The Accidental Boyfriend Page 11

  “Kiss me,” she whispered.

  He leaned toward her but still held himself just out of reach. “Are you sure?”

  “If you ask me that again, I might slap you,” she whispered back.

  She saw his grin even in the shadows and it made her heart do a somersault. God, she loved that smile. Then all thoughts were gone as his lips claimed hers and moved over them, gently at first before gentleness gave way to an urgency that was as exhilarating as it was breathtaking.

  He ripped off his shirt before lowering his body on top of hers and she couldn’t stop her groan of pleasure. He was hard everywhere she was soft and his heat warmed her to the core, replacing the freezing pain that rejection had left behind. Her hands slipped around his body to hold him close, caressing his back and neck as he moved his lips from her mouth to her neck and then up to nibble on her ear. When his tongue flicked out to tease her sensitive earlobe, she gasped and she could feel that smile against her neck.

  “My turn,” she said, before pushing him so he landed flat on the bed and she was straddling him, naked except for her panties.

  She saw his eyes clearly in the glow of the moon and he was staring up at her with such awe and admiration it made her heart ache. “My God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered.

  Leaning down, she let her breasts brush against his chest and his erection pressed against her thighs. He groaned as she moved against him, reveling in the feel of his warm, hard chest brushing against her nipples.

  She continued the teasing until he let out a growl and used one hand to pull her head toward him for a deep, thorough kiss. His tongue teased hers as his other hand moved up so he could cup her breasts.

  His touches made her weak and she let herself collapse against him. He rolled her over so she was trapped beneath him. She shifted so he was firmly wedged between her thighs, his erection pressing against her. Aching for the feel of him inside of her, she arched against him, urging him to take her.

  He reached between them to rid them of their remaining scraps of clothes and pulled her back into his arms. He eased into her as his tongue slipped inside of her mouth, mimicking the long, slow thrust.

  She arched her hips to meet him and he lifted his head just far enough that he was looking into her eyes. The moment was intimate and struck a part of her she hadn’t known existed. He was looking into the very heart of her. Never before had she been so vulnerable but she couldn’t look away. The tension between them built with each thrust until she was on the precipice between desire and aching pain. He claimed her lips then and she climaxed over the edge into ecstasy.

  When she came back to her senses, Jack was sprawled on top of her, spent and possibly sleeping. A slow smile of utter contentment spread across her face. She ran her hands over his back, reveling in the solid feel of him and the drowsy pleasure that left her body tingling. She thought she might melt into the mattress she was so pleasantly relaxed.

  Jack stirred. He went to move off of her but she tightened her grip around his waist. “Don’t go, not yet,” she whispered.

  He kissed the side of her neck and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m going to crush you,” he said with a low chuckle that sent shivers down her neck. He whispered, “How about we do this?” And in one smooth motion, he’d rolled them so he was lying on his back and she was sprawled atop him.

  She nestled her head into the crook between his shoulder and chest and let her hands drift across his hard chest. “Mmmm,” she said with a sigh of contentment. “Even better.”

  She could hear his soft laugh through his chest and gave him a little kiss. He stroked her hair with one hand while the other arm wrapped around her, holding her close. That was how she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

  * * * *

  The sound of a slamming door woke her up hours later. She sat up with a start and saw a sleeping, insanely handsome Jack beneath her. The events of the night before clicked into place just as his eyes started to open.

  “What’s going on?” he muttered. God he was gorgeous when he was sleepy.

  “I don’t know, I thought I heard—”

  “Hello? Anyone home?” a female voice called out.

  Holly’s wide eyes met Jack’s shocked stare. They were frozen in silence for a moment.

  “Anyone home?” the voice said again with a distinct Italian accent.

  Holly stared at Jack and watched as comprehension dawned in those gorgeous baby blues of his. “Lucia,” he whispered. Recognition was quickly replaced with horror. She could have sworn he muttered, “They’re going to kill me.” Before he shot up out of bed and scrambled to find clothes.

