31. Then
THIRTY-ONE
then
Gray steadily tortured me through an entire bottle of champagne, half a bottle of red wine, and three of the most delicious courses I’d ever consumed in the single most beautiful restaurant I’d ever seen.
He abandoned the seat across from mine in favor of the one on my left and then proceeded to spend the evening tantalizing me with the briefest of touches. The glide of his fingertips over my forearm; his warm palm squeezing its way over my thigh; a hand massaging the nape of my neck just long enough to send a thrill skittering down my spine .
It didn’t help that he was just as charming as ever, at once a flawless gentleman and brimming with seductive charm.
Even though it made him impossibly out of my league, I had to admire his confidence and gallantry. He ordered astronomically expensive plates of food and tested their wine pairings with easy grace, a practiced gesture to subtly flag down a server here, a slight nod of approval there.
Mixed with his wickedly sensual gaze, the combination was devastating. His endless emerald eyes alternated between searing attentiveness and suggestive glances, roaming over my lips, my breasts, my lap….
By the time he fished his wallet out of the pocket inside his suit jacket, I was practically panting for him. As soon as the waiter disappeared with his black card, I slid my hand over the one he had wrapped around my knee.
“Can we go home now?” I whispered, imploring him with my eyes.
Masculine triumph curved Gray’s sculpted lips. “We could,” he allowed, noncommittal. “Or…”
He reached into his other jacket pocket and extracted another plastic card, setting it on table between us. “We could go upstairs.”
I had to concentrate on not sounding squeaky. “Upstairs?”
The heat in his eyes smoldered. “To a room. It’s closer than my apartment.”
With the way he was looking at me, closer suddenly seemed like the only detail that mattered. My mouth tingled while he glanced over my lips, then stared back into me again. “Unless you’d like to wait…”
I did not want to wait. Not one more minute. I wasn’t even sure I’d make it to the room he had so thoughtfully procured in advance. I wasn’t even sure I cared that he’d been decently presumptuous in doing so.
Later, I would worry that I should have played coy and been harder to get. Later, I would tease him for assuming we’d spend the night together. Late r… when he wasn’t looking at me with so much naked desire that I felt all the muscles below my navel clench in anticipation.
Then, I decided: If I couldn’t be demure, I would be bold.
Gray signed the check and slid his wallet back into its rightful place. I held the key card out to him, burning my gaze back into his. “Take me now.”
It was worse than I ever could have dreamed.
More beautiful and opulent than my imagination could conjure. So much so that as I stood in the foyer—yes, the room had a foyer —and took in the shimmering blue-and-silver wallpaper, I actually groaned .
“Gray, no ,” I cried, overwhelmed by his generosity and my general deficiency.
His rueful smile softened his face as he shrugged. “It has a bathtub,” he said, as if that explained everything.
“A bathtub ?” I sputtered, peeking into the great room beyond the entrance and finding it infinitely grander than the entryway. “It has a full view of the park. And a chandelier made out of pearls . Tell me those aren’t real, please. And—and—geez, is that actual silver leaf on the ceiling ?”
Beside me, his wry smirk became a shade sheepish. “Too much, huh?”
I wished I could make a joke or feign nonchalance. Or simply express gratitude. But I only felt misery.
Because it was suddenly, vividly clear just how much I did not belong with him. And that thought, while undeniably true, felt… wrong .
“Gray,” I murmured, stricken, standing on the threshold of the living space so love ly that I wanted to cry. “Why did you do this for me?”
Silently, Gray turned and stepped closer to block my view. So close, he was all I could see. His hands skimmed up my arms and gripped my shoulders gently.
His gaze burned into mine, solemn and sincere. “Because I could. Because I wanted to—so much so that planning this night was the most exciting thing part of my week, aside from having you in my bed.”
He grinned at the memory like he couldn’t help himself. “And, really… because there is no one I can think of who deserves more than you. ”