Kings of California

Five

Things happened pretty quickly after the proposal.

Within a few days, Adam had arranged for a marriage license—apparently it paid to be one of the wealthiest men in California. And, since Adam was anxious to get their bargain up and running, there was no time for the big, fancy wedding Gina’s mom had always dreamed of.

Instead Adam, Gina and her parents took one of the King family jets to Vegas.

“Not exactly the wedding every little girl dreams of,” Gina whispered to herself as she looked around the interior of the luxury garden the ceremony was taking place in.

The walls were painted a soft summer-blue, with white clouds sponge-painted on as accents. There were tall pedestals holding elegant sprays of silk flowers and the white carpeted main aisle still held the footprints of the couple who had been married before them. Classical music piped in from overhead speakers and Gina’s fingers tightened on the handle of her complimentary bouquet.

Gina’s heart did a bump and roll in her chest and she was very glad she’d insisted on doing some prewedding shopping in San Jose. The deep yellow dress she wore made her feel beautiful and Gina had known instinctively that she would need all the confidence she could find.

“You’re sure about this, Gina?”

She turned her head to look at her father and swallowed hard before answering. “Yes, Papa. I’m sure.”

Of course she was sure. She’d been in love with Adam King for what felt like forever. She’d dreamed of this day for years. Of course, in all of those dreams, Adam had loved her, too. Her dream groom was happy and smiling, surrounded by his brothers, looking at Gina with desire flashing in his eyes.

So okay, the reality was a little disappointing. Still, she thought, shifting her gaze to the head of the aisle where her groom waited. She was marrying Adam.

And Gina’d had a few days to completely rethink this bargain she’d made with her about-to-be husband. This was a business deal, certainly. Adam was getting what he wanted out of it and she would be getting the baby her heart craved.

But over the last couple of days, she’d begun to imagine a slightly different outcome to this bargain. If she were willing to take a chance, to risk her heart, she might find a way to get everything she’d ever wanted.

All she had to do was find a way to break Adam’s defences. Her insides fisted and released at the daunting prospect. She’d come this far, why not take that extra step? She only needed time. Gina was sure that once Adam and she were married, he would see the truth she’d always known. That they could be a great couple.

She sucked in a deep breath as that thought shot through her brain and sent a current of adrenaline to the pit of her stomach.

“You don’t look so good, honey,” her father said.

“I’m fine, Papa. Really. It’s all good. See?” She gave her father a wide, phony smile that, thankfully, he accepted at face value. “Let’s get this done, okay?”

“Yes,” he said. “Your mother looks anxious.”

She did, Gina thought, sliding a quick look at her mom. Actually her mother looked as though she wanted to give Adam a stern lecture about how to treat her daughter. Best to head that off at the pass. Teresa Torino was already a little snippy about Gina marrying a man she didn’t think loved her.

The string quartet suddenly began playing the solemn strains of the Wedding March. Gina’s stomach lurched, but she fought down the last bits of hesitation she felt and started down the aisle on her father’s arm.

Not a very long walk, really, but with every step, she moved further away from the life she knew and closer to the life she’d always wanted.

Adam’s dark chocolate eyes were narrowed on her. His features were stiff and the smile she’d hoped to see didn’t appear. But then, this wasn’t a love match, was it? His gaze was steady, but blank, giving away no hint at all of what he was feeling, thinking. And Gina could only hope he wasn’t able to read her emotions any better than she could his.

At the head of the aisle, Sal laid Gina’s hand in Adam’s and stepped back to join his wife.

Adam gave her a brief smile that didn’t do a thing to ease the cool indifference on his features.

When the minister started talking, she found it hard to hear him over the thundering of her own heartbeat. She was only able to catch every other word, but they were the important ones. The ones that would change her life. At least for now.

“I will,” Adam said and Gina swayed a little at the impact of two small words. And her heartbeat seemed to pound out, if only.

