Inappropriate - Vi Keeland Page 0,66
tucked her head in so we were cheek to cheek again and whispered in my ear, “Remember when we danced at the fundraiser?”
“I do.”
“My entire body was tingly while I was in your arms, and I had to pretend to be unaffected while we danced.”
I smiled. “And I had to keep my hips at a distance so you didn’t feel how hard you were making me.”
“I guess we’ve both been attracted to each other from the beginning.”
“Sweetheart, you have no idea. You had my curiosity piqued with a drunken email that told me to go to hell.”
We danced in comfortable silence for a minute. One song ended and a new one began. I was grateful it was another slow song so I had a reason to keep Ireland in my arms. I shut my eyes and enjoyed the moment. Though the woman in my arms must’ve been looking around.
“I don’t want a big wedding like this,” she said.
Normally, a woman even mentioning the word wedding had me running for the hills. But not this time. I wanted to hear more.
“Were you one of those little girls who played bride when you were a kid? When I was little, my sisters used to spend an entire day making decorations for the living room for their pretend weddings. They’d take turns wearing our mother’s wedding dress, and my mother would make me stand in as the groom. I hated it.”
She laughed. “That must’ve been adorable.”
“It was more like torture.”
She sighed. “I didn’t have any siblings, and my parents had a screwed-up relationship. So maybe that’s why I never really imagined my wedding as a little girl.”
That made me hold her tighter. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m not sure if little girls dreaming about weddings is so healthy anyway. I didn’t play bride, but I definitely played news anchor. I spent hours in front of the mirror talking into my hairbrush handle. At least I didn’t grow up chasing some fantasy of what a wedding is supposed to be.”
“So no big white dress and three hundred people at a catering hall then?”
She shook her head. “Nope. I want to be barefoot on a beach somewhere. Maybe at sunset with a few friends and close family, and lights hanging from palm trees while a local calypso band plays.”
I smiled. “That sounds nice.” It was the first time in forever that I’d discussed anything to do with a wedding without comparing it to my and Lily’s fiasco. I had no desire to think of my ex-wife when Ireland was in my arms. With every woman I’d been with since my divorce, I’d wanted that constant reminder—wanted to remember why I needed to keep my distance. Yet with Ireland, I wanted to forget it and move on.
The rest of the evening, we alternated talking to her friends, hanging out with the bride and groom, and dancing together. She even made me dance to some pop music, which I never did. But it was worth it to watch her tits bounce up and down while she jumped. By the end of the night, I couldn’t wait to get her back to the hotel alone. I’d admitted I couldn’t wait to rip the dress off of her, but I knew I would follow her lead as to where she wanted things to go. She’d invited me to stay the night, but I still wasn’t sure if she was ready to take the next step.
So I slowed things down once we were in her suite. I opened wine and handed it to her while she looked out at the water from the bedroom window.
“Thank you.”
I had to shove my free hand into my pocket to stop myself from touching her. One touch while we were alone in a room with nothing but a bed, and I could be done for. So instead, I sipped my wine and stared out at the sea with her.
She turned to look at me. “You’re awfully quiet since we got here.”
“Am I?”
She nodded. “Mmm-hmm. And you’re awfully…far away. For a man who told me my dress was going to be shredded by morning, I figured any quiet would be because your tongue was down my throat, and the farthest we’d make it into the room would be my back against the door.”
I turned to look at her. “I’m trying to be a gentleman.”
She tilted her head. “Why?”
“Because I wasn’t sure of your expectations for the evening. I didn’t want to assume that your invitation to