable lack of self-preservation!’

  She winced. ‘The third-floor window is winning out at the moment, hmm?’

  ‘Undoubtedly.’ He nodded tersely. ‘But I am beginning to understand why Cesar is intrigued by you.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘You are?’

  Raphael nodded curtly. ‘Your conversation is very forthright, something I do not believe has happened to Cesar often—if ever before.’

  Grace gave a rueful smile. ‘But something he can live without, I’m sure.’

  Raphael returned her smile. ‘Perhaps. But—’ He broke off as the door across the corridor opened suddenly, Cesar looming in the doorway.

  Cesar’s lids narrowed as he took in the fact that Grace, the woman he had recently made love with, and Raphael, the man who was his closest friend and his Head of Security, appeared to be talking softly together and sharing a companionable smile. His gaze turned flinty as it levelled on Grace. ‘Would you mind sitting with my father for a few minutes while I go and talk with the doctor about my mother’s condition?’

  ‘I— No, of course I don’t mind.’ She straightened awkwardly before slipping past him into the hospital room.

  Cesar raised questioning brows at his oldest friend. ‘Do you not have somewhere else you need to be?’

  The other man was completely unaffected by the coldness of Cesar’s tone as he gave a dismissive shrug. ‘As your Head of Security, you are my primary concern, and after today where you go I go.’

  Cesar’s mouth thinned. ‘You—’

  ‘Cesar.’ Raphael spoke softly but firmly. ‘You are not in a good place right now, and so not thinking logically, but once you are you will realise that I have absolutely no personal interest in your Grace Blake!’

  He stiffened. ‘She is not my Grace Blake—’

  ‘No?’

  ‘No,’ Cesar rasped.

  The other man shrugged. ‘Shall we find your mother’s doctor?’

  Cesar drew in a sharp breath at this timely reminder of the reason he had left his mother’s bedside, even briefly. ‘I will apologise for my remarks later.’

  ‘Take it as said,’ Raphael dismissed as the two of them strode off down the corridor in the direction of the nurses’ station.

  * * *

  If Grace had needed any further proof of Carlos Navarro’s continuing love for his estranged wife, then she had it the moment she walked into Esther Navarro’s hospital room and saw that he appeared to have aged twenty years since she had seen him the evening before; his face, so much like Cesar’s, was pale and all sharp hollows beneath his cut and grazed swarthy skin, his eyes dark wells of pain as he gazed down at his unconscious wife and gently held one of her lifeless hands in both of his. Even those distinguished wings of grey at his temples seemed more plentiful in the darkness of his tousled hair.

  Grace quietly moved to sit in the chair drawn up beside the bed on the opposite side, where Cesar had obviously so recently sat, not speaking, but hoping to silently give Carlos Navarro strength and comfort by her presence.

  Esther Navarro lay pale and still against the white bed sheets, blonde hair splayed out against the pillows, her beautiful face unmarked but for the bruised bump visible on her left temple, and the obvious reason for her lack of consciousness.

  Grace instinctively reached out and clasped Esther’s other hand in her own, surprised at how cold it was. If anything should happen to Cesar’s beloved mother...!

  But it wouldn’t. It couldn’t! Hadn’t the Navarro family already suffered enough when they lost Gabriela, without—?

  ‘I loved her from the moment I set eyes on her.’ Carlos Navarro’s voice sounded somehow rusty and unused in the midst of the bleeps and soft murmur of the machines monitoring his wife’s vital signs, the darkness of his ravaged gaze not leaving the pale beauty of her face.

  Grace, not even sure that Carlos knew it was her sitting opposite him, rather than Cesar, wisely remained silent, knowing that Carlos needed to talk, and that it didn’t really matter who he talked to, only that he did so. Although the fact that he spoke in English seemed to imply that, on some level at least, he was aware of Grace’s presence...

  ‘She was hiking through Argentina as part of a year of travelling before attending college.’ He continued to talk softly. ‘A tall Amazon of a woman with the longest, silkiest blonde hair I had ever seen, sitting outside a café in San Telmo drinking coffee, as I chanced to walk by on my way to a business meeting. I never did make it to the meeting, but instead asked Esther if I might join her for coffee.’ He smiled wistfully at the memory. ‘It was love at first sight, for both of us, and we were never apart after that first meeting, were married within the month. Cesar was born exactly nine months later, and so Esther never did go to college.’ He gave a wistful smile. ‘I still remember the way she looked the day Cesar was born, a Madonna with child. My beautiful blonde-haired angel. So like our little—’ He came to an abrupt halt as his voice broke emotionally. ‘Twenty-one years, Miss Blake.’ His eyes were dark pits of torment as he looked across the bed at Grace. ‘I lost my angel the day our daughter was taken from us, and now—now—’

  ‘Esther will recover, Mr Navarro. I know she will.’ Grace spoke firmly, with certainty, totally convinced that the fates couldn’t be so cruel, to Carlos or Cesar, as to take their beloved Esther from them after all they had already lost.

  ‘Thank you!’ he breathed raggedly.

  ‘You have to believe she will wake up.’ And when she did, Grace sincerely hoped that Esther and Carlos would be able to sort out their differences, once and for all; the love glowing in Carlos Navarro’s eyes as he gazed down at his wife told her he didn’t deserve to live without his angel for even a day longer
.

  * * *

  ‘I obviously will not be returning to England today, as I originally intended.’ Cesar looked down into Grace’s pale face where she had briefly joined him in the hospital corridor outside his mother’s room, Esther having finally regained consciousness, the doctor having assured them there was no brain damage, that after a day’s rest she would be none the worse for the experience apart from a bruise on her temple. They did, however, wish to keep Esther under observation for at least some of that time. Time Cesar intended to remain here and support his mother and his father. ‘But that is no reason that I cannot arrange for the jet to fly you back to England later this evening, if that is what you wish?’ He waited tensely for Grace’s answer.

  She looked up at him searchingly. ‘What would you like me to do?’

  A good question. But not one Cesar had a straightforward answer to. A part of him dearly wanted Grace to say she would stay in Argentina for as long as her presence might be of help to him or his parents. The other half of him was aware that the two of them had stepped over a line earlier today.

  Cesar loved his parents, and his friendship with Raphael was one of mutual respect and affection, but, other than those ties of family and friendship, Cesar did not allow anyone to pierce the barrier he had placed over his emotions after Gabriela was taken from them. Grace Blake had breached that barrier. To what extent, Cesar did not yet know. And until he did, it would perhaps be better if she were to return to England.

  ‘Never mind.’ Grace spoke flatly, Cesar’s continued silence answer enough. ‘Perhaps, if it’s not too much trouble, you could ask Raphael to arrange for the plane to fly me back to England today?’

  ‘If that is what you wish.’ He nodded stiffly.

  What Grace wished was that none of the past few hours had happened!

  Certainly not the Navarros’ car crash. But also Cesar switching off the security cameras in his apartment. Leaving his mobile behind when they went out without his bodyguard. Dancing the tango together. Making love together in Cesar’s bedroom.