The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series) (23 page)

              “What are you doing?” she gasped, clutching at the seat around her.

              “I uh, I thought we would…. sightsee,” I shrugged my shoulder casually, whipping out my phone to text Sebastian a half-assed explanation so he wouldn’t worry.

              “Sightsee?” Amelia asked slowly, her eyes still as round and big as ever. “I think you just kidnapped me.”

              I chuckled. Ok, maybe she was right. Kidnapping was definitely not a smooth way to go about this. And this was in absolute opposition to the argument I had just worked up on the drive here.

              But clearly I wasn’t thinking with my head right now.

Chapter Twenty-One

              Amelia stayed quiet as I drove through the busy Paris streets. I half expected her to jump out of the vehicle at any of the places I had to stop and wait, paused in standstill traffic even this late at night. But she stayed still in her seat. Her magic snapped around her with an irritated edge, but at least she didn’t try to escape the car.

              Which stupidly gave me hope.

              I parallel parked on a side street off the Champs de Elysee, squeezing in between a Mini Cooper and a Smart Car. I shivered at the sight of the Smart Car. So. Ugly. Every male bone in my body rejected the idea of something so weak and powerless.

              The car was uncomfortably silent after the engine died and I wasn’t exactly sure what to say. Honesty seemed to be the best policy here, but I didn’t want to scare her off either.

              “Avalon…?” she broke the silence, her tone calculating and questioning. “What are we doing?”

              “Sightseeing? I repeated my earlier excuse but it sounded weak out loud and in the open.

              “So you said,” she mumbled. “You didn’t want to ask me first? See if I actually wanted to go with you?”

              “Uh….” I stammered. I turned around in my seat so that I could look her in the eye. It took practically all my courage to meet her gaze, but I forced myself to do it. I made this bed, now it was time to lie in it. Hopefully she would keep me company though. “Would you have said yes?” I asked.

              “I’m not sure,” she mumbled through teeth that were biting at her bottom lip thoughtfully.

              “Are you going to get out of the car with me?” I pressed my luck.

              I noticed the slight twitch to her lips and confidence grew like wildfire in my veins.

              “I’m not sure,” she repeated.

              I believed that she wasn’t sure, but I also believed that she wanted to spend time with me more than she would admit. Swallowing back insecurities that had been nonexistent until Amelia showed up, I reached for her hand that played with a loose string on her kneecap. I picked up her fingers gently in mine, sliding the pads of my fingers against hers. The barely there touch was so intoxicating, my body rushed with heat. Amelia’s eyes darkened into depthless pools, her gaze flickering between our hands and my eyes from underneath those thick lashes.

              “Please?” I asked through a thick voice.

              She nodded her affirmation with the smallest tilt of her chin, her teeth still punishing her bottom lip. I stared at her for a full minute more before talking myself into letting go of her hand.

              And when I did pull away, I had to fight feelings of emptiness. Without her hand in mine I felt lessened and incomplete. I swallowed roughly against everything that could mean and settled with taking her hand into mine as soon as she crawled from the back seat and her feet were firmly on the pavement.

              She didn’t hesitate.

              I smiled like an idiot.

              Progress.

              The breeze was cool the further toward the middle of the night we got, but neither of us noticed as we walked along the Champs hand in hand. Paris was one of those fantastic cities that were always alive no matter how late the night got. We walked through crowds of noisy tourists and past street vendors painting idyllic portraits or peddling delicious smelling food.

              The wide street was lined with expensive, designer shops and cafes that flowed onto the sidewalk with tiny tables squashed together. The scents of cigarette smoke and strong coffee drifted around us and I felt like sighing with contentment.

              I didn’t. But I felt like it.

              I hadn’t felt this alive in a long time…. possibly ever.

              My hand instinctively tightened around Amelia’s, afraid she would let go, afraid this moment of perfection would dissolve around me and I would be left struggling to breathe, the emptiness of an endless future looming over me.

              “What’s the plan, Avalon?” Amelia asked in a smoky voice, pulling me back to the present, back to her. I looked down at her, noticing that she was actually relaxed and at ease with me.

              “I don’t have one,” I admitted. “I just wanted to get you alone.” I laughed after the honesty fell out of my mouth before I could stop it or grapple control of my mouth.

              “I see,” she laughed too. “And now that you have me alone….?”

              She was flirting with me? She was flirting with me! I knew no woman could withstand my irresistible charm. Nervousness I didn’t even notice coiling my insides tight dissipated as I decided to unleash the full caliber of my charisma.

              I paused on the busy sidewalk, pulling her forward with the hand that was held in mine. “Have my wicked way with you, of course,” I whispered in a gruff, intense voice.

              “Of course,” she murmured back, heat flashing in her eyes.

              My hand slipped to her waist, and I yanked her forward against me. Pedestrians had to move around us since we stood in the middle of the sidewalk, but my focus was completely narrowed on Amelia. She swallowed, her pretty throat working with the effort.

              I bent down to her slowly, giving her plenty of time to pull away. I hoped we were beyond all that, but I couldn’t pretend to understand how this girl thought. My lips brushed against hers just barely, her soft lips teasing and torturing my will power. I told myself I would respect her here, in the middle of all of these people, but I felt my resolve tumble out of my control the minute her breath heated the air between us.

              I allowed myself one more feather light kiss. My hands tightened on her hips, revealing a desire that I refused my mouth. Her tongue swept out and across my bottom lip sending a shiver, a real, honest to God shiver, down my spine.

              I stepped back, putting space between us. I sucked in a deep breath while the world tilted and spun around me. My heart hammered in my chest, beating a rhythm that seemed to include more than my heart…. more than my life.

              “Can I take you to one of my favorite restaurants?” Amelia asked in the most beautiful, breathy voice.

