I See London 1 (16 page)

Samir reached out, squeezing my hand. I had to physically resist the urge to wrap my fingers around his.

At the same time I couldn’t get my worry about Fleur out of my mind.

“It’ll be okay. We’ll find her.”

I moved my hands out of his grasp, shifting to face him. “I just feel like it’s my fault. Like I should have done more to watch out for her.”

“Fleur’s a big girl. She does stupid shit sometimes, but she doesn’t need a babysitter. If she went off with a guy, it’s because she wanted to. She would have done it regardless. You shouldn’t blame yourself for any of this. You’ve been a good friend to her. You
are
a good friend to her.”

A tear slipped down my cheek. “I’m sorry. I should have just handled it on my own.”

“Hey. Don’t cry. I’m glad you called me.” Samir reached out, his finger grazing my cheek, catching the end of my tear. His fingers stroked my cheekbone, fanning out across my face with a gentle caress.

I froze. Desire slammed into me.

His fingers remained there, just barely touching my skin. Hovering there. My mouth parted slightly—partly in surprise, partly in anticipation.

Just one kiss. Just once.

Chapter 21

“Maggie.”

My name came out in a half groan, the word torn from his lips. The sound of his voice stirred an ache inside me. Samir leaned forward, his other hand slipping around my waist, his face hovering inches from mine.

I didn’t move. I knew what was coming and I didn’t move. He said my name again, the sound sending a tingle down my spine.

God, that accent was so sexy.

His lips brushed against mine. The touch was soft, light, teasing. He was testing the waters, exploring me, kissing me as though he had all the time in the world.

Impatience filled me.

I didn’t want slow and easy. I didn’t want toe-curling seduction. I wanted fire—flash and heat. I wanted to drown in him, for his body to cover mine. I wanted to lose myself in him.

I kissed him back. It wasn’t a soft kiss or an easy one. I demanded, changing the tone of the kiss from the start. I was a few layers of clothing away from jumping his bones. I made sure he knew it.

My lips devoured his, my tongue stroking, caressing. I took advantage of him, using his leisurely kiss to provoke, to demand. My hands explored his body, fulfilling the desire to touch I’d desperately been craving.

For once I wasn’t shy. Something screaming inside me, desperate to get out, made me bold..

Samir responded to the change in me, meeting me stroke for stroke, kiss for kiss. His hands explored my body, cupping around my curves, pressing me against him.

He was hard everywhere.

My hands fisted in his hair, winding his dark curls around my fingers. His hair felt like silk beneath my skin. I explored his mouth with my tongue, sucked on his bottom lip, tugging on it with my teeth. I nipped, instantly using my tongue to soothe where I’d bitten him. He’d taught me things along the way—delicious, naughty things—and I was definitely a fast learner.

“God, that feels amazing,” he whispered, his voice soaked with lust. He responded by kissing the side of my neck, his tongue darting out, painting my skin with soft licks.

I moaned.

“Take off your seat belt.”

I broke away long enough to unclasp the seat belt, my fingers trembling with the motion. My body trembled, my legs weak,. Everything within me screamed that even this wasn’t enough. I wanted more—

Had to have it.

Samir pulled me over, positioning me so I straddled him, my legs wrapped around him, our bodies pressed against each other. Through the thin layer of my pants I could feel his arousal, pressing against me. Desire, liquid and burning, pooled in my body.

I plastered myself against Samir, wrapping my arms around his neck until there was no space between where his body ended and mine began. His heart pounded against me, keeping time with the rapid beating in my own chest.

Holy shit.

Samir covered my mouth with his, kissing me openmouthed, his hands working on the belt of my coat. He fumbled with the knot, words in French escaping from his lips.

I would have given anything to know what he said.

“Let me.” Impatience filled my voice. Need bubbled up, threatening to spill over. I reached down, grabbing at the knotted fabric, pulling and tugging until the belt came undone. I met his gaze.

Desire blazed back at me. This no longer felt like a game we were playing. It felt like everything.

The car hit a bump in the road, the motion jolting us both. My body rocked against his.

