Текст книги "When the Stars Align"

Автор книги: Jeanette Grey

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 21 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

 

Kate stayed firmly planted in her seat as he offered to help her up. Trying her best to appear unaffected, she arched one eyebrow. “Does this usually work for you?”

The guy didn’t pull his hand back or in any other way appear to alter his strategy, and Kate had to give him points for that. “Yes, actually.”

“Interesting.”

The sad truth was, his offer was beyond tempting. The attention was nice, especially after her self-esteem had been beaten down the way it had in the past year. Hell, in the past twenty-two. It wouldn’t hurt to have someone who spoke fluent French showing her around, either. That he was as attractive as he was just made the deal sweeter.

“Not working so well on you, then?” he asked as she considered him.

“Not so far.”

His smile only widened. “Good. I like a girl who’s hard to crack.” Standing up straighter, he held his palms out at his sides. “Come on, what have you got to lose?”

“I’d say my wallet, but that’s already gone.”

“See? Low stakes. Listen, you don’t trust me.” That was an understatement. Was there a man left on earth that she did? “I don’t blame you. Devilishly handsome man wanders into a café and buys you a drink without asking? Offers to show you around town? Very suspicious.”

“Very.”

“So let’s make this safe. You said you wanted to see the Louvre? Let’s go to the Louvre. I’ll show you all my favorites, and then if I haven’t murdered you by suppertime, you let me take you someplace special. Someplace no guidebook in the world would ever recommend.”

She was really running out of reasons to say no. It was a good plan, this one. They’d be in a public place. She’d have time to feel him out a little more. And if he wasn’t too much of a psycho, well, everyone had to eat, didn’t they?

Still, she kept up her air of skepticism. She rather liked all his efforts to convince her. “I don’t even know your name.”

The way his dimples shone when he lifted up one corner of his mouth was completely unfair. Extending his hand again, he offered, “Rylan. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Rylan. That was unusual. She liked it.

“Kate,” she volunteered in return, and with no more real excuse not to, she accepted the handshake, slipping her palm into his. Warm fingers curled around hers, his thumb stroking the side of her hand, and oh. The rake. He bent forward as he tugged on her hand, twisting ever so slightly so he could press his lips to the back of her palm.

“Charmed.”

“I’ll bet you are.” But her pulse was racing faster, and the kiss felt like it seared all the way to her spine.

This man was dangerous.

He straightened up but he didn’t let go. Sweeping his other arm toward the door, he asked, “So?”

She hummed to herself as she gazed up at him, as if there was any question of what she was going to do. His blue eyes sparkled, like he already knew her answer, too.

“Well.” She rose from her seat, feeling taller than usual. More powerful. Maybe it was all the flattery of a guy like this hitting on her. Maybe it was the headiness of making this kind of a decision. Either way, it made her straighten her shoulders and insert a little sway into her hips.

“Well?”

“Lead on,” she said.

He didn’t let go of her hand. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.” With a squeeze of her fingers, he took a step toward the door. “Let’s go look at some art.”

External pressures aside, she had come to Paris to be inspired by beauty. She could find it on the walls of a famous museum. And she could find it in the lines of this man’s shoulders and throat. The latter might not have been what she’d had in mind when she’d set out, but what was a little bit of a diversion?

You couldn’t find yourself without taking a couple of side trips, after all.

The girl—Kate—wiggled her hand free as they approached the front of the café. Disappointing, but not really a problem. Rylan reached forward to get the door for her and shepherded her through it with a gentle touch at the small of her back. Following her out onto the sidewalk, he gestured down the street. “It’s only a little ways. You up for walking?”

“Sure.”

Good. Paris came alive this time of year, with the trees and flowers in full bloom, the sky a brilliant blue. Even the traffic seemed less suffocating now that summer was on the horizon. The influx of tourists made the walkways more congested, but at least the travelers occasionally smiled.

As he led them off in the direction of the museum, she fell into step at his side. He pressed his luck whenever the crush of pedestrians got thick, keeping her close with a hand on her hip, letting his fingertips linger. She fit so well against him, every brush of their bodies sending zips of awareness through him. Making him want to tug her closer in a way he hadn’t entirely anticipated.

The whole thing seemed to amuse her, but her efforts to act like she wasn’t affected were undercut by the flush on her cheeks. The way she allowed him to keep her near.

Until they paused to wait for a light to change, and she pulled away, turning so she was facing him. “So. Rylan.”

