Chapter Seven
Blaring sirens pierced through his sleepy haze, coupled with pulsing red and blue lights. By the time Xavier realized this wasn’t a bizarre dream, Jaime had stopped the car on the side of the road, her hands shaking on the steering wheel.
“Sorry,” she said as she pushed the button to roll down the window and then killed the engine. “The sirens were a bit much.”
“What happened?” He wiped his eyes, looking for some clue in the darkness. On one side of the road he saw nothing but a cornfield. The other side of the road looked exactly the same.
“I don’t know.” Jaime checked the side mirror, her entire body quivering. “Do you think we could have a taillight out or something? That would be a safety violation against the rental company, not a traffic violation. I think.”
He shook his head, not wanting to explain that he owned the car. “Where are we?”
“Ogallala, Nebraska,” the officer filled in as she leaned towards the window. “How are you feeling tonight, ma’am? In a hurry to get somewhere before morning?”
“Not really. We’re headed to Oregon.” Jaime cleared her throat, her voice coming out steadier. “What seems to be the problem?”
“I’ve been following you for a few miles. Your speed has been very erratic and a few times you veered into the other lane.” She flipped open the metal cover of a notepad. “May I see your license and registration, please?”
Jaime twisted to reach her bag in the back seat. For the first time since he knew her, he started to feel like he was hiding something as he pulled the registration from the glove box and handed it over.
This trip was about being free and anonymous, without any of the trappings of his status or reputation. He’d avoided telling Jaime, but until he passed the car registration in front of her, he hadn’t felt like he was lying about it.
“Do you have some ID?” The officer leaned closer to the open window, staring at him. “And maybe a business card that might show why you are in possession of a Marie-Chloe vehicle?”
“Of course.” He took his wallet from the glove box where he’d stashed it while he slept and gave the officer what she needed. Why did it have to be so damned difficult for a foreign national to buy a car? The bureaucracy of visas made it easier to list the company as co-owner. With a nod, the officer retreated to her car and he braced himself for the barrage of questions that always came when women learned who he was.
What would Jaime leverage for? She didn’t seem interested in modeling or society invitations, money or free clothes would be his guess. But the questions never came. Jaime stared silently ahead, shaking her head slightly. He placed a hand on her arm, stilling her.
“Are you all right?”
“I never go over the speed limit. I’ve never even been pulled over.”
He shrugged. “It’s pretty much the same in America as in France or Spain. Don’t get pulled over in Belgium though. It’s too much of a headache to get the fine paid.”
She rubbed at her temples. “I’m never going to hear the end of this.”
“From who? I won’t tell if you won’t.”
“My stepfather, the insurance salesman. He’s already angry that I didn’t have insurance coverage to replace my car when it was stolen. Now that I’ll be living in town he’ll insist on making sure the next car is covered. He’ll pull my record and this will be the topic of conversation for years.” She leaned forward, resting her head on the steering wheel.
“It’s just a ticket.”
“To them it is another example of what a screw up I am.”
He knit his brow, shocked by her sudden bout of insecurity. “How can you be a screw up?”
“I’m homeless, jobless, penniless, with no husband prospects and no kids. To them, I am an abject failure, and this is proof I need someone else to run my life.”
The officer reappeared in the window, handing them back their paperwork. She handed a yellow slip of paper to Jaime. “I could have cited you for reckless driving, but I only cited you for speeding. I suggest you head into town and get some rest. Falling asleep at the wheel is dangerous.”
“Absolutely,” Xavier said when he saw Jaime’s mouth open about to protest. “Where is the closest hotel?”
“At the next exit there is a Holiday Motel. You can’t miss it, but I doubt it’s the quality you’re used to.”
“I’m sure it will do.” He climbed out of the car and walked to the other side. “Sorry to have been any trouble.”
“No trouble. Just doing my job.”
Xavier opened the door, nudging Jaime to climb to the passenger side.
“Are you traveling on business? Looking for locations to do photo shoots or scouting for new models?”
