The ride most definitely would challenge anyone with either of the fears Avery had mentioned, the view through the crisscrossed metal of the tower incredible as they soared above Paris. On the viewing platform at the top, the cold wind whipped their hair and slipped inside Jack’s coat, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders to try to keep her warm.
“You want to look through the telescope? Though we won’t be able to see too far with all the clouds,” she said, turning to him. Her cheeks were pink, her beautiful lips pink, too, and, oh, so kissable. Her hair flew across her face, and Jack lifted his fingers to tuck it beneath her hat, because he couldn’t resist feeling the softness of it between his fingers.
“I want to look at you, mostly,” he said, because it was true. “But I may never get up here again, so let’s give it a try.”
Her face turned even more pink at his words before she turned to poke a few coins in the telescope. They took turns peering through it, and her face was so close to his he nearly dipped his head to kiss her. Starting with her cheek, then, if she didn’t object, moving on from there to taste her mouth. Their eyes met in front of the telescope, and her tongue flicked out to dampen her lips, as if she might be thinking of exactly the same thing.
He stared in fascination as her pupils dilated, noting flecks, both gold and dark, within the emerald green of her eyes. He slowly lowered his head, lifted his palm to her face and—
“Excuse me. You done with the telescope?” a man asked, and Avery took a few steps back.
“We’re all done,” she said quickly. The heat he hoped he’d seen in her expression immediately cooled to a friendly smile. “Ready to go, Jack? I think we’ve seen all there is to see from up here today.”
Well, damn. Kissing her in the middle of that crowd wasn’t the best idea anyway, but even the briefest touch of her lips on his would have been pretty sweet, he knew. “I’m ready.”
They crammed themselves onto the elevator once more, though it wasn’t quite as packed as it had been on the way up. He breathed in her scent again as he tucked a few more strands of hair under her hat. “Thanks for bringing me up here. That was amazing.” She was amazing. “So what now, Ms. Tour Guide? Time for lunch?”
“There you go, thinking about food again.” She gave him one of her cute, teasing looks. “But I admit I’m getting a little hungry, too. There’s a great place just a little way along the river I like. There will be a few different courses, but don’t worry—it won’t break your wallet.”
He didn’t care what it cost. Getting to spend a leisurely lunch with Avery was worth a whole lot of money.
They moved slowly down a tree-lined path by the river, and he felt the most absurd urge to hold her hand again. As though they’d known each other a lot longer than an hour or two. Which reminded him he still hardly knew anything about her at all. “Do you live here? You obviously speak French well,” he said.
“My parents both worked in France for a while, and I went to school here in Paris for two years. You tend to learn a language fast that way. I’m just here for a month or so this time.”
“What do you do?”
“I— Oh!” As though they’d stepped out from beneath a shelter, heavy sheets of rain mixed with thick, wet snowflakes suddenly poured on their heads, and Avery fumbled with her umbrella to get it open. It was small, barely covering both their heads. Jack had to hunch over since she was so much shorter than him as, laughing, they pressed against one another to try to stay dry.
He maneuvered the two of them under a canopy of trees lining the river and had to grin. The Fates were handing him everything today, including a storm that brought him into very close contact with Avery. Exactly where he wanted to be.
He lifted his finger to slip a melting snowflake from her long lashes. “And here I’d pictured Paris as sunny, with beautiful flowers everywhere. I didn’t even know it snowed here.”
“You can’t have done your homework.” Her voice was breathy, her mouth so close to his he got a little breathless, too. “It rains and snows here a lot. Parisians despise winter with a very French passion.”
He didn’t know about French passion. But hadn’t Avery said when in France, do as the French do? He more than liked the idea of sharing some passion with Avery. “I’m not a big fan of winter, either, when snow and ice make it harder getting to and from work.”
“Ah, that sounds like you must be a workaholic.” She smiled, her words vying for attention with the pounding rain on the nylon above them.
“That accusation would probably be accurate. I spend pretty much all my time at work.”
“I must have caught you at a good moment, then, since you’re sightseeing right now. Or, at least, we were sightseeing before we got stuck in this.”
“You did catch me at a good moment.” Maybe the romantic reputation of Paris was doing something to him, because he lifted his hands to cup her cheeks. Let his fingers slip into her hair that cascaded from beneath her hat. After all, what better place to kiss a beautiful woman than under an umbrella by the Seine in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower? “I’m enjoying this very good moment.”
Her eyes locked with his. He watched her lips part, took that as the invitation he was looking for and lowered his mouth to hers.
The kiss was everything he’d known it would be. Her sexy lips had tormented him the entire time they’d been together in that elevator and standing close to one another on the observation deck. Hell, they’d tormented him just minutes after they’d met as he’d watched her nibble her baguette and sip her espresso. He could still faintly taste the coffee on her lips and an incredible sweetness that was her alone.
He pulled back an inch, to see how she was feeling about their kiss. If she thought it was as amazing as he did. If she’d be all right with another, longer exploration. Her eyes were wide, her cheeks a deep pink as she stared at him, but thankfully she didn’t pull away and he went back for more.
He’d intended to keep it sweet, gentle, but the little gasp that left her mouth and swirled into his own had him delving deeper, all sense of anything around them gone except for the unexpected intimacy of this kiss they were sharing. Her slim hand came up to cradle his neck. It was cold, and soft, and added another layer of delicious sensation to the moment, and he had to taste more of her rain-moistened skin. Wondered if she’d possibly let him taste more than her face and throat. If she’d let him explore every inch of what he knew would be one beautiful body on one very special, beautiful afternoon.
Lost in sensory overload, Avery’s eyelids flickered, then drifted shut again as Jack’s hot mouth moved from her lips to slide across her chilled cheek. Touched the hollow of her throat, her jaw, the tender spot beneath her ear. She’d never kissed a man she’d just met before, but if it was always this good, she planned to keep doing it. And doing it. And doing it.
His hands cupping her cheeks were warm, and his breath that mingled with her own was warm, too, as he brought his mouth back to hers. Her heart pounded in her ears nearly as hard as the rain on the umbrella. She curled one hand behind his neck, hanging on tight before her wobbly knees completely gave way and she sank to the ground to join the water pooling around their feet.
The sensation of cold rain and snow splattering over her face had her opening her eyes and pulling her mouth from his. Dazed, she realized she’d loosened her grip on the umbrella, letting it sway sideways, no longer protecting them. Jack grasped the handle to right it, holding it above their heads again, his dark brown eyes gleaming. His black hair, now a shiny, wet ebony, clung to his forehead. Water droplets slid down his temple.
“Umbrellas don’t work too well hanging upside down. Unless your goal is to collect water instead of repel it,” he said, a