His Paris Affair (The Albury Affairs) (11 page)

Her eyes slowly slid open meeting his own. They shone with
earnest, pleading with her to give him this one thing. If he only knew she
needed his arms around her, had for a very long time. She nodded and his lips
twitched in a smile before he pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his large
strong arms around her. Melody wrapped her own arms around him, tight, her face
tucked into his neck taking in his scent that was just him. It comforted her,
always did. She felt him move back, more into the bed before he lowered back
slowly, with her safely clutched to his chest. Once he was laying flat on his
back he toed off both their shoes and then turned to his side, placing her on
the bed, but still keeping her close. He intertwined their legs, her skirt
pushing up to her thighs, until they formed a perfect knot, keeping them
pressed together from toe to her face to his neck. She could feel his heat
through their cotton shirts but that didn’t excite her as much as her bare
thighs against his rough jeans. She pushed closer into him, riding her skirt
higher to her hips until she could feel him fully, pulsing against her thigh.
She wanted to push her leg higher, rub against him but he held her still.

Kissing the top of her head he said, “I could make love to
you until we are both breathless, but right now I just want to hold you. Maybe
kiss a little, touch a little…but I want us both to be conscious of this
moment, of us together not mindless with lust and ecstasy. Just like we used to
be before we got married.”

Melody felt her eyes burn with tears. “It’s not safe
travelling down memory lane Ruiz,” she whispered back.

He tipped her chin up so that they were face to face. “Why
not? I think that’s exactly what we need to do. Remind ourselves why we were so
in love with each other.”

She swallowed hard. “Were?”

He nodded, pressing his forehead against hers for a moment
before he pulled back looking her in the eyes. “If you truly loved me, with all
your heart, you would have trusted me.”

“But Ruiz after—”

He shushed her. “And if I truly loved you, I wouldn’t have
let you go so easily. We both have issues in our past that brought us to the
decisions we made a year ago. All I’m saying is, let’s start again.”

Tempting, what he was proposing was so tempting, but things
weren’t the same. Over a year ago, when they were falling in love, they didn’t
have huge threatening obstacles standing in their way. She wasn’t keeping an
equally huge secret from him that would test his love, his trust for her double
of what led her to running from him a year ago. He would hate her for this,
there would be no forgiveness.

“What about Antonio?”

“Forget about him. You are my wife not his. I don’t care
what stupid paper you signed here.”

“Ruiz—”

“You don’t sleep with him and I’m sure you have separate
rooms.” When she went to protest he pressed his thumb over her lips. “Don’t
even try to lie to me. You were tighter than a fist when we made love last and
there is no way that would have been possible if you shared a bed with that
idiot. Which makes me all the more curious why you married him in the first
place—but, I’m not going to push anymore about that. When you are ready you’ll
tell me and we’ll fix it together. Just don’t say no to this.”

Melody nibbled on her lower lip fighting indecision. She
didn’t want to hope, but how could she not? This was a chance for them for
their family. They owed it to Esme to at least try.

She nodded her assent. “Okay Ruiz Albury, let’s fall in love
again.”

His lips spread in a wide grin before he kissed her. “Let’s
fall in love again, Mrs. Albury.”

A shiver ran through Melody at that. It felt so good when he
called her that, when the words rolled off his tongue like a lovers caress. “I
love it when you call me that; the way you say it.”

“Aha,” he pulled her into him, pressing her tighter against
him. His lips hovered over her parted ones as he said, “Well Mrs. Albury, I’d
like to get to the kissing and touching now.”

* * * *

With a groan, Melody pressed her forehead against the top of
the new—but inexpensive in case Ruiz decided to slam someone else on it—desk,
and covered her head with her hands. She had hoped things would be different on
the second day but all she’d managed to do is hold Ruiz down almost sitting on
him several occasions when a fired employee exploded at her. It was normal, no
one took firing easy, but her employees were taking it rather personally. Some
broke down in tears and others yelled, cursed and screamed and all she was
getting out of it was a splitting headache.

She felt Ruiz’s hands on her shoulders and she spread her
hands on the table to give him room to massage her. He had the best hands—hard
and heavy against her softness. It always made her feel like clay when he ran
them over her body, massaging her, caressing her and all the other little
things that turned her into a horny putty in them.

