“Yvette,” he whispered.

  She raised her head. Their gazes met. In her heels, she was tall enough that if he just lowered his chin, he’d be able to capture her mouth—

  The humming and buzzing started all around them, quickly gaining momentum. It took Alex a long second to understand what was going on. Suddenly, more than half the people in the room had a phone in their hands.

  “Something’s happening,” Yvette said. She’d stopped moving.

  On the dance floor, several other couples had also stopped dancing and stood stock still, staring at their cell phones.

  “I need to get to Pierre,” Yvette said hoarsely.

  And Alex realized, finally, his mind catching up, that people were staring and pointing at them.

  Or rather, some were pointing at him and Yvette. But a larger crowd had formed around Mayor Chevalier. The room filled with loud whispers and shocked murmurs.

  Yvette strode confidently towards Pierre, coming close to elbowing several people who didn’t move away fast enough.

  Follow her.

  Stay with her.

  Alex did, his long legs quickly catching up. His bigger bulk helped, opening up the way for her, until, finally, she faced Pierre.

  “Pierre?” Yvette’s voice shook.

  Pierre stood frozen, his eyes glassy. For once, he was alone, as if whoever he’d been speaking with had moved away, not wanting to get caught in whatever was happening.

  Yvette fished in her tiny handbag for her phone. The bronze column of her throat moved up and down as she read something on the screen. He saw her eyes move as she went back up to the top of the screen and read it again. Her voice, when she spoke, was quiet. “Pierre? Is this true?”

  By this time, even Alex was curious. Not that he cared that much about whatever gossip had everybody’s panties in a wad. But he cared about Yvette, and about whatever had caused the pinched expression she now wore.

  Alex felt a telltale buzzing in his pocket. Whatever the scandal was, it’d taken a bit longer to reach him. The message was from Hugo, who was of course working tonight, because Alex had asked him to research several of the people on Yvette’s list.

  The message was short and to the point, because that was Hugo’s style, but also because there wasn’t that much to say.

  News just broke.

  The mayor’s having an affair with a younger woman.

  Yvette’s boss had just become a walking, talking stereotype—the older politician who couldn’t keep it inside his pants.

  The crowd around them thickened, like spectators of a boxing match who stood on, half-hoping to get splattered by blood. Alex knew there wasn’t going to be any blood, though. That wasn’t Yvette’s style.

  Alex took a step forward. There wasn’t much he could do, except be here for her, and that, he was damned well going to do.

  “What happened, Pierre?”

  There was an infinite sadness in Yvette’s voice. She wasn’t asking if he’d done it—everything about the man, from his glassy stare to his quivering jaw, screamed his guilt.

  Finally, the mayor’s jaw unclenched enough for him to speak. “Life isn’t always black or white, Yvette,” he whispered.

  Now it was Yvette’s turn to clench her teeth together. “Maybe some things should be, Pierre.”

  Though her words were soft, so only the three of them could hear, the older man rocked back on his heels, as if she’d slapped him.

  The mayor looked around them. He had the look of a man whose life was imploding—which his literally was, Alex supposed.

  “You’re going to have to make a decision, Yvette. I wouldn’t want …” He paused as he searched in his mind for the right word. “I wouldn’t want this to splatter you.”

  With that, he turned on his heels and left the party. As the man disappeared out the door, the quiet murmurs grew, becoming louder and louder, a cacophony of sound that filled every available space.

  16

  Alex

  Yvette’s shoes were off her feet the moment she walked through the door.

  “What an evening … Want to come in for a drink?”

  Alex hesitated outside her doorstep.

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “You don’t have to work?” Her cell phone had been ringing and buzzing pretty much continuously since the news broke. She wasn’t even answering anymore, now that she’d been in touch with her whole team.

  She shook her head. “Rushing in with a quick response won’t dilute this. Apparently, Pierre did exactly what that journalist says he did. And those pictures don’t lie.”

  Ah, the pictures.

  Hugo had shared a few of them with Alex. They were not pretty.

  Yvette sighed. “I’ve arranged to meet the team in the office at eight a.m. tomorrow. We’re going to be working full time on this, so I hope they get a good night’s sleep.”

  “You’re sticking with him,” Alex said.

  Yvette sighed. “He had an affair. A consensual relationship with another adult. Personally, I don’t condone what he did, but professionally, he’s still exactly the same man he was earlier today.”

  Alex nodded. “That seems like a fair way of thinking about it.”

  Yvette brought out a bottle of red wine and two glasses.

  “Is wine okay?” she asked.

  “Wine’s fine,” Alex said easily. “Where’s your bottle opener?”

  Yvette pointed to a drawer. Alex found it and took the bottle from her. Yvette sat on one of the tall stools next to the kitchen counter.

  “I wish I didn’t know his wife.” She sighed.

  “You think she already knew?”

  Yvette nodded. “That’s why she wasn’t there tonight. I spoke with her a little while ago. They both knew the news was going to break, and expected it to be sooner rather than later.” She ran her hands along her curls. “Shit. I knew Pierre was acting strange. I should have—“

  “You’re kidding, right?” Alex asked. “There’s nothing you could have done differently.” He handed her a glass that was perhaps fuller than polite society demanded, but he thought they both needed it today.