Then it was her turn. She felt Adam’s big hand enveloping hers and focused on the minister. Here it was. Her last chance to back out. Or, she thought, the beginning of the biggest gamble she would ever make.

There was a long pause when the minister stopped speaking and the silence in the chapel was nearly deafening. She felt Adam watching her, waiting for her answer.

“I will,” she said finally and it was as if the room took a relieved breath and let it out again.

Adam slipped a ring on her finger and as the short, round minister finished up the brief ceremony, Gina looked down at her hand. A wide, thick gold band glittered up at her. There were no stones set into the precious metal. No delicate carvings or etchings that proclaimed a deeply felt connection between two people.

It was plain.

Impersonal.

Much like her marriage.

Then Adam held her shoulders, pulled her in close and gave her a quick, hard kiss, sealing the bargain Gina really hoped wouldn’t come back to haunt them both.

For the first time in far too long, Adam felt as though he’d somehow lost control of a situation. And he didn’t like the sensation.

Yet somehow, he’d ended up here, in the Presidential Suite of Dreams, the newest, most opulent hotel yet to be built in Las Vegas, waiting for his bride to join him.

“Bride.” He shook his head and poured himself a glass of the champagne chilling in a sterling silver ice bucket atop the table set up for them on the suite’s private balcony. If ever a man needed a drink, it was now.

Taking a sip, he looked out over the view sprawling for miles. In the distance, he saw the purple smudge of mountains, crowned by the first stars blinking into life in the night sky. The setting sun still provided an orange glow on the horizon and in the streets far below him, other lights in dizzying colors and patterns glittered and shone like jewels in a treasure chest.

From thirty stories up, Las Vegas was beautiful. Up close and personal, Adam knew that the tattered edges of the city were much easier to spot. Much like his marriage, he thought wryly, taking a long sip of the cold, bubbly wine. From a distance, people would assume that he and Gina had been swept away by passion. Only they would ever know the cold, hard truth.

Which was what, exactly?

“That you’re a hard ass,” he muttered. “Willing to use a woman to get what you want. Ready to create a child and walk away from it without a second thought.”

Surprisingly enough, that little jolt of reality bothered Adam more than he’d thought it would. He scrubbed one hand across his jaw, stared off into the night and reminded himself that this had been Gina’s idea. She wasn’t a victim in this but a willing conspirator.

When his cell phone rang, though, Adam grabbed it, grateful to have something besides his own thoughts to concentrate on. A glance at the screen had him sighing. Flipping the phone open, he asked, “What is it, Travis?”

“What is it?” his brother echoed. “You’re not serious. I just talked to Esperanza and she told me you were in Las Vegas getting married.”

Adam sighed. His housekeeper had a big mouth. “That’s right.”

“To Gina.”

“That’s right.”

“So my invitation got lost in the mail?” Travis demanded.

Setting his champagne glass down on the stone balcony railing, Adam shoved his free hand into his pants pocket and tightened his grip on the phone. “It was a small ceremony.”

“Yeah? I hear her parents were there.”

“And now they’re gone. The jet took them home this afternoon.”

“Uh-huh. Any reason why you didn’t want your family there?”

“It’s not what you think.”

“Really? Because what I think is you just married a kid we’ve known all our lives without bothering to tell your brothers.”

“She’s not a kid,” Adam said tightly, his fingers clenching down hard on his phone. “Hasn’t been one for a long time. And since when do I report to you and Jackson?”

“You don’t,” Travis countered. “But there’s something fishy going on here, Adam. This ‘marriage’ of yours wouldn’t have anything to do with getting that damned land, would it?”

There was a long, silent moment as Adam got a tight rein on the temper screaming inside, then Travis muttered, “You really are a son of a bitch, aren’t you?”

“She knew what she was doing.” Hadn’t he told himself that over and over again since agreeing to the bargain Gina had offered him?

“I doubt it.”