  She cursed under her breath. They were in Jack’s room and he’d dispensed with her nightshirt somewhere between the living room and the bedroom which meant she had no clothes aside from her panties. Jack was one step ahead of her and he threw her one of his dress shirts. It was long enough to cover her so she could race to her own room.

  Holly cracked open the bedroom door and looked back at Jack who was frantically throwing on pants. “Good luck,” he mouthed. His roguish grin was almost painfully adorable. She ran over and gave him a little peck on the cheek. “See you on the flip side,” she whispered before slipping into the hallway.

  She was halfway to her own room and heard Lucia in the kitchen. She could make it…almost there…just a few more feet….

  “Ciao, Holly,” Lucia’s bright voice made Holly jump as she froze mid-tip-toe in the hallway. The petite brunette had come around the corner and was beaming at her. “Surprise!”

  Despite the awkward predicament, Holly grinned at her friend who she’d spent so much time with while planning her sister’s wedding. The Italian stunner’s gregariousness was contagious. “Welcome to Paris,” she said with a laugh.

  “Sorry I didn’t call,” Lucia started with a charmingly unapologetic smile. “My grandpa said you two were staying here and I thought you might want some compa—”

  Lucia stopped abruptly and her eyes grew wide as her gaze traveled behind Holly. Uh oh. Holly glanced over her shoulder and saw Jack stepping out of the bedroom behind her, looking incredibly hot with his bedhead hair and five o’clock shadow. Despite the situation, Holly found herself staring at him in open admiration.

  “Hey, Lucia, what a nice surprise,” he said. Holly spun back around to see her friend struggling unsuccessfully to keep from laughing. Her knowing eyes flitted from Jack to Holly, who was half-clad in a men’s shirt and was clearly coming from the same bedroom that Jack had just exited.

  She shot Jack a look over her shoulder. Smooth, real smooth. He shrugged one shoulder as if to say ‘the jig is up’ and slipped past the two women. “Uh, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll hop in the shower.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Holly muttered as he passed, causing Lucia to lose the battle and burst out laughing.

  Jack shot her a mocking grin behind Lucia’s back before closing the bathroom door. She turned to Lucia with a shrug. “So…” she started.

  Lucia grabbed her arm and started to lead her into the kitchen. “Come with me, I want to hear everything.”

  * * * *

  Lucia had thoughtfully brought croissants and coffees for the houseguests and once they were settled in with breakfast, she fixed her eyes on Holly. “Okay, spill.”

  Holly hesitated for a moment. She hadn’t had a chance to analyze what had happened herself. “I think you can guess what happened,” she said, take a big bite of her pastry.

  Lucia grinned at her over her cup of coffee. “Yeah, I got that much. But when did this start? And how? And…” Holly watched her friend hesitate. She knew what was coming. “What happened to Benjamin?”

  Holly took a deep breath. “He dumped me.” She waited for a stab of pain but all she felt was a mild throb of hurt. Maybe she was numb or something. She was sure the full heartbreak would come soon.

  Lucia’s brows rose in a questioning look. “No offense, but ‘dumping’ requires actually being a couple.�
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  Holly rolled her eyes at her friend’s annoyingly rational logic and ignored the sting her words left behind. How stupid she must look to her friend, pining away over a guy who hadn’t been her boyfriend for more than a decade. She took another bite of her croissant. “You know what I mean.”

  Lucia was watching her as she sipped on her coffee. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked. Holly smiled at the genuine concern in the other woman’s voice. They may not have known each other long but Lucia was rapidly becoming one of her closest friends. Who knew Ivy’s scandal would open her world to so many wonderful people?

  “You know, I’ll probably take you up on that eventually but right now…I’m doing okay.”

  The truth of those words was surprising. She’d spent the better part of a year planning a life with one man. She’d all but named their imaginary children. But somehow her heart was not broken. She was probably in denial.

  Lucia’s eyes sparkled with laughter. “I’d say you’re better than okay.” She sipped her coffee with impossibly wide eyes in feigned innocence. Holly rolled her eyes but she was laughing. Of course her friend wouldn’t let this go that easily.

