Chapter 3
“Where are you taking me?” Shala stood in her bedroom inside their suite and stared at her shoe options.
“It’s a surprise. Pick practical shoes, we will be walking today.”
She nodded and grabbed the casual canvas flats. “Got it. Now can I have a minute for a quick wardrobe change?”
Zadir leaned against the wall of the doorway with a flirty grin on his handsome face. “Don’t let me stop you?” He chuckled when she gave him a get real look and backed away with his hands in the air while she closed the door on him. He listened to the woman who had occupied his mind for the past few months as she undressed, the soft thud of her fitted business skirt and tailored blouse. He wondered what color lingerie she wore. Did she wear thongs or those cute little boy shorts that made the ass look extra succulent? He groaned as that image flashed in his mind, Shala with her sweet backside in the air, tempting him to turn her sweet self, naughty. “Do you need any help in there?”
The door swung open to reveal a breathless Shala. “No thanks, I’m all ready to go.”
His green gaze was like a caress as it roamed her body from head to toe. She wore a navy blue dress with a lace bodice that hugged her curves. It flared out like a party dress to give those legs another opportunity to shine. “Damn, you look sexy.” He loved that cute little blush that always stole over her when he teased or complimented her. Zadir wasn’t sure he knew any other women who blushed.
“Thank you, Zadir,” she answered, shyly tucking a few strands behind her ear. “Are we ready, then?”
He nodded, unable to tear his gaze from her. Shala, he was learning, had a knack for making sweet girl next door look sexy as hell. “Yep, let’s go.” He grabbed her hand, threading his fingers through hers and pulling her along.
Their first stop had been to the Louvre, where she’d wandered wide eyed throughout the famous museum. Everything was so beautiful she couldn’t stop feeling overwhelmed at times by the emotions some of the paintings evoked. She’d stood, transfixed by Ingres’ Grand Odalisque, the beauty of the imagery and the softness of the brush strokes. “It’s all so beautiful.”
He thought it was Shala who was the most beautiful sight in the entire museum. The way she absorbed all the good and the beauty around her, appreciated and tried to share it, it humbled him. Zadir knew his life had been one made up of excess. Too many women and toys, exotic trips, money and he never once appreciated any of it. He’d taken it for granted until his father had taken it all away. Through her, he was learning to appreciate life. “Yes it is,” he whispered, winking when she finally looked up at him.
“Zadir that was amazing! Thank you for being my guide. I know that isn’t your thing.”
He trailed a finger down a few strands of hair, curling the end around his finger. “Watching you enjoy all this old art, is most certainly my thing.”
She gasped and looked deeply into his sage green eyes, darkened with desire. For her. A smile slowly spread across her face. “That’s sweet, Zadir. It’s also some world class flirting.”
He smiled, “Well I do have to up my game with you.” She would not be an easy conquest and Zadir found that he didn’t mind that. Not at all.
Shala shook he her head, her soft waves falling around her shoulders. “Not that much. On my best day of flirting school, I couldn’t put out game like that.” She shook her head and laughed at her own statement.
Zadir burst out laughing, grabbing his side and slapping his leg. “Flirting school? Damn, if that was a real thing I could’ve graduated at the top of my class.” And kept his father off his back.
“No doubt,” she laughed. “But you’ve done alright in school.”
He shrugged. “Not as good as I could have. Average at best.”
Shala, feeling bold, curled her arm around his as they walked. She let the sights and sounds of Paris wash over her. The smell of buttery pastries and chocolate made her stomach growl. Thankfully the crowded city streets and sidewalks muffled it. “The idea about The Crown Jewels proves you know your stuff.”
Her compliment really got to him. Normally Zadir didn’t care what other people thought of him. But to know Shala thought he had a good business mind, well it meant something to him. “I suppose.” He tucked her under his arm, keeping her close. “We’re here,” he said unceremoniously.
Shala looked around. They were standing on a small dead end street between two apartment buildings. The street was still cobblestone and ivy climbed the walls of the buildings. It, like everything else she’d seen today, was beautiful and spoke of another time. “And where exactly is here?”
One side of his mouth curled slowly upward revealing that cheeky grin that said he was feeling playful. “We are…here.” Arms spread wide, he twirled dramatically. “We’re waiting on our tour guide.”
“What are we touring?”
Zadir took three steps until he was face to face with Shala. Her brown eyes were wary but he saw the heat simmering in them. He cupped her shoulders and turned her around. When he received no response he tilted her chin up and up and up.
“Oh, Zadir!” She turned in his arms and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Thank you,” she said into his chest. She couldn’t believe he was willing to take time out of his busy day to sightsee like this. “You’re willing to stand in the notoriously long lines with me?”
Her eyebrows rose so hopefully Zadir couldn’t help having a little fun. “Me? Wait in line? Never!” Her shoulders slumped and he bent down to whisper in her ear. “We’re getting a guided tour which means we don’t wait in line. At least not going up.”
