Chapter 3
Victoria stared at her reflection in the mirror and was astonished. She’d modeled many dresses for Scott before, some more daring than this one. But she’d only been in front of a camera when she’d worn them. She’d never before been about to embark on a date with a man so much more worldly than she was. “Scott, are you sure about this dress?” she asked, pulling up the top and trying to flatten out her breasts. “Isn’t it too….revealing?” she finished.
“Absolutely,” he said, smiling in the mirror.
“It looks great,” Jasmine exclaimed. “I still think you should wear more makeup. Just a touch of liner to your eyes would make them look bigger, smokier. Very sexy, you know.”
Victoria shook her head. “That’s not really me, Jasmine,” she said, smiling to soften the rejection.
Jasmine sighed and shook her head. “I know. I’d just like to meet this guy. You’ve never been excited about the men I’ve set you up with. What’s so great about this one?” she asked, smiling and settling down with a glass of wine that Scott handed her.
Scott rolled his eyes and poured a glass for himself, not bothering to offer one to Victoria although he thought she needed one just to calm herself down. “You should know that Victoria wouldn’t be interested in the men you bring around, Jasmine. Just look at them and then look at her. All the men you introduce her to have body piercings. Does Victoria really look like someone who would be interested in someone like that?”
Jasmine looked at her sweet, innocent looking suitemate and sighed, knowing that Scott had a point. “Eh, you’ve got to try them all on, you know, before you settle down with one of them.”
Scott took a sip of wine before responding to Jasmine’s latest philosophy for her life. “That’s another thing, Victoria doesn’t try them on. She barely even tastes them.”
Victoria laughed, knowing how the discussion was heading since it had all been said before. “Stop. You both make me sound like a frigid old maid. I’m not quite on the shelf yet, you know.”
Scott eyed Victoria in the dress. “We can only hope that this Dharr person takes you down from the shelf, dearie. I’m telling you, you’re missing out on a lot of fun.”
Victoria shivered in excitement at the idea of Dharr ‘taking her off the shelf’, so to speak. “Well, I’m glad you both won’t be accompanying me tonight. I shudder at the idea of what you would suggest during dinner.”
“As long as you’re shuddering, dear, that’s all we care about,” Scott said. Jasmine clinked glasses with him, chuckling at their turn of phrase.
Victoria just rolled her eyes and picked up her books. “I’m heading out. I’ll see you later,” she called out as she left the dorm. She had only five more minutes before Dharr was supposed to be picking her up at her dorm. She’d have to hurry to get back there in time.
She reached her dorm just as Dharr was walking up the steps. “Hello!” she said, slightly breathless from rushing across campus in high heeled shoes and the two flights of stairs. “Let me just drop my bag inside and grab my purse,” she said.
“You look lovely,” he said and watched her rush across the room, enjoying again her refreshing innocence. He questioned his instincts yet again. His mind was telling him that she was pure but he couldn’t understand how someone with so lush a figure could not know a man’s body. It was inconceivable to him. But he was going to enjoy the illusion for a while.
“Thank you,” she said and turned to face him, looking down as she picked up a small beaded purse. The purse didn’t really match the dress but it was the only evening bag she owned. It would just have to do, she told herself.
“I’m ready,” she claimed.
“I hope so,” he said and offered his arm.
Victoria placed her hand on his arm and smiled shyly, his words echoing in her mind as she tried to translate them. Finally, she just enjoyed the delicious feeling of touching his arm, wondering what it would be like to kiss him, have him kiss her back.
Dinner that night was incredible for Victoria. She was from a small village and, prior to dinner with Dharr, attending university in London had been the most amazing thing to have happen to her. But being in the expensive restaurant, surrounded by the movers and shakers of London society, Victoria tried to hide her awe for fear of looking like a silly, country girl in front of Dharr who seemed completely at home in the environment.
The menu was in French and, although she could speak it conversationally, with Dharr sitting across from her, the menu might as well be in Swahili.
“Would you like me to order for you?” he suggested, noting her nervousness and assuming it was because she couldn’t read the words.
“Yes, that would be lovely,” she said, laying her menu to the side and sighing with relief. Now she could hide her shaking hands under the table.
Dharr ordered in perfect, fluent French, ordering a bottle of champagne that, if Victoria had been more worldly, she’d know cost over a thousand dollars a bottle. She knew he ordered her a salad and himself a beef dish and she tried not to cringe. She hated salad but thought it was what he expected her to prefer. And since she hadn’t had the temerity to order for herself, she deserved what she got.
“Tell me about yourself,” he commanded when the waiter was gone.
Victoria took a breadstick and smiled. “What would you like to know?” she asked.
“Everything.”
“Everything?” she teased. “Isn’t that a lot for a first date?”
