by Lily Zante
When the gym wasn’t enough, he’d gone for a long swim afterwards.
Back in his room he showered and slowly got ready for the evening dinner. He felt obliged to attend even though he really didn’t want to. Michael had indicated that it would be a more relaxed affair now that the presentations were over.
He couldn’t see how he’d get to relax much, not after having seen Tanya with that guy earlier. As if he didn’t already have a hard time trusting women.
He thought they had something. The way she’d let him hold her close yesterday, and then the kiss they had shared, a kiss so subtle he wasn’t sure it had actually happened, but it had. His hopes had been confirmed.
He knew she felt something for him. The attraction had started for him way back, but he’d never been certain about Tanya.
Until last night, by the fountain.
He’d gone to bed thinking of her, dreaming of her, needing to feel her, wanting her beside him. He’d been eager to attend her presentation not only because he knew how much it meant to her, but to gauge her reaction in the cold light of a new day.
She’d been nervous, slightly off, he could tell, at the start of it but she’d weathered it just fine. Until her accidental slip showing the man he presumed must have been her ex.
And now he was as unsure as ever. Seeing her with that guy she worked with had left his blood curdling.
She was clearly lonely and desperate and, he was certain, she was still hung up on her ex.
Why was it that the women he fell for always seem to want someone else? He’d been careful with women but meeting Tanya had somehow lowered his guard.
She very nearly had him too. How many men did this woman have on the side? This evening he’d gone for a more casual look, but he still looked smart. Not that it mattered. He really didn’t want to go. Except that he had to.
He shook his head when he saw his reflection in the mirror—his hair was getting long and felt thicker than usual. A haircut would have been a good idea. But suddenly he wasn’t so bothered about looking good for anyone. And he didn’t care whether he saw her or not.
The cocktail reception had moved outside as the doors along the banqueting hall pulled back and opened onto the terrace overlooking the beautiful lush green gardens. A large barbeque area at one side sizzled with the spit and hiss of meat being cooked. The smoky, tangy aroma filled the air and floated down to him.
“Michael says they’re trying something different this year,” commented Russell, as Gabriel joined the group with a bottle of beer in his hand.
“It smells good,” he said, eyeing the long table bulging with food. A part of him was relieved that there would be no sit-down meal tonight.
Though it would be harder to avoid her here. He couldn’t plant himself on a table where she wasn’t and so he decided to stick by Russell’s side, even if that meant putting up with yet more business talk. Gabriel wished this night would be over fast and prayed that Tanya wasn’t going to stay in San Francisco for long. At Russell’s insistence he’d accepted to spend a week in their offices here.
Ethan joined them and they swapped a few laughs about their game. “I’m not sure golf is for me,” confessed Ethan.
“We claim the gym,” said Gabriel.
“I always had you down for a golf man, Gabriel.” Russell said.
“You can’t beat a good workout in the gym.”
“Very true,” said Michael, and proceeded to tell them about his morning gym ritual before he went to work, surprising Gabriel with his energy levels.
From the corner of his eye Gabriel saw Nadine and Tanya approach the group. She looked stunning in a bright greenish-yellow colored dress, similar to the scarf she’d left behind. He surmised that it must have been her favorite color.
It suited her, he thought, trying to pull his gaze away from the outline of her almost figure hugging dress.
She must have felt him looking at her because she looked at him just then, and their gazes locked.
“Hi,” she said.
He nodded, and then hated himself for not even being able to speak to her. He acknowledged Nadine as easily as he dismissed Tanya.
“I hear Ethan dragged you off to the gym?” Nadine asked him.
“No dragging was involved.” Ethan retorted, defensively.
“He’s right. I went willingly,” replied Gabriel, smiling back at her.
“I thought you were going to play golf?” Tanya asked him.
He shook his head and ventured another glance at her face. “We did, for a while.” He found that he couldn’t drag his gaze away, even if he wanted to.
She looked beautiful and he wondered who she’d made the effort for.
“So you went to the gym instead?” she asked, venturing a smile, and trying to make conversation.
“I did.” His reply was cold, curt, and roughly delivered. No soft endearments, no low whispered voice. He forced himself to look away, and laughed at the tail end of a joke Russell had delivered the punchline to.
“If you’ll excuse me,” said Tanya, addressing everyone and no-one in particular and then left the group quickly. He saw Nadine look after her, and almost about to walk after her, but she hesitated. Instead she looked at Gabriel, it was just a slip of a look, as though she was trying to gauge something. But she said nothing.
So he turned to Dorothy and made polite talk.
Chapter 25
He was cold, and stand off-ish and she was doing her best to reach out to him. But after the third attempt of trying to catch his attention, Tanya stopped, decided she’d had enough and left the group.
His obvious disinterest in her bordered on the edge of downright rudeness. She got the message loud and clear: he wasn’t interested.
Nadine had done her best to include them both in conversation but Gabriel didn’t seem to want to know. And Tanya wasn’t going to stick around in the face of such disdain.
For the rest of the evening she worked her way through the other groups and mingled with people, many of whom she hadn’t spoken to properly for a while.