“Modeling agencies handle that. We’re on vacation, driving cross country to get to her sister’s wedding.” He slid into the seat, forcing a smile. Ten minutes ago he still had his privacy, and now it felt as if it had been peeled off like sunburned skin.
“Lucky girl.” The officer gave a smile that showed she wasn’t referring to the bride.
…
“You just need a plan, and everything will get back under control.” Jaime decided. She’d avoided making any decisions during a shower so long it steamed up the bathroom mirror. She swiped the steam away and saw that her face did not agree.
She growled at her reflection, which at least made her smile. Her life was in freefall, and she had to find a foothold, fast. After drying off, she slipped a long cotton nightgown Carla had loaned her over her head and stepped into the dark bedroom.
“Did you know Ogallala was a stop for both the Pony Express and the Transcontinental Railroad?” Xavier leaned against the door jamb separating the two adjoining rooms. He’d taken a shower too, his short hair a disarray of wet spikes.
Jaime pursed her lips. If she tried, she could make all of this his fault. He was the one who refused to follow her map, who had her so distracted she’d inadvertently sped up and swerved the car, who kept taking her to places and showing her things she’d never imagined. And he had the nerve to do it all with a sexy grin on his face, tempting her to take him up on the sensual swagger present in his every step.
“I’m not in the mood for a history lesson.” The only illumination came from his bedroom, backlighting him. She tried to ignore the way it silhouetted his features, outlined his physique. When she’d insisted on separate rooms, he’d insisted on adjoining ones. Too bad neither hotel room was much bigger than her college dorm. There was nowhere to go to get away from him and clear her head.
Jaime pointed her finger at him. “I’m not in a good mood at all, so you should stay away.”
“Why are you moving back to Oregon?”
His words hit her like the kick in Abuelito’s habanero sauce. She jerked her head in his direction, stunned by his seemingly out-of-nowhere question. She couldn’t give him an answer when she wasn’t sure of the reason herself. She lifted her chin and met his gaze.
“What exactly do you do for Marie-Chloe?”
His smile widened, looking terrifyingly wolfish. “For now, I’m the CFO. My father still holds the reins until he retires at the end of the year.”
“You’re a CFO.” She sank onto the bed. “But you are completely disorganized.”
“No, I’m on holiday. At work, every moment is as efficient as I can make it. My father accuses me of inheriting my mother’s American work ethic.”
“That’s why you’re so hell bent on having a vacation. When you get back to work you won’t have time for anything else.”
He shook his head and laughed. “I make time to enjoy life. It’s too short not to. But yes, when I return to Paris I’ll be busy.”
He stepped out of the doorway, taking the few steps to reach her bed in the small room. She should have closed the door before she’d taken a shower.
But she didn’t really to close the door.
“I answered your question. Now you answer mine. Why are you moving back to Oregon?” He took one step forward, the muscles in his thigh rippling with the movement. Why wasn’t he wearing more than shorts slung so low on his hips it was apparent nothing was beneath them?
“Depends on who you ask.”
His eyes watched her with wicked amusement. “That usually works for you, doesn’t it?” He sat next to her on the bed, a gesture so intimate she didn’t know how to hold back.
“Carla says it’s my pattern to move after a break-up.”
He reached out and traced a finger down the side of her face and over the shoulder strap of her nightgown. Her skin tingled in the wake of his touch. “That’s a pretty literal way of moving on.”
“They just coincide with turning points. Starting college, graduating, finishing the Teach America program. Things come to a natural end.” That realization buzzed through her mind. She’d been disappointed at the break-up last month, but right now it seemed she’d been upset about not having an excuse not to move home. The thought chilled her.
“So why are you moving back to Oregon?”
A tornado of guilt and shame touched down on her psychological landscape. She didn’t know where else to go. She couldn’t afford to stay in DC. Oregon had seemed like the best option, but really, what it had going for it was good weather and not having to travel for holidays.
“My family is there. I’ll be able to afford to buy a house, which I could never do in DC on a teacher’s salary. Allison plans on having a baby right away and I’ll make a fantastic aunt.” Good, logical reasons.
