Sex for Beginners Box Set(79)
“Did you have one?” he asked.
She gave a little laugh. “Oh, no. My grandparents couldn’t afford one. But they did take me to north Georgia to the clinic.”
“Clinic?”
“Where the dolls were born and taken care of before they were adopted out,” she explained with a smile.
He shook his head. “Boys’ toys are so much simpler. When I was seven, all I wanted was a skateboard.”
Violet nodded her agreement, then turned her attention back to her PDA. “Next on the list is Mia. You sent her chocolates for Valentine’s Day and flowers in July.”
He looked around the sparkly, crowded shop and lifted his hands. “I’m at a loss.”
“What’s she like?” Violet asked.
“Um…” Dominick frowned, unable at the moment to even conjure up a mental image of the woman. She was in pharmaceutical sales…maybe. Then he snapped his fingers. “She always smells good.” Not as good as Violet, though, who smelled like—he leaned closer to her ponytail—gingerbread cookies.
The dog barked loudly and Dominick’s head snapped back.
Oblivious, Violet reprimanded the dog, who whimpered and moved closer to her, watching Dominick with his dark little eyes.
She swung her aqua-colored gaze to Dominick. “How about a perfume decanter?”
“Which is…?”
She picked up a small pink glass bottle with a stopper. “To hold her favorite perfume.”
“Perfect,” he agreed. Another parting gift. Now that he thought about it, most of his year-end gifts were symbolic, wiping the relationship slate clean.
Violet set aside the perfume bottle, then consulted the list. “You gave Sandy chocolates for Valentine’s Day, flowers in May and season tickets to the symphony in October.”
“She’s my housekeeper,” he explained. “I’ve known her since I was a kid. Great lady.”
Violet’s expression softened. “That’s nice. Do you have any idea of what you’d like to give her?”
“Something indulgent,” he said. “The woman spends way too much time trying to take care of me.”
Violet walked over to a rack of garments hanging against a wall. “How about a cashmere bathrobe? I can’t think of anything more indulgent.”
Dominick touched the ultrasoft pale gray fabric, noticing the elegance of Violet’s hands. Her fingers were long, her nails bare and neat. She wore a ring on her right hand that looked antique—he’d bet it had belonged to her grandmother.
“The robe is perfect,” he agreed, thinking that Sandy would be at a loss for words over the extravagance. Appreciation welled in his chest. “Thank you, Vee. It means a lot to me to be able to give Sandy something special.”
She smiled, removing the robe from the hanger. “That’s what you pay me for.”
He followed her to the counter to purchase the items, disturbed by Violet’s reminder that she worked for him. When they left the store with the gifts, he caught her arm. “Vee…last night in the hotel room, you didn’t feel pressured to…” He cleared his throat, feeling like an idiot.
“No,” she said quickly, her cheeks turning bright pink. “I wanted it to happen, Dominick.”
“Good,” he said, feeling relieved…and awkward. This woman was probably the most shy, inexperienced woman he’d ever slept with, yet she made him feel inept.
She gestured to a jewelry shop two doors down. “Jewelry for Bethany, right? We can knock out the last gift.”
He paused, suddenly uncomfortable with the thought of picking out jewelry for another woman with Violet in tow. “Maybe I should take care of this one myself.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Oh. Okay. Why don’t I take Winslow for a little walk up the street? Take your time.”
Dominick watched her walk away and frowned. He’d rather go with her. But instead, he pushed open the door of the jewelry store. At the sight of case after case of engagement rings, though, he nearly had a panic attack. He quickly moved to the more innocuous cases of earrings, then scratched his head. Were Bethany’s ears pierced? He hadn’t spent a lot of time looking at the woman’s lobes. Maybe he’d be better off buying a bracelet as a breakup gift. But even a bracelet seemed a little…intimate. Then he caught sight of the watch case and brightened. A watch was jewelry, but not.
Perfect.
He selected a feminine but plain style and paid for it, eager to get back to Violet. Then a thought popped into his head—should he buy a Christmas gift for Vee?
