Katherine Garbera - Claimed by the Millionaire

“I don’t think we’ve had the chance to meet before, Mrs. Sabina-Christophe.”

“Please, call me Blanche.”

Sheri nodded. There was renewed tension between brother and sister and she had no idea what to say to break it. As Tristan’s assistant she was used to stepping in and smoothing over awkward situations but this…there was no way she could interfere.

“Um…I guess you saw the tabloids.”

“ Oui . The entire family is gathering to discuss it.”

Sheri took a step backward, longing to hide back on the jet. Even more, she yearned for her small, comforting brownstone. The one place in the world that had always been her constant. The one place in the world where she felt safe.

“Can you give us a moment, Blanche?”

“Certainly.”

“Why don’t Blanche and I take the second car and give you and Sheri some time alone on the drive to your parents’ house?” Gui said.

“I need to talk to Tristan about some family business,” Blanche said.

“I don’t mind riding with Gui,” Sheri said, thinking that would be the easiest solution.

“I would mind. Blanche can go with him. We need to talk.”

Sheri realized that his indulgent attitude toward his sister only lasted for so long. The commanding man Tristan normally was had come back to the surface.

“Tristan—”

“Blanche, this is not open to discussion.”

She shrugged in a way that Sheri thought was distinctly French and turned to Gui. “I suppose that will be fine. You must be on your best behavior, Gui.”

He lifted Blanche’s hand to his mouth and brushed his lips across the back. “With you that will be easy.”

“I’d be flattered if I didn’t know you were always trying to charm anyone female.”

Gui laughed and said, “You always say the nicest things.”

“Your ego can stand it.”

“Indeed,” Gui said, leading her away.

Tristan led Sheri to the car, and she slid inside. She started to move across the seat to make room for him, but he closed the door behind her and walked around toward the other side. She sat there for a moment feeling as if she’d stepped into someone else’s life. And realized that she wanted it.

Tristan wasn’t sure that coming to Paris was the best idea he’d ever had. But he needed the resources of his family and he’d wanted to take Sheri to the safest place he could think of. The Sabina house on the outskirts of Paris was just that.

His grandmère had been a famous actress in Europe, and his grandpère, a director twenty years her senior. They’d had a scandalous love affair that had resulted in a marriage that lasted for fifty years, until his grandpère’s death. And the paparazzi had hounded them all their lives.

Tristan’s mother had grown up with the photographers following her and the world being interested in everything she did. Tristan and his siblings had done the same.

They were used to the attention, but there were times like this when he resented it.

“Are you okay?” Tristan asked, looking at Sheri.

She’d be so easy to care for. Hell, he already cared more for her than he should. But he had to keep his focus, his distance from her, because he knew that she was barely holding herself together and a full-blown affair with him wasn’t going to help her.

“I’m fine,” she said, but she was clutching her purse to her stomach and staring out the window.

“Sheri, look at me.”

“Not now, Tristan.”

“Yes, now.”

She shook her head and turned her body away from his as if to emphasize her determination.

He simply took her chin in his hand and turned her toward him. She had that wounded look in her big doe eyes again and he felt the impact all the way to his cold and lonely heart. She kept her gaze fixed at his chest.

“What is wrong now?”

“Um…I work for you. Everyone in the world knows I slept with you. Figure it out.”

He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. There was the sassy girl he knew. The one that he’d been attracted to and hadn’t understood why.

But now it all made sense. There was a real fire and passion in Sheri that she kept deeply buried.

“What happens between us is our business, ma petite .”

“That’s easy for you to say. Guys will slap you on the back and say, go, you. But everyone will look at me and think…”

“Sheri, please look at me.”

She turned to face him fully and lifted those beautiful brown eyes of hers to meet his gaze.

“You are never going to be able to control what anyone thinks about you but you can control how you feel about what happened. Do you regret becoming my lover?” he asked.

She nibbled her lower lip and then sighed. “No. I don’t. Being in your arms was incredible.”

“Then don’t worry about the photos or the press or any of it.”

She arched one eyebrow at him. “That’d be a little easier to do if I hadn’t met that lot head-on this morning. It was a little scary.”

“It is irritating. I will install you at my parents’ house and then take care of the paparazzi.”

“You keep saying that. And I don’t like it.”

“What don’t you like?”

“You taking care of everything. I’m not some doormat. Despite how I might act at the office.”

“You’re borderline insubordinate at the office.” He smiled to show that he was joking.

“Only borderline? I’ll have to work on that,” she said, and he saw the spark of her personality peeking through the sadness that had engulfed her for most of the day.

He knew it was a mistake to want to cheer her up. To care so much about her happiness, and about seeing her smile, but he did. He wasn’t going to be able to offer her anything else, so his protection and her happiness were it.

“I’m not above using discipline to keep you in line.”

“Like what? You going to spank me?” She shook her head and covered her mouth with her hands. “I can’t believe I said that.”

Immediately he had a vivid image of her sweet, bare ass as she lay over his lap. He hardened, then shifted to relieve some of the pressure at his inseam.

She flushed, and he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to keep his hands off her. He wanted her again. If he’d been able to distance himself in Mykonos, take her to the airport and put her on a commercial flight, it would have been different but now…he was going to have her again.

He needed to get her out of his system.

Seven

As her words echoed between them, Tristan leaned forward, took her face in both of his hands and kissed her. She closed her eyes and surrendered to the feelings he