“Absolutely. So start talking,” he commanded. But she saw the humor in his eyes so she didn’t take offense.
“Well, as I mentioned yesterday, I’m twenty years old and am attending the University of London on scholarship. I’m studying psychology but considering making my focus children’s psychology.”
“Why?”
“Because they seem like the most misunderstood part of the population. They can’t always express themselves so they act out in sometimes violent ways. Most people don’t even try to interpret their actions.”
“And what if the child is just innately bad?”
She shook her head in disagreement. “There is no such thing,” she said adamantly. “Any child that is lashing out is just in pain and we’ve caused it.”
“We?” he challenged. “Are you including everyone or just the child’s parents?”
Her grin was impish as she looked across the table at him. “Oh, I’m not that nice. I think we as a society are all responsible.”
“What about the parents that are bad behind closed doors and we don’t know about it?”
“Usually people know. Children give off signals and if we choose to ignore them, well then we reap what we sow?”
“And what about the men in your life?” he asked changing the subject. Victoria understood that he disagreed with her on her child psychology but that was okay. Not everyone needed to agree with everyone else. Diversity was what made the world work in wonderful ways, she told herself.
“I don’t currently have a boyfriend but my suitemate, Jasmine, is constantly setting me up with men she thinks would suit me wonderfully.”
“And what kind of man does she think is suitable for someone like you?”
Victoria’s head tilted slightly to the side. “What kind of a woman do you think I am?”
Dharr leaned closer and took her hand, drawing circles on the palm while his eyes held hers hostage. “I think you’re younger than your twenty years in some ways, older in others. And I think you’re idealistic which is sad because you’re going to be disappointed when you enter the real world after college. But you’re strong and will survive. And I think you’re going to be in my bed soon.”
Victoria could barely breathe. His thumb was tracing patterns on her palm and moved slowly up to her wrist, sending shivers through her entire system. She tried to pull her hand from his but he wouldn’t release it. And he continued to stare at her eyes, seeing the fear that entered them with his words. “You don’t have to be afraid of me, Victoria. I promise you that anything you do with me, you won’t regret.”
“How can you promise something like that?”
“Because I’ll make it so,” he said, arrogance reeking from his body. “Relax,” he said.
“I can’t with you doing that to my hand.”
“Then you feel it too?’ he asked.
“Feel what?”
Dharr allowed a half smile, wondering if she was serious or just pretending. Because he was so cynical, he half considered calling her on the issue. But the other half of him wanted to play along, let her either play the game or let him determine that she was the real thing. He pulled his hand away and sat back. “Never mind,” he replied, noting the confusion in her eyes. She was either the real thing or she was the best actress he’d ever met. “Tell me about your classes.”
They talked throughout the dinner and eventually Victoria was able to relax. Dharr made her laugh more than she had in years and she’d never talked so much in her life. But each time she questioned him, he simply reverted back to asking her questions. By the end of the night when he was walking her to her door, she knew no more about him than she did when she left the hospital the day before.
“I’m going to kiss you,” Dharr said, turning her to face him in the dimly lit hallway. It was around midnight so the students who were partying were still out for another few hours and the ones who had settled in earlier were already asleep. They were relatively alone in the hallway and the realization sped up Victoria’s heart rate.
“That would be nice,” she whispered but she was shaking all over. She didn’t even know what to do with her hands. She’d been kissed in the past, but it had been selfish kisses where the men simply put their mouths on hers without any permission or signal from her. Each time, she’d waited for some feeling to stir within her but had been left cold and had pulled away before anything serious started.
Now, standing here with Dharr looking down at her, she felt young and foolish, unsure of what to do to encourage him or how to even start the kiss she wanted so badly.
Thankfully, he took matters into his own hands. He took her hands in his and pulled her closer, settling his own large, strong hands on her waist, leaving hers to flutter around his chest before finally settling down on his lapels. She looked up under her lashes, wondering why he was taking so long but the desire she saw in his eyes almost scared her. She was about to pull back when his hands pulled her forward. Their bodies touched and she gasped at the intensity of feeling. There was heat surging through her stomach, pooling at the core of her being and melting her insides. Her surprised eyes glanced up at his but all thought disappeared when his lips touched hers. They were gentle at first, then more pressure, touching, caressing, instant ache settling inside her.
“Open your mouth, Victoria,” Dharr groaned. His hand lifted from her waist to touch her chin, his thumb pulling her chin down so her mouth opened. Instantly, his tongue entered her mouth, mating with hers, absorbing her gasp with his mouth as he increased the pressure. His tongue moved in and out, imitating the mating that his body was craving to do with hers right at this moment. His mind told him to slow down, not to scare her but to gently teach her how to kiss since she was obviously unschooled in the art. But his body was painfully hard, aching to push into her soft flesh and find the release he knew instinctively would be better than anything he’d ever experienced.
