Grapes of Wrath (Billionaires' Secrets Book 2) Read online

  For a long time, she never even knew she had needs. Right now, as her belly throbbed with desire, she was aware of little else.

  Amado led Susannah past antique furniture and rugs glowing with the rich colors of natural pigments. The house had obviously been lovingly cared for by generations of grateful owners.

  The stairway’s curved wood banister gleamed in the distant firelight. They exchanged a cautious smile.

  Well, hers was cautious, his was encouraging.

  Come into my chamber, said the spider to the fly.

  But she was a willing fly, so why not?

  Amado’s personal bedchamber was large, with velvet floor-length draperies covering the windows. A four-poster bed carved from dark wood dominated the space. The fluffy white duvet covered the high mattress like a low- hanging cloud, inviting Susannah to sink into its softness.

  Amado rested his hand on her hip. He kissed her with exquisite gentleness, taking his time, savoring her.

  She let her fingers roam over his shirt, enjoying the shape of him beneath the fabric. His body was hard and athletic, capable of speed and force. But his movements were tender, almost unbearably so, as he licked her lips, brushed them with his mouth, and nuzzled his cheek gently against hers.

  His suntanned skin wasn’t exactly soft, but it wasn’t rough either. Everything about Amado seemed smooth and mellow, like a fine wine.

  He pulled back slightly. “Let me make you at home in my bed.”

  Her insides shimmered at the prospect. Amado’s dark eyes shone with simple desire that echoed her own. His forearms brushed the sides of her breasts, stirring delicious tremors of sensation, as he unhooked and unzipped the back of her dress.

  He lowered the fabric over her shoulders to reveal her bra. She’d worn a pretty one today. Had she somehow known?

  His big hands cupped the silver-gray satin and lace, and rubbed her nipples gently through the fabric. Susannah couldn’t help wriggling as arousal tingled over her skin. She reached for his shirt and pulled the buttons out through the soft fabric.

  Amado’s chest was thickly muscled, with a narrow trail of hair descending from his belly button into the low-slung waist of his pants. A sturdy leather belt held the latter firmly closed, and she struggled with the stiff hide while Amado layered hot, breathy kisses over her neck.

  His erection jutted beneath the buckle. She enjoyed a naughty sense of satisfaction at this proof that he was every bit as turned on and wound up as she was.

  At last, she pulled the leather loose and tackled the fly of his pants. As she pushed the khaki fabric down over his hard thighs, her fingers trembled with excitement.

  Amado eased her dress down, and squeezed her backside. His eyes were closed, his lips slightly parted. He had a wide mouth with a bold, sensual cut. High cheekbones and a strong nose. The kind of looks that made women sigh and nudge each other.

  Susannah was usually intimidated by extravagant good looks in a man. She didn’t want to deal with the oversize ego that came with them.

  But with Amado, his proud features seemed a natural extension of everything she admired and liked about him: his passion and dedication, the confidence born of hard- won success.

  Why shouldn’t you be arrogant, if you’d earned the right?

  He unhooked the clasp on the front of her bra, and lifted the cups from her breasts. Tight with arousal, her nipples stung in the night air drifting through the open windows.

  He eased the straps down over her arms, and placed her bra carefully on a chair, on top of her neatly folded dress.

  With the same careful deliberation he lowered his head and licked her left nipple. The rough texture of his tongue on the supersensitive flesh made her gasp. At the same moment, he slid his fingers into her panties. She could feel herself slick against them.

  Should she be embarrassed that her arousal was so obvious? She didn’t know what to think. Couldn’t think, as pleasure stole over her body.

  Amado’s delight in her was palpable. She could sense his heart beating beneath his ribs, hear his deepening breaths as he sucked her nipples to peaks of pleasurable tension.

  He eased her panties down over her thighs and placed them on the chair, then removed his underwear and stood facing her. They watched each other. Both naked, aroused, expectant.

  His sturdy male body and the raw strength it implied appealed to her in a way she couldn’t begin to articulate or even understand.