Shoving his free hand through his hair, Adam shot a look behind him to assure himself that Gina hadn’t come out of the bathroom yet. Then he argued, “You know, Travis, you’re not exactly the poster child for the better treatment of women.”

“That’s not the point,” his brother snapped.

“It’s exactly the point. I don’t tell you to stop squiring bimbos around—or to avoid the damn paparazzi that follow you everywhere. So butt the hell out of my life, little brother.”

“You screw with Gina and her father will make your life a living hell,” Travis warned.

“Because my life now is just rainbows and kittens, right?”

“Damn, Adam,” his brother said on a sigh. “When the hell did you get so cold?”

“When wasn’t I?” Adam asked and snapped the phone closed before Travis could get started again. Then he turned the phone off before Jackson could call and have his say. He didn’t need to hear his brothers’ opinions. He knew going into this what they’d think. And it didn’t matter a damn.

He and Gina were two consenting adults. Their marriage—such as it was—was nobody else’s business.

“Well,” Gina said from behind him. “You look like you want to take a bite out of somebody.”

He turned, schooling his features into the calm, unreadable mask he used with everyone but his brothers. But even as he fought for distance, the sight of her had a hot ball of lust pooling in his belly.

In the pale wash of the soft balcony lights, she looked almost otherworldly. Her nightgown was short, stopping midthigh. A deep, rich red, the satin fabric clung to her skin, outlining every curve and exposing what looked like a mile of leg. The bodice was red lace and it cupped her breasts like a lover’s hands. Her hair hung loose and thick over her shoulders, the untamed curls enticing him. She smelled like heaven—peaches and flowers and the smile she gave him was knowing and nervous at the same time.

“You look,” he said, “beautiful.”

Her smile brightened. “I feel silly.” Then she smoothed one hand over her stomach as if trying to calm butterflies and he wondered if she was regretting making the offer that had brought them to this place.

Adam poured her a flute of champagne and when she took it from him, her fingertips grazed his skin and heat exploded. He ignored it for the moment. “Why silly?”

She waved a hand at her negligee and shrugged. “I went out and bought this, especially for tonight and I probably shouldn’t have. It’s not like this is an ordinary wedding night, is it?”

“No,” he conceded and found he couldn’t take his gaze from her. From the curve of her breasts. From the hard tips of her nipples, pressing against the dark red lace. “It’s not. But it is the beginning of our bargain.”

“True,” she said and took a sip of champagne. Then she licked her bottom lip and everything in Adam tightened painfully.

“And,” he said, taking a swallow himself, “for myself, I can tell you I appreciate your shopping talents.”

Her eyes widened, then she smiled more easily. “Thanks.” Stepping out onto the balcony, heedless of the negligee she wore, she looked out at the view and sighed. “It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is.” But he wasn’t looking at the neon-lit desert or the mountains beyond. He was staring at her. He took another drink of champagne, hoping the icy wine would spill into his blood and cool it off a little. No such luck.

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Thanks for flying Mom and Dad here and home again.”

He shrugged. He hadn’t minded bringing Sal and Teresa along, though he also hadn’t been sorry to see them go. Teresa especially. The woman had looked daggers at him all day. “Seemed important that they be there for you.”

“But you didn’t want your brothers?”

He leaned back against the stone railing. “I thought it would be easier all around if we kept it simple.”

“Right,” she said. “Simple. Do they know?”

“About us?” he asked. When she nodded he said, “They do now. Esperanza told them.”

She smiled. “How’d they take it?”

He looked at her and lied. It didn’t matter a damn to him what his brothers thought about this. “Fine. Talked to Travis a few minutes ago.”

A desert wind sailed past them and Gina shivered.

“You’re cold.”

“A little.”

He set his glass down on the table and went to her. A short walk and yet Adam felt as if each step were measured. He was about to seal their bargain. There would be no going back. And if he woke up tomorrow regretting what he’d done tonight, then he’d have to live with it.