A rush of warmth licked up his spine. His name sounded so good rolling off her tongue. Far better than Theodore Rylan Bellamy III ever had. He’d rid himself of the rest of his father’s burdens only recently, but he’d shed the man’s name years ago. And yet it still made him smile whenever someone accepted the middle name he’d taken as his own. Didn’t question it the way his family always had.

Ignoring the ruffle of irritation that thought shot through him, he met her gaze and matched her tone. “Kate.”

She looked him up and down. “What’s your deal?”

Right. Because this wasn’t all just flirtatious touches. He’d asked her to a museum for God’s sake, not back to his bed. She wanted conversation. To get to know him.

Just the idea of it made him feel hollow.

He put his hands in his pockets and shifted his weight, glancing between her eyes and the traffic going by. “Not much to tell.” Liar. “Jaded expat skulking around Paris for a while. Ruthlessly showing lonely tourists around the city in exchange for the pleasure of their company.”

“What makes you think I’m lonely?”

Shrugging, he put his hand to the base of her spine again as the light switched to green, feeling the warmth of her through her jacket as they crossed the street. “You have that look.”

“For all you know, I could be here with a whole troop of friends, or my family. My”—her breath caught—“boyfriend.”

And there was a story there, a faint, raw note. Temptation gnawed at him to press, to dig to the bottom of it.

But if he went digging into her pain, that gave her the right to do the same.

He hesitated for a moment, then went for casual. “Ah. But then you’d be with one of them, and instead you’re here with me.”

She didn’t contest the point, moving to put a few inches between them as they stepped up onto the opposite curb. Changing tacks, she asked, “How long have you been—what was it? Skulking around Paris?”

“About a year. I wander elsewhere from time to time when I get too bored, but a man can do a lot worse than Paris.”

“And what do you do?”

Nothing. Not anymore. “I pick up odd jobs from time to time,” he hedged. The things he had to do to get at his money felt like a job, sometimes. “But I don’t have a lot of expenses. Buying intriguing women coffee doesn’t put too much of a dent in the wallet.”

“Hmm.” One corner of her mouth tilted downward.

“You don’t like that answer?”

“I’m sure there’s more to it than that.”

Perceptive. “Sorry to disappoint.”

“So, what, are you staying in a hostel or something?”

There he hesitated. “Something like that.” After all, the bed was the only thing in the place that felt like his. “Is that where you’re staying? A hostel?” It would be the most logical choice, if she were worried about money.

“Yes.”

“Which one?”

She actually rolled her eyes. “Like I’m telling you that.”

“Fine. I’ll just wait to find out when I walk you home.”

“Is that a threat?”

“An offer. One I hope you’ll accept.” He leaned in closer and caught a whiff of her hair. Vanilla and rose. Sweet and warm. It drew him in, awakening something in his blood. “Because I would love to”—his lips brushed her ear—“see you home tonight.”

She gave a full-body shiver. Flexed her hands at her sides so her knuckles brushed his thigh. Inside, he crowed.

Then she crossed her arms over her chest and took half a step to the side. A twitch of disappointment squeezed at him. But he wasn’t fooled.

He laughed as he let her have her space. Resistant though she might be, she was warming up to the idea. He didn’t have any worries.

He bumped his shoulder against hers. “And what about you? What’s your ‘deal’?”

“Not much to tell.” It was a clear imitation of his own response, and she narrowed her eyes for a second before shrugging. “I’m from Ohio, but I went to school in New York. My mom sends me paranoid e-mails, asking me if I’ve gotten mugged yet once a week.”

He winced. “At least you’ll have something to say to her this week, then?”

“Yeah.” She frowned, patting her side as if to touch the purse that wasn’t there. “Four years living in this sketchy part of Brooklyn, and I come to Paris to get robbed.” She dropped her gaze away from his. “Mom warned me about it, too, you know. Told me Paris was full of thieves.”

Her expression was growing more and more unhappy. God. She really didn’t know how to guard her emotions at all, did she? Nothing like the people he’d once surrounded himself with. The ones who would’ve looked at such naïveté with contempt. Here and now, it sparked a tenderness inside him that was new. He wanted to wipe the frown from her lips—or better, kiss it off. He wanted to know what had put it there in the first place. Neither reaction made sense.

So instead of touching or pressing, he steered the conversation onto safer ground. “Is it just you and your mom?”

“Pretty much. My dad’s… out of the picture.” And oh, but there was a minefield under there, based on the tone of her voice. She crossed her arms over her chest. “How about you?”