With incredible determination, Dharr found the resources within him to pull back, to slow down and give her room to breathe. It wasn’t what he wanted, but he knew that the next step would terrify her. He didn’t want her scared. He wanted her to learn step by step how to please him and for her to teach him how to please her. It wouldn’t be accomplished in one night. So he pulled back and lifted his head, noting with satisfaction that her eyes were still closed and her hands were gripping his lapels.
Victoria took a long, shuddering breath and opened her eyes to find Dharr staring down into her own. The desire she’d seen before was still there but there was something more, something stronger. Her mind wouldn’t comprehend anything at the moment but she accepted that the mind-shattering kiss was over. Closing her mouth, she hid her disappointment and slowly released her hold on his suit, feeling embarrassed that she hadn’t even realized she’d been doing that.
“Have dinner with me again tomorrow night?” he asked.
Victoria thought frantically. She had mid term exams tomorrow but she’d be finished by the late afternoon. “Okay, but it is my turn to treat you,” she said.
He was astonished that she would even suggest something like treating him to dinner. Although no one had done that in the past, not even suggested such a thing, it warmed his heart that she should be the first. “No need,” Dharr replied.
“But I insist. I promise, nothing fancy but you’ll like it. I hope,” she said, biting her lip in indecision. She loved to cook and experiment with foods but could she compete with the gourmet meals he was obviously used to? It worried her for only a moment but then her sense of fairness came back. He’d bought her dinner tonight, it was her turn and she would just do her best.
Dharr looked at her, noting her excitement and enthusiasm, considering his options. He could insist that he buy her dinner again since it was obvious she couldn’t afford to buy him dinner. Or he could find out what she had in mind and possibly learn more about her at the same time. Since he wanted to know everything about this tiny, beautiful and, he suspected, sensitive woman, he gave in to her request this time. “As you wish. What time?”
“About seven?” She smiled impishly, “I’d offer to pick you up but I don’t have a car and I don’t think you’d like riding the tube with me. So you’ll just have to meet me somewhere.”
Dharr laughed, appalled at the idea of riding on public transportation. Not only would he never deign to do it, the security issues it would involve if he ever did would horrify his body guards. “I’ll pick you up here at seven thirty.”
Victoria smiled tentatively. “Okay, but would you mind if I met you in the parking lot?”
Dharr didn’t like the ghost of apprehension which entered her beautiful green eyes as she asked this question. And it went against his sense of propriety for her to not be picked up and escorted properly. Because of where he was hoping their relationship was going, he felt the need to treat her with every dignity and respect she deserved as his future wife. For other women he’d been with in the past, he never would have extended the courtesy of picking them up at their door. And the fact that Victoria was scorning this small indication of his respect for her annoyed him. “Why?”
She saw the annoyance on his face and worried about it, but stood firm in her desire to hide their relationship until she understood it better. “Because I’m afraid my friends might start asking me questions and right now, I don’t have any answers.”
Her response made him feel somewhat better but he still wanted more explanation. “What kinds of questions?”
Victoria shrugged her shoulders slightly, smiling up at him as she said, “Oh, simple things, like your last name, what you do for a living, where you live. You know, minor details.”
“I told you my last name yesterday.”
Victoria looked down at her hands which were clasped in front of her. “I know, but I couldn’t remember it. So when my suitemate asked me today, I couldn’t answer and it was embarrassing. And over dinner, I noticed that you didn’t answer any questions. Besides, the men you have waiting downstairs for you are a little scary. I don’t know if all those bulges are muscles and I don’t want to know,” she said when he was about to answer her. “There are some things that are better left to the imagination.”
He nodded although he was amused at her fear of his body guards and their weapons. Dharr faced reality head on, knowing that the world was not a nice place and anticipating issues. Victoria obviously preferred to see the world as much nicer than it really was. “Fair enough. And tomorrow, you can ask me anything you’d like.”
She looked up at him. “And will you answer me?”
Dharr laughed. “If it is the right question.”
She had to laugh back, amazed yet again at his arrogance. “Fair enough.”
“Goodnight, Victoria,” he said and touched her bruised cheek gently. He took her key and unlocked the door for her before handing it back to her. “Sweet dreams.”
Victoria watched him walk away for a moment. “One more thing, Dharr,” she called out.
He turned at the top of the stair well. “What’s that?”
Victoria bit her lip, wondering if she could actually ask the question. “Would you mind if you… well, didn’t wear a suit tomorrow? It might get a little dirty.”
Dharr grinned but nodded his head. “If that is your wish,” he said.