He groaned. “My turn.”

His hands came up to my chest, grazing my breasts through the thin fabric. His fingers brushed against my nipples. He teased me, working magic with his fingers, my body growing impossibly more aroused.

“That’s so good. Please don’t stop. Please. Whatever you do, just don’t stop,” I whispered against his mouth, pulling him closer to me. Words fired through my brain—
please
and
more
and
yes—
desperate words, triumphant words. Words that told me just how close I was to losing control.

Samir began swiftly undoing each of my coat buttons. I looked down, unable to tear my gaze away from the sight of his long, tanned fingers undressing me. It was the most erotic thing I’d ever seen. There was something so intimate in how he unwrapped me, like I was a present he couldn’t wait to open. When the last button was undone, he pushed the coat off my shoulders.

“You’re so fucking hot.” He buried his head in the curve of my neck, the words nearly lost between our bodies.

He made me feel hot. He made me feel like everything I’d ever wanted to be. He made me want.

Samir’s hands slid up the outside of my sweater, cupping my breasts through the heavy fabric. I relished in the feel of him taking me just to the edge of pleasure as he thumbed my nipples.

I leaned forward, pressing my breasts into his palms. His fingers molded my shape, leaving an imprint of heat and desire in their wake. I reveled in his touch, in the way he made me feel. I felt sexy, desirable, completely and utterly out of control. I was desperate now. My want eclipsed all the reasons I knew this was a bad idea and I’d stopped caring somewhere along the way.

I nipped at his bottom lip, the impatience inside me growing. I wanted to devour him. Bite by bite.

A ringing noise sounded in the background. I ignored the noise, pulling Samir closer to me. Nothing else mattered. My mouth slid down his neck, kissing and nipping at the skin. The ringing continued, the sound breaking into my sexual haze. I froze, pulling away from Samir. Our gazes met. We both grabbed for my phone at the same time, our fingers brushing against each other.

My heart pounded at the sight of the name on the caller ID.

Fleur.

Chapter 22

“Fleur?”

“Maggie?”

Relief flooded me at the sound of her voice. “Where are you? We’ve been calling you for hours. We’ve been so worried about you.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “I don’t know where I am.”

I ran a hand through my hair, using my free hand to straighten up my clothes. I was out of breath, overheated. I felt as though I’d just run a marathon.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“I woke up by myself.” Fleur paused. “I’m at a hotel.”

“Where is she?” Samir interrupted.

“In a hotel.” I whispered.

“Who are you talking to?”

“I’m talking to Samir. He’s here. I called him this morning when we hadn’t heard from you. He flew out to help.”

“Oh, god. Can I talk to him?”

Wordlessly I passed the phone to Samir. I looked down, realizing I was still straddling him. And he was still clearly aroused—

I didn’t know whether to thank or curse Fleur for her timing.

I moved awkwardly, untangling my body from his, the whole time keeping my gaze trained away from him. My face heated. At least the other times we’d kissed I could blame things on the fact that I had been drunk. But this time—

I was stone-cold sober.

I sat, playing with the edge of my sweater, struggling to calm the emotions raging through my body. A million thoughts ran through my mind. How had we ended up here again?

A few minutes later, Samir hung up the phone.

“She’s going to text me her location and we’re going to pick her up. She’s freaked out but she’s okay.”

He didn’t look at me either.

I sat back, staring out the window, while Samir gave the driver our new plans. The fact that we had been making out in front of an audience only made things worse.

“Are you okay?”

I jerked my head up at the sound of Samir’s voice. I nodded, still not willing to meet his gaze.

“Maggie.”

My heart lurched at the sound of my name coming from his lips. I was definitely not ready to talk about this. “What?”

“Look at me.” His voice was husky. I could lose myself in that sound, in the desperation I heard there.

“I can’t.”

“Maggie, please.”

It was the ‘please’ that got me. Gone was the boy who always seemed above me—too flashy, too cool, too everything. For the first time I felt like I had some power, like he wasn’t as unaffected as he sometimes pretended to be. I lifted my chin, turning to face him. My heart slammed into my chest.

