heart pounded in her ears nearly as hard as the rain on the umbrella. She curled one hand behind his neck, hanging on tight before her wobbly knees completely gave way and she sank to the ground to join the water pooling around their feet.
The sensation of cold rain and snow splattering over her face had her opening her eyes and pulling her mouth from his. Dazed, she realized she’d loosened her grip on the umbrella, letting it sway sideways, no longer protecting them. Jack grasped the handle to right it, holding it above their heads again, his dark brown eyes gleaming. His black hair, now a shiny, wet ebony, clung to his forehead. Water droplets slid down his temple.
“Umbrellas don’t work too well hanging upside down. Unless your goal is to collect water instead of repel it,” he said, a slow smile curving the sexy lips that had made her lose track of exactly where they were. Lips that had traveled deliciously across several inches of her skin until she nearly forgot her own name.
“I know. Sorry.” She cleared her throat, trying to gather her wits. “Except you didn’t bring an umbrella at all, so you would have gotten wet anyway.”
“True. Not that I mind. I like watching the raindrops track down your cute nose and onto your pretty lips.” His finger reached out to trace the parts he’d just mentioned, lingering at her mouth, and she nearly licked the raindrops from his finger until she remembered a few very important things.
Things like the fact that she barely knew him. Like the fact that they were standing in a public place. Like the fact that she wasn’t looking for a new relationship to replace the not-good one she’d only recently left.
She stared at the silkiness of his dark brows and the thickness of his black lashes, all damp and spiky from the rain. At the water dripping from his hair, over a prominent cheekbone, down the hollow of his cheek and across his stubborn-looking jaw. The thought crossed her mind that she’d never, ever spent time with a man so crazily good-looking. Even more good-looking than her ex-boyfriend, Kent, and she’d thought at the time he was a god in the flesh. At least for a while, until she’d figured out the kind of overly confident and egotistical guy he really was. Until she’d found out he was actually the one convinced he was godlike.
Getting it on again so soon with another man was not something she planned on doing.
She drew a deep breath. Time to bring some kind of normalcy to a very abnormal day. “Let’s go to the café, dry off a little and get some food. You being Mr. Hungry and all.”
“I’ve realized there’s only one thing I’m hungry for at the moment.” His lips moved close to hers again as his eyes, all smoldering and intense, met hers. “You. All of you.”
All of her? Was he saying what she thought he was saying? She tried to think of a quick, light response and opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Maybe because she could barely breathe.
He kissed one corner of her mouth, then the other. “What do you say we head to the hotel for a while? A little dessert before lunch. I want a better taste of you.”
Her heart leaped into her throat. Never having kissed a man she didn’t know also meant never having had a quick fling with one. Never dreamed she ever would. But something about the way he was looking at her, the way his fingers were softly stroking her cheek and throat, something about the way her body quivered from head to toe and heat pooled between her legs had her actually wondering if maybe today was the day to change that.
After all, her last two relationships had ended with loud, hurtful thuds. Didn’t she deserve some no-strings fun, just this once? She’d only be in Paris for one month, busy at work most of the time. The perfect setup for exactly what he was suggesting. And what would be the harm of enjoying what she knew would be one exciting, memorable afternoon with an exciting, memorable man?
“I… um…” She stopped talking and licked her lips, gathering the courage to shove aside her hesitation and just say yes.
“I know. We’ve just met, and it’s not something I usually do, either. Honest.” He cupped her cheeks with his cold hands and pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. “But being with you here in Paris just feels right. Doesn’t it? It just feels damned right.”
She found herself nodding, because it did. For whatever crazy reason, it felt all too right. A no-strings, nothing-serious, no-way-to-get-hurt moment with a super-sexy man to help her forget all about her past disappointments.
Another drop of water slid over her eyelid, distracting her from all those thoughts, and she swiped it away. “Except I’m all wet, you know.”
The second the words left her mouth his eyes got all hot and devilish, and she felt herself flush, realizing what she’d said. “That’s a plus, not a problem.”
A breathless laugh left her lips. Before she could change her mind she decided to give herself a little present to make up for what she’d been through with her past jerky boyfriends.
Silent communication must have zinged between them, because they grasped one another’s hands and headed in a near run to the hotel. To her surprise, the closer they got, the more excited she felt. She was entering unknown territory here, and hadn’t she always promised herself she’d live life as an adventure? Plunging into bed with Jack for an hour or two seemed sure to be one thrilling adventure.
With her heart thumping so hard she feared he could hear it, Avery followed Jack as he shoved open the door to his hotel room. Once inside, the nervous butterflies she’d expected to flap around earlier finally showed up. She stared at him, hands sweating, as he shut the door behind her, trying to think of what the heck she should say or do now that they were actually here.
“Wouldn’t you know that the minute we come inside, it stops raining?” she said lamely. Why was she so suddenly, crazily nervous? A little fling was no big deal, right? People probably did things like sleeping with someone they barely knew all the time. Especially in Paris. She didn’t, but surely plenty of women did.
“Maybe if we’re lucky, it’ll start raining again when we go out. I like kissing it off you.” The brown eyes that met hers held amusement and a banked-down hint of the passion that had scorched between them just minutes ago.
He shut the door and flipped the lock, his gaze never leaving hers. The heat and promise and that odd touch of amusement in the dark depths of his gaze all sent her heart into a little backflip before he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
Unlike their previous kiss, this one didn’t start out soft and slow. It was hard and intense, his tongue teasing hers until she forgot all about what she should say or do. Forgot where they were. Forgot to breathe. His fingers cupped the back of her head, tangled in her hair, as the kiss got deeper, wilder, pulling a moan from her chest that might have been embarrassing if she’d been able to think at all.
His mouth left hers, moving hot and moist to the side of her neck to nuzzle there. “You feeling more relaxed now?” he murmured.
How had he known? Though relaxed probably wasn’t quite the right word to describe how she was feeling. “Um, yes. Thank you.”
He eased back, his fingers reaching for the buttons of her coat and undoing every one of them before she’d had a chance to blink. “I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling a little warm,” he said as he slipped it from her shoulders and tossed it on a chair.
“Must be from all that running to the hotel,” she said, breathless, but not from their fast trek to his room. “I figured it was a good chance to start training for the spring marathon.”
His lips curved. “I thought we were running for a different reason.” This time, his hands reached for the buttons of her blouse, the backs of his fingers skimming her skin and making it tingle as he slowly undid them one by one. “The reason being that I can’t wait to see what you’re wearing under this.”
Her lacy white blouse dipped low over her breasts, and pure, feminine pleasure swept through her at the way his eyes darkened as he stared down at them. At the way a deep whoosh of breath left his lungs. His fingertips slipped down