Page 49 of Love on the Vine
“What was he talking about?” I asked once we were in the dark street where the car was parked.
“I don’t want to discuss it,” he responded tersely.
“Are we really going to drive back to Moustiers tonight?” I asked as he opened the car door for me. I tried to keep the desperation out of my voice. I needed him. Badly. Any hotel would do.
“Yeah, I have clients arriving tomorrow afternoon.” He slid into his seat and turned the key in the ignition. The car made a chugging sound then stopped. He groaned and tried again. This time there was total silence. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
When he got out to investigate, I crossed my fingers that whatever was making that chugging noise was a problem that couldn’t be fixed tonight. Not even a minute later, he slammed the hood down and stalked back to my door while thunder rumbled in the distance.
“It’s too dark to see what I’m doing,” Jake said, opening the door as lightning flashed across the dark sky. “Looks like we need to find a place to stay, and quick.”
Thank God.A stalled car and a sudden thunderstorm?I couldn’t believe my luck.
After Jake grabbed our bags from the trunk, we raced for the nearest hotel. The woman at the reception desk shook her head apologetically. “It’s the festival. Everything is booked,” she explained, but offered to call her colleagues to see if there were any rooms available in town. “You’re in luck, the Auberge de Cluny has a room. They’re waiting for you.”
Rain had started falling in buckets as we made a mad dash for the inn. Jake covered me with his jacket, but I was still drenched by the time we made it into the small lobby.
“Oh my God, look at you!” I laughed as Jake shook the water from his hair and plucked at his dress shirt, which clung to him like a second skin.
“You don’t look much better.” His own laughter died in his throat as his eyes fell on the wet material covering my breasts.
I tried to keep it together as we went up narrow stairs, then down a tiny hallway to our room. But when Jake opened the door, I nearly went down on my knees to offer up a prayer to the gods of romance who were surely looking out for me.
There was only one bed.
Chapter 15
JAKE
Fuck my life. There was only one bed.
It sat there in all its starched-sheet glory, taking up the entire room, daring me to think of anything else but Olivia laying on it naked and panting as I licked the raindrops from her body.
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to shake the image from my head. Then, with silent resignation, I stepped inside and tossed the bags down in a wet heap on the floor, my jaw tight as I tried to get control of my thundering pulse and my thickening cock.
I hadn’t been able to keep my hands off her. Again.
At first, I had just wanted to make sure that Thomas backed the fuck off. He had always wanted whatever was mine. And when I saw the way his eyes had shamelessly roamed Olivia’s body, it was like something primal in me had taken over. I had to make him understand she was off limits.
Not because she was mine. She wasn’t. She couldn’t be. But there was no way in hell a predator like him was going to put one goddamn finger on her.
But then, just like the last time, once I’d touched her, I couldn’t stop. Her skin was so soft, her curves shaped perfectly for my hands. And when she leaned back into me and traced my fingers, I couldn’t resist another fleeting taste of her.
Truth was I’d been aching to get my hands on her since I first saw her.
Somehow, I’d gotten myself under control, determined to drive all night with the windows down or the air conditioning blasting. I was ready to do anything to ignore this all-consuming desire to cover her body with mine and bury myself inside her.
“I’m going to see if there’s anépicerieopen. Are you hungry? I can bring something back.” I turned back around to gauge Olivia’s reaction.
“No, don’t worry about me.” She shook her head, slowly drawing her eyes away from the bed to meet mine. “Are you sure you want to go back out in the rain?”
Yeah, I was pretty fucking sure that a little rain was better than the storm that was raging inside me, threatening to burst if I stayed in that room with her. “I’ll be back.”
I took off down the hall with my bullshit excuse knowing full well there wouldn’t be food downstairs or anyépicerieopen. The rain was coming down in torrents, so I paced around in the lobby of the hotel, catching worried glances from the receptionist.
“Can I help you, sir?” he asked.
“Non, merci.” When he continued to stare at me like he was afraid I’d wear a hole in the carpet, I hid in an empty corner of the dark dining room, took out my phone and dialed Jin’s number. To my surprise he picked up after the second ring.