  Yvette took her glass to the balcony. There was a small table with two chairs. Yvette took one, and Alex sat across from her.

  Ahead of them, the mountains were deep shadows. The only sound was the faint sound of a TV coming from one of the lower apartments.

  Some kind of action movie.

  “It’s peaceful out here,” he said.

  Yvette nodded, taking a deep sip of wine. Alex couldn’t help but watch the movement of her throat as she swallowed. Her face glowed in the soft light coming from her apartment. She was still wearing those dangling earrings that made her slim neck look even longer.

  His eyes moved appreciatively down her body. He’d thought she looked hot when he’d first seen her earlier that evening, in those shiny black patent leather heels. But now, barefoot, her dark red toenails peeking out from the bottom of her dress, she was the sexiest sight ever.

  “I love this view,” she said, sighing softly. “It’s why I moved all the way out here.” She turned to look at him, as if the idea had just occurred to her. “Where do you live?”

  “In a house near the ice rink. I live with two other members of the PGHM team, Ry and Hugo.”

  Yvette didn’t seem to think that was strange at all, and for that he was grateful. Sometimes, it was hard to explain to others just how close he and his team were. When the team had moved from Annecy to Chamonix, and they’d all had to find new accommodation, it had made perfect sense to look for a place together.

  She was quiet again for a bit. Alex could tell she was thinking about something. He settled down to wait. He could be patient.

  At least, he thought he could—until he saw her shiver.

  She was trying hard to hide it, but there was no hiding the goosebumps up her arms.

  He’d been so busy admiring her, he hadn’t even stopped to think she was standing there in a fucking sleeveless dress.

  Alex took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders.

  She burrowed into it gratefully, but then shook her head. “You’ll get cold,” she said. “I should go inside and—“

  “Don’t move,” Alex begged. “Please tell me what you were thinking about just now.”

  Yvette nodded. “I was wondering … do you think what happened tonight could be related to the missing files? Maybe that’s what they were after, more information about Pierre and his affair?”

  Alex shook his head. “It’s certainly possible. That would explain why they placed a keylogger in the mayor’s office, if they wanted access to his personal passwords. But it doesn’t explain why there was one on your computer as well.”

  Yvette bit her bottom lip. “No … that doesn’t make sense. And the stolen files that were clearly marked as project files.” She shook her head. “It’s been driving me crazy. Those seven files have nothing in common, other than the fact that they were big projects. But they’re completely different from one another, down to the fact that some of them were approved, and others were rejected.”

  She made a frustrated sound.

  “We need to keep an open mind,” Alex said. “I’ve got a couple of searches going that might shed some new light on those projects. We’ll know more tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow.” Her eyes had a faraway look. Alex took that as his queue.

  “I should go and let you sleep,” he said, standing up.

  She stood up as well, and he followed her inside. The warm air hit him like a wall. Her living room wasn’t large. In a few strides, he reached her front door.

  Suddenly, Yvette was there as well. She’d slipped in under his arm, her lithe body blocking the door.

  “Stay,” she breathed. “Stay the night.”

  Alex hesitated. He saw the pulse flicker at the base of her throat. And he wanted to stay. He wanted it so badly. But if all she wanted was comfort, he didn’t know if it was fair for him to stay—not when he had so much more in mind.

  “Stay,” she repeated. A slow smile played on her full, red lips. “I was planning on asking you anyway, before … before my professional life imploded.”

  Alex’s hands made the decision an instant before his brain did, coming up to trace a path from her hands all the way up her bare arms. His fingers followed the line the dress made, from her collarbone all the way down, down.

  When he reached the outline of her breasts, Yvette shivered. Alex was tempted to stop there, but finally continued, tracing the edge of the dress up the other side of her chest until he reached her shoulder.

  He’d never touched anything as soft before.

  Yvette shivered in his arms.

  “Turn around, beautiful,” he asked. She did so quickly, anticipating his next move, which was to find the hidden zipper. Bit by bit he revealed her smooth back, all the way down to the edge of what looked like a tiny pair of black panties.

  No bra in the way.

  “That answers one question I’ve been asking myself all night. Now turn around again,” he ordered, his voice husky.

  Yvette did as she was told. Unable to wait any longer, Alex pulled the dress off her shoulders. It pooled by her naked feet, leaving her nearly naked before him.

  Her nipples puckered under his stare.

  “You like it when I look at you.”

  Yvette’s eyes closed. “I love the way you look at me, and I love the things you say to me. You make me … you make me want things I’ve never wanted before,” she admitted.

  Alex swallowed thickly. “I want to hear about all those things. I want to give you everything you want, Yvette.”

  Her hands moved to his belt and started undoing it, her long, slim fingers caressing his cocks through the black fabric. “I can feel … I can feel how hard you are for me.”

  Alex could tell she’d never spoken words like this before.

  Pleasure surged through him. He bit his cheek, not quite able to stop the hiss that escaped his lips.

  I’m the first to see what’s behind that strict self-control.

