Lara and the City of Angels (13 page)

Chapter Thirteen

F
rance was a beautiful country for anyone who was in love but Paris was the city of lovers. From the moment Lara and Kristian stepped off the plane, they couldn’t help but smile at one another.

She knew they were there to check in on her sister but Lara also planned to get a little sight seeing of her own done with the man she loved.

Kristian looked forward to the adventure just as much as she did and although they would have preferred to stay in the Ritz (though she knew he’d secretly booked their last two days in the city there) they would have to be holed up in the stuffy wealthy suburb of Vaucresson where her sister and her brother-in-law resided.

Lara knew it was important o check on her sister but she couldn’t stand the first day of their trip ruined by drama. She had gone through too much of it with her ex-husband.

Jenna answered the phone and she sounded tired but after hearing her sister’s voice, she tried to perk up.

“Listen, it’s late and we are going to find a hotel. Neither of us feel like driving so we will see you tomorrow, okay?”

“That’s fine. You-know-who is in a mood anyway and he’s been drinking a lot lately so I don’t want you to see him like this. I guess it’s kind of a good thing I seem to be ‘barren’ and we can’t have any children…”

“Jenna,” Lara began in a gentle voice, “you’re gynecologist said it was non-specific ovarian failure. Did it ever occur to you that your husband isn’t the one you should
want
to have a child with? I know I am out of line but they complicate everything. You can still get out of this marriage with your dignity in tact.”

“Yeah, he’s kind of hovering in the room so we’ll talk more tomorrow. See you soon, sis!”

Before Lara could respond her sister had ended the call.

Kristian stared at her with a familiar look of lust in his eyes. “You do realize we won’t have to stay in a hotel, right? My mother and step-father own an apartment in one of the swankiest districts of Paris. They rarely ever visit though and I checked just to make sure they wouldn’t be here this week.”

She attempted a weak smile. “I’m looking forward to that.”

The taxi dropped them off at swanky building in the sixteenth arrondissement and Kristian stepped out before helping Lara out of the cab. He grabbed their bags and they walked inside after he tapped in the building’s code on its outside keypad. They climbed a circular staircase until they reached what she assumed was the mid-way point. She liked to think Pilates and yoga helped to keep her thin and healthy but the trip had her slightly winded.

“Next time we will take the elevator but it’s small and claustrophobic. I haven’t worn you out yet, have I?”

“Not even close,” she responded before she kissed his lips impulsively and couldn’t express how great it felt.

Kristian unlocked the double doors with a key and threw them open.
“
Voila
, mademoiselle!
I hope it meets your expectations.”

“I think you are getting my husband and I mixed up. I grew up in the lap of luxury and this place reminds me of my parents’ friends’ getaway apartments. It’s perfect but then again, it would be just as wonderful if it were a roach-and-rat infested hovel as long as you were there with me. Money can’t buy everything you know.”

He smiled and the simple gesture lit a fire behind his blue-gray eyes. “Yeah, I guess it’s easy for us to say that since we grew up with silver spoons but…I have never been happier. Julie and I were something special and I still love her but our relationship was a slow burn…this feels all fire. You make me feel like being a better person—”

Lara silenced his words with a long passionate kiss.

Her mind whirred and she couldn’t help thinking what he might have said had she not shut him up. He couldn’t possibly be thinking of marriage and with her of all people. She just rid herself of one scoundrel and although she knew in her heart Kristian was inherently different, she wasn’t ready to make her way down the isle just yet.

However, he was in his mid-thirties, like her, and he was very much in that mindset. She’d met the urban legend come to life…his light was on and he decided she was the one.

Oh shit!

Lara pulled away and Kristian dragged her inside before he grabbed their luggage and closed the double doors behind them.

“Let me get you something to drink. How about a glass of wine? I have a crate from the Burgundy region…I think it is Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a bit chilly so I thought it would be perfect for the sudden change of weather here.”

“It sounds delicious,” Lara responded as her cell phone began to ring. She reached for it and answered, “Hello?”

“Why didn’t you warn me you were leaving the country?” a male voice growled in a tone filled malice and anger.

“Sean?” She stood and walked to the floor to ceiling wall of glass which held a gorgeous view of Paris despite the overcast day. “First of all, we are no longer together so I don’t have to tell you shit. Auriel is staying with my parents in the States. This wasn’t just a leisure trip you know—my mother is worried about Jenna. That is the main reason
why
I am here.”

“Yes, I am aware of that as I called Gavin and that is exactly what he told me about your romantic getaway. I understand we’re divorced but did it ever occur to you how embarrassing this is for me? The press are following you around and you don’t seem to care. Isn’t it enough you have shamed me and
my
family?

“My parents have reporters showing up on their doorstep from
Fact or Fiction
and
Edge of Entertainment
trying to get a story. No one in our former group of friends’ trust me now because everyone knows you told Kristian about what we were doing. He actually confronted Dominic yet it was I who was on the receiving end of his wrath,” Sean explained in a heated voice.

