Craving Her Curves (13 page)

“I am so glad to see all these people here,” he said.  I nodded.

“So am I,” I squealed.  He laughed.

“I’ll drop you off at the entrance and go find a parking space.  Something tells me that it might be a bit of a walk, and those shoes do not look like they are meant to be on concrete at a brisk walk for that long,” he said.  I glanced down at my stilettos and smirked.

“I appreciate that, and so do my feet,” I said.  Hugo laughed as he pulled his car up to the front of the building and came around to help me out of the car.

“Wait for me here?” he asked.  I grinned and nodded.

It didn’t take him as long as either of us had thought it would take him to find a space.  I’d stepped just inside the doorway, but I knew as soon as he arrived simply because he was suddenly the center of attention.  But, oddly enough, all of his attention was on me.

“Are you ready,
ma cherie
?” he said, offering me his arm.  I blushed and slipped my arm through his with a nod.

“I sure am,” I said.

The night was amazing.  We took pictures of the event, we were in pictures for others of the event, we laughed, we talked, we mingled, and we probably finished a bottle and a half of wine just between us two before it was all over with.  At the end of the night, Hugo went to retrieve the car while I waited by the door yet again, not that I minded.  I was the envy of every woman in there: on the arm of the sexy French guy with the amazing camera and the really nice butt.  Plus, I looked fantastic. Yeah, I’d wait.

“This night is over too soon for me,” Hugo said as we pulled away from the gallery.  I snickered.

“I saw you yawning in there, Mister I’m-not-tired,” I said with a laugh.  He grinned.

“That was the wine.  Now that most of it is out of my system, I’m rather awake, unfortunately,” he said.  I smiled and leaned back in the seat.

“Hmm,” I said, closing my eyes.

“You’re sleepy?” he asked.

“Not really.  More that I’m really relaxed,” I said.

“So then, we could go back to my place, upload these photos, and maybe try and decide which ones we want to use?  I could go for a cup of coffee, and I’ve got a really nice blend at home,” he said.  I glanced over at him and smirked.

“Well, I guess.  My car is at your place anyway,” I said.  Hugo smiled and nodded.

“That it is,” he said.  I swear, even in the dark of the car, I could see the mischief in his eyes.  It made me giggle.

H
ugo’s apartment was one of those fancy, over-priced, exposed brick loft style places.  The ones that I could never seem to talk myself into paying for, no matter how much I thought they were pretty.  He’d decorated in a combination of tans and deep, dark browns, with pure white in places to brighten it up.  I liked the contrast; it was something that I would have done. 

“Why don’t you have a seat?  I’ll go ahead and start the coffee,” he said, slipping in behind me, his hand gently at the small of my back as he guided me around a corner to the living room.  He plugged the transfer cable from his laptop into the camera and clicked to begin the upload.  I smiled and nodded, settling myself down on the overstuffed, soft leather of his couch.  He was back just a few moments later as the scent of the coffee wafted into the area from the kitchen.

“Wow, that smells great,” I said softly.  Hugo smiled as he sat beside me.

“There’s a little coffee shop on the corner that will make a custom blend for a little extra.  This is four different kinds of beans,” he said.

“Fancy,” I snickered.

“Sometimes,” he said, with a grin.  I scooted a bit closer as he began clicking around on the laptop, bringing up the pictures from the gallery opening.

“You took a lot of great pictures,” I said, scanning the screen.

“That’s because you are in most of them, 
ma cherie
,” he said with a wink.  I rolled my eyes with a grin.

“You’re in a few, too,” I said.  I’d taken the camera from him for a bit and taken a few shots of him looking through the exhibits.  He’d said that I wasn’t too bad as a photographer, which made me laugh since I was pretty sure he was just being nice.

“I am not nearly as nice to look at,” he said with a laugh. 

I snickered. “Well, I think we should use a few with you in them, so we can introduce our readers to you,” he said.  Hugo gave a dramatic sigh and rolled his eyes, which made me laugh.

“Fine, but I don’t see why they need to know what the man behind the camera looks like,” he said with a smirk.

“You do realize that Jade is going to make you put up a little introduction of yourself on the website, complete with picture, right?” I asked.   Hugo’s eyes widened a bit.

