Chapter 3
“You look incredible.”
Libby smiled up at Amir, who looked like he’d just stepped off one of the runways in Paris in his crisp dark suit with an open white collar. “Thanks honey, you look pretty damn good too.” Tonight would be their first outing as a couple so she figured she might as well jump in with both feet. “Come on in. I just need some lipstick and perfume.”
“Really because you already smell amazing,” he flashed a grin she was sure would melt her panties right off if she wore them.
“I was working with edible flowers for a dinner party cake today.” It had taken most of the day. “And since my arm is finally free, it was the perfect time to do it.”
He stepped in and looked around her place and she knew he was seeing the tiny shoebox filled with knickknacks, bins of classic rock albums and cookbooks. Loads of cookbooks. “You have a very colorful home, Liberty.”
“It’s Libby, and thanks. I do love color. You should try it.”
“I’m wearing color,” he told her as they went down three flights of stairs and began walking the streets of Paris.
“Sort of. You’re wearing navy blue now and the other two times I’ve seen you, black. Color by the strictest definition.” She wrapped her scarf around his neck with a flourish. “See, that’s better,” she laughed at his affronted expression.
“Libby,” he said in that stern voice she was sure had left many people quaking in their boots. Not her though.
“Okay fine, maybe this is a little too colorful for your outfit, but the green in here is brilliant and it really brings out your eyes.” It really, really brought out the flecks of gold hidden in those coffee eyes. She stepped back as if she were on fire because of the heat in his gaze. “Where are we going?”
“Dinner first, then a concert.”
She hooked her arm through his as they walked to the restaurant, decorated with twinkle lights and burgundy table cloths and music quietly wafting through the speakers. “It smells amazing in here!” They were seated at a romantic table, though in fairness, the entire restaurant was set up for romance.
They were seated and a carafe of wine appeared at the table along with two big glasses. Amir poured and she couldn’t help but watch how graceful and efficient every move he made was. His hands were strong gripping the bottle and tilting it just so and she couldn’t look away. “What are we toasting to tonight?”
She raised her glass with a relaxed grin. “To falling in love.”
“I’ll drink to that,” he replied and finished off his glass in one drink.
“Oh no, I’m not at all offended by the fear in your eyes.” The man looked terrified at the thought and she couldn’t help but laugh. It was full-bodied and shook her shoulders and the look on his face only made her laugh even harder. “How about we drink to a fun night in the city of lights?”
He took another sip and then another before relaxing into his seat. “Better.”
“Uh oh, don’t look now, but you seem to have attracted a few admirers.” They both turned to the large open window in front where a half dozen photographers snapped images of them.
Amir groaned. “How did they know?”
Libby had no idea, but she was good without a script so she reached out and placed a loving hand on his jaw. “Who knows but this is what you want, right Amir?” His gaze connected to hers and she felt something she shouldn’t. A spark. And it wasn’t just the spark of a handsome man, no it was far worse. It was chemistry.
“I was hoping we’d have a bit more time before the vultures descended,” he admitted with a sheepish grin.
“Well, this is what we have, your highness.” She batted her eyelashes up at him, fighting a fit of laughter. “We either go with it or let them ruin our night and honestly I think I’ve fallen in love with that wine.”
Then he did the most amazing thing. Amir threw his head back and laughed, and it wasn’t a stuffy old royal laugh where his lips barely moved. This was a full-throated and shook his whole body as it bounced off the walls of the small restaurant. “Well, who am I to separate a woman from her true love?”
“Indeed,” she told him and held her glass up. They ate and the conversation was good, really good, she realized the longer they chatted. “What is it that you do, Amir?”
She ignored the slight shift in his demeanor, the square tense set of his shoulders and the hard set of his jaw. “I own fitness companies and training gyms all over the world.”
“Seriously? That’s cool. Are you big into fitness or was it more of a money decision?”
He looked at her for a long minute and she realized he was trying to figure out how much he should say. “I was a chubby kid and my valet took me to his martial arts gym with him to help get my confidence up. I fell in love.”
“I can’t picture you chubby but I bet you were adorable.” She could imagine him as a too serious child with chubby cheeks and ill-fitting royal attire. “What do you do now to stay in shape?”
“I was never adorable, I was handsome underneath the blubber.”
Libby smacked his arm playfully. “Don’t say that,” she smiled and leaned in close. “That kid will be Sheikh someday.”
He laughed again and she thought she could really get used to that sound.
* * *
As they made their way to the park the number of photographers had tripled and he noticed that Libby clung to him tighter and tighter. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
She beamed a smile up at him that hit him square in the chest, and perhaps a tad lower. “I am but they are aggressive, aren’t they? You must be a hot commodity.”
He grinned. “You don’t think so?” He hadn’t gotten any read off her to learn what she actually thought of him, other than when she called him gorgeous.
“Oh, I think they’ll make plenty of money off your image, I already told you that you’re nice to look at. But still, do you always have to deal with this?”
“Only in big cities, but sometimes a few especially eager ones will follow me on vacation, scale buildings to get certain images. They’re pests plain and simple.”
She stopped and looked over her shoulder at them, following closely behind and clicking away, before she turned back to him. “Let’s go somewhere it’s hard for them to follow then.”
“Where?” He hoped she didn’t mean back to her apartment because the more he got to know about Libby the more he wanted to sleep with her but doing so would jeopardize their whole arrangement.
