The older man smiled again at both of us, dropping the handshake tiredly before putting both hands deep in his pockets and taking off after his wife.
Sinclair and I stood there for a minute or two after they left before he wrapped me up in both arms and hugged me tightly. I giggled into his coat because his affection made me giddy.
“You are so beautiful to me,” he said into my hair.
I smiled when he buried his nose in it and inhaled, knowing I smelled like lavender.
“Did you mean what you said?”
I pulled back within the span of his arms so that I could stare up into his electric eyes. “Yes. The affair was wrong, keeping it a secret compounded that, I think. A lot of people – our friends and family included – are going to hate us and they might never stop.” I reached up to run my fingers through his lush hair like I had wanted to do all night. “But I would take all the hate in the world if it meant your love.”
Sinclair’s face broke into a colossal grin, his teeth exposed and shining in the city lights. I grinned back at him, my happiness rushing through me, pushing against my tongue so that I almost gagged with it. Instead, I laughed. And after a moment, he laughed with me, great rolling guffaws that shook our bodies and made my belly ache. It was silly and it made me feel like the teenager I had never been, impulsive and full of impossible fire.
I moaned when Sin swooped down to capture my smile between his lips. My body melted against him, his strong hold the only thing keeping me steady as he kissed me deeply. I tried to pull away slightly, aware that we were in a public, albeit fairly deserted place, but he only brought me closer with a low growl. He gathered my wrists behind my back into one of his hands and pulled me tightly against him. I wiggled against his hold, tilting my hips back and forth over the erection I could feel against my belly.
“Come back to my hotel room,” he murmured against my skin. “I have a surprise for you.”
I giggled, thrusting my breasts into his chest as I wiggled my eyebrows salaciously. “I don’t think it’s much of a surprise at this point, Sin.”
He blinked blankly before chuckling. “Your dirty mind always surprises me.”
A few weeks ago, I would have blushed. Instead,
I pried one hand out of his hold in order to cup his rigid length through his slacks. “Pleasantly, I hope.”
He groaned when I squeezed him. “Most definitely. But that is not actually the surprise I was referring to.”
When I pouted, he smiled. “I promise it will be just as fun.”
I widened my eyes comically and grabbed his hand to drag him along behind me as I marched to the curb to hail a cab. “Just as fun as sex? Okay, this I have to see.”
Chapter Twenty One.
Sinclair had the Royal Suite at the St Regis. It was ridiculously beautiful, with heavy velvet drapes, a black marble fireplace and luxurious furnishing. Yet I could barely take my eyes off of Sinclair as he competently removed our coats, hung them up in the closet and called down to the reception for a bottle of wine to be brought up. He moved through the world with a confidence and discipline that awed me especially given the way he had grown up before the Percys had found him.
“Please take a seat,” he said with a wave towards the two sofas.
“Did you take finishing classes?” I asked, plopping onto the couch with a smile of glee at how comfortable the fabric was beneath my palms.
“Excuse me?”
“I was just wondering if you took finishing classes, or the male equivalent, whatever that may be. You went from a French orphan to a Governor’s son practically over night.”
“I had a private tutor and I was enrolled at Trinity.” At my blank look, he explained, “It’s the best prep school in the country. The summer they brought me over here, I spent every day perfecting my English, learning Spanish and improving my standing in every other academic arena. Willa took me through the more delicate etiquette of high society herself.”
“I am so sorry,” I said somberly.
I was rewarded with his small smile. “So was I, at the time. I lived on a carefully constructed schedule Willa created for me: schooling, modeling and dating. Until you, I hadn’t realized I’d never stopped living like that even after I ‘rebelled’ and moved out.”
“Dating?”
“Willa and Mort have always expected me to marry well.” He hesitated. “They weren’t even pleased with Elena at first but she worked tirelessly to impress them and now she and Willa are thick as thieves.”
I looked down at my hands so that Sinclair couldn’t see how those words scrambled my compartmentalized thoughts.
He sat down beside me and tipped my chin up with two fingers so that I had to stare into his intense eyes. “Elle, don’t leave me.”
“I’m here.”