“I thought she was simply teasing me,” he said.  I giggled and shook my head.

“All of the photographers have one.  The ones that don’t really want their face up had others take pictures of them taking a picture of something else, so that the camera blocks most of their features,” I said.  Hugo seemed to think about that for a while.

“How about this: we take a look at the pictures that you took of me tonight, together.  If you and I can’t agree on one, I’ll have you take one in a garden somewhere with a camera covering my face,” he said.  I giggled and nodded.

“Fair enough,” I said.

We’d taken a lot of pictures.  I hadn’t really realized how many until we started flipping through them as we sipped our coffee and laughed about the half-blink I’d had in one shot and the strange, cross-eyed face that an adorable child had been making in another.  We kept the child’s picture for the article; it was entirely too cute to throw out.

“Alright, we are halfway through the pictures,” Hugo said, sitting back with a sigh.  I sighed and stretched my back out.

“Is this what you guys do before we get the maybe ten photos that you send for us to approve on a story?” Hugo smirked and nodded.

“Most photographers spend hours sorting through their photos so that you writers don’t have to,” he said.  I snickered.

“You all ought to be paid more,” I said.  Hugo laughed.

“You’re holding up well.  Most writers wouldn’t have made it this long.  Most would have left,” he said.  I grinned and shook my head.

“Nope.  We’re going to get this done.  Plus, we still haven’t found the perfect picture of you for your introduction page,” I said.  Hugo rolled his eyes and stood.

“Damn, I was hoping you’d forgotten about that,” he said, walking into the kitchen with our now empty coffee cups.  I laughed.

“No chance,” I said.  I heard a corresponding snicker.

“Do you want something else to drink?  I can make more coffee, or a soda maybe?” he said.  I thought about it for a moment.

“I kind of want some ice cream,” I said softly.  Hugo stuck his head through the doorway to look at me.

“The store in the lobby is 24 hours,” he said with a wicked grin.

“We should hang out more,” I said with a laugh.  Hugo and I were perfect together, weren’t we?  Hugo laughed and picked up his wallet from the counter.

“What kind?” he asked.

“Cookies and Cream,” I said without hesitation.

“I’ll be back bearing 
glacée
,” he said.

“I’m going to assume that means ice cream,” I said, turning back to the laptop and flipping to the next picture.  Hugo laughed as he opened the door.

“Indeed it does, 
ma cherie
.  I’ll be right back,” he said.  I turned and nodded with a grin.  I wasn’t going anywhere.

~*~*~

B
y the time Hugo and I finished with the ice cream, the coffee, the pictures, and the laughter, it was almost 4 A.M.  I’d kicked my shoes off an hour prior and had my legs tucked up under me as we lay against the back of the sofa, staring at the ceiling.

“That took forever,” I said softly.  Hugo grinned and turned his head towards me.

“That it did, but you stuck with it.  I’m proud of you, 
ma cherie
,” he said.  I giggled.

“Whatever, you’re just buttering me up,” I said.  Hugo sat forward, a laughing look of outrage on his face.

“Buttering you up for what?” he asked.  I shrugged and laughed.

“I don’t know.  Maybe this was your plan all along: To have me here all night so that you could say something like ‘It’s already late, Char, maybe you should just sleep here.’  And then you’d try and take advantage of my virtue,” I said.  Hugo laughed softly and leaned close, his breath tickling my neck as he spoke.

“Would that be so bad, 
ma cherie
?” he said.  I shivered and turned to him.

“What?” I whispered.

“Would it be so bad for you to stay here with me, after the wonderful night we’ve had?  Would it be so bad for me to lead you into my bedroom and take advantage of your very beautiful, very ample, virtue?” he said.  His fingers trailed down the length of my jaw line, brushed lightly over the skin of my neck, then traced my collarbone and gently ran over my cleavage.  My breath trembled as he brought his eyes from the skin that he’d chosen to touch back to my face with a smile.

“Hugo, I...” he stopped me with a finger to my lips and shook his head.