  She certainly tests my self-control.

  Maybe we don’t need it.

  Not here, not when it’s just the two of us.

  She reached into his pants, struggling to pull his erection through the gap in his boxer shorts. Alex looked down as she wrapped her small hand around his cock, then looked up at her magnificent breasts.

  Fuck.

  He could come.

  If he let himself, he could come right now.

  He breathed an unsteady breath. His fingers grazed her breast, feeling its weight, its softness—the slight roughness where the bronze skin met the dark brown nipple. His thumb and forefinger tightened around her nipple.

  Yvette’s body shivered.

  She gave a throaty moan.

  “You like this?” he asked, tightening his hold, watching her face carefully as they straddled that fine line between pleasure and pain. Her eyes tightened.

  “Let me know if it’s too much,” he said, leaning forward to graze the side of her face with his lips.

  Yvette turned her head, her lips seeking his out. She kissed him passionately, desperately.

  “It’s all pleasure,” she said.

  Her hand began stroking his cock, moving all the way to the wet, swollen tip, then back all the way to the root.

  They began a slow dance, where he played with her nipples while she ran her hand up and down his cock.

  Finally, Alex couldn’t stand it anymore.

  “Off with these,” he said, looping his finger inside the waistline of the smallest pair of panties he’d ever seen and tugging. Then she was finally bare before him. Her pussy glistened with excitement.

  Alex kneeled in front of her, anchoring his hands to her slim, strong hips.

  “Alex, what are—“

  “Don’t move. It’s my turn to take what I want.”

  Yvette

  What he wanted, apparently, was to kill her.

  His tongue licked and sucked, stroking through her folds with rigor and intent, as if he were trying to memorize her. As if there was nothing else he’d rather be doing.

  At first, she was tense. A man going down on her always made her feel this way—like she had to rush to get there, or risk disappointing her partner. Which in turn made it that much harder for her to come, of course. She’d come so rarely from oral sex, she’d ended up believing it wasn’t something she enjoyed.

  Man, she’d been missing out.

  After tonight, she was never going to make the mistake of thinking that ever again.

  Alex’s teeth grazed her clit, and she had to bite her hand to stop herself from screaming.

  I’m so close.

  She didn’t know if she was going to come or if she was going to die.

  Not a bad way to go, if so.

  Alex looked up at her. “Not yet,” he said.

  “If you stop,” she panted. “I’ll kill you.”

  “I’m not stopping,” he breathed. “But … I … am … slowing … down.” Each of those words was punctuated by a little lick. Not enough to get her where she needed to get, but each still delicious in its own right.

  Oh God.

  When he senses she’d calmed down enough, Alex began licking for real again. His tongue delved deep into her pussy, folding itself onto her clit on the way out. Again and again. Relentless in the pursuit of pleasure.

  Yvette hissed in a little breath. This time, the pleasure ramped up in a matter of seconds, rather than minutes. She felt hot—hotter than she’d ever been before in her life.

  “So hot,” she breathed.

  Alex moaned against her, then raised his head for a second, agreeing with her. “Yes. So hot.”

  She didn’t think they were talking about the same thing.

  Then his head was between her legs again.

  Yvette gripped his shoulders, wondered vaguely if she was squeezing too hard, decided she didn’t care.

  She needed to come.

  If he stopped this time, she didn’t know how she would survive.

  “Please,” she begged. “Please.”

  “I’ve got you, Yvette,” he said. His hands gripped her ass, the pressure delicious. “I’ve got you and I’m not letting you go.”

  His teeth grazed her clit again, sending her to the edge … and then sailing right over it.

  Oh.

  My.

  God.

  She was only vaguely aware that her knees were buckling. Then she was in his arms.

  “I can’t wait a second longer,” he said, his voice deep and husky. Yvette lay in his arms, limp and sated, vaguely aware of the fact that he was taking the stairs up to her bedroom.

  Alex lay her gently on the bed and lay down beside her. Never, in her entire life, had she ever felt safer, or as aware of somebody else’s body. The thick arm and shoulder muscles, the lean torso, the flat, sculpted belly.

  And his cock, springing thick and long and hard against her.

  “It almost hurts to look at you, you’re so fucking beautiful,” he said. His hand came up to trace the shape of her cheek, her lips.

  Yvette’s knees fell open, making her intentions clear.

  “Already?” Alex asked, still teasing, still gentle, though the hard cock against her leg was anything but gentle.

  “Je veux te faire jouir,” she said. She saw his forehead wrinkle as he tried to parse her words.

  She laughed.

  That probably hadn’t been part of his language classes.

  “I want to make you come,” she repeated, this time in English.

  “Fuck, yes,” he said. This time, he didn’t need to ask her where the condoms were. He’d brought one with him. He quickly rolled it on, then leaned forward between her splayed open legs.

  His cock lined up with her pussy. The pleasure, as he entered her, was indescribable. Better even than his mouth on her, and a few minutes earlier she could have sworn nothing could ever feel better than that.

  He stopped when he was deep inside her.

  He feels it, too.

  This pressure.

  This pleasure.

  “You okay?” he asked, his voice husky.

 

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