But then, he’d had plenty of practice living with uncomfortable realities.

“Come here.” Pulling her close, he wrapped both arms around her, drawing her in, her back to his front. Heat pooled between them, seeping into his bones, firing his blood. Adam felt that sweet rush of need fill him and he gritted his teeth to maintain control. He wouldn’t be led around by his groin. This bargain was one thing.

Releasing control was something else. Something he wouldn’t allow to happen.

“Adam,” Gina said, her voice so soft, he almost missed it. “I know this was my idea, but I suddenly don’t know what to do next.”

“We do what we planned to do. We make a child together.”

She shivered again and pressed harder against him. “Right. I mean, that is what this is all about. So,” she said, turning in his arms to look up at him, “no point in wasting time, is there?”

She lifted her arms and hooked them behind his neck. Then she went up on her toes, tilted her head and kissed him. The soft, almost hesitant touch of her mouth to his lit up Adam’s insides brighter than any of the neon stretching out across the desert beneath them.

He’d spent the last five years alone. Pushing aside wants and needs he didn’t have the time or patience to deal with. Now, there was no reason to hold back. So he didn’t. Wrapping his arms around her middle, he held her to him with a fierce grip and took her mouth with all the pent-up hunger he felt surging within.

She groaned a little as he parted her lips with his tongue and tasted her warmth. She sighed and fed the fires racing through his blood. He held her tighter to him, grinding his hips against hers, needing that sweet pressure.

Again and again, his tongue delved inside, claiming her, taking all she had to give. He allowed his control to slip and he surrendered to the waves of desire crashing inside him. He slid his hands up and down her back, cupping her bottom, stroking her spine, threading through the thick mass of curls that fell in a dark curtain around her.

Her scent filled him. Her taste enflamed him. And his body physically ached to have her under him.

He tore his mouth from hers, like a man struggling for air before he drowned. Gina swayed unsteadily, but Adam’s arms were like steel bands, supporting her, holding her. She tipped her head back to stare up at the desert sky while Adam’s mouth moved up and down her neck, nibbling, licking, tasting. She felt like a banquet laid out before a starving man.

She felt needed. Wanted.

If only she also felt loved.

But when that thought appeared in her mind, she shut it off instantly. For now, it was enough that she loved. It was enough that she finally knew what it was to have Adam King’s legendary focus directed at her. And she wanted more. She wanted it all. Tomorrow, she would begin the pretense of a marriage they’d decided on. But tonight was her wedding night and she wanted to remember every moment of it.

When Adam swept her up into his arms, she gasped. Then she looked into his dark, dark eyes. She smiled at him, but there was no glint of humor or warmth in his gaze.

Only need.

A part of her saddened at that knowledge, but she fought that sensation back, cupped his face in her hands and said, “We can do this, right?”

His mouth quirked. “Oh, we’re going to do this, Gina. Now.”

A swirl of something delicious swept through her, heating her core, making her blood run thick. She took a deep breath as he started to carry her back into the suite. “I wasn’t talking about sex, Adam. I was talking about our bargain.”

He stopped dead just inside the French doors. Looking down at her, he asked, “Second thoughts?”

And thirds. And fourths, she thought, but didn’t say. “No. Just making sure you’re not having any.”

He held her tighter, his right hand sliding up her thigh. “Once I make a deal, I stick with it.”

“Of course you do,” she said, nodding even as she let one hand slide from his neck, down his throat to his chest. His heartbeat thudded beneath her hand and she knew, whether his features were stoic or not, he wasn’t as calm as he pretended. “And so do I,” she added.

“Good to know. Now, how about we start taking care of business?”

“That might be easier for me if we didn’t call it business,” she pointed out, unbuttoning the front of his shirt.

He shook his head and his eyes seemed to swallow her. “This is business, though, Gina. Nothing more. Don’t fool yourself. Don’t pretend that this is a real marriage. You’ll only be hurt in the end.”

