AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter Sixteen
“You look magnificent,” I told Tricia, the moment she came into view and I walked hurriedly toward her. My body instantly buzzed with excitement when the chemistry we shared arced tiny sparks of desire between us both on sight.
A wide smile stretched her perfect cherry red lips and she stepped closer until we were toe to toe. “I’d say the same about you, but that wouldn’t do justice to how dashing you look in that suit, Mr. Wild,” she replied playfully, and toyed with the lapel on my jacket.
We stood for a moment, taking each other in. I moved her long hair, which was swept to one side over her shoulder and covered her breast, and placed it behind her back. Exposing her long slender neck brought back the memory of the time when I’d marked it. A sharp zap of pleasure coursed through my veins. “That’s better,” I told her, sounding satisfied, and stared in appreciation at the effort she’d made to look good. Not that it took anything to make her look amazing.
For a long moment we both stood tongue-tied again, and I noted the atmosphere was completely different from that in the penthouse earlier. I reminded myself there were no barriers for us like there was then. Apologies had been made and accepted. Indecision and doubts had been understood on both sides, and if I’d felt the road behind us had been uncomfortable for most of the time, the future ahead had appeared clearer if not entirely brighter.
Dressed in a midnight blue backless dress with a plunging neckline, her appearance was simplistic, yet highly sophisticated. My eyes were riveted to her as she stood confidently, allowing me to take my fill of her. I thought there weren’t many women in this world at her age who could carry a dress as revealing as hers off, with the same poise and dignity, like she had.
A voice clearing brought me out of my trance-like state, and I cast a sideward glance toward the male host who had spoken before returning to Tricia. “Wild,” I muttered to him but kept my gaze on her.
“Of course, Sir. I have reserved the perfect table for you, please follow me.” I vaguely heard his response, but it hadn’t registered until seconds after Tricia smiled and raised her brow.
I leaned toward her and brushed my lips against her soft cheek. “Shall we?” I asked, placing my hand on the small of her back in a show of chivalry she’d only experienced from me when I’d done my duty at my brother’s wedding.
* * *
Dinner with Tricia was nothing like I imagined it could have been. There were no uneasy competitive gibes or one-upmanship to shock, as I’d envisioned from the woman I had thought I knew from before. In its place was more relaxed and interesting conversation, great food, and delicious selections of wines suggested by her. With each little piece of herself that Tricia elected to share, she gave me more reasons why I knew she was different.
By the time coffee arrived I was totally enthralled, convinced it was fate we’d found one another again, despite our attempts at avoidance. During the meal neither of us had discussed how we felt, but Tricia had shown me in little ways how she felt being there with me.
Desire oozed from every pore as she held my gaze, her pupils blown in attraction, as the windows to her soul shone in both playful flirtation then darkened with desire.
They were layers of Tricia I felt grateful to know. Personally, I felt I gave less of myself than she had, more focused on the significance of the occasion; the date I’d envisioned with her to begin with and lost almost three years before.
Since then, despite all those thoughts of love and hate I’d ever had toward her, for the ways she affected me—good and bad—I had one answer I hadn’t expected, Tricia just hadn’t been ready. Patience is a virtue they say, and I hadn’t been patient with her, but had I known all she’d needed was some time—I’d have waited better.
As I listened to her candid conversation an awareness grew of how she made me feel. My heart rate spiked when she smiled and raced when she held my hands. I learned how my lips curved up in a smile, and I hung on her every word when I found her amusing and when I mirrored her smile. Most importantly, was how quickly my body came to life with sparks that flared desire for more with each unintentional touch we shared.
My cravings for her felt so indescribably complex that I had no idea how or where to begin to unpick them. All I knew was the sight of her set me alight, but that description felt nowhere near enough. Being with her and listening and watching her talk, as enthralling as I found her, that wasn’t enough either. Feeling her skin under my fingertips and all the feelings that gave me—nothing felt enough.
Then I remembered how she smelled, her incredible smile, those intense eyes with their ability to drown me one minute and suck the breath from me the next—or the taste and feel of her body—all of those wonderful liberties weren’t enough. Restlessness mingled with frustration within me, when I considered if there would ever come a point where I’d be able to use such a mundane word as enough in relation to how I felt about her.
My heart stalled for a second with those thoughts, because like it or not, she was already more than enough. Her ability to draw a cocktail of feelings from within me scared me.
Everything from passion and desire, to jealousy, fear, and frustration coursed through me when I was with her. But my need and the insane drive to protect what was mine, when I hadn’t even claimed her, told me I’d never have enough of her. I also knew I would have been willing to die trying to be enough for her, and with that came a better understanding of what Sawyer had confessed he felt about Billie.
Surprisingly, Tricia’s most interesting tell was whenever I hit a raw nerve that either embarrassed her or had made her feel uncomfortable. She fumbled with the solitaire diamond necklace she wore in a self soothing gesture. That registered with me as a way of finding her sensitive subjects and staying clear of those until we knew each other better.
* * *
After dinner, we had a few awkward minutes where the expectations of how the night was going to end had hung in the air. Nothing would have given me a greater high than to take her into my bed and do all that I’d dreamed of. But I was determined not to give her that. Sex wasn’t going to play a factor in what we had again until I knew for certain she wasn’t going to have another change of heart about us.
We had both admitted our feelings and I was resolute in trying to be true to the man it had taken me over four decades to become.
At not even 10:00 p.m., it felt too early to end the night, so I suggested a quiet drink in one of the many hotel lounges. When she agreed, we found a small, relatively private, dimly lit corner. All evening I had sat across from her, admiring how she looked, but from a safe distance, in a room full of people.
I sat down on a couch next to her, in the lounge. I slid my arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer, into my side.
Glancing up, she flashed me a nervous smile and her eyes shone happily that I’d made my move. Grazing my fingertips over the crest of her shoulder, I leaned in and spoke low in her ear. “Vodka?” My breath felt warm bouncing back at me from her skin and she shivered, goosebumps crimping her skin with one innocent word.
“Of course, make it a double … no triple,” she joked, I caught the way she looked at me, like she suddenly had an unquenchable thirst. I chuckled and waved the waitstaff over.
Like the lady asked, I ordered her a triple, and thanked the cocktail waitress. I figured letting her get buzzed was the least I could do since I felt determined to send her back to her room to sleep alone.
With the drinks ordered I turned, lifted her hand, and entwined her fingers in mine. They felt perfect together and for a moment I marveled at how well they fit. When I glanced up, her eyes lifted and we looked at one another like a pair of lovesick teens. The moment felt full of angst with the weight of desire that passed between us and I swallowed roughly.
