Embracing Love (Tainted Love Book 3)

by Lily Zante

  “When are you coming over next?” Thierry asked Nadine.

  “Sometime in August.”

  “Two gorgeous women. What more could you ask for?” said Luc as he and Mitchell suddenly joined them all. Tanya exchanged a polite ‘hello’ with him, and they all stood around making small talk. Nobody spoke about work much until Luc asked, “What about the new London office?”

  Tanya looked over to Nadine, since she didn’t know much over and above the fact that Michael had just been there and things were still in the early stages.

  “There are some plans,” said Nadine slowly, “It seems only right that we have a London office as well. But nothing has been finalized though I’m sure by this time next year we possibly might have a tiny London presence.”

  “I’m sure Michael won’t leave it at that,” said Thierry with a laugh. “He’ll want to expand further. He’s going for world domination, I think.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with world domination,” said Michael, suddenly wading in with Russell Trent in tow.

  But, Tanya noted, Michael didn’t elaborate further on the topic of London and instead introduced Russell Trent to the group. “The infamous Tanya Braun,” boomed Russell, shaking hands with her.

  Slight trepidation crept along her skin and she hoped she could carry off the presentation well. “It’s good to meet you again,” said Russell.

  She returned the greeting and nodded her head at Michael, who asked her if things had gone well in Milan.

  “As well as could be,” she reported, conscious that she’d given him a vague answer.

  “Ah, there you are, dear,” said Michael, suddenly breaking away from the group. He reached out to his wife, Dorothy, as she joined the group. Like her husband, Dorothy was older, in her early sixties, and as small and as sprightly as Michael. He introduced her proudly to everyone and she shook hands with them all.

  The conversation suddenly turned quiet. Meeting Dorothy again made Tanya feel uneasy, yet she managed to gracefully shake hands with the wife of the man she had slept with at a time when he had also been separated.

  Seeing the two of them together, Tanya couldn’t imagine them ever being apart. The insides of her stomach began to slowly drip towards the soles of her feet as Tanya faced Dorothy with a smile on her face.

  “Nice to see you again,” said Dorothy. “It’s been a while hasn’t it?”

  Tanya could only nod her head in reply. They had only met here because Dorothy didn’t turn up to any other company events, not even the Christmas party. It had been a while though, since neither of them had been here last year.

  “Michael tells me you’re back with the company but you’re working in Paris?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “It’s just as well. I don’t know how the company could ever do without you.” Dorothy told her, graciously and Tanya could only smile weakly back. Thankfully Dorothy then moved onto Nadine and the two women struck up a conversation.

  “I think this is going to be the best marketing convention, yet,” declared Michael.

  “You say that every year,” chuckled Thierry.

  “It’s a great venue, I’ll give you that,” Russell towered over them all, with his huge frame, as he looked around.

  Tanya was once again edgy and restless. Coming here was supposed to be a break for her, but she was having a hard time relaxing.

  “Gabriel! What time do you call this?” Russell’s voice boomed loud over the chatter. Mention of his name sent an adrenaline rush straight to her head and she felt the sprint of her heartbeat.

  Could it be—him?

  In answer, she heard his voice, smooth and controlled directly behind her. “Russell, Michael.”

  She dared not turn to her side, cleared her throat, which had suddenly turned bone dry.

  He came and stood by her side, while Michael introduced him to everyone.

  “Hello, Tanya,” he said, when it was her turn. She felt her skin tingle as though dry sparks had emptied all over her bare arms. Gabriel put out his hand to shake hers and when their palms touched, it was electric.

  “Gabriel,” she said. And tried for composure, but failed. She’d need another drink or three to get through the rest of this evening.

  Chapter 17

  Gabriel spoke politely to everyone, he had that quiet Parisian reserve, and therefore refrained from being too loud or becoming too over-friendly with people he barely knew.

  Tanya stole another quick glance at him while he talked to Michael. He was dressed in a casual charcoal gray business suit and wore a pale pink shirt. She couldn’t help but notice how good he looked, even wearing pale pink. It made his hair look even darker.

  She’d imagined what it might be like to run her fingers through his hair…

  Nadine shifted beside her a little as the growing circle of people expanded. Gabriel stood to her right with Michael, Mitchell and Russell next to him, and Nadine was on her left.

  Yet everyone else in the group dimmed in the background, because she could only sense Gabriel next to her. Her heightened senses savoured and absorbed every detail about him, from the fabric of his jacket as it brushed against her arm, to the strong, woody scent she’d come to associate with him. Her legs weakened, and her heart still thrashed with wild abandon. And yet he stood calmly, oblivious to the landslide reaction her body was having to his close proximity.

  They must have been talking about the collaboration between the two companies because Michael spoke up a little louder then and looked at her. “Tanya will be covering how our companies have worked together on the new campaign. Her presentation is the first one of the day tomorrow. I think it’s definitely a must-see for both of you.”

  “I look forward to it.” Gabriel replied, turning to her. His gaze raked all over her face and she held her breath, conscious that her breathing would run riot if she didn’t.

  It had been a while since they’d last met. But, good god, she found herself falling into him, into his gaze, into his space—he held her spellbound, the way he looked at her.