              I nodded my approval, not trusting my voice to be strong enough to answer. She slipped her hand into mine and pulled me down the street after her. People moved around us, by us, bumping into us or talking loudly near us, but I missed it all. My world shrunk and narrowed to include only one other person, and the realization was surprisingly contenting. There was a grin plastered to my face and I tried to wipe it off, I tried to not do the whole stupid, foolish smile thing, but I couldn’t…. She…. Amelia…. was something so incredible, so meaningful, I wondered if I’d ever be able to think straight again.

              We were peacefully quiet as Amelia led us through a maze of side streets. Her hand stayed in my mine the entire way, and I was content to follow her. I had wanted this to be my thing, my big show of chivalry or something like that, but she had this way of overpowering every alpha male instinct in me until I was putty in her hands, willing to let her lead me anywhere and do anything she wanted, and at the same time ramping up all of my testosterone until I was a possessive, psychotic Neanderthal and I felt the strongest urge to throw her over my shoulder and declare “Mine!” to everyone we passed.

              We finally stopped at a tiny little café with a small outside seating area filled with Parisians enjoying bottles of French wine and smoking in the crisp night air. She led me through the tables and into the dimly lit café where the hostess showed us to a table tucked away in the back of the restaurant.

              Amelia chatted in French with the hostess as if they were old friends and before the human girl who seemed to be in her early twenties left us she gave Amelia double air kisses on both of her cheeks. I pulled out the chair for my date, and helped her get settled before I took my own chair across from her.

              “Friend of yours?” I asked, admiring how the soft light from a candle in the middle of the table darkened Amelia’s eyes but kept her red lips perfectly illuminated. God she was gorgeous.

              “She’s the daughter of the owner and chef,” she explained. I stared at her lips, completely mesmerized with their every movement. “I told you, this is my favorite café, I come here a lot when I’m in town. Her name is Evelia, or I call her Evie and she has a three year old daughter named Claribel who is the most precious thing you’ve ever seen. Evie’s husband was killed in a motorcycle accident when Claribel was only a baby. Evie works for her father in the evening while her mother watches Claribel. She is the most beautiful person, Avalon, but her heart is broken. I wish there was something I could do for her, some way to help her heal from losing the love of her life and the hardship of being a single mother…. I mean there are tangible things I can do for her, but it’s like her pain is so much deeper than physical needs. I just hate it for her.”

              I sat silent for a long time, not sure how to respond to Amelia’s compassion. I had never met anyone like her before, someone who put everyone before themselves, who thought about needs and feelings and hardships that would never even cross my mind.

              I didn’t like to think of myself as a selfish person, I mean I had risked my life for the sake of thousands of people I didn’t even really know on like a personal level. I would do anything for the people in my life and I would kill anyone that tried to hurt them. But for the most part, the human population never crossed my mind at that deep of  a level, save for the Gypsy village but Ileana refused any and all of my help or money.

              Amelia thought about everyone, about everything.

              She was a beautiful person. She radiated with light and love and warmth.

              She was incredible.
              And if she said anything else…. Anything else at all, even if it was about the weather…. I knew I would fall for her.

              I would lose myself to her.

              “What?” she asked shyly, her cheeks blushing under my open stare.

              And that was all it took. I was lost in her.

              “I just…. it’s nothing, I uh, I’ve never met anyone like you before,” I finished lamely, knowing the intensity of my feelings for her would scare her off if I was honest with her.

              “I hope that’s a good thing,” she laughed self-consciously.

              I reached for her hand across the table, hating that we had a table separating us. I smiled at her, or at least widened my smile, because I was pretty sure I hadn’t stopped smiling since she agreed to get out of my car and spend time with me.

              “It’s a very good thing,” I promised and then was rewarded with a deeper flush to her cheeks. “Are you hungry?” I asked, hoping to calm her down a little bit, I could feel her jumpy magic as I made her nervous with my interest in her.

              “Not really,” she admitted and I hoped she was being honest with me. Although we just ate dinner not that long ago and I wasn’t really hungry either.  “But their cappuccinos are fantastic.”

              I signaled the waiter over then and gave him our order for two cappuccinos. As soon as he was gone, I refocused my attention on Amelia not even knowing where to start. It could be said that I had never been tongue-tied before in my entire life. But looking down at this beautiful creature across from me, I didn’t even know where to start.

              “Avalon, seriously, why are you looking at me like that?” Amelia laughed at me. She shook out her hair and averted her gaze.

              I laughed with her, a little self-consciously, hoping I wasn’t scaring the hell out of her. My only encouragement was that she didn’t pull her hand out of mine. “How am I looking at you?”

              “I don’t know,” she fidgeted a little, fixating on the table cloth. “Like…. like you’re shocked I’m sitting here with you.”

              “I
am
shocked I’m sitting with you.” I squeezed her hand in mine and gave her a crooked smile I hoped came off as charming. “I keep waiting for you to remember how much I irritate you.”

              “Irritate me?” she asked, her eyes flashing with confusion. “You don’t irritate me. You…. I just…. I don’t think I trust you yet.”

              The waiter came back with two small cups of strong smelling foamy coffee. I watched her closely as he set down our drinks in front of us, letting her words sink in and trying to figure out what to do with them.

              As soon as he left she took a sip of her coffee, her eyes darting around the restaurant nervously. She was probably hoping I would let the whole thing drop, but I couldn’t.

              “I’m trying to decide if I should be thrilled you don’t find me obnoxious or worried because you don’t trust me,” I admitted lightly, hoping she would explain better what exactly there was not to trust me with.             

              “Ok, maybe I was a little too generous earlier. You’re not irritating me tonight,” she smiled at me, batting her thick eye lashes innocently.

              I chuckled at her sense of humor. “I figured as much, I’ve been told I’m a very difficult person to get along with.”