Gorgeous: Book One (Gorgeous #1) - Lisa Shelby Page 0,43
found out the gallery was for sale eight years ago, I had to have it."
He comes up behind me, and I can feel his presence, but he doesn't touch me.
"Thank you for trusting me with this," I say to the view ahead of me, still giving him his space.
"Thank you for being here," he practically whispers. I can feel the want resonate off his body, but true to his word, he is letting me dictate the pace of things.
I turn to face him, and he is mere inches away, and because it feels natural, I place my hands on his chest. I can feel the beat of his heart speed up at my touch, and my own heart feels like it's opening a bit more every minute I'm lucky enough to spend with him. My eyes go to his throat, and I see him swallow, and although he is keeping his hands to himself, I feel like he is touching every centimeter of my body.
When I finally grow brave enough to lean in for a kiss, he leans forward just a hair and reverently kisses me on the forehead.
Whoa.
Who knew the effect a forehead kiss could have on a person.
It's official.
Forehead kisses are highly underrated.
He clears his throat and says, "We should go. I don't want to give Ava heart palpitations because I have a woman in my apartment for the first time."
"For the first time, really?"
"Yes, like I said, this is a first. I've never shared Eclipse with anyone."
"Thank you."
He smiles.
I take a step back from him and hold out my right pinky finger. "I want you to know your secret is safe with me." He finally gets why I'm holding my finger out to him, and he locks his pinky with mine. "A pinky swear is a promise that cannot be broken. It means a lot to me that you trusted me enough to share your secret lair with me."
He chuckles and pulls me tightly to his chest, and we hold each other for a few seconds before he places a sweet kiss to the top of my head and leads me to the door with my hand in his. As we pass the kitchen, I see a motorcycle helmet on the kitchen counter along with a pack of cigarettes, and it shocks me. I'm not sure why, but I never pictured the sophisticated business man who travels by private plane to be a motorcycle guy. I especially didn't picture him a smoker.
He follows my gaze to see what I've spied. "Riding is my release. Nobody knows it's me with the helmet on, and I'm no longer one of California's most eligible bachelors or the heir to a billion-dollar company. I can just escape reality and be on my own when I need to be. I have a bike here and one back home in San Francisco. The smoking...well, that's a bad habit I fall back on when I get stressed but one I hate and know I need to stop."
"Did you ride or smoke last night after you left me at the hotel?"
"Both,” he says, pushing my hair behind my ear gently. “Walking away from you was not an easy task, and if there was ever a time I needed a release, it was last night."
"Is that so?"
"It is, gorgeous. Let's just say I've been riding and unfortunately smoking a lot since the night of the Evers gala."
His confession shocks me, stops me in my tracks, and kicks my libido into overdrive. What I wouldn't give to crawl into that bed of his and mess it up even more. Much to my dismay, he pulls me through the door and back down the stairs. We head back into the gallery and say goodbye to Ava. All of this, while never letting go of my hand.
We walk hand in hand back to the car, and there are only a few rare moments during the rest of the day when we aren't touching. We walk on the beach, check out every little shop in town, and we take our time simply enjoying each other's company.
Later in the afternoon, we find a bench next to the sand and watch some locals play beach volleyball while we eat our ice cream. All day we've been close, but he hasn't kissed me again. I don't know where the courage comes from, but since he's letting me set the pace, I think it's time I stepped up my game.