Shala jumped up and down in excitement. “This is so cool!”
He chuckled. “Is that your professional assessment, cool?”
Her eyes narrowed to slits but she couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out of her. “Yes it is. So cool.” Her parents had only allowed her to make educational stops on their travels so every new place she went as an adult was like a brand new adventure. She grabbed his hand and didn’t let it go throughout the entire tour.
It was surreal to see the giant structure from the ground, but going up in the elevator was heaven. The elevator made her heart jump, or maybe it was the strong heat of Zadir’s body pressed against hers. It felt as though her feet floated just above ground as they catapulted up toward the heavens. Shala had never once spent a day enjoying herself, not since before she started school. But her day with Zadir was just about perfect. “The history of this city is so rich and colorful, they lived exciting lives full of drama and intrigue.”
Zadir looked down at her face, so full of wonder and awe, and rubbed the pads of his thumb on her cheeks. “Yes, but it didn’t end so well for Marie Antoinette and old King Louis, did it?”
Clutching her hands to her chest, Shala shook her head. “It didn’t, but I bet everything up until death was incredibly romantic and exciting.”
With his head cocked to the side, Zadir took in the flushed tone of her skin, the way her pulse raced in her neck. “I get it now.”
“Get what?”
“You, Shala, are a closet romantic.”
She flushed prettily. “Not so closeted and not at all ashamed.” Romance was important to Shala. She felt it was how you knew how much you meant to a man. She’d always hoped to find a guy with a romantic heart.
“Nor should you be. I’m glad you haven’t been so beat down by life and relationships that you still believe in romance.”
“Have you? Been beaten down, I mean?”
Zadir gave her a weird look. “You’re kidding right?”
“No, why would I be?” She felt like she was missing something, but she had no idea.
He searched her face for signs of deception or pity. “I had a pretty public breakup in college. Thought you may have heard of it.”
Shala shook her head. She’d gone out of her way to avoid any and all news relating to Zadir Alzari. The more distance from him, the more able she’d been to get over her silly schoolgirl crush. And then she’d come home and took a job where she would eventually work for the only man to capture her attention. “I hadn’t heard much about you since high school.”
“Well it was public and bad and it’s the last thing I want to talk about right now.” He pulled her through the crowd until a strong wind slammed against them the minute they stepped outside. “We are at the very top of the Eiffel Tower.” He leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips.
“We are?” Her eyes went round and a tad wild. “Let me get us a couple glasses of champagne. It’s tradition!”
Will this woman ever stop surprising me? He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had bought him anything. Well a woman other than his mother or Sabrina, who often bought things for him without asking. But with Shala it was different. She wasn’t related—by birth or marriage—and he wanted to sleep with her. Yet instead of trying to see what she could get out of him, he smiled looking at her as she spoke French to the older gentleman effusively, she was over there buying them both champagne. To drink at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
“Alright,” she came back with a big smile on her face and two glasses of champagne in her hand, “here we are. I got the most expensive one that they have, which isn’t terribly expensive but I figured it has the best chance of not tasting like fizzy bath water.” She handed him a glass and couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped at a weird jolt of electricity passed between them. He was torturing her. Slowly and a little at a time, with his subtle touches, his flirty touches, that gentle but panty-melting kiss, and now…electricity. “What should we toast to?”
Zadir lifted his glass in the air and looked in her eyes. “To old friends, reunited and doing better than ever.”
“And doing it in Paris!” She flushed at her unintended slip. “Oh, I mean.”
“It’s alright Shala. We can do it in Paris. Just say the word,” he touched his glass to hers and took a sip.
“You are incorrigible, Zadir.”
He gave her that smile. The one that made him seem like a swashbuckling pirate from the high seas. “So I’ve been told.” He took another sip. “So I have another surprise for you. We are having dinner here at the Tower tonight.”
“Are we really?”
“We are.”
“Zadir I have to thank you for today. You have no idea how much I’ve longed to visit this city and you’ve made a special effort and that means the world to me.” She stepped in close and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down until their lips touched. Brushed. She couldn’t resist one teeny tiny swipe of her tongue across his lips just so she would know how he tasted. She did and it was either a giant mistake or the best decision she ever made. Zadir groaned and pulled her waist in until there was no breathing room between their bodies. He pulled until she leaned over enough for him to deepen the kiss. Sweet holy hell the man could kiss! It was the only thing she could think about as the kiss touched every part of her body, as her response to him grew more and more intense. More intense even than the dreams she’d had about him and her. Together.
Too soon Zadir pulled back, happy to see she was as affected by the kiss as he had been. “You, sweet Shala, are welcome.” He kissed her again but it was much too brief, too tame. “Now we should probably start making our way back to the elevator because that will take forever.”
“Because we have a reservation to make.”
Her smile was more than enough to make the torturous wait for the elevator, bearable.