“I think it is a very safe choice, Jaime. If that’s how you want to live your life.”
“Excuse me?”
“If you always take the easy road, make cautious decisions, you don’t have to risk anything. If you make enough excuses you might never have to play the game of life. You can always stay safely on the bench.”
She leapt from the bed, turning to stare down at him. Her entire body vibrated with anger. “How dare you say that to me. You think you know me, have me all boxed in? Well, let me tell you something. If I was as meek and scared as you think I never would have lasted a day at an inner-city school, let alone five years.”
He leaned back on his elbows smiling at her. “Bonjour, J’aime. I wondered where you went. Ever since that morning at the hotel you’ve been pretending to be someone else. Why bother?”
She kicked him in the shin, hard. Her toe smarted, but she refused to let it show as he grabbed his leg and sat up. “What was that for?”
“I am not pretending to be someone else. I’m trying to figure out who I am now. And you, with your throwing maps out windows and constantly touching me and refusing to just take me home, you are not helping.” She plopped down on the bed next to him. “Does suce moi, fumer le cigar mean what I think it means?”
He coughed, his eyes widening. “Excusez-moi?”
“That’s why I got a ticket. You talk in your sleep, and I was trying to figure out what you were dreaming about, and who. Since you’re being all high and mighty, tell me, what did you dream about?”
He shook his head. “You can’t exactly blame me. You’ve been taunting me for days, the way you move, the way you look at me, the way you keep flipping your hair over your shoulder so I’ll notice it.”
She so did not flip her hair. “I could say the same thing. All these unexpected stops and dallying could just be your way of keeping us on the road until you get me into bed.”
With lightning quickness, he rolled her onto her back, his large frame looming over her. “Mission accomplished.”
She squirmed beneath him, raising her knee slightly, just in case he tried anything funny. Being surrounded by the scent of sandalwood and sin might be tempting, if she didn’t want to shake some sense into his block head. “This is not helping.”
“No?” He dipped his head and grazed his lips over one temple, then the other. “Is it helping you forget how angry you want to be?”
Her body betrayed her. Her nipples tightened and heat swirled low in her belly.
His gaze moved down her body and then back to her face. “See, it’s working already. All the problems will be there in the morning, just waiting for you to worry about them then.” The sensual contours of his lips caressed the tension from her forehead, easing her eyes closed as his kiss continued downward.
“This will make one more thing for me to worry about.” Her protests sounded weak even to her. There was something about proximity to this man that drugged her, released her inhibitions along with her higher-order thought processes.
“You won’t, I promise.”
“I’ll worry about what my sister will say.” She turned her head to the side, which he took as an invitation to plant a scathing row of kisses along the column of her neck. Her libido fluttered and stretched like a butterfly about to take flight.
“Don’t tell her anything you don’t want to.”
Why was she protesting? She wanted him with an intensity that terrified her. Maybe that was the real problem. Their bodies had been buzzing with attraction for three days. If she kept fighting it she might spontaneously combust. “You won’t tell Trent?”
“He doesn’t want to know that his sister-in-law has an amazing ass, trust me.” His hand roved down her body, grazing the side of her breast, the soft swell of her stomach, the curve of her hip.
She giggled and shifted as he tugged the nightgown up over her thighs. “You think my ass is amazing?”
“I’m dying to find out, but you’ve been so busy hating me I haven’t had a chance.” His fingers snaked below the hem of the nightdress, reaching around to cup her bottom.
“You’ve been so busy driving me crazy, I haven’t wanted to let you.” She had, but she didn’t want to give in too easily.
“But you do now.” He rolled to his side, pulling the nightgown up and over her head, leaving her bare before him.
“I got my first speeding ticket. I’m feeling reckless.” Reckless and making quick decisions, terrified of returning to the girl she used to be and losing the woman she’d become, a woman confident enough to know what she wanted, who cared more about her opinion of herself than what everyone else thought.
She reached for his waistband, and with a firm push, she leveled the playing field. He quickly kicked his shorts off the rest of the way and tossed them to the floor.