Speaking of minefields…

Before he could try to find a way around talking about the train wreck that was his family, they rounded a corner, and he let out a breath in relief. He craned his neck and pointed. “Look. Those banners up ahead?”

Kate followed his gaze, rising up onto tiptoes. Easily distracted, thank God. “Yeah?”

He reached out to grab hold of her hand and nearly got lost in the softness of her skin. He licked his lips and swallowed. “Come on. We’re nearly there.”

The crowds of tourists were more overwhelming right around the museum, though not as bad as they would be once July hit. Letting him interlace their fingers, she quickened her pace, falling into step as they weaved their way along the sidewalk. The great walls of the place finally gave, and he dragged her along through the archway.

“Don’t we have to go in through the Pyramid?” she asked, sounding breathless, evoking the famous entrance to the museum.

He twisted to look at her and winked. “Would I lead you any other way?”

They emerged out into the stone courtyard. He let go of her hand to throw his arms out wide. Ta-da. “Your Pyramid, madame.”

Pei’s Pyramid. It was a glass and metal structure, located at the center of the courtyard, housing the main entrance of the museum. His mother had always hated it, but he’d never really minded the thing. Besides, it was in all the guidebooks, and in high school French textbooks. Tourists typically wanted to see it.

She stood there staring at the monument for a long moment before scrunching her face up. “That is both so much cooler and so much less impressive than I expected.”

Well, at least she was honest. He threw his head back and laughed. “Welcome to international travel, my dear.” He dug in his pocket for his phone. “You want a picture?”

“Actually, kinda. Yeah.”

“Stand over there.” He motioned her to stand where he had a good view of her and the Pyramid. The sky was a bright, perfect blue, and it brought out the red in her hair. Her photo smile wasn’t as arresting as her real one, but he’d take it anyway. “Say ‘fromage.’”

He snapped the shot, then held it out so she could see. He expected the requisite look of embarrassment all girls gave him when he showed them images of themselves, but instead she simply nodded. “Nice composition.”

It made him pause. She had been planning to spend her day sketching, had been swayed by his offer to take her here of all places, so the comment shouldn’t have surprised him. But his estimation of her rose. When she looked at something, she looked deeper. Saw more.

The idea of wandering around a museum with her suddenly took on a whole new kind of charm.

He glanced at the picture again before flicking back to the camera app. “Easy when there’s a pretty lady in the frame.”

She cast her gaze skyward and was just starting to move away when he caught her arm.

“What?”

“One more.”

“The one is plenty,” she argued.

“One more for me.” With that, he reeled her in, wrapping his arm around her shoulder. It was a cheap ploy, but he couldn’t resist the chance to get her close. Her scent wafted over him again. He took a second to breathe her in, to really feel her against his side before he held his arm out for the selfie, shooting his own best lady-killer grin at the lens.

Her laughter sounded more indulgent than charmed, but he could work with that. “Does this move usually work for you?” she asked.

He pressed the button on the screen to take the shot. “Better than the tour guide offer, even.” He snapped his teeth playfully near her ear. “Because this one gives me an excuse to touch you.”

Making a show of mock-growling at her, he gave her one rough squeeze and let her go. She took only a half step away, but the loss of her left his ribs cold. He mentally shook his head at himself.

Before he could give in to the urge to tug her back in, and without a pretext this time, he turned his attention to the screen. A pang fired off inside him. They looked good together. Like a real, happy couple—the kind he’d been taught didn’t exist. Her eyes positively danced, her smile as wide as her face.

And so was his. Not a thing about his expression was forced or fake. The contrast alone made his throat tighten. This wasn’t one of the usual selfies he took with girls. Not one of the awful pictures snapped on the courthouse steps. Or the others. The ones from before.

His hands curled into fists, and he had to forcibly relax them.

Shutting that line of thought right down, he turned off the screen of his phone. “You’ll have to tell me where to send them later.”

Oblivious to where his mind had gone, she raised a brow. “Ah, now I see your game. You want my e-mail address.”

“Yes,” he said dryly. “It’s all been a clever little ploy so I could subscribe you to all sorts of mailing lists for natural male enhancement.”

She arched a brow. “Am I going to need that?”

Nicely played. “Not if you take me home tonight.” He threaded his arm through hers. “Come on. The masterpieces await.”

“Are you sure we’re still even in the museum?” Kate spun in a circle, looking around in awe. “How can this place be so huge?”