Biting her lip in a way that made his slacks grow tight around the groin, she scanned the brightly lit street and her eyes brightened. In a slow, deliberate move she leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her curves right up against his wickedly. One hand cupped his jaw and the other rested on his chest as she pushed up on her toes and brushed a kiss against his mouth. It was a quick kiss. Chaste but the photographers went nuts, barely noticing her mouth had moved to his ear. “There’s a discotheque at the end of the block. It’s loud and dark and we can dance without them hawk-eyeing us.” She pulled back and looked up into his eyes in a way that would deceive the cameras delightfully, eyes lit with amusement. “What do you say?”
“Can you run in those things?”
Her smile was mischievous as she leaned on him to remove her shoes, giving him a delicious peek down her gauzy dress that highlighted the curves she’d kept hidden during their last visits. “Don’t let my hand go,” she whispered in his ear. “Run!”
They took off running in the middle of the sidewalk, darting across the street through traffic to a cacophony of blasting horns and French expletives and Libby’s laughter. She pulled him along until they’d finally crossed to the other side, still laughing with a few determined photogs still giving chase. When they finally came to a stop she was still laughing and hanging off his big frame, head thrown back to give him a perfect view of her long, graceful neck. “You’re kind of crazy, aren’t you?”
She shrugged. “Some might say. But they’re over there and we’re over here. Plus…dancing!”
“Too bad it’s not your holiday because the moon is so big and bright tonight.”
She blushed prettily. “If we were in the woods somewhere or on the beach Amir, I would call your bluff.”
He grinned and pulled her close as they drew closer to the building with the pulsing beat. “Well Libby, I would let you.”
She sucked in a shocked breath at his words and then flashed a killer smile. “Don’t go using up all your charm on me, mister.”
“Who else should I use it on?”
She thought about it for a minute and grinned. “Okay use some of it on me, but you might want to save some for later.” With a hand to his chest, she looked up at him with the kind of affection he’d yet to see on any of the women he’d let into his bed or his life. “Come on, Sheikh-y, let’s see what kind of moves you have.”
He wanted to show her his moves all right, only now he was beginning to see he wanted to show off all of them. Especially the naked moves. But she had her own moves, sensual and earthy, just like her. She ignored the beat which made him laugh because in the few days he’d known her, she certainly danced to her own beat. “Did you call me Sheikh-y?”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and turned to look at him. “I did. It’s a pet name. Like it?”
He couldn’t say whether he did or not because the tattoo behind her ear left him distracted. His mouth watered at the sight of the blue and yellow hummingbird, wings flapping as though it would take flight at any moment.
“Amir?”
He blinked. “Yeah?”
“What just happened?”
“You have a tattoo.”
Her blonde brows wrinkled. “Is that a problem?”
“Hell no, just distracted me for a moment.” More than a moment, but he didn’t want to tell her the impact her presence was having on him. And it wasn’t just his body, which hummed from the beat and the tiny woman swiveling her hips against his groin. He gripped her hips and put some space between them.
He looked around and saw just how much Libby stood out among her contemporaries. Where they were all dressed up in skintight dresses that barely covered the important parts, she wore a long gauzy salmon colored dress that showed off her arms and shoulders. And the strings slashing across her back showed off a sexy back sprinkled with freckles. The front dipped low giving just a hint of cleavage. But he knew it was more than the outer packaging that separated her. She was kind, pulling him from traffic to save his life for no other reason than it was the right thing to do.
“That look is entirely too serious for our current venue,” she said when she turned in his arms so they were face to face. “Try a smile. It works like this.” She smiled and moved her arms from his shoulders to tug the corners of his mouth up into a smile. “So much better. Doesn’t it feel better?”
He laughed and grabbed her arms, twirling her and making her laugh. “That feels better.” Amir held her while she laughed against his chest, her scent wafted up, sexy and intoxicating.
“It’s hot in here! Let me buy you a drink?”
“I’ll buy the drinks.”
She smirked and held her hands up in a defensive gesture. “I don’t want to offend your masculine sensibilities.” Weaving their fingers together, she pulled him through the crowd to the bar. “What’ll it be?”
He frowned. “Didn’t I say I was buying?”
“Yes, but maybe what you want sounds better than what I want.”
Damn the woman was too appealing. Everything about her from her sexy impish smile, contagious laugh and fun sense of humor, pulled him in. Nearly made him forget this was fake. But he wouldn’t forget. “What do you want?”
“A Manhattan. Do you think I’ll offend the bartender if I ask for that here in Paris?”
He laughed. “No sweetheart, I think you’ll be fine. I’ll have one too.” A flash distracted him and he looked around, noticing a few mobile phones pointed at them. “Looks like we can only get away so much,” he told her and nodded towards the cameras behind them.
She smiled, leaning in so close he could smell the wine from dinner. “Come closer.” He did and she mouthed the word “Closer.” When he was so close he could count the freckles on the bridge of her nose, she pressed her lips to his for a long moment and then he felt it. Her tongue slid across his bottom lip, back and forth until he opened up and she slid in, giving him a chance to take over the kiss.
He did even though bells went off in his head screaming at him that he shouldn’t be doing this. They weren’t a real couple and this wasn’t even a real date. This was an act they were putting on even though her soft tongue tasted like heaven and the way she leaned into him strained his control. The kiss was hot and he felt himself losing control, gripping her hip with one hand and deepening the kiss by tilting her head with the other. He groaned or maybe it was her, but she was the one to pull back.
“Wow.” She laughed nervously, her body still molded to his. “That was one hell of a kiss.”
“No kidding.”
“As much as I enjoyed that, and I did, it was for the cameras. Might as well give them something good, right?”
He laughed. Stunned and disappointed it was over. “If it was half as good for them as it was for me, hell yeah.”