I laughed. “There’s no music.”
“We don’t need music.”
“I’m not any good,” I told him before hesitantly placing my hand in his.
“Lucky for you, I am a great partner.”
He tugged me tight into him. He held our hands out and grasped my waist, guiding my own hand to his shoulder. My eyes crept up to his, and something bubbled up inside me—fear but excitement.
Who was this man? What universe had he come from?
Then, he led me in a smooth circle around the stage. His movements were effortless, and he guided us so evenly, it was clear that he had been doing this his entire life. We performed our slow waltz in front of an empty audience, yet the energy between us made it feel like it was a packed house.
“I haven’t done this since I was a debutant,” I admitted.
“You were a debutant?” he asked with surprise in his voice.
I nodded.
I didn’t add that it was the most ridiculous thing I had ever done in my life. That Amy’s parents had insisted she do it since she was a legacy, and she had refused until they said they would pay my way, too. It had been embarrassing. All of the manners, etiquette, and dance lessons in the world couldn’t make me a proper Southern lady.
“I took my best friend to her debut. My four other closest friends pair off . We all got wasted before the event, and I thought all the parents were going to throttle us when we stumbled through the whole party.”
“Oh god,” I said with a laugh. “Sounds way better than mine.”
“It was an interesting night, to say the least.” He frowned slightly. His eyes drifted off and then snapped back to me.
Our dancing stilled, and those entrancing liquid-blue eyes captured my attention. They fixated on me as if memorizing this moment, capturing it in his mind. I drifted closer to him, sliding my other arm up to his shoulder. He leaned down, our breaths mingling in the distance.
I wanted to remember the way he looked at me forever. Such reverence and desire on his face. A face like that deserved to be painted and photographed, so it would never be lost to time. But I didn’t have those skills; words were the weapons I wielded. And I planned to paint him with flourished pen strokes and deft metaphor.
His hand trailed up my waist, inched toward my shoulder, grazed my neck, and then cupped my cheek. The agonizing closeness of the movements sent a chill down my spine. My body was eager for those lips, and still, I waited. Letting the moment linger as he touched me with a possessiveness that said all I needed to know. He tilted my chin up and dipped to meet my tender lips.
That was the moment a flashlight beam hit our bodies.
Chapter 6
“Hé! Qu’est ce que vous foutez là? Vous n’avez rien à faire ici!” an angry voice roared.
“Shit,” Penn spat. “We have to go.”
I didn’t need a translation to know that the guy sounded pissed. Penn grabbed my hand and ran the opposite direction of the security guard.
“What did he say?” I asked, dashing after him.
“Basically, What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Oh god.”
Penn laughed as he continued running. “Hey, where’s the fun if there’s not a chance of getting caught, right?”
My inner risk aversion shuddered at that thought. And yet, here I was, running from an angry security guard at night in the middle of the Paris opera house. Perhaps Paris had changed me. Or Penn had.
The security guard was running after us. I knew that, if he caught up, we would be in serious trouble. We had been trespassing in the middle of a freaking palace. That wouldn’t go unpunished. I knew that people with money could get away with a lot, but I doubted that we’d both get away with this.
So, we ran.
And I was glad that Penn knew the way in the dark. My heels were a huge detriment. I walked in them all right, but running? It was more of an ungraceful stumble. Not that anyone but me noticed.
I saw the restaurant up ahead of us. The lights were dark on the inside. It had closed. I bit my bottom lip as real fear coursed through me. What if we couldn’t get out? What if all the doors were locked? I could not get caught in Paris like this. My father would kill me.
Penn reached for the door, and I breathed a sigh of relief when it sprang open with ease.
“Come on. Get in.”
I scurried forward in front of him. He pushed the door shut before the security guard saw where we had gone. The staff still seemed to be in the building, finishing up closing duties. We hurried past them and out into the Paris night.
My breathing didn’t even out until we were two blocks away from the building. Then suddenly, I couldn’t stop laughing. My hands were on my knees, and I was doubled over. Tears welled in my eyes. All of the fear rippled out in laughter at the relief of not getting caught.
“That was insane,” I muttered.
Penn was laughing, too. “I’ve never been caught inside there. Fuck.”
“I cannot believe we just ran away from a cop.”
He waved his hand. “It’s fine. We got away. That’s all that matters.”
I shook my head in awe. “Well, what else is on the docket for tonight? I don’t think anything can top almost getting arrested.”
“The night is young,” he said, his eyes twinkling in the moonlight. “I think we can find something to top it.”
My cheeks flushed at the heat in his words. Every new adventure brought me closer and closer to the point of no return. I knew I was there already. That I had probably been a goner the second I agreed to walk out of that party with him. But, after being in a spot of real danger, I wondered if I should actually end this. And yet, I knew that it was impossible.
I was having fun with him. And he was right; we hadn’t been caught.
If I went back to the flat alone, then what? I was certain Amy wasn’t there. She probably had forgotten all about me in her lust for Enzo. That wasn’t how I wanted to end my last night in Paris. I wanted adventure. I wanted Penn.
Penn held his hand out. “Shall we?”
I nodded and placed my hand in his. He laced our fingers together, an intimacy in the moment that I couldn’t exactly place. It was as if those few moments of danger had shifted the momentum of the night. We were bound by what could have been. Not just what was.
The night air was crisp and fresh. We passed a garden in full blossom as we continued our nighttime stroll. Wrought iron poles lit brightly colored flowers and row after row of square-shaped trees. Matching benches had been placed intermittently throughout. It was one of these benches where I had first glimpsed Penn.
“My feet are killing me after running in these heels. I need a break.” I pulled him through the trees and onto the stone walkway, directing us toward one of the empty benches.
He took the seat next to me. “I don’t know how women walk in those things, let alone run.”
“Well, it was kind of a necessity.”
“True.”
I kicked off my shoes and stretched out the aching arches. I’d been fine up until the running. Not that I normally wore heels, but I was pretty fit from swimming. I should have been able to get through a whole night in these torture devices. If only Amy hadn’t insisted that they made my butt look so good.