The vaulted archways seemed to soar above her, and the ceilings were almost as gorgeous as the paintings. The whole place smelled of art somehow, even though the works were all hundreds of years old, the oils dry and the varnishes cracking. The figures within the canvases glowed with how masterfully they’d been rendered, and something inside of her felt like it was glowing as well.

She’d thought the Met had been amazing the first time she’d been there. But she’d had no idea. No clue.

She finished her slow circle, coming around again to face the center of the room. To face Rylan. He stood there, arms crossed over the expanse of his chest, gaze hot and heavy on hers, and a tremor coursed its way down her spine.

Then again, she’d also never wandered around the Met with a man like him by her side.

To think she’d been worried when she agreed to let him take her here. She hated being rushed through museums, and she’d been resolved to take her time. But Rylan had stood by patiently as she looked her fill, had been waiting to take her hand at the end of each set of paintings. Big, strong fingers curled firmly around her palm, and the warm, male scent of him mingled with the wood and polish of the gallery, making her head spin.

Swallowing hard, she checked herself. He was practically a stranger—it shouldn’t be so easy to fall into step with him like this. And yet she felt more comfortable with him than she had doing this with any of her other friends. Definitely more comfortable than she ever had with Aaron. Maybe because he was a stranger. There was no point pretending to be anything she wasn’t. She never had to see him again if she didn’t want to. So she had nothing to lose.

Catching her eye, he tilted his head toward the next room, a silent invitation, asking her if she was ready to continue. She nodded, moving into his space again. The heat of his hand seeped into the base of her spine, but she didn’t flinch. Ridiculous how quickly she was getting used to how much he liked to touch her. What had it been? A couple of hours?

A couple of amazing hours.

They’d seen a bunch of the highlights already. The sweeping statuary of Winged Victory, which had been so much bigger and more imposing than she’d expected. Tiny, lovely Venus de Milo. And much to Rylan’s frustration, they’d even stood in line to see the Mona Lisa nice and close. She’d shoved him when he’d asked with that odd mixture of amusement and derision if she was satisfied. She’d known going into it that that particular piece had a tendency to underwhelm, but she hadn’t cared. She’d seen it. In real life.

In her head, she was rearranging all her plans for the week she had left in Paris. She had to come back and spend a whole day here alone with her sketchbook and her pencils and pastels.

“You are having a total art-geek-gasm, aren’t you?” he asked, releasing her so she could get closer to one of the paintings.

At this point, they were in one of the more remote galleries, one he’d insisted they make the time to visit, full of big, classic pieces done in vivid colors, depicting scenes from legends and myths. None of it was what she’d really come here to see, but she found herself getting lost in them all the same.

She was about to tell him as much when she glanced over at him, and he had that expression on his face again. It made her pause.

She didn’t have any illusions that he was here for any reason other than to humor her. He was going above and beyond as far as the amount of time and energy she expected any guy to put into a pickup, but it was still a pickup.

Only, he kept looking at her like this. Like somehow, despite his worst intentions, he was seeing more than just her breasts.

She let a grin curl her lips as she turned her attention back to the walls. “It’s amazing.”

“It gets even better.”

Hard to believe, but how could she resist?

“So the thing that really gets me,” he said over his shoulder as he meandered into the next gallery, “about European museums is the scale.”

She followed, craning her neck as she passed through the archway and—wow. He wasn’t kidding. The whole room was full of paintings that stretched from floor to ceiling. The canvases must have been twenty feet tall, some of them maybe double that in width.

“Holy crap.” In awe, she turned, trying to take in everything. She pointed to a painting at the end of the room. “That one is bigger than my apartment back in New York.”

It might have been a tiny studio apartment, but still.

“Don’t see this kind of thing in museums in the States, huh?” he asked.

He was standing behind her now, his breath warm against her ear. It felt… nice. But not nice enough to distract her from trying to memorize the images surrounding her.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, anywhere.”

She stepped forward, away from his heat and toward the painting on the opposite wall. He let her go, walking backward to perch on the bench in the center of the room. He sat with his knees spread, his elbows on his thighs. She turned her back to him, but she couldn’t help but be aware of him—his presence that felt so unreasonably large in such an enormous room.

“That used to be one of my favorites,” he said, gesturing at the canvas she’d been drawn to.

“Oh?” It was arresting, the composition and the arrangement of the figures drawing the eye in. Bringing her hand to her mouth, she read the placard beside it. “Zeus and Hera?” She took a step back and tilted her head.