She bumped into Luc several times in her travels, but he knew the score now and she was thankful she’d managed to get her point across. Yet the damage had been done. Gabriel wasn’t about to give her a chance to explain herself.
The Saturday night event this year was different to those of the past. She quite liked this new style; a barbeque instead of a sit-down dinner. It was a great idea; perfect for the weather and the beautiful grounds of the hotel. Ordinarily she would have loved it for it was a wonderful way to enjoy the outdoors on the terrace on a sunny summer evening. People were beginning to unwind and were having a great time, and there was good food and drink in abundance.
The Zimmerman Group certainly knew how to put on an event and this particular one had always been the company’s best one, even though it excluded most of the departments, being solely for the benefit of the marketing managers and employees. Though senior managers from other departments were also invited.
She moved from one person to another, and in so doing she and Gabriel had successfully managed to dance around each other and avoid all contact.
Gabriel chose to remain with Russell, Michael and Dorothy for most of the evening, which was hardly surprising since he was an outsider to the company and barely knew many people.
On a few occasions, Tanya caught Nadine staring her way with a look of concern on her face. Tanya smiled back, indicating she was fine. Just dandy. She knew Nadine had observed the all too obvious avoidance strategy employed by Gabriel; she also knew Nadine could hardly be by her side all evening, since she too was busy working the room as well.
The dusky rose pink evening slowly deepened into a deep dark purple and the lit lanterns adorning the terrace twinkled into life. Classy and chic, they dressed the veranda with their white light, turning the whole place into a picture perfect heaven.
With eating, and talking and wandering around, and trying to forget Gabriel, Tanya saw th
at it was nearing eleven o’clock. She sought out Nadine and bade her goodnight.
“So soon?” exclaimed Nadine. “We haven’t had a chance to catch up properly.”
“We’ve got all day tomorrow.”
“We’ll catch up then.”
Tanya nodded and made her way back to her room and sunk onto the bed, still dressed, flicking through the TV channels in the hopes of being distracted from the noise she could hear outside on the veranda. Her room backed onto the gardens.
She’d made a real effort to get dressed for this evening and had picked out one of her favorite outfits: a lemony-lime colored dress. It was perfect for summer, not too clingy, yet it gave her body some definition, and gave the appearance of slim-ness which she didn’t really possess. But she had a good body for a woman of her age. The high heeled gold sandals she’d slipped on made her stand taller, giving her legs more shape and lending her an overall air of sophistication.
All for nothing.
But after an hour in the small, cosily lit room, she was still no nearer to feeling tired. The anger still stewed, and would not let her mind rest. She got up and looked at her reflection in the mirror; concluded that she didn’t look bad at all.
She looked sexy without trying to look as though she’d dressed like a twenty year old. Understated chic, that’s what she wore, and rather well too, she surmised.
Why the hell wouldn’t he give her a chance?
He’s not getting away with it, she decided, and then remembered that she still had his jacket. It gave her the perfect excuse to go to his room and return it to him.
Because she had no intention of lugging it all the way back to Paris for him. She wasn’t sure when he was flying out but with only the managers’ meeting in the morning and no more presentations tomorrow most people would be leaving after breakfast.
It made perfect sense for her to return Gabriel’s jacket right now, even if it was past midnight. Unless he was having the time of his life, he’d probably be back in his room now.
She grabbed the jacket, grabbed her key card and left her room. She was sure she’d heard him say he was in room 302 and with that destination in mind she made her way down the elevator and raced with a beating heart down the hallway to his room.
Her heart banged against her ribcage, even as courage leaked out of her body. She told herself that she’d come here only to return what was his.
It wasn’t a desperate attempt to seek him out.
It wasn’t.
With her heart almost in her mouth, she knocked on his door.
No answer.
Maybe he was in the shower, or in the washroom?
She knocked again and waited, holding his carefully folded up jacket in her arms. Damn it. He couldn’t still be at the barbeque enjoying himself, could he?
How dare he?
She lifted her hand to knock again, but decided against it as suddenly, and let her hand slip down without a sound.
“Looking for me?” His voice directly behind her electrified the hairs on her neck. She spun around and missed a few heartbeats with the unexpected shock of seeing him on the same side of the door as her. Her mouth hung open, and his gaze—curious, searching and unguarded—dropped to his jacket.
“I came to return your jacket.” She moved to the side, clearing the entrance to the door, and held out his jacket for him. With a cold look that still hadn’t melted, he took it as his gaze moved from the jacket to her lips, then up to her eyes. Caught in his intense stare, she felt a fire spark along her lips, her skin, her soul.
And she felt rooted to the floor, unable to move.
“Thank you, and goodnight,” he turned away from her and slipped his key card into the door which he pushed open. He walked in, turned, and looked at her oddly, as if wondering what she was doing still standing there.
“I’m not done with you yet,” she managed, and put her hand onto the door to prevent him from closing it. He wasn’t going to dismiss her so easily, nor would she let him.
