Love on Landing (7 page)

Tali quickly paid for her purchases and struggled to gather her heavy bags. He hadn't even carried her bags out for her. Nice.

"What's your problem?" Tali thrust a handful of bags into Gavin's hand. His mood swings were really starting to annoy her. One minute he was friendly, flirty and teasing her, the next he was grouchy and rude. What the hell?

"Nothing. Let's go."

"No, I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell just happened." She put her hand on his arm, stopping him when he tried to walk down the street. His biceps bulged under her fingers and she couldn't help but squeeze him a little tighter.

Gavin turned to face her. He bent down until his face was level with hers, his mouth hovering so close to hers that she could stick out her tongue and lick him. God she wanted to lick him.

But she wouldn't. That wouldn't exactly be appropriate behavior for two friends while walking down the streets of Paris.

"I said it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Lick him.

She licked her own lips instead, urging her internal voice to shut the hell up. "It is something. You're lying to me."

"You're right, there is something wrong." He stared at her for a long moment, his mouth so close to touching hers, she could practically taste him already. "You promised me dinner of my choice and I'm starving. Let's go eat."

She tried to mutter a response, but her tongue didn't seem to work anymore for anything other than kissing him. How could he think about eating right now? All she could think about was the heat of his body melting into her, warming her right to her core.

"I'll take your answer as a yes. This way." He took her hand in his free one and guided her down the street.

Tali groaned as she sat on the chair in the middle of a crowded restaurant. There was a small bar along one wall of the restaurant, another wall had windows facing out to the busy street so diners could watch the pedestrians pass by. The rest of the place was decorated in dark colors with pictures of grapes and vineyards hanging on the wall.

The decor was all a little tacky in her opinion, but she tried to relax and not share her thoughts since Gavin seemed quite happy to be there. And she was happy to be with Gavin peacefully and not fighting for a few moments.

The last thing she wanted after a long day of retail therapy was to sit on the world's hardest chairs, shoulder to shoulder with half of Paris, yet here she was. She could think of about a million other places she'd rather be—in bed with Gavin topped her list.

There'd been two almost-kisses already today. She hadn't been able to think clearly since the first in the dressing room, but the second, wonderful almost-kiss on the street had just about put her over the edge. The whole walk to the restaurant, she fought the fog filling her brain. Then when she thought she'd finally gotten her head clear and could hold some semblance of a conversation, or even string together enough words to find out where he was taking her for dinner, she'd look at him and be at a loss for words all over again.

Her mind kept replaying the heat in his eyes as his mouth hovered near hers. She couldn't help but imagine what it would feel like to have the warmth of his hard body molding into hers, his strong hand on the small of her back. She suppressed a groan as the images flittered through her mind again.

Gavin smiled at her from across the table. What was he thinking right now? Was he thinking about their almost-kiss too? Or had their moment of closeness meant nothing to him? Maybe he was used to being so close to women. Maybe that was how he normally spoke to them. She couldn't even remember what they'd said to each other before the almost-kiss moment happened.

She focused her gaze on his lips as he took a sip from his wine glass. She'd never expected to be drinking the Beaujolais nouveau with a pizza, yet here she was—watching the dark red liquid pass over the softest looking lips she could ever hope to have the pleasure of experiencing. Her head swirled and she'd only had a few sips from her glass.

"This place is nice," she said, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't lead to them fighting again. She wanted to have a nice relaxing meal while she tried to figure out what the hell had happened between them on the street.

"It's one of my favorites. I come here every time I'm in Paris."

"Really? There's so many other great restaurants in the city. Maybe you should try a new one sometime."

He smiled, the little dimple in his cheek appearing again for the first time that day. He must really be happy in a place like this.

She took another sip of her wine while she waited for their pizza and settled back into her chair. She had let him order their dinner since he enjoyed the food here so much. Now she was nervous about what she would be eating.
Better drink more wine.

"I know there's other places, and I've tried a bunch of them, too. But when I want pizza, there's nowhere better than here. Wait until you try a slice. I bet you'll agree."

She smiled back. There was something about him that made her feel so relaxed and at ease. "I bet you're right."

They sat silently for a few minutes. She enjoyed listening to the chatter of conversations around them. She didn't even mind the silence between them. There was something strangely comforting about it. She usually felt like she constantly had to make small talk with people, but that didn't seem to be true with Gavin.

Of course the longer she sat there staring at him, the more she imagined what it would be like to peel off his clothes and examine the muscles she'd felt underneath his shirt first-hand. Damn.

"So what do you like to do for fun when you're not flying?" The question was the first thing that came to mind to get her thoughts back from the gutter where they were starting to wander.

"All kinds of things. Sometimes I like to go to the movies, sometimes I like to visit the local museums, sometimes I just want to sit and have a drink and people watch. It's different depending on where I am."

"What's your favorite thing to do in Paris?" She was genuinely curious. She wanted to learn more about this man who challenged her like no one else ever had.

"That's a tough call. I have a bunch of things I like to do here. One of which is this." He motioned to the restaurant. "I love to be out among the people of the city, listening to their conversations, watching their mannerisms. Even though I only speak a little of the language, it's amazing how much I can understand just by watching couples together. It's fascinating to try and submerse yourself in another culture, even if it's only for a few days. Even if the language around me is completely unfamiliar."

She hadn't expected an answer like that. She didn't quite know how to respond. "So, no shopping sprees for you?" She tried to make a joke of their afternoon since it was now painfully obvious to her how difficult a day of shopping was for him to do. She'd only wanted company since she wasn't used to being alone in the city. She hadn't intended to trap him into doing something he hated.

She sighed. Had she really cared about whether or not he wanted to be out shopping with her? Hadn't he sort of made his opinion about her shopping clear all day?