She sighed as he took her tension from her. What she would
give to just disappear for a few hours…or a day. Yes, definitely a full day of
relaxation with her family. She tensed again and sensed that Ruiz had noticed.
She prayed he wouldn’t ask her about it. It wasn’t the time to tell him about
Esme, not in the middle of all this mess.

“Hey, how about we go out for a few hours and relax, maybe
have a late lunch.”

Lunch! It was two in the afternoon and they hadn’t eaten
yet. Maybe that’s why she was feeling a little lightheaded. Stress and hunger
and with a nursing baby it left her a lot more drained. Esme, she needed to
feed Esme. She groaned, rolling her forehead on the cool surface. How did
working moms handle all of it?

 
“Come on, babe.”
Ruiz pulled her up off the desk and up on her feet. “Jon Luc, your not invited.”

Melody gaped at how blunt Ruiz was. She learnt from her
debutant days that there was a more polite with all the fake regrets to tell
someone they weren’t wanted and blurting it out wasn’t it. The social class she
was raised around was the pit of all that was vile but politeness was gospel
even between people who hated each other. If her mother were alive she would
have pinched him for his rudeness! So she did just that, pinched him. But
apparently it didn’t hurt because he stared down at her with a confused look on
his face.

“What?” Ruiz blurted out.

“You could have been a little polite about that.”

He scoffed rolling his eyes. “You want me to write him a
disinvite with an apology card?”

It annoyed her sometimes when he made fun of the way she was
taught to do things. He called it ‘uppity nonsense’ and that she needed to
learn to live in the real world, like Loraine. But what he didn’t seem to
understand was she and Loraine were raised differently. Melody’s parents were
always present and never held back their affection which made it easy for Allan
and her to do as they were told. Loraine was ignored most of her life and her
rebellious nature exposed her to the world and more often to the worst side of
it.

Before she could get a retort off her tongue Jon Luc stood
and pushed them towards the door. “Don’t worry about it, Melody. I have some
work I need to see to anyway.”

Melody smiled up at him. “Well then, just make sure to order
something to eat from the kitchen. We have a long day and you can’t go through
it hungry.”

“
Oui. Merci madame,
for your concern,” he returned with a smile.

Ruiz grumbled under his breath before he audibly said,
“Great, let’s go.” Then he grabbed her arm and pulled her out the door making
her run after him. Once they got outside, he bundled her into his rented Jaguar
so fast she didn’t even feel the last of the winter chill as spring settled in.
Still peeved she stared out the window at the passing scenery stubbornly
refusing to either look or say a word to him, but that just annoyed her more
because he didn’t even try to interact with her.

After a few minutes, the car came to a stop. She sat still,
waiting for him to get out and come around to open her door, but as the seconds
ticked by, she didn’t hear his car door open and finally she forced herself to
turn around and face him. She caught him staring at her with a passive look on
his face except for that one raised eyebrow. She hated that eyebrow! She always
felt like, with that little gesture, he was saying ‘what was the brat throwing
a tantrum over now’.

“Is this where we are going to have lunch, in your car?” she
bit out. When he didn’t respond she half yelled pounding her fists on her lap.
“What? Would you stop looking at me like that?”

“Melody—” he rolled his lips into his mouth with a shake of
his head. “No. This isn’t happening, not now.” He opened his door and got out.
He banged the door closed so hard the car shook. She stared at him opened mouth
as he walked around the front of the car to her door.

“That was mature of you,” she said sarcastically once he had
her door opened. Ignoring his hand and averting her eyes from him, she stepped
out like a true debutant, sliding on her Gucci sunglasses knowing it would
annoy him and sauntered to the door of the restaurant. There she stopped,
waiting for him to open the door for her. And once he got to her, just to annoy
him further she said, “You couldn’t find a place with a door man?”

She felt his hands on her shoulders and none to gently he spun
her around making her yelp as she lost her footing. He grabbed her upper arms
steadying her and bringing her close to him.