  But why should she? She didn’t need to analyze everything and understand it. She didn’t need to figure out how it all fit together.

  “You see the world differently than other people.”

  Amado’s low voice crept into her ear.

  She blinked. “How?” Could he read her thoughts?

  She felt naked. She was naked.

  He stroked her chin. “You don’t see only the surface of things. You see inside them, too.”

  “I’m not so sure. I don’t see inside you.”

  His dark eyes fixed on hers.

  “Yes, you do.”

  She frowned. What did he think she was thinking? Should she ask? Her heart beat faster.

  But she didn’t get a chance to ask because Amado’s bold mouth covered hers in a swift and forceful kiss.

  At the same time, he swept her into his arms as if she weighed nothing and laid her on the duvet.

  Chapter Five

  Susannah sank into the thick, soft surface and Amado climbed over her. For a second, she wondered if he’d part her legs and enter her, and her belly tightened with a mix of fear and anticipation.

  But he didn’t. He stretched himself out alongside her, skin to skin, his flat stomach against her hip, his long, hard thighs against hers, his muscled arm holding her close.

  “Welcome home.” He nuzzled her ear and kissed her neck.

  Susannah’s eyes widened as a powerful and deeply strange sensation flooded her.

  Welcome home? What a weird thing to say. Still, no reason to get all worked up. It was probably his shtick for the tourists. It wasn’t like he actually meant it.

  “Your brain is so busy,” he whispered. “Sometimes you just have to be.”

  “To be what?” Her brain raced faster.

  “You.”

  “And who’s that?”

  He kissed her ear, his warm breath sending shivers of heat dancing through her. “Just you.”

  His gaze shone black in the scant silver moonlight creeping in around the draperies. “Your mouth.” He licked her lips, left them cool and humming.

  “Your neck.” He bit it gently, a careful vampire.

  “Your chest.” He brushed her breast with his cheek, then sucked each nipple in turn.

  “Your stomach.” He blew hot air on her skin, making it shiver. Then he licked around her belly button and grazed her skin with his teeth. For a second, her womb seemed to yearn toward him and Susannah almost cried out from the odd and powerful sensation.

  She’d never experienced anything like this before. Her previous sexual experience was a series of quick and embarrassed fumbles by comparison.

  And they hadn’t even done anything yet.

  “Stop thinking.”

  Her insides contracted again, and ripples of pleasure washed through her.

  What is this man doing to me?

  He parted her legs and lowered his mouth between her thighs. He licked and sucked until her hips rose off the mattress and a high-pitched moan escaped her mouth.

  Her eyes flew open and she glanced down to see his gaze gleaming in the moonlight.

  “Just let go and be. With me.” His voice rasped, husky. His hair fell to his eyes, which fixed on her, dark slits of passion.

  Already half insane with arousal, Susannah wriggled against him, enjoying the sensation of his hot, hungry mouth on her flesh. Fierce contractions rocked her, starting from his tongue—like the plug in an electric socket—and surging through her entire body in waves. They flung her against the bed where she cried out, again and
again, as Amado moved his mouth over her, rocking her deeper into the crazy otherworld where there was no thought, only fierce and overwhelming pleasure.

  Howling outside the windows penetrated her consciousness as her shuddering body collapsed back against the hot duvet.

  “What’s that?” she gasped.

  “The dogs.” Amado grinned. “They want to know what all the fuss is about.”

  Her hand flew to her mouth. She could hear them yowling outside the window. “Did I make that much noise?”

  “Yes.” He nuzzled her neck, his pleasure at her abandon written all over his face. “But don’t start thinking now.”

  “I don’t know what…I’ve never—” Susannah frowned. Stray energy still whipped through her in uneven bursts.

  “You never had an orgasm?”

  “Is that what this is?”

  Amado grinned. “Sure is. Feels good, huh?”

  Susannah nodded.

  Amado bent down and kissed her belly, which contracted tightly as his lips touched her. “You’re sensitive.” He looked up, eyes shining. “Very responsive.”