“I know what happened, Charlotte, with the football player and 
l'homme dangereux
.  I am not offering you something heavy, something deep and profound.  I am not at a place in my life where my heart is something that I am willing to give to any woman, no matter how beautiful. But I can give you warmth, laughter, fun.  And sex, 
ma cherie
, lots of sex,” he said.  His hand had slipped up under the skirt of my cocktail dress and was currently inching its way higher and higher.  I hadn’t stopped him.  I didn’t really want to stop him now, as his hand changed lanes and continued its journey, but up the inner thigh now.

“But we have to work together,” I said, though my voice didn’t seem very sure about the protest.

“I can be professional in the office.  No one will have any idea that there is something between us.  But behind closed doors, when we are alone...” his fingers slipped inside me and I sighed softly.

“You promise, no one will know,” I whispered.  Hugo smiled as I opened my eyes and looked at him.

“I will not tell a soul,” he said, making his period on the sentence when his lips met mine.

H
ours later, the sun was fully up, but neither Hugo nor I were.  We lay together in bed, naked and tangled up in each other after several hours of being together.  My clothes were trailed through his apartment, from the living room, through the kitchen, and into his bedroom.  His were, as well.  He was amazing naked.  Very taut and chiseled, with an ass that looked even better out of his pants than in them.  I smiled to myself as his arm snaked its way lazily across my stomach and pulled me closer to him.  His nose nuzzled my neck and I felt him smile against me.  He was almost asleep, I was pretty sure about that, and he’d warned me that he was a bit of a cuddler, which was fine.  The sun tried to make its way into the bedroom, but Hugo had gotten up while I was showering off and closed the heavy, dark curtains tightly so that we could actually get some sleep.

It was there, in that bed with that man, hugged tightly against my backside, that Joey came roaring back into my mind.  My smile wilted a bit at the edges as I thought about his face when he laughed, the way his eyes sparkled with he was being flirty, and the little wink that went along with that part of him.  I sighed alone and smiled again, but it was sadder this time.  I still missed him.  I missed him and we hadn’t even had sex, yet here I was lying naked with a French photographer who I worked with.

No.  No!  I was
not
going to do this to myself. I refused, I thought.  I shook my head, as if that was a sign of my resolve and not an attempt to shake the memories loose.  I’d broken up with him for a reason, and it was a damned good one.  I wasn’t going to tear myself apart inside because I’d chosen to have a little fun with Hugo.  We’d been honest with each other; this was simply fun, that’s all.  And that was fine, that was what I wanted.  What I needed.  Right?

Oh, damn it all to hell.

“T
here’s a nice little sushi place that just opened up around the corner.  Do you want to get some lunch with me?” Hugo asked, slipping in to my cube.  I turned in my chair.

“You like sushi?” I asked.  Hugo shrugged.

“Not all the time, but occasionally, I have a craving for some,” he said.  I grinned.

“Then I’d love to go get some sushi with you,” I said, grabbing my purse and standing to leave.  Hugo stood and offered me his arm with a grin as we left together.

The new place that he’d mentioned was brand spanking new, having just opened for the first time that morning.  We’d been seated at a small table that was tucked off in a dim corner, which was fine with us.  It was quieter over there, so we didn’t have to yell over the table beside us.

“So, tell me what you like,
ma cherie
,” he said.

“What do you mean, what do I like?” I asked with a laugh.

“I mean, what do you like to do?  Do you like books, movies, clubs?” he asked.  I grinned.

“Oh. Well, I like movies, I love books, and I’m in some sort of club just about every weekend, so I like them.  I don’t like being hit on by every guy who thinks that just because I’m not model skinny, that means I’m desperate and easy, but the dancing with my friends while clueless guys haven’t figured out that I’m not going to sleep with them part is fun,” I said.  Hugo laughed.

“So, men buy you drinks to entice you into sleeping with them, and even though you know that you have no intention of doing so, you allow them to spend their money on you anyway?” he asked.  I laughed.

“They don’t normally ask first.  Most of the time, it’s a waitress letting me know that the guy on the other side of the bar bought me this drink and asked her to bring it to me with his regards. But, a lot less fancy than my vocabulary makes it sound,” I said with a laugh.  Hugo grinned.

“Ah, well then it’s their fault,” he said.  I nodded.