He stopped near the door and peered into a case that happened to contain rings. A delicate gold filigree band caught his eye—it would suit Vee’s elegant hand.
“Would you like to see a ring, sir?” the clerk asked.
Dominick looked up at the man’s knowing smile and straightened. “Uh, no, thanks.” Then he bolted for the door, pulling his hand down his face when he reached the sidewalk. What was he thinking? Even without a diamond, women attached meaning to rings. And a ring would be wildly inappropriate for what he and Vee had.
He squinted. Which was…what? The sex had certainly blurred the lines—at least for him.
Dominick turned and caught sight of Violet a few yards away, crouched down, face-to-face with the ugly little dog, roughing up its fur and talking to it as if it were a child. Her devotion to a client’s dog was admirable—and indicative of the way she lived her life, he realized. She was guileless and didn’t have an angle. It was…refreshing.
She looked up and waved, then walked toward him, coaxing the dog along. “All done?” she asked.
He nodded as an alien feeling zigzagged through his chest—probably just indigestion. “Uh, yeah.”
“Great. There’s an overnight service center at the hotel. When we get back, I’ll send everything to Lillian and she’ll make sure the gifts are wrapped and delivered before Christmas Eve.”
“Sounds good,” he said, still shaken by this rampant…affection that he seemed to be developing for Violet. “Do you have your Christmas shopping done?”
She nodded and dropped her gaze, suddenly fascinated by the handle of the leash she held. “I gave my parents their gifts before I left.” Then she looked up. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, sure.”
They walked back to the hotel in relative silence, except for the occasional growl from the Pekingese when Dominick strayed too close to Violet.
“I’m going to leave him at the doggie spa this afternoon,” she said, brushing at the orange hair on her black pants. “He needs to be groomed.”
“He needs an attitude adjustment,” Dominick said wryly.
Violet laughed. “I’ll have to let them know when I’ll be picking him up. How long will we be gone today, doing…research?”
Dominick hesitated. He was having second thoughts about his plan to seduce her again by way of adrenaline rush. He didn’t have anything to offer Violet in terms of a commitment, and despite the fantasies she’d written down, she was the kind of woman who needed—who deserved—something more than just a few nights of illicit sex. She belonged back home with her parents, celebrating that magical Christmas that she’d always dreamed of.
But when she lifted her heavy-lidded gaze to his, her tongue flicked out to moisten her parted pink lips, and her face was flushed from more than the Florida heat.
She wanted this, too, he realized as lust arrowed straight to his groin.
“As long as it takes,” he answered, half to himself.
12
TANDEM PARAGLIDING, Violet learned, consisted of two people strapped into individual sling harnesses, which allowed them to sit—one in front of the other—and use a wide, narrow parachute-like “wing” to capture and ride the wind.
“I’ve stayed in the air for two hours lots of times,” Dominick assured her as he strapped her into the harness, “but this time we’ll only be up for less than an hour. It’s safe and it’s fun. Paragliding is as close to being a bird as a human can get.”
But even following an afternoon of prep and training from Sunpiper instructors that Dominick seemed impressed with, she was trembling with fear. “I’ve actually never wanted to be a bird.”
His laugh rumbled out, then he winked. “Once we get airborne, if you don’t like it, we’ll come back down, okay?”
Violet wet her lips. “Okay.”
They stood on a grassy incline north of Miami amongst other students who’d taken the class. The sun was high in a sky of thin clouds and the temperature hovered in the nineties. Dominick was a certified paragliding pilot, so he was allowed to take her up using the school’s equipment. Other students were either going on short solo flights or going up with qualified instructors.
A bead of sweat trickled down her neck, and a low throb pulsed in her midsection. When Dominick crouched and pulled the straps tighter over her thighs, she suppressed a moan. He glanced up at her and she knew from his slightly hooded expression that he was remembering their private adventure last night.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
She swallowed hard and nodded.
He stood and helped her with her helmet, then adjusted the chin strap and touched his finger to her nose. “I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you, Vee. Try to enjoy it.”