Cringing, she set down her wine glass and rested her head in her hand. She was such a spoiled brat that she hadn't been able to see her selfish actions. She hadn't once considered there might be something else Gavin would rather be doing than following her around.

She really had lived up to his opinion of her. No wonder he'd been infuriated by her. She was suddenly embarrassed by her actions.

"I'm so sorry." She spoke quietly, too mortified with her realization to announce it to the tables closest to them.

"What was that? It's loud in here, I didn't quite hear you." Gavin leaned across the table toward her.

She leaned forward and met him halfway. "I'm sorry," she said louder this time. "I shouldn't have forced you to come shopping with me. I just didn't want to go alone, but I should have realized how selfish that was of me. You probably had other things you would have much rather done besides hanging out with me all day in shops."

His expression softened with her words. "It's okay." He put his hand on hers where it rested on the table between them. The warmth of his hand soothed her, made her feel at peace with him. "I know I've been giving you a hard time about shopping, but the day wasn't all terrible."

"It wasn't?"

Gavin squeezed her hand. "Okay, maybe shopping was terrible, but it made you happy and I'm glad I was the one to make you feel that way today after making you cry yesterday. So it's all fine. No worries."

"So if I cry again tonight does that mean you'll go shopping with me again tomorrow? There are a few stores I still wouldn't mind hitting." She was teasing, but she didn't tell him that.

"No way," he said, waving his hands in front of him, but smiling nonetheless. "I'm done shopping. Tears or no tears, you're on your own from now on."

"I promise I'll try my best not to cry on you again."

"Your pizza." A waiter set down a large pizza in the middle of the table.

Tali eyed the concoction suspiciously. This wasn't like any pizza she'd seen in the States, and the place she usually ate in Paris didn't serve anything looking remotely like this. "What is that?" She scowled at her dinner.

"It's pizza."

"No, that isn't pizza. This thing sort of looks like pizza and it sort of smells like pizza, but where I come from, pizza doesn't have a raw egg jiggling around on top of it."

Her stomach turned at the sight of the egg whites jiggling gently in the middle of the pizza as Gavin took a slice and placed it on her plate. "You don't really expect me to eat this do you?"

He laughed. "Yes, of course. The egg isn't raw, it's just not well-done. It's good." He pushed her plate toward her and then took a slice for himself. "Trust me."

"I don't know you well enough to trust you."

He laughed again, harder this time. "You said dinner was my choice, so eat it. There's no backing out now." He took a big bite of his pizza and sighed happily. He nodded at her to follow his actions, but she really didn't want to. "Don't make me force you to try a bite."

"I'm going to need more wine," she grumbled, filling her glass.

Chapter Six

Gavin watched as Tali took a tentative bite of her pizza. She was such an interesting girl—frustrating, infuriating and challenging, but also intensely interesting. "How is it?"

"Not as bad as I feared." She swallowed her bite then took a big gulp of wine. "Goes good with the wine."

"I can see that." He laughed. "You better slow down or I'll have to carry you out of here."

"You're the one who felt the need to order wine by the bottle instead of by the glass."

"Sure, blame your drinking habits on me. That's fine."

Time passed easily as they enjoyed their meal together. He was pleasantly surprised they were able to actually share a meal without fighting for a change. He didn't like fighting with her. Bickering back and forth was something that seemed to keep happening despite his best intentions to keep the peace. Finally getting a reprieve from the conflict was nice. Maybe their fighting was behind them and they could move on.

As the waiter cleared away their plates from dinner, Gavin flipped through the dessert menu. "Wanna share something?"

Tali groaned and leaned back in her chair, rubbing a hand over her stomach. "I don't know if I have any room left."

"So the pizza wasn't so terrible after all now was it?" He smirked, knowing he was right and she was going to have to admit it, something he imagined would be a real challenge for a girl like Tali.

"It was good," she grumbled.

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you over all the noise in here."

Rolling her eyes dramatically, she spoke louder. "You were right. There, I said it. Are you happy now?"

"Yes, I am." He took another look at the dessert menu. "I'm stuffed too. I don't think I have room left for anything else, no matter how good the crème brulee is here."

"Good. Why don't we head back to the hotel? Between the shopping and the bottle of wine, I'm gonna fall asleep right here at the table if we don't leave soon."

"Do you think you're going to be able to walk out of here without making a spectacle of yourself or do I have to carry you out?"

"I make no guarantees. And remember, this is your fault. You're the one who ordered the bottle. It would've been rude to not drink it."

"Whatever you gotta tell yourself, sweetheart." Gavin signed his name on the credit slip and rose from the table, still feeling surefooted. It took more than a glass or two of wine to make him feel the effects of alcohol. But it was still a good thing neither of them was driving tonight. He didn't like to risk it after having any drinks. "Let's get you home."

Gavin grabbed a handful of bags and used his other free hand to help Tali up from the table. She managed to bend over and retrieve her handbag and the other shopping bags without falling over, but she swayed more than once. Getting back to the hotel was going to be interesting.

Gavin held her tightly with his arm around her waist as they wove their way out through the tables to the front door. More than once he saw her almost hit other customers with her shopping bags. Feeling her body so close to his made him feel warm and protective of her.

As they stumbled out onto the sidewalk he breathed the cool night air into his lungs, hoping the crispness of it would help to clear his head. The air didn't really help. Too much wine, too much food and too much of Tali's closeness clouded his mind, making his judgment feel fuzzy.

Tali leaned into his side as they wandered slowly down the sidewalk together. She stumbled a little, not walking nearly as gracefully in her tall boots as she had earlier, but not completely wasted either. Good thing the hotel wasn't far. He held his arm around her snugly, trying to be her anchor.

"Gavin, I think you fed me too much cheap wine at that cheap restaurant." Her words were still clear, but he wasn't so sure the same was true of her thoughts.