  He leaned away from her and she heard him rip something. He turned and rolled a condom over his impressive erection. Susannah blinked.

  He was so—matter-of-fact about it. Unembarrassed. Like this was a normal, everyday thing to do.

  Maybe it was, for him.

  He climbed over her and her skin tingled as he hovered above her. He nuzzled her neck again—how she loved that—and breathed in her ear. “You feel more than other people. That’s why you think too much. But it’s okay to simply feel.”

  Susannah swallowed. Her brain wanted to make sense of his words but her body was utterly focused on Amado. He entered her in a single swift motion that pushed her into the soft mattress.

  So aroused already, she couldn’t stop herself from climaxing again immediately. Tremors rippled through her. She could hear the sounds she was making, but she couldn’t do anything about them. Couldn’t prevent her arms from winding around his powerful torso and clutching him close.

  “Oh, Amado.” She heard herself cry out his name as he moved inside her. He thrust into her, gentle, then harder, slow, then fast. Taking his time, then rushing until she climaxed again—and again—totally unable to control the spasm of her muscles and the shivering sneezes of sensation that racked her body.

  She took him deeper, pleading with him in Spanish and in English and several other languages to take her and love her and hold her and make her his. To go faster and rougher and harder and—

  Amado shouted as he climaxed. She opened her eyes in time to see his face in tortured ecstasy. He held her so tight she could barely breathe and they crashed into the mattress together with force. He panted and hugged her to him, moaning, as he throbbed inside her.

  “Por amor.” His breath rasped against her ear.

  Susannah blinked, blinded by even the tiny slivers of moonlight that played across the walls. Love?

  It was probably just an expression. She didn’t know Argentine idioms.

  Besides, her mind didn’t seem to work too well anymore. She was all body. All sensation, all touch and lick and soft, pliant wetness.

  Amado’s head lay on her chest—he appeared to have collapsed from exhaustion, but she could see his eyes on her, wide and dark and filled with...amazement.

  Susannah blew out a breath. The first hint of rational thought came sneaking back.

  What the heck happened to you?

  Had she really been yelping and panting so loud that she set the dogs off?

  A flush spread over her already hot and sticky face.

  As if they’d been listening, the dogs let out a chorus of enthusiastic barks.

  Stray shards of the things she’d said—that she’d moaned and shouted—popped into her mind. Local idioms she’d learned over the years while being instructed never to use them under any circumstances. Words that had apparently lodged in her subconscious waiting for just this moment to make their appearance.

  Amado still stared at her. Barely blinking.

  “Are you okay?” Her words sounded oddly clinical in the thick lush silence of the night.

  “No,” he breathed. “I’m much, much, much, better than okay.” He swallowed. “You?”

  The words appeared to cost him great effort. How long had they been...? Susannah bit her lip. It could have been hours. The poor man was exhausted.

  Or was he? She thought she detected a sudden wicked gleam in his eye.

  “You are a woman of many dimensions, Susannah Clarke.”

  Far more than I’d previously suspected.

  Susannah wasn’t sure it was a good thing to be capable of such total sexual abandon. Seemed like the kind of trait that could get you into trouble.

  At least her secret would be safe with Amado. Tierra de Oro was very far from New York. And surely no one would ever get her going like that again.

  Thank goodness.

  Amado’s breathing slowed and steadied. His muscles relaxed and grew heavier, as he pulled her closer to him. He shifted slightly, and let out a sigh.

  He’d fallen asleep—on her.

  Susannah couldn’t help a burst of silent laughter, and even the vibration of her chest didn’t stir him. He looked so sweet lying there, his handsome face nestled between her breasts and his arms wrapped securely around her torso.

  Apparently he was quite at home with her in his bed. And why wouldn’t he be? She had no illusions that this was a rare occasion for him. He was gorgeous and an incorrigible flirt. She really didn’t even mind.

  Did she?

  She swallowed.

  Didn’t want to think about that.

