Page 53 of All the Gossip from Paris
“Oh! Your hands are cold.”
“Sorry, I didn’t realize they were that bad,” he said. She expected he would move his hands away, but Liam left them resting in the middle of her back. “When you’re ready, I’ll lower the zipper.”
Take a chance.
The voice whispered into her brain. Where it came from, she didn’t know, but she understood what it had said. Take a chance on being with Liam.
He slowly lowered the zip. She rested her hand lightly on the front of the bodice, waiting as Liam finished his task. When the zipper was fully down, Sophie let go. The gown’s heavy beading clattered as it hit the floor.
There was silence in the room. The hush of a moment when everything might change. She was done with being silent. With doing what was expected of her.
With her arms hanging loosely at her side, Sophie turned around.
His gaze flickered to her breasts, then quickly to her face. “What are you doing Sophie?” whispered Liam.
“We can take the back stairs down to my bedroom. No one will see us. No one has to know.”
The expression on his face wasn’t the one she’d been hoping for. It was guarded. Any moment now he was going to say no.
“You are gorgeous. And I want you, but…”
“But what?”
He raked his fingers through his dark hair, something she wanted desperately to do herself. Preferably when his cock was buried deep inside her.
“When I met you in the garden earlier, you were upset. In tears. You’d just had a fight with your dad. If I take advantage of how you might be feeling right now, it makes me that guy. And I never want to be him.”
He picked a fine time to be a gentleman, was all she could think. Navigating a possible Christmas fling with a nice guy was harder than it looked. Too many years of being treated as an afterthought by the sons of rich Parisian families had left its mark on her. She could understand Liam’s position, but she also wanted him to understand hers.
“I’m not upset now. And to tell you the truth I was more angry than sad when you found me in the garden. I was going for a walk to J’allais me défouler. You know, blow off steam.”
The guarded look on Liam’s face softened. Relief coursed through her. He’d gotten the message. She wasn’t looking for sympathy—she wanted something entirely different.
“So we are going to revisit our mistake—is that what this is?” he asked.
“Yes. If you would like to come back to my bedroom. I’m thinking we could see how good that mistake was,” she teased.
Liam took her face in his hands, and kissed Sophie deeply. Their mouths met in a sweet kiss, and her eyes fluttered closed. He deepened the kiss, but still kept it soft. Tongues danced together in a loving embrace.
And then he drew back from the kiss. “I’m all for finding out how good things could be between us once more but not right now.”
It took a second for his words to fully register.
“Why?”
He brushed another kiss on her lips. “This thing between us means more than just a one night stand. There is more at stake. And I don’t just mean because your sister is now married to my brother. That’s only a small part of it. I’m staying at the chateau for the next couple of weeks. Why don’t we give ourselves this time to get to know one another a little better.”
She fought the urge to pinch herself. This was really happening. Liam wanted to take things slowly. To invest time in exploring their connection.
A nervous laugh escaped Sophie’s lips. “Um. Ok. Wow. Um.”
His grin lit up her world. “I don’t mean we have to hold hands and only kiss. I just thought maybe you might want to spend some more time together. Share something about ourselves. And if later this evening you still want me to thoroughly ravish you, then I’m a solid yes for that too.”
Sophie was in.
If Liam wanted to know her better, then she knew the exact place where they should start. The staff of the estate kitchen were all gone for the Christmas break. She and Liam would have free rein to play without getting into trouble with the Royal family chef.
“Let me get dressed. Then I’ll take you back down to the main kitchen of the house. The only thing which comes close to my love of designing clothes is baking.”
