Chapter Nine #2
Sylvie had buried her feelings, stashing them deep inside so she wouldn’t be overwhelmed by them, but it was like trying to stop Ping-Pong balls floating in a bucket of water. ‘I’ll be fine. It’s just sex. I’m surprised it’s lasted this long.’
‘How long?’
‘Since the ball.’
Natasha squeezed Sylvie’s shoulders in a supportive embrace. ‘You’re a strong woman. You’ll get through this. You never know, it might actually turn out in the end.’
Sylvie stretched her lips into a strained smile. ‘I doubt it but at least it’s been one hell of an experience.’
Jack had been to Paris many times but never had been looking forward to a trip more than this one.
He hadn’t seen much of Sylvie as his grandfather came down with a stomach bug and Jack took a few days off work to visit.
The irascible old man could be difficult at any time but particularly so when he was unwell.
Jack knew his grandmother would appreciate a visit from him to distract her from the demands of Maxwell, who stubbornly refused to be ‘fussed over’ by a nurse.
Jonas had cancelled his trip home citing some hiccup in the project he had to see to but he’d assured Jack he would be home in a matter of weeks.
Jack then had to placate Jago and Mollie about yet another delay to their wedding, but the date was now set and both Jack and Jago and Mollie had come to the decision it would go ahead with Jonas or without.
Jack packed a weekend bag and texted Sylvie to meet him at the airport.
He saw her through the crowd of travellers—it was as if he had radar tuned into her frequency.
He winked at her from a distance and her cautious smile reminded him of how cloak and dagger they had to be about their relationship.
Relationship? He baulked at the word like a horse shying at a jump.
Fling? Arrangement? He couldn’t think of a word that adequately described what their involvement was other than something they both enjoyed.
For now. Sylvie had made it clear she wasn’t interested in settling down, a claim he had been making about himself for his entire adult life.
And yet, something about her setting the limits on their involvement made him feel a little edgy.
He wasn’t used to being the vulnerable one, the one who wanted more.
But hey, did he want more? How much more?
He wasn’t the type of man to get emotionally invested in a relationship, especially a casual one.
But lately, he was finding it hard to think of his relationship with Sylvie as casual. Yes, they were having a fling and no doubt it would end soon because he always ended them before his lovers got any crazy ideas about commitment but… That annoying ‘but’ was triggering him more and more.
He liked Sylvie’s company; he liked her feisty nature and her softer side she took great pains to hide.
Her dedication to taming a wild cat for instance.
Sylvie was driven like him and he admired her for it.
Law was a tough career and could have a deleterious impact on your emotions if you didn’t park them to one side, which, fortunately for him, he had been doing since he was seven.
This trip away to Paris would at least give him more time to enjoy Sylvie’s company without the threat of exposure.
It was convenient they lived next door to each other, which was entirely a coincidence, a pleasant one as it turned out.
Jack bought the run-down property because it was a good location and he had the money to turn it into a dream home.
But he hadn’t factored in living next door to an ex-lover, which at some point, Sylvie would be.
He didn’t do long-term. He didn’t do commitment.
But then, Sylvie didn’t want either of those things, so it was safe to extend their fling as long as they both wanted.
They went through security separately and it was only when they were on Jack’s jet and finally alone that he leaned down to kiss her soft, irresistible mouth.
‘Hello. Mmm, you smell gorgeous.’ He breathed in the scent of flowers and fragrant summer evenings on her body, and hunger crawled through him to feel her skin naked against his.
Sylvie clipped her seat belt in place and gave him a cautious smile. ‘I feel like I’ve entered a different world. I don’t even fly business class even though I can afford to.’
‘I’ve never flown any other way,’ Jack said. ‘Or at least not since my parents’ death.’
‘Weren’t they flying on a smaller plane when they were killed?’
Jack grimaced. ‘Yeah, I think it was my dad’s way of standing up to my grandfather. He hired a smaller plane rather than take my grandfather’s. He wanted more freedom but Maxwell was and still is a control freak.’
There was a moment of silence.
‘Do you remember much about them?’ Sylvie asked.
Jack gave a nostalgic smile. ‘Dad was a fun guy to be around, that is when he was around, which wasn’t much.
Mum was beautiful and good to us but to be honest, she only had eyes for my dad.
I didn’t see it at the time, but looking back, my parents were always searching for excuses to get away together.
I think they found the responsibility of parenting three young boys a bit boring.
Gran raised us after they died but she was already doing that before they were killed. ’
‘She sounds like a lovely lady.’
‘She is,’ Jack said. ‘I’d love you to meet her.’
‘Is that a good idea?’ Sylvie asked, sending him a sideways glance.
Jack suddenly realised the path he was heading down. Taking Sylvie to Wildewood to meet his grandparents was hardly the agenda of a hardened playboy and yet, he wanted his gran to meet Sylvie. He wanted to show Sylvie his childhood haunts and share with her some of his memories of his parents.
It was unusual for him to want any lover of his to cross the boundary line into his private life but Sylvie didn’t have any plans to settle down.
She didn’t want the fairy tale. She just wanted him for sex.
He should be pleased she ticked all the boxes for the perfect temporary lover but a niggling thought wormed its way through his brain…
maybe, for the first time ever, he wanted more than a temporary fling.
He gave himself a mental slap hard enough to give himself a concussion.
No way was he going to fall in love. He wasn’t wired that way.
Maybe if his parents hadn’t died, he might have been the type of person who wanted marriage and kids, long-term companionship, and the richness and blessings of having someone as a witness to your life.
He had friends who were happily married and he had older colleagues who had remained with their spouse for decades and been contented with their life together.
But it wasn’t for him.
Jack had made that decision a long time ago.
Sylvie had been to Paris a couple of times, but staying in budget hotels was nothing to what it was like staying at a luxury hotel in the Latin Quarter, especially with Jack Wilde as her companion.
Within moments of arriving, they were escorted to their penthouse suite where champagne and lush ripe strawberries and artfully assembled canapés were waiting to be consumed.
She tried not to show how impressed she was but it was yet another reminder of the two different worlds she had Jack had come from.
He took this sort of luxury and privilege for granted.
She had worked her butt off to rise above her poverty-stricken background, so every soft-as-a-cloud scatter cushion on the plush sofa, the knee-deep high-quality carpet, the artworks, the lighting, the crystal champagne flutes were things she saw as markers of how hard she had worked to enjoy such luxuries.
She didn’t think she would ever take such things for granted, no matter how much money she earned.
Jack shrugged off his jacket and tossed it over the back of the nearest sofa. ‘I’ve booked dinner for us in a quaint restaurant a block or two from here. But we’ve plenty of time to freshen up.’
‘Wonderful,’ Sylvie said, going over to the window to look at the view below their suite. The Seine River was visible below; the beautiful Parisian architecture giving the scene an Old World atmosphere that was enchanting. ‘Everything is wonderful.’
Jack came over to the window and put his hands on her shoulders and she leaned back into the hard frame of his body, her desire for him stirring in her blood.
He turned her so she was facing him, his gaze meshing with hers in a spine-tingling lock.
‘I’m going to take a shower. Do you want to join me? ’
Sylvie’s eyes sparkled impishly. ‘You mean so we save water?’ Her lips twitched as she tried not to smile. ‘I’m all for looking after the planet.’
Jack pulled her even closer, his mouth coming down to within reach of hers. ‘I want to make love to you so badly it’s all I can think about.’
Sylvie wound her arms around his neck and stretched up on tiptoe. ‘What’s stopping you?’
‘Nothing,’ he said, and crushed her mouth beneath his.