  She could hear the shower running and had a searing image of Jack naked in the shower. A thrill ran through her. She knew exactly what he looked like naked.

  Now was not the time to be reminiscing about last night’s debauchery.

  “So what about you,” she said in a blatant attempt to turn the conversation away from her and Jack.

  “What about me?” Lucia asked, reaching for a croissant.

  Holly’s eyes narrowed as she studied her friend. Was it her imagination or was Lucia avoiding eye contact. “What brings you to Paris?”

  Lucia toyed with the pastry, picking it apart but not eating it. Younger than Holly by several years, Lucia was a fresh-faced beauty with long, wavy dark hair and large, almond-shaped eyes and olive skin. Every time Holly saw her she looked like she’d just stepped off of a runway or out of a shampoo commercial. She was almost always smiling or laughing, a good-natured sweetheart of a girl. Which is why it struck Holly as odd that her friend was avoiding eye contact with a rather grim look on her face.

  Holly noticed the circles under the girl’s eyes and her unusually pale complexion. “Lucia, is everything all right?”

  Lucia looked up at that and gave her a smile that Holly thought was a little forced. “I’ll be fine. I just needed to get away for a bit.”

  Holly was silent, waiting to see if Lucia would continue. After several seconds of silence Lucia sighed. “It’s nothing, really. Marco and I just had a fight and my family has been a bit…suffocating, that’s all.”

  Marco was Lucia’s fiancé. From what she’d learned from Lucia and Ivy, she knew that the two had been together forever. Their parents were old friends and they had started dating at a young age. Holly had met Marco at the wedding briefly but all she could tell was that he was handsome as sin.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Holly said, unintentionally echoing Lucia’s words.

  Lucia grinned. “Nope. I’d rather hear more about you and the hottie in the shower,” she said, wiggling her eyebrows in a comically suggestive way.

  Holly couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing. “I’m promise you, there’s nothing to tell. It was a one-time thing.”

  “Mmm-hmm,” Lucia said. She raised one brow and was looking at Holly as though she’d just tried to tell her that the Pope was no longer Catholic.

  “What, it’s true.” She and Lucia went back to eating in silence for a moment and when Holly looked up it was to see her friend quietly giggling into her coffee.

  “What?” she demanded.

  Lucia’s amusement seemed to grow. “Nothing, it’s just that…it seems you took that saying to heart.”

  “What saying?” Holly asked.

  “The best way to get over a man is to get under another,” Lucia said through a fit of laughter.

  Holly gasped in mock outrage and threw a small piece of croissant at her friend, who ducked.

  * * * *

  Jack found the two women in the kitchen a little while later, giggling hysterically and brushing crumbs off of themselves.

  “Did I miss a food fight?” he asked.

  Holly looked up in surprise. “Something like that,” she said before making eye contact with Lucia and laughing all over again.

  He watched her for a moment with what he was sure was a goofy grin plastered on his face. He couldn’t help it. It was amazing to see Holly laughing. It was a relief to see her happy in general but he was so relieved that she hadn’t reverted back to the heartbroken state he’d seen her in last night. Or worse, riddled with guilt or remorse about their night together. But if her easy laughter was anything to go by, Holly was feeling just fine.

  A tightness he hadn’t realized was gripping his chest since they woke up this morning slowly began to ease. He’d spent the entire shower mentally kicking himself for sleeping with her. Not that he could bring himself to actually regret it. There was no way he would take back last night for anything in the world. It may have been the single most amazing night of his life. But he didn’t know what he would have done if she’d regretted it.

  But here she was, happy as could be expected, from the looks of it. Maybe their night together had helped. She’d needed a distraction and he was just the sort of no-strings-attached kind of guy to provide it.

  She looked up then and caught his eye. He was fairly certain the room was still right-side up but for a moment there he’d lost his balance. Oh this could not be good. She was breathtaking. Still wearing his shirt, she’d thrown on a pair of jeans for propriety’s sake and was kicking back at the kitchen table like she’d just gotten off the set of a Victoria’s Secret photoshoot.