  “Thank you for inviting me over, Michael,” he said, and broke the spell as he addressed her boss.

  Tanya let out a breath, slowly, then took a gulp of her champagne. She caught the tail end of Michael’s response. “The pleasure is ours and don’t forget, tomorrow evening, once all the hard work is done, we’re having a party. Expect lots of great food and drink.” Everyone laughed and soon the group began to break up a little as people separated unconsciously into little groups of their own.

  Nadine left her side and made her way to Dorothy, the Europeans banded together with Mitchell, Russell and Michael broke apart from the group and that just left her and Gabriel staring at one another.

  Gabriel turned to face her and his gorgeous eyes, the perfect blend of smooth, rich chocolate and flecks of amber, held her captive. She’d never noticed the amber before. They stood face to face, and it was difficult to look anywhere else but at him. She didn’t want to look anywhere else but at him.

  Oh good god, she was in trouble.

  Say something.

  Say something and don’t just stand there like a mindless moron.

  She moistened her lips, only because she hadn’t recovered from the dry mouth, and the breaths she had tried to control, came quick and fast.

  “I didn’t know you were coming.” Her voice sounded strangely normal compared to how she felt inside.

  “I’m here for your presentation.”

  He didn’t really mean that.

  “I’m only doing one, but there are quite a few interesting ones this year. I know Nadine is doing three.”

  “I only came to see yours.”

  “Oh, really?” Oh shit.

  She was melting into the secret space between them, the place where some magic was taking place, she couldn’t see it, but she could feel it. And she knew it was there because her body was going crazy just by standing face to face with this man.

  How was she expect
ed to deliver her presentation knowing what he had just told her?

  Had he really come to see hers and hers alone?

  As though she wasn’t nervous enough already. His eyes narrowed and he looked at her strangely, a look she couldn’t quite decipher the intent of. Except that it had been a while since a man had looked at her in that way.

  “I look forward to seeing what you’ve put together.” The way he spoke in that sexy accent of his, he could make boring sentences sound like a call to the bedroom.

  “I’d better over deliver.” She smiled weakly, and her stomach gurgled like a geyser about to erupt forth. She was now even more acutely aware that she looked like a mess, and especially so compared to the svelte Nadine. Self-conscious and feeling uneasy, Tanya crossed her arm over her stomach, her free hand still clutching her glass of champagne.

  “I’m sure you will.” He gave her a relaxed smile but she felt conscious of herself, of the tiredness on her face, in her body, and yet—and yet, just him being so near to her, him just being here, filled her with a level of excitement she hadn’t experienced in a long time.

  She wished she’d made more of an effort with her appearance.

  “I have something for you,” he said, reaching into his pocket but a slight commotion behind them made him stop.

  Ethan had arrived and Nadine introduced him to the teams from abroad as well as Gabriel and Russell. He appeared to know everyone else.

  Just then, Michael, playing the devil’s advocate, something unusual for him, jumped right in. “Ethan,” he said, grabbing Nadine’s fiancé by the elbow, “This is the man partly responsible for Nadine missing your awards ceremony.” He let out a mischievous little laugh.

  Gabriel looked suitably embarrassed. “I did?” He obviously had no idea about that whole saga. “If that is true, then I’m very sorry.” He said, shaking Ethan’s hand.

  “Hey, it’s cool. I think there were other factors involved.” Ethan said graciously.

  “I missed my flight the next morning, and the connecting flight got delayed. There were other factors,” Nadine interjected quickly.

  “An awards night for what?” asked Gabriel.

  “Oh, just…metal sculpting.” Ethan looked as though he didn’t want too much attention.

  “You are an artist?” Gabriel sounded impressed and the two men drifted off into their own conversation as people gravitated once more into their own groups, leaving her and Nadine with the two men.

  “How are the wedding preparations coming along?” Tanya asked them. Ethan laughed and Nadine shook her head. “Slowly.”

  “You’re getting married?” asked Gabriel with sudden interest. “Congratulations. When is the big day?”

  “Seventeenth of February next year,” said Ethan.

  “It’s not too far off then.” Gabriel commented.

  “It’s too long. I wish we were already married,” said Ethan.

  “We’ve still got half a year left,” protested Nadine. “This weekend is a break from wedding talk otherwise my mother would have had us in Santa Barbara going through the menus or something.”

  “What’s left to do?” Gabriel asked Nadine.

  “The cake, the flowers, the photos—” Nadine started her litany in a bored voice.

  “Tyler said he’d do the photos.” Ethan jumped in.

  “He can’t—he’s a guest at the wedding. He and Zoe, remember? We need to find another photographer. I think Renee said she had a friend she could recommend,” said Nadine, and the two of them got caught up in their own little drama, worrying about their small details.

  For a moment it seemed as if Gabriel Valois wasn’t a client but just another friend of theirs. Tanya considered the crazy idea of the four of them appearing to others like two couples shooting the breeze one Friday evening.

  “Wasn’t this where you met last year?” asked Tanya, suddenly remembering the rumors. Ethan put his arm around Nadine’s waist just then. “We didn’t meet here. But yeah, I came to this event last year, you could say.” And the way he and Nadine shared a sly secret smile, she knew there was more to it. She’d have to extricate the final truth from Nadine at some stage this weekend, when she got the chance.

