Page 20 of Falling for Paris
Victoria wore a strapless, body-skimming, knee-length, black dress. He could see her breasts brimming up. Her chest pushed out because her hands were clasped behind her back.
“It won’t close!” she said in a panic. “I’m sorry, just please make yourself comfortable and I’ll figure something out…”
“You are stunning,” he declared, because the truth should erase her insecurities.
She snorted and exclaimed, “Maybe from the front!” At that, she turned around to give him a glimpse of her smooth back and the gaping zipper. Knots tangled in his stomach at the sight of her supple body peeking through the roughly bunched fabric.
Looking over her shoulder and blissfully unaware of Rafael’s rampant arousal, she explained, “I went to the boutique down the street and grabbed a size bigger than what I usually buy at home. Either the sizes are that much smaller in France or I gained two sizes in a week!”
At that, she scurried into a narrow hallway. He followed and stood outside what he assumed was the bedroom door. “You can wear whatever you want, Tori. I’m not saying dinner with me is altogether pleasant, but it isn’t meant to be stressful either,mon ange.”
When did he start thinking about her as his angel?
“Yeah, but look at you!” Her voice was muffled but he caught most of her protests. “I’m the tacky American with my dresses and flats, or my shorts and sneakers. While you’re…you!”
He looked down at his gray slacks and blue button-up shirt. “I’ll wear a dress and flats if that makes you feel better,” he harped in response to her puzzling statements, hoping for a laugh.
He got a light snicker, which was enough to lessen the awkwardness. She cracked the door and stuck her head out. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be dramatic. I just…”
“You’re beautiful. It doesn’t matter what you wear.”
She offered two small blinks before saying, “I just wanted tonight to be special.”
“It already is,” he stated while leaning his shoulder against the door to urge it open. She let him. He couldn’t believe she let him.
“It doesn’t matter what you wear because you’re the most beautiful woman in any room you enter. But if you don’t wear something soon”—he raked her body still trapped in the inadequate dress—“I’m rather inclined to keep you here for myself.”
Her breath shallowed. “What if…”
When she didn’t continue, he reached over to brush her jaw with his fingers. “What?”
“What if that’s what I want? To be kept here.” She spoke in stops and starts.
“You cannot mean that.”
A fiery glare took over her features. “Don’t tell me what I mean,” she said curtly. “I’m a grown woman. I know what I want.”
Rafael eliminated the distance between them, clamping his hand around the wrist that held her dress up. He looked down at her copious breasts pressed against his chest and groaned. She was so damn soft, honeyed skin flushed with arousal. She wasn’t wearing a bra and the slightest hint of her dusty pink nipple was right at the edge of the loosened garment. Her breasts strained, her hair tickled his nose, and there was no longer any use hiding his excruciating erection when it grazed her squirming body.
“If you knew what it meant for me to stay…” he muttered. She melted somewhat, her stiff back collapsing against his hand as she captured his blistering gaze.
She straightened and raised her chin. “What would it mean for you to stay?”
He grinned at the question because where would he begin? The list of fantasies he harbored for this woman was so long and elaborate, it was laughable.
“You’re toying with me, I think,” she stated petulantly.
Unable to restrain his chuckle, Rafael uttered, “If I was doing anything close to toying with you, you wouldn’t be thinking at all.” The muscles in his neck tensed, his jaw tight enough to grind down his molars.
“Oh my god, Rafael, I’ll never understand you! And it has nothing to do with the language barrier. It’s like you have this…this part of you that needs to come out and you won’t let it. What secret are you hiding, Rafael?Whyare you holding back? It’s not like I’ve pushed you away,” she sputtered.
When Victoria continued, her furor hadn’t waned. “You’re holding back one second and then, out of nowhere, saying these mysterious and sexy things. Or am I imagining it? Maybe you’re truly driving me crazy. What’s in that brain of yours, dammit!”
He couldn’t let himself be swayed by this brazen challenge, this display of passion. Could he?
“Get dressed, Victoria. I’ll wait outside.”
“No,” she declared. “I don’t know why everything just…justpricklesaround you but I’m done wondering.”