He claimed her mouth in a hot and desperate kiss that was everything she wanted and everything she feared.
There was something about him that was unlike anything she’d ever known, ever experienced. Perhaps that’s what kept her guard up with him. But it was down now, and the time for worrying would come with the morning light. She needed to let go, release her frustrations, show him who she could be when she wasn’t wrapped up in making everyone else happy.
Xavier seemed determined to make her happy with his fingers, his mouth and other parts farther south she hadn’t allowed herself a peek at yet. With the slightest push, she rolled him to his back and climbed astride him.
She set her lips to his in a kiss that burned hotter than any that had come before. Hungry, demanding and possessive to the point of frightening.
He opened for her, granting her entrance to explore, capture, enjoy. Their tongues writhed in a seductive dance akin to the one happening between their bare bodies. The skin-on-skin contact flamed her desire for more.
“Do you―”
By magic, he read her mind and showed her the small foil packet in his hand.
“You were that sure of yourself?”
He had the nerve to kiss her again. She thought of biting his lip, but only for a fleeting moment. She looked down into the murky depths of his green eyes and realized there were much better things they could be doing.
She sat up and snatched the packet from his hand. He took advantage of the new freedom to cup the curved mounds of her breasts in his large hands, caressing her flesh and pulling her sensitive nipples between the sides of his fingers.
The tip of his tongue joined in the play, circling the dark areolas until she couldn’t stand another second of his teasing. Planting her hands on either side of his head, she leaned into him, wanting more.
It seemed as if she’d been in the lead until that moment, when the pleasure he wrought on her blurred reality. His hands, mouth, even the stubble on his chin combined to drive her mad as he licked, scraped, sucked.
Every touch drove the sensations deeper until she barely knew when he rolled her to her back, firmly asserting his power. She might have tried to regain control if he’d paused longer than to protect them. Here she could take in the hard planes of his body, the raw desire in his eyes.
She reached for his shoulders, the power in his muscles evident even beneath his warm, golden skin. He leaned closer, his body hovering above hers.
“What did you say you wanted to do to me?”
“Hmm?” She massaged the bunching muscles of his shoulders beneath her hands, his skin tight and taut as she moved her hands down and spread her fingers wide, feeling the pectorals that rippled beneath the surface of his chest. The corrugated leanness of his flat abdomen made her stomach flutter. He was all hers. Hers to enjoy in every way possible.
He planted feather-light kisses along her jaw. “At Carla’s apartment. In Spanish.”
Who remembered? “She was teasing me.”
“You don’t want to?”
Want to what? She’d shut off her brain and thinking was hard. “Break the bed?”
He stilled. “That’s what I was worried about?”
“You don’t worry.” His wide grin matched her own. “What did you think she said?”
He didn’t answer, but when his kisses drifted down her body she didn’t mind at all. She’d had other lovers, but never a man who enjoyed her body so thoroughly. Every caress, every kiss showed the pride he took in his ability to bring her pleasure. She knew it meant he’d practiced these skills, but because she was benefiting from his experience and because she’d never have to witness him plying them on another, she let the thought go.
When he dipped his tongue into her navel, she nearly came off the bed. Who knew how many nerves could be reached from there? If not for his strong hand on the curve of her stomach, she might never have stilled long enough for him to hook her legs over his shoulders.
The bristle of his cheek scratched the inside of her thigh, his hot breath tickling her most sensitive places. She shivered under his view, never having been so exposed. The light coming from his room might be dim, but if she could see him, he could see her, everywhere.
Liquid heat from his mouth soothed her, quieted her anxiety, drowned it beneath waves of pleasure as bliss became the focus of her mind. His rough cheeks scratched her thighs, so she relaxed her hips, her legs falling open as he licked and sucked, did things with his fingers and tongue that she couldn’t even fathom.
When he fastened his lips on her clitoris her legs started to shake. Every nerve in her body tensed and released, tensed and released with the waves of the deepest orgasm she’d ever known.