The two figures were seated in a garden, staring into each other’s eyes. A smile colored the edge of Zeus’s lips.

“They look happy.” His shrug came through in his voice.

Really? The king and queen of the Roman gods weren’t exactly known for their perfect marriage. How many people had died on account of their fits of jealousy and pique? She furrowed her brow. “Not exactly how I usually think of them.”

From behind her, he chuckled. “No. Not usually.” He paused, then added, “I think maybe that’s why I liked it so much.”

She hummed, asking him to elaborate.

“It was just a reminder. No matter how awful things were between them most of the time, they still had their moments. Their good times.”

A sour taste rose in her throat. “Doesn’t change the fact that he’d knocked up half the pantheon.”

If her mother hadn’t fallen for all the good times with her father… if the good times with Aaron hadn’t blinded Kate…

“And the better part of the mortal realm, too,” Rylan agreed, a wry twist to his tone. “But still. I always used to imagine that at one point they were like this.”

“Used to?”

He chuckled wryly. “We all have to grow up sometime.”

They were silent for a minute as she tried to take the whole thing in.

When he spoke again, it echoed in the space. “The first time I ever came here, I was… maybe eight? Nine?” A shade of memory colored his voice. “A few years before my parents got divorced.” He cleared the roughness from his throat. “My mother brought me to this room, and I remember finding this picture and not being able to look away from it.” He gave a little rueful laugh. “My sister gave me so much shit for ignoring all the giant battle scenes to look at two people who weren’t even naked or anything.”

Kate glanced over her shoulder at him. That was… kind of a lot of information, actually, considering how evasive he’d been while they’d been trading histories earlier. Turning back to the painting, she cast about for something to ask him more about. Not the divorce—not with the way that topic always brought her own hurts to the surface—though she tucked that away for later. After a moment’s indecision, she landed on, “You came to Paris when you were a kid?”

“The whole family did. My dad’s work had us doing a bunch of travel.”

“What did he do?”

“Finance stuff. Very boring. And a very, very long time ago.”

She frowned. “It can’t have been that long ago. How old are you?”

“Twenty-seven. Don’t try to tell me nineteen years isn’t a long time.”

He made it sound like a lifetime. For her it nearly was.

“Believe me, it’s a long time. I’m only twenty-two.”

“That’s not so young.”

She considered for a moment. “It’s old enough.”

“Old enough for what?” Suggestion rolled off his tongue.

His flirtation made her bold. “For knowing better than to be taken in by men like you?”

“Men like me?” His tone dripped with mock offense. “Men who take you to beautiful museums.” He was off the bench and at her side again, pushing her hair from her face. “Men who want nothing more than to show you their big, huge—”

She made a noise of half laughter, half disgust and shoved him off.

“Paintings! I was going to say paintings.”

“I’ll bet you were.”

“I was.” He held his arms out to indicate the whole of the room. “Do you like them?”

And she couldn’t lie, not even a bit. She spun around another time, nice and slow, taking in everything. As she twisted back toward him, something inside of her softened. All the innuendo and playfulness had fallen from his lips, and he was simply standing there, waiting for her opinion.

Looking for all the world like he actually cared what it would be.

Impulsiveness took her close to him. “I do.” And this was stupid. But she did it anyway—leaned in and pressed the quickest, lightest kiss to his cheek. “I love it. Thank you.”

He grinned as she danced away before he could reel her the rest of the way in. “Does that mean you’re ready to agree for me to walk you home?”

A little thrill shot through her. How nice would that be? He’d been trying so hard, and she’d enjoyed every minute of it. After months of being on her guard, nursing her bitterness, it was tempting to just let go. To say yes for once. He was funny and smart, charming and gorgeous. She could do a lot worse. But she wasn’t entirely sure she couldn’t do better.

And besides, she’d never known it could be so much fun to watch a guy work for it.

She started toward the exit from the gallery, a little bounce in her step. “Let’s start with you walking me to dinner.” Glancing back at him, she smiled at the look of smug satisfaction on his face. “No promises for after.”

“I would never dare to assume.”

“And it had better be something good.” She slowed down so he could catch up, and she didn’t bother to stop him when he moved to interlace their fingers. She’d already let enough of her inhibitions go, lulled by the ease of his smile and his touch. Why not accept this, too? Especially when it felt so good. “Off the beaten path. Nothing I could find in a tour guide.”

“Don’t you worry.” A sly grin made his eyes sparkle, and his hand squeezed hers. “I have just the thing in mind.”