  He wasn’t sure how long he stood there staring at Holly like an infatuated teen when Lucia spoke, bringing him back to reality. “So how did you find the missing schoolteacher?” she teased, ignoring Holly’s eye rolling.

  “It wasn’t too hard,” he said. “I just went around asking if anyone had seen a crazy blonde on a wild goose chase. Word spreads quickly in this city.” He looked over at Holly to see how she would take some ribbing about the Benjamin situation and was relieved to find her laughing along with Lucia. Maybe she wasn’t as heartbroken as he’d feared.

  Or maybe she was a better actress than he realized.

  “So what brings you here?” he asked Lucia. “Where’s Marco?” Lucia’s smile fell a bit and Holly shot him a warning look over Lucia’s shoulder. She shook her head a bit and mouthed, “Don’t go there.”

  “I mean, do you have any plans while you’re here?” he continued, trying to extract the foot he’d apparently stuck in his mouth.

  Lucia’s bright smile returned. “Actually, I do. I got tickets to a designer friend’s show on Friday night. They are rolling out a new line and it sounds amazing.”

  Brunelli had mentioned his granddaughter’s passion for fashion design many times over the past year they’d been working together and Jack knew it was a point of contention for the old man. He was grooming her to take over the family business and grudgingly accepted that she used all of her spare time pursuing artistic endeavors.

  “You guys should come with me,” Lucia said, her eyes already lit up with excitement.

  “What time is the show?” Holly hedged.

  “It starts at seven,” she said. “Why do you guys already have big plans?”

  Holly looked to him and he scratched at the five o’clock shadow he hadn’t gotten around to shaving. “Well, uh, actually,” he stalled. He let out a breath. “We’re supposed to have dinner with my parents.”

  Lucia’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Oh, I hadn’t realized you had family here.”

  “Yeah, well, my brother and his wife live here and my parents are visiting.”

  Lucia nodded and turned to Holly. “What about you? Do you want to join?”

  Holly’s no
se scrunched up and Jack had to bite back inappropriate laughter as he watched her struggle to find words. “Actually, I have to go to dinner with Jack’s family, too. They, uh, they think that we’re….”

  “A couple,” Jack finished for her. Lucia spun in her seat to face Jack and then back to look at Holly.

  “You’re kidding me,” she said.

  “But we’re definitely not,” Holly was quick to assure her. A little too quick, Jack thought. She sounded like it was the worst possible idea of all time.

  He thought to the conversation they’d had about what they wanted out of life. All right, so it would be a bad idea, but she didn’t have to sound quite so horrified.

  He listened as Holly gave a very brief account of the night before.

  “So they think that you guys are a couple even though you’re not,” Lucia clarified. “But you’re going to let them believe that for a little while to spare everyone’s feelings and to make Jack look good.”

  At that last bit she turned to Jack with a look of rueful disdain. “Really, Jack? Again?”

  Holly made a snorting noise and he looked over to see her smothering a laugh. “Excuse me, but who got us into this mess in the first place?” he asked her. She immediately threw a hand over her mouth and gave him a wide-eyed look of innocence.

  Lucia just shook her head and sighed. “I don’t know what it is with you Sinclair women.”

  Holly’s hand dropped and she turned quickly to Lucia. “Don’t tell Ivy,” she said.

  Now it was Jack’s turn to laugh at her. “Oh what a tangled web we weave,” he teased. She cocked her head to the side and addressed Lucia while she stared at him. “But feel free to tell Danny and your grandfather…and let them know that this was all Jack’s idea.”

  Jack stopped laughing. “Hey, wait a second,” he started, but Holly was already out of her chair and heading toward the hallway.

  Once she left, he found himself face to face with Lucia who was watching him with crossed arms and narrowed eyes.

  He settled into the seat across from her, resigned to hearing a lecture. “Okay, let’s hear it. Tell me why this is the worst idea of all time.”