Page 19 of For Always
“Oh.” That was all Tyler could manage because he would have never guessed she was related to royalty. Although now, with the slight tilt of her head and the way she held her chin up, he could easily imagine her wearing a crown. “So you traveled. For how long?”
She shrugged. “Two years. When I left Brazil I went to Paris for a while with my sister Adriana.”
“Adriana Bennett-Donovan,” he said.
“Yes! Do you know her? I mean, did you two run into each other while you were on modeling jobs?”
“No,” he replied. “The modeling industry is like its own universe with many types of models circling one spotlight. Your sister did more fashion and runway work than I ever wanted. I did mostly print modeling, magazines and billboards, things like that. Then I got into fitness modeling and the rest is history.”
“History as in you filmed your first fitness video when you were just twenty-four years old. From there, you created the Ty-Fitness brand, building it into a multi-million dollar business that now features fitness videos, public speaking and a new fitness fashion line debuting this fall. There’s also talk of you opening your first Ty-Fitness Center in Beverly Hills some time next year,” she said.
Tyler thought she sounded like an infomercial.
“You did your research.”
She nodded. “As did you.”
“There’s more information circulating about your siblings, than on you personally. Two of your brothers work for your father’s company. Another one is an artist. And then there’s Adriana. But nothing about you.”
“I’m the baby. The flighty and misguided one. My parents always said had I been their first, I would have also been their last. I’m blunt and argumentative and I don’t know what slowing down, committing and finishing something means.”
“What was that? Your impromptu bio?”
“No. That’s what any member of my family would say if you asked them about me.”
“Somehow,” he said and closed the last gap of space between them, “I don’t think that’s totally accurate.”
“You don’t know me that well,” she said.
She blinked and stood a little straighter, but she did not move. No, she was not the type to back down, or to run for that matter. She was going to stand and face whatever came next, regardless of how she really felt inside.
That thought should have stopped him, but it didn’t. It urged him closer, until he was lifting a hand to tuck the strands of hair that had fallen free of her ponytail back behind her ear.
“I know that I’m attracted to you,” he said, glad he could manage to be completely honest about at least one thing he was feeling these days.
She inhaled deeply, and let the breath out slowly, before speaking. He knew what the effort cost her as she carefully considered her words.
“We’re working together, Tyler. So I don’t think there should be any type of personal entanglements between us.”
“I understand,” he said. And he did. But a big part of him, just didn’t give a damn. “But answer me this one question. Are you attracted to me?”
Tyler couldn’t help himself. Yes, he’d heard her words and if she demanded he step back and stop anymore advances toward her again, he definitely would. He was well-versed in the no-means-no rule. But there was something here. He could feel it between them as if it were a living thing, breathing and…possibly growing.
“Yes,” she answered. “I’m not going to deny that. But in addition to our working relationship, I’m really not trying to be attracted to any guy, or involved with anyone at this time.”
“That’s cool,” he said, practicing Herculean restraint as his fingers tingled to touch that spot on her neck where her pulse had just picked up pace. “We’ll steer clear of any personal entanglements. After this—”
His lips were on hers once more. He couldn’t stop it and he prayed with every ounce of religion his parents had pounded into his childhood mind, that she wouldn’t want to stop it either. Not this time. Not this kiss. The one he felt he needed, more than he needed to breathe.
Chapter 6
Gabriella had no idea what the dress code was for a “big Sunday dinner” at the Westwind Ranch and when she’d called Adriana to get her advice, she’d received her sister’s voice mail. So she was on her own, which was actually fine. She was one of those people who believed that packing more was much better than packing less. Therefore, she had four dresses that were suitable for cocktail parties and formal business dinners. She decided on the purple one with the ruffle sleeve and tight fit, purple and black peep toe platform pumps, gold and purple bangle and black jeweled clutch.
It wasn’t until she was climbing out of her car and walking up the dirt path to the front porch of the house that she thought maybe she was a bit overdressed. That was also about the time that she recalled the kiss with Tyler. The second one, because it was hotter than the first. Which was saying something because last night she’d thought that kiss they’d shared outside the resort was a scorcher.
But this afternoon, her lips had parted before his made contact because she’d been ready. More like, because she’d wanted that kiss. She’d wanted his hands to grasp her shoulders and pull her so close, so quick that she came up on the tips of her toes to meet him. And she’d definitely wanted his tongue to stroke alongside hers until she was breathless. She’d wanted these things so much that when he did them, she’d lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck. He’d groaned as she’d pressed her aching breasts into his rigid chest. His hands had moved from her shoulders to palm her bottom as he made his burgeoning erection unmistakably known to her.
She’d loved how hard and thick he felt pressing against her, so much that she heard herself moaning. She wanted to stop it, to chastise herself for doing what she knew she shouldn’t be doing. And what she definitely should not be enjoying. But she couldn’t. Because it had felt too good.