“Well, that’s not my problem and don’t you dare think it gives you the right to call me up when ever you want to. Listen to me very carefully because I won’t repeat myself again: the only subject you and I ever have to talk about is Auriel. If her name isn’t in the conversation then I would rather not hear from you. Stop trying to make up excuses to call me. Good bye, Sean.”

Lara ended the call and turned her phone off in a fit of rage. She was so angry, her hands shook uncontrollably.

How dare that bastard call her up to talk about embarrassment and humiliation when he’d served it up to her on a platter for six fucking years! She was the end of that happily ever after story between a Dom and his reluctant Sub not
Fifty
fucking
Shades of Grey
! She was what someone looked like when they gave all their power over to someone else and didn’t bother to stand up for themselves and Mary Sued their way through a marriage.

Kristian placed his hands on her shoulders and massaged them softly, kneading the increasing tension out of her back. “Sweetie, are you all right?”

She turned around to face him. “No, I am not okay.” The tears came though she tried to fight them away lest she appear to look like the weak victim she allowed Sean to mold her into after all those years of being beaten psychologically into submission. “I can’t believe I let him do it to me, Kris. I feel like an idiot and here I am in one of the most romantic places in the world and I face my humiliation all over again when we visit my sister.”

“I don’t understand, baby. You got away from him and that is what’s important. Just know I will never be that kind of human being. I respect you too much and fortunately for you, I am not damaged in way shape or form. I came from your usual screwed up type of household where my parents ended their dysfunctional relationships and went on to somewhat more decent relationships. Hell, even my dad, who is the ultimate embarrassment with his young wife, is happy because in her own way, she loves him and he loves her.”

“I know and that is what scares me so much about our relationship,” Lara reflected. “I know you would never hurt me and I love you. Part of me knows you are what I want and I want us to spend the rest of our lives together but another part of me is terrified of marriage. Of what it might mean yet again.

“I knew what I was getting into the first time around because Sean was always honest. Despite all his faults, he’s always been a self-centered asshole and his attitude didn’t change when we were courting. I married him with my eyes wide open and perhaps his fame—despite coming from a family with money—blinded me but…I accept full responsibility when it comes to our relationship and what happened.

“All I know now is that I have grown up.” Lara took a deep breath and continued, “I want an adult relationship, Kris. No games, no secrets…just honesty and why in the hell do I feel like that is too much to ask? Why does a part of me feel like I don’t deserve it? Not with you or anyone else. You’re much too good to me and I fear I may be too damaged for someone as wholesome as you.”

Kristian laughed out loud before he slipped his arms around her waist. “I’m no choir boy, Lara. I have been in swinger’s groups before and I have done my fair share of living. I’m thirty-four, not twenty-four. It is true Julie and I were together for a long time but I wasn’t perfect and neither was she. At my age, I’m not expecting anything except what you are willing to give.”

His words melted her heart and before she could stop herself, she found her green-eyed gaze lost in his gorgeous steel blue eyes and the familiarity of passion and longing took over.

Lara no longer wanted to focus on the past. She wanted to look forward and when his lips grazed her own ever so lightly, she snaked her tongue between his open mouth and everything around them disappeared. All her brain could concentrate on was this gorgeous man in front of her and she truly wanted him to have all of her.

Their kiss turned deeper and darker as his lips led a trail of passion down her neck before he ripped the buttons on her delicate, ivory silk dress and revealed her bare breasts with nipples so rock hard, they begged to be caressed and stroked. His hands immediately began to fondle them as she moaned out loud.

Lara’s hands seemed to have a life of their own as she caressed his erection through his indigo jeans and stroked him through the fabric before her hands worked at the buttons and undid them one by one. His jeans didn’t have a zipper and instead of finding a pair of silk boxer-briefs beneath them, she discovered he’d gone commando and her right hand immediately came into contact with soft flesh which covered a rock hard center of pleasure that was his manhood.

He moaned with her as she knelt down before him and slipped his jeans down to his ankles. Kristian’s body was pure perfection; she traced the lightly tanned skin of his firm thighs before her hands went to his cock again which was so hard, it curled against his washboard abs.

She licked the tip and tasted the salty sweetness of his pre-cum and he moaned deep within his throat. The power she had over him tantalized her and turned her on even more. Her body felt electric and her sex soaked the miniscule thong she wore.

Lara took the head of his cock in her mouth and began to thrust it in and out between her parted lips as one hand massaged his shaft and the other snaked between her own legs where she pulled the thong to the side and began to caress her own aching clit.

“Fuck, baby…you shouldn’t do that if you want me to make it inside you the first time around.”

She laughed but it was low, throaty and seductive. She lay on the floor, abandoning her exploration of his body and concentrated on her own. “I want to see you make yourself come while you watch me make myself come.”

Kristian’s eyes were hooded with lust as she watched him stroke his cock while she massaged her clit in a slow and deliberately teasing fashion. Two fingers slid inside her moist sex before she brought them to her lips and licked her juices off her fingers with a playful tongue.

He quickly slipped out of his shoes and jeans before he joined her on the floor. It took very little effort for him to rip the thong from her body and he spread her legs before he climbed onto her body and with one full thrust, he joined them together.