Samir’s face was flushed, his mouth swollen from our kisses. His hair was a sexy mess—tousled by my hands. His camel-colored trench coat was rumpled, the collared shirt underneath untucked from his dark jeans. His expression was inscrutable, his characteristic smirk wiped clean from his face.

He hesitated for a moment, his gaze lingering over my face. He shook his head. “Never mind.”

I swallowed, moving over on the seat, putting as much distance between us as possible. It felt so wrong to be near him and not be touching him. I curled my fingers into a tight fist.

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, Fleur’s going to be fine.”

“What happened to her?”

“She didn’t tell me everything, but from what I can tell she went home with a guy she met at Travinia. Probably the one you saw her with at the bar. When she woke up this morning, he was gone and she was by herself. She panicked when she realized she missed her flight and didn’t know where she was.”

His phone beeped. Samir pulled it out of his jeans pocket, scanning the message. He relayed the address to the driver.

“How far away is it?”

“According to the driver, twenty minutes.”

I nodded as if his announcement had no effect on me. There was no fucking way I could spend another twenty minutes by myself in a confined space with Samir.

I spent the drive staring out the window as if the Italian landscape was the most interesting think I had ever seen. Not that it wasn’t pretty, it was. But 98 percent of my interest in the countryside had more to do with the boy sitting next to me than the color of the trees.

I’d never felt like this. I
never
lost control.

When the car finally pulled up in front of an elegant Italian hotel, I heaved a sigh of relief. I scanned the scenery until my gaze settled on Fleur. She stood in front of the hotel, still dressed in the same short dress from the night before.

Her eyes were puffy, her face splotchy.

Samir nudged me. “Why don’t you go talk to her first? I’ll wait for you guys here.”

I opened the car door, grateful for the rush of fresh air that greeted me. I desperately needed to cool off.

Fleur’s head jerked up. “Maggie!” She grabbed me, pulling me in for a tight hug. “Thanks for coming to get me,” she whispered in my ear.

“Of course. I’m sorry I got pissed off for being lost,” I babbled. “It was totally stupid. I wasn’t really mad at you.”

“I shouldn’t have left you guys.”

I leaned away from Fleur, studying her carefully. Her lower lip trembled slightly and her hair was a tangled mess.

Worry filled me. “Did anything happen?”

She wouldn’t meet my gaze. “It was really stupid.”

“What happened?”

She hesitated. “Don’t judge me.”

“Okay.”

“I met up with Costa.”

I gaped at her. “Why? How?”

“I don’t know. He texted me. Told me he was in Venice and wanted to talk. He knew I was here.”

“How could you see him again? I thought this trip was about you getting over him? Why are you back here again? It makes absolutely no sense.”

I knew I was being harsh with her, but I just didn’t understand. She was so pretty, so funny, so fun to be around. She was so many things and yet she let him take so much from her. She couldn’t see it, but she lost her sparkle around him. I hated that the most.

“He said he was having second thoughts about our breakup.”

“And you believed him?”

“I don’t know.”

She looked miserable.

I had to ask—

“Why him? Out of all the guys, why him?” Maybe I didn’t have much of a leg to stand on given my hooking up with Samir, but I still didn’t get it. She’d been moping over the breakup for months. Why’d she want to get back together with him?

“I can’t explain it.” Something shimmered in her eyes—a sadness deeper than anything I’d ever seen in her. “It’s complicated.”

“Try me.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. Look, I know you don’t get it, but the thing is, he wasn’t always bad. There’s a lot of history there. Some things I can’t just walk away from.”

“Yeah, that’s a ringing endorsement.”

“It’s complicated. And it felt good to have someone. Just to know I wasn’t alone. I miss that.”

“I get that, but why can’t you find another guy to give you that? A guy who isn’t going to screw with your emotions?”

Fleur was silent for a moment. “I’m not great with guys.”

I laughed. “I’m sorry, but I don’t buy that for a second.”

Her smile was brittle. “Oh, I can get guys. In bed. I can make guys want me. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t get them to stay. Guys do serious with girls like you. They fuck girls like me.”