“No?” Interest sparked in his eyes, and for the first time that evening, the coldness, reserved only for her, seemed to thaw a little. Her actions seemed to render him unsure.
“Here?” His voice turned husky, dropped a little lower.
“It won’t take long.”
He moved aside, opening the door wide to let her through.
His hotel room was identical to hers with its double bed, twin sconces, décor and layout, except that he had a whole wall which was glass and looked out onto the forest. But now, at night, it looked out into the pitch darkness. She caught sight of her reflection, and his as they stood side by side, unsure.
She looked around, to avoid staring at the reflection and noted that he kept his room clean. A neat holdall stood to one corner, and it was immaculate. Nothing like hers with her bed covered with makeup and accessories, and the different dresses she’d tried on before settling on the outfit she now wore.
Gabriel strode to the windowed wall and drew the curtains before switching on the wall sconces. These took the room from dingy, sleazy darkness to a gorgeous warm seductive hue of amber.
He peeled off his blazer and put it carefully around the chair, as if he had all the time in the world, as if her standing there was of no particular concern to him.
She suddenly felt foolish, and at the same time tingled all over with anticipation. It was heady, being here, just him and her, in his room.
She tried hard not to bite her lip and crossed her arms, more to sound proof the sound of her heart, which she could hear reverberating in her ears.
“I—” But just as in the presentation, her thoughts locked down, and she wasn’t sure what she was going to say. She’d not thought that far ahead and now that she was here, her body began to respond to him. Just as it had yesterday at the fountain. She crossed her arms even tighter, as though reining in the desire she felt slowly swirling around her body. Blood rushed from her head to her lips, and again, her throat dried up.
Gabriel too seemed to be fighting something. She knew that stance of his, hoped she wasn’t wrong, that he was fighting to curb the same urge too.
“I’d better go,” she said, not wanting to make a fool of herself, and uncrossed her arms, dropping them to her sides. Yet he held her spellbound with his gaze, so intense that she fell into it, was drawn into it and to him. Her skin screamed for his touch and she felt the feelings of desire spark back up. The feelings he’d ignited in her yesterday.
Blood pooled, a direct line from her chest to deep within her. To a place she’d left behind. Fighting for control, she balled her fists. Yet Gabriel merely looked at her, his eyes dark and hooded almost—the promise of him right there for the taking.
Only, with him not moving, she was suddenly and consciously aware that she might have read the whole situation wrong. And yet it was there, unmistakable, this potent mix of anger and desire that painted his beautiful face.
Unable to take another cold stare from him she regained her composure enough to make it to the door. She reached it, just as he caught up with her. He stood behind her with his hand on the door, above her head.
“You said you wanted to talk.”
Her heightened senses caught a scent of his aftershave mixed in with the smoky tang from the barbeque, she felt his breath close behind her ear, as the sizzle and crackle of the electricity between them sent her skin prickling.
She dared not trust herself to face him, couldn’t bear to look into his smoldering, angry face again for she knew her mind would empty if she did.
She shook her head. “I don’t have anything to say. You seem to have figured me out.”
“I can’t figure you out, Tanya.” His voice so close, was rich, deep and resonated with the beating of her heart. She felt her breath quicken, as his breath caressed her skin once more. “Tell me what you came here to say.” He commanded, standing so close but not touching her. And it was this that she craved right now, more than anything else.
H
er skin yearned for the feel of his skin on her, for his mouth on hers…for his…
“Say it,” he urged.
“You saw me and Luc talking. It’s not what you think.”
“Then tell me what to think.”
“I’m not with him. I never was or have been.” She stilled one hand on the latch, while the other lay pressed flat against the door, directly under his. The moisture of her excitement seeped slowly into her panties.
“You seemed close enough to me.”
“Nothing ever happened. We shared a kiss, once, twice. Nothing more.”
The hairs on the back of her neck and across her arms stood to attention. The more he spoke the more his breath softly skimmed the sides of her face. She dared not turn her head, lest she broke the spell.
“And there’s nothing more?”
“No. Not with him. Not with anyone.” She shook her head and steadied herself against the door as shivers shot up her arms and down the length of her back. She felt his fingers gently move her hair over to the side of her neck, his touch igniting every fiber of her body.
She shivered, not from cold, for his touch was like fire, but from the promise of what was to come.
Blood gushed through her body, as his fingers, as soft as feathers, caressed the length of her arms.
“Do you want this, Tanya?”
Oh, god, yes. She nodded her head and almost let out an audible gasp as his lips kissed her neck softly.
He was driving her slowly insane. She needed more, and mewled, low and desperate, as though she’d been given a sweet release from pent-up frustration.
A release only he could give her.
Not Vincent, not Luc, not anyone else.
She leaned her forehead against the cold door and felt relief when it cooled her hot skin. She could feel herself giving into the spell of his slow seduction. It was all that she wanted.
“More,” she pleaded, surprised to hear her thoughts become words. His lips grazed her neck and moved to her jaw, light, soft kisses. Not-enough-kisses. She groaned, louder, demanding more, as his hands slipped around her waist, trailed up and down the sides of her hips.