  In a day or so she’d be back in New York, updating her database and checking on the deliveries she was expecting from vineyards all around the world.

  Including Amado’s. Some of his wines were daring and successful to the point where she was sure Tarrant would want them for his own cellars.

  Which meant she’d still have to deal with Amado.

  Or not? Amado concerned himself with the aspects of the business that interested him, the hands-on growing and fermenting. He left the marketing and shipping to his capable staff.

  Most likely she’d chat on the phone with a friendly assistant who’d give her the advertising spiel on the various wines and send her samples and—

  Samples.

  She couldn’t leave here without the DNA sample.

  Susannah swallowed hard.

  I’ll give you a sample of my DNA—just to prove that you ’re wrong, of course—if you ’ll spend the night in my bed.

  She’d held up her end of the bargain.

  But somehow, asking for his DNA now would be harder than ever.

  Chapter Six

  Susannah snuck out of Amado’s bed and back into her own room sometime before dawn. She needed to compose herself and regain her professional demeanor—or what was left of it—before she confronted him again.

  His enormous white dogs greeted the sunrise with a chorus of enthusiastic baying. Heat crept up her neck when she heard the sound.

  She dressed carefully in a plain black dress and arranged her hair into a chignon. It was too tangled to wear down. Her lips were red from kissing and she tried to tone down her flushed cheeks with loose powder.

  There wasn’t anything she could do about the dazzled look in her eyes.

  When she heard Rosa arrive in a car and start clattering around in the kitchen, Susannah took a deep breath and went downstairs, determined to act as if nothing had happened. Her offer to help was politely rebuffed so she sat in front of the unlit fireplace.

  When breakfast was ready, Rosa yelled up to Amado. Susannah rose from the sofa and held her breath as his door creaked open.

  Amado appeared, sleepy and disheveled, at the top of the stairs. He stopped when he saw her. Susannah swallowed as he rested his eyes on her and a smile spread over his face. He eased down the stairs on bare feet.

/>   “Morning,” he whispered. His eyes had the same dazed look she’d seen in her own mirror that morning.

  His pale blue shirt hung unbuttoned, revealing an enticing slice of tanned chest.

  “Hi,” she stuttered. Then she refocused her eyes on the door to the dining room, blinked, and attempted to guide her feet in that direction.

  Rosa tutted at the sight of Amado. He simply smiled at her.

  He pulled out a chair for Susannah. “Sit down. Eat.”

  Susannah snuck a glance at Rosa, whose stolid face was characteristically expressionless.

  Did Amado always eat breakfast half dressed?

  Or only when he’d slept with his guest the previous night. No need to stand on ceremony when you’d spent the night writhing and moaning in each other’s arms.

  She fanned her napkin out over her lap. She had nothing to be ashamed of. They were both adults and she—

  Rosa’s withering look made her shrink into her chair.

  Amado didn’t even bother to make polite conversation. Relaxed and at ease, he enjoyed the breakfast Rosa had prepared for them.

  Susannah wanted to concentrate on her creamy cafe con leche and the delicious fresh baked rolls and pastries with homemade jam, but it was hard with Amado sitting across the table, staring right at her.

  He caught her gaze time after time, his dark eyes shining with pleasure, until her heart was ready to flutter right out of her chest.

  I’ve got to get out of here, was the thought foremost in her mind. Amado had an unhealthy and dangerous effect on her libido.

  She was here to do a job. She was actually being paid for this, and she’d better start to earn her salary—if she wanted to keep it, that is.

  She checked that Rosa was out of earshot.

  Her heart thudded as she leaned forward. “You will give me the DNA, won’t you?”

  Amado’s expression hardened. The smile slipped from his mouth and faded from his eyes. “Yes.”

  A chill descended over the breakfast table. He pulled his napkin from his lap and rose to his feet. Padded silently away, leaving her sitting, staring after him.

  She kept her breathing steady and forced a smile as the grim Rosa came back into the room with more coffee. “No, thanks.”