  Tanya continued to listen and reminisce about how sweet marriage seemed for those who had never taken that step before. It had been like that for her, once. Just watching them reminded her of how excited and happy she’d been when she and Vincent had made their plans.

  “Don’t forget to save the day,” Nadine said to Tanya.

  “The both of you,” added Ethan, without thinking.

  “We’re not together.” Tanya motioned her hand between her and Gabriel and noted that Nadine had gently elbowed him in the ribs.

  “Awkward. My mistake. I’m sorry, guys.” It was the first time Tanya had ever seen Ethan look anything like flustered. Usually he was so laid back. “Let’s go mingle shall we?” Nadine slipped her hand into Ethan’s, and gave them both a polite, if somewhat embarrassed, nod as she whisked him away.

  Trapped in another awkward moment, Gabriel and Tanya stood in limbo as they watched Ethan and Nadine work their way through the happy clusters of people.

  “Nice couple,” commented Gabriel.

  “Yes,” she agreed, staring at his side profile and thinking how good he looked. Why hadn’t she really noticed before? Was it a case of him becoming more attractive to her because she was starting to feel differently about him or had he always been so gorgeous?

  “Wedding plans,” he commented, as he turned to her, “they seem like so much work.”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you married?” His question, though it was completely in context, still seemed bold, and took her by surprise.

  “I used to be.” She felt the heat of Gabriel’s gaze as he pried deeper.

  “Used to be?”

  “I’m divorced now. Life still goes on,” she tried to laugh it off. “But I won’t be trying that in a hurry. You?” she asked, thinking it was a fair question now that he had probed.

  “I’ve never been married.”

  “There’s always a first time,” she suggested.

  “I don’t know.” Gabriel glanced down at his shoes. “I haven’t really met anyone that I’d want to spend the rest of my life with.”

  They stood silently, savouring this new knowledge. It was a pleasant July evening at a beautiful hotel, in an amazing setting and they had the whole weekend. The turmoil in her stomach had lessened, but she still felt restless.

  How else could she feel when this man, tall, with dark, bedroom eyes and an aura of deadly dangerous sex appeal looked at her as though she was the only woman in the room?

  A part of her still felt slightly wary and the other part of her was most definitely drawn to him.

  Caught in this dilemma, Tanya felt immobile. Like Luc, perhaps Gabriel too was just after one thing. Maybe the ‘hasn’t had sex in a while’ sticker on her head was glowing in fluorescent yellow tonight.

  She wasn’t sure but she knew that if she stood here any longer looking directly into those molten brown eyes of his, she might give in to whatever he suggested.

  She needed to move away, and yet she could not.

  Chapter 18

  Gabriel watched as Ethan and Nadine wandered off. He liked this couple; they seemed nice, approachable and friendly, just like most of the people he’d met from the Zimmerman Group.

  It had been worth his while to have come here after all—even if his only initial reason had been because he needed to get away from Paris for a few days and the idea of running into Tanya had excited him.

  He turned to her and caught her looking at him before guiltily look away, chewing her lip at the same time.

  She’d look at him when she thought he wasn’t looking; she’d done that a few times, he noted, and he’d almost figured out when she had a question. It wasn’t that her skin flushed—it did that whenever she got embarrassed or got too worked up about something, but she chewed her
lip when she needed to know something.

  Like now.

  Just as well because he had questions too. So she’d been married at some point, had she? It reminded him. “I have something for you.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out her scarf.

  She laughed. “You carried this all the way?”

  “It was extremely heavy. It pushed my luggage limit over.” He smiled as he handed it to her. The thin silk splash of green floated in the air.

  “Thank you. I’ll have to make up for whatever it cost you to drag this here.”

  “If you insist.” His lips curled into a smile and he wondered whether to take her literally or not.

  “You didn’t bring Vanessa Delorme with you?” she asked, and her eyes searched his face carefully.

  “Why would I bring her?” He was unsure where she was going with this line of questioning. Unless she was trying to find out something.

  Now she blushed. “Michael usually invites couples, I assumed—“

  Ah. So that’s where she was going. He looked over to where Russell stood. “Russell didn’t bring his girlfriend either, I noticed.”

  Tanya followed his gaze. “I don’t know if he’s married or not. I don’t know what his status is,” she said, her cheeks getting redder. He knew he hadn’t answered her question but he knew exactly what she was asking. He leaned in closer. “I think we both know that I didn’t bring her because she’s nowhere to be seen.”

  She smelled fresh, like flowers in a field, and with his lips an inch away from her neck, it was a struggle not to kiss her bare skin. He lingered a second longer, drinking in the heady aura of being so near to her. “And since we are no longer together, there would have been no point in me bringing her.”

  He stepped away to see the reaction on her face. She didn’t have an answer for him, but he could tell by the way the goose bumps sprang up all over her arms that his words had an effect on her.

  Time stopped and they held the deadlock of their stares, until he spoke again. Now it was his turn. “What about you? Did you come…alone?”