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He shook his head.
“Not as crazy as me writing you letters that I’ve never worked up the courage to send.”
“Letters?”
“Real ones. Ink on paper.”
“Why did you never send them?” she asked, hoping he still had the letters. “I wanted to write you too, or call you, or anything. But I was the older one and my parents forbade me from contacting you at all in case your parents got cops and lawyers involved.”
“I didn’t send them because I didn’t think you’d want to read them.” Julien took a heavy breath. “I convinced myself I was just a stupid lovestruck kid and no way would this beautiful older woman want to hear from me. Especially with everything that had happened.”
“I would have loved to have heard from you, I promise. Even if it was just to tell me you were okay. I worried about you after that night.”
“You did? Why?”
“I don’t know. Just a feeling I had. I couldn’t shake it. I saw your sisters at the races but never you. It was like you disappeared after Christmas. Maybe that’s why I kept looking for you at every race I went to. Or maybe I just really like your face.”
She raised her hand and stroked his cheek. His skin felt warm—not feverish, simply heated. If he touched her face right now he too would feel her raised temperature just from the proximity of their bodies. She lowered her hand, afraid to touch him any further.
“That night at the party,” Julien said, “I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life. How is it possible you’re even more beautiful now?”
She knew she should say something, anything to dispel the anticipation, the tension that buzzed in the air between them. Their families were in a very public feud. Their families weren’t just families but businesses. Getting involved with Julien could lead to accusations of collusion. Real ugly consequences. She needed to take a step back from Julien. Maybe two. Three would be best. Actually she should get on a plane and head straight for Kentucky.
Right now.
She kissed him.
Julien didn’t seem the least surprised she kissed him. When their lips met he opened his mouth and let his tongue graze her tongue. She felt the kiss all the way from her lips to her toes and back up again.
Remi pulled back before the kiss turned into more than a kiss. She’d been down that dangerous road before.
“I didn’t mean to do that,” Remi said.
“You didn’t?” Julien asked, looking flushed and bright-eyed.
“No. Really. I was thinking in my head all the reasons I shouldn’t kiss you and then…”
“I was thinking the same thing,” he said. “Thinking that our parents’ worst nightmare would be you and I getting involved and so we should absolutely not get involved.”
“You’re right. You’re completely right.”
“But I’m going to kiss you anyway,” Julien said.
“Thank God.”
He cupped the back of her neck and brought his mouth to hers. The second kiss was even more passionate than the first.
Julien kissed her like he’d die if he didn’t, like he hadn’t been kissed in a decade, like he had a gun to the back of his head and had been ordered to her kiss her like his life depended on it.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pushed her breasts against his chest. She dug her hand into the back of his hair and found it silky and soft. Julien’s hand was on her thigh over her skirt, creating a thousand wicked images in her head. He could lift her skirt, pull off her panties, and bury himself inside her right now. And they could do it and she wouldn’t feel at all guilty about it because he wasn’t in high school anymore and his parents were across an ocean.
They paused in the kiss long enough to look at each other as if for confirmation that they could and would continue. In the distance, the lights on the Eiffel Tower turned to blue. And in the haze of blue light their lips met again.
Julien ran his hand down the center of her back. Remi held him even closer, tighter to her body.
This was crazy. This was wrong.
Those words bounced about her brain but as they kissed but they stayed in her mind and touched neither her body nor her heart. Yes it was crazy. Yes it was wrong. And no, that wasn’t about to stop her.