Well, nothing like a cold flood of reality to warm you up for the night’s festivities. He was making sure she didn’t put too much of herself into this bargain they’d struck. And maybe assuring himself that there wouldn’t be any hard feelings when it was done.

That was fine with Gina. He could think what he wanted. Her thoughts she would keep to herself. Her dreams would remain hidden and secret, locked away in her heart. For now, she had the man she’d always wanted and she wasn’t going to let doubts or fears about the future ruin the night she’d been waiting for all of her life.

Six

His hands on her bare skin felt wicked. Felt…right. She felt as though she’d been waiting for this one particular moment all of her life. The moment when she would have Adam to herself. When she would take him into her body and hold him there.

Her stomach was spinning, a weird combination of nerves and champagne. Her brain was racing, alternately shouting out warnings and egging her on. But Gina didn’t need urging. She unbuttoned his shirt and slid one hand across his bare chest. She felt his body jerk at the slight touch and knew that he wanted her as badly as she wanted him.

The plush, gigantic bedroom was dark, but for the desert moonlight streaming through the open balcony doors. The white sheers hanging there fluttered and swayed seductively in a soft wind and the scent of desert sage wafted into the room.

The bed was wide and high and covered in a luxurious white silk duvet that had already been turned down for the night. A mountain of pillows were stacked against the black iron headboard. Adam carried her with quick steps, right to the edge of the bed. Then he set her on her feet, grabbed the edge of the duvet and tossed it heedlessly to the foot of the mattress.

Gina’s knees went a little wobbly, so she locked them just to make sure she didn’t do anything totally stupid like topple over. In the semidarkness, Adam’s chocolate-brown eyes looked nearly black as he stared down at her. His mouth was thin, tight, as if he were holding on to the ragged edge of control.

Well, she didn’t want him controlled.

She wanted him wild and eager and spontaneous. Biting down on her bottom lip, Gina lifted her hands to the front of his shirt and undid the rest of the buttons. While he stood there, unmoving, she pushed the shirt off his shoulders and down his arms, to drop to the floor. Then she let her hands slide across his hard, warm chest. Felt the soft brush of the dark hair that whorled across his tanned skin. Felt him flinch when her thumbnail stroked the tip of one flat nipple.

He grabbed her waist, his hands big and hard and strong. Then he yanked her close, holding her to him so that she felt the thick ridge of his arousal. Looming over her, he stared into her eyes and Gina felt the heat of that gaze fire up her insides like a match to a pool of gasoline.

His mouth came down on hers with a fierceness she hadn’t expected. His tongue parted her lips and she opened for him, inviting his exploration. Their tongues twisted together in a heated dance that was only a prelude of things to come. Gina’s breath caught in her chest and her head began to swim.

Her body alive with sensation, she groaned from the back of her throat when Adam’s hands slid up to cover her breasts. He stroked her, causing the lace to rub across her already sensitized nipples with a delicious friction that heated her core and drove her to the edge of madness. Each touch was a fire. Each touch only made her want the next. Each stroking caress tautened the tension already coiled inside her.

When he tore his mouth from hers to lick and nibble his way down the length of her throat, Gina tipped her head back to give him more access. His mouth was a wonder. His hands at her breasts a lovely torture.

Then he shifted position, lifting his hands to the thin, ribbonlike straps of her nightgown and he slid them down over her shoulders. Gina shivered a little at the cool glide of his fingertips against her skin, then shivered harder as he pushed the nightgown down and off to puddle at her feet.

The desert wind was cool as it brushed into the room and danced across her skin, but Adam’s gaze kept her too warm to notice. He looked her up and down, then looking directly into her eyes, he lifted her again and dropped her onto the mattress.

She bounced once, then settled back against the backdrop of pillows, a lavender scent drifting to her like a lost memory of summer. Her center, hot and aching, had her shifting on the smooth, cool sheets, looking for the release her body already clamored for.