“I know you don’t like me making fun of your,” he paused and
his eyes darted around like he was trying to find a less offensive word for
what he had in mind. Then he shook his head and sighed. “For lack of a better
word, uppity way of life. I know I promised I’ll stop and I’m going to try
harder to keep my promise, but you need to meet me halfway and you can do that
by stop acting like my mother.”

Melody gasped then pouted feeling a little chastised. Being
compared to his mother was the last thing she wanted or needed. She knew very
well his feeling about her mother-in-law and her social lifestyle. Melody
always guessed it was one of the reasons why he’d been reluctant to date her in
the beginning—that she was shallow, fake and cared more about how she was
perceived by her peers. Melody knew ladies like that, she was friends—more like
had to be around them because they came from the same circle—with some and
Allan had dated a few. He was always bored out of his mind around them but
always acted as he was expected, like a gentleman and ignored them when he
could. But he was different with Riana—always present, always attentive and so
free—and Melody liked the change.

Melody herself shaded those ‘friends’ after high school when
she’d decided what she wanted to do with her life. With no parents to influence
her decision, it was quite easy to pick hotel airing just harder to convince
her brother she could do it. After all she had done to get him to not only
support her, but help her make her dreams of owning her own hotel come true…she
felt even more ashamed.

She placed her hands on his chest and leaned into him.
“We’ll meet each other halfway. New resolutions for a new beginning.” She
smiled, meaning the words. If they were going to start fresh and make it work,
they couldn’t make the same mistakes that led to their separation.

He smiled softly down at her and kissed her gently. “I have
a surprise for you.”

Giddy, she bounced on her toes. “I love surprises! What is
it?”

He chuckled turning her around to face the door. He kissed
the top of her head and whispered mysteriously. “It’s something that’s a month
over due.”

What? She thought to herself as the door swung open exposing
a boy in his teens dressed in the official waiter’s uniform.

“Oh look, they do have a door man,” Ruiz whispered in her
ear.

She pushed her arm back and elbowed him in the ribs. He made
an oof sound and she smiled with satisfaction.

“
Bienvenue madame
,”
he said with a slight bow, stepping to the side and signaling them to pass by
him.

“
Merci
” she
responded, walking in with her arm looped through Ruiz’s. There was something
about the restaurant except the fact that it was empty and only one table was
set. It felt familiar, like she’d been there before.

She gasped, pressing her free hand over her pounding heart.
Tears stung her eyes something she had grown accustomed to, but this time she
didn’t hold them in check. She let them flow, “Oh Ruiz.” She sobbed.

He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Happy
belated first wedding anniversary.”

Chapter Six

Ruiz watched the emotions play over her face. He wasn’t sure
what her reaction would be to his surprise. He was so scared he would blow it
he hadn’t said a word to her in the car. In fact he was oblivious to her mood
the entire way to the restaurant. When he stopped the car and turned to her all
nervous and excited, he finally realized she was throwing one of her quiet
tantrum. He didn’t want to ruin the surprise so he stayed quiet forced himself
to stay quiet. An entire day and night of secretly planning this wasn’t going
to be ruined by what he knew would be a silly argument. And now seeing her
face, he was glad he prevented an argument. The joy on her face reminded her of
the night thirteen months ago.

They’d walked around for what felt like hours completely
immersed in each other. Melody was laughing and crying a little—the waterfall
had thankfully stopped at Jardin de Luxembourg—as she stared at her wedding
ring. When they got to a fancy shopping strip on Avenue Montaigne,
just steps from the Champs-Élyssés,
L’Avenue
came into view, Melody dragged him in. It was one of her favorite restaurants
in Paris and though he would have preferred a hole in the wall kind of place
and not the super swanky chic place, but he relented. It was a special occasion
and the least he could do was have her wedding dinner at her favorite
restaurant considering how casual the ceremony was. Melody ordered for the
table, a pasta dish with morels and cream, and bibb lettuce salad with king
crab, lime and olive oil. The food for lack of a better word was fantastic! And
the apple tart, his mouth watered just thinking about it. It was so thin and
crisp and the hot caramel on the side made it to die for. They ended up
ordering another tart and stayed there talking for hours about their
future—kids, where they would live and when and how they would break the news
of their marriage to their family. Everything was so easy and wonderful then…he
never saw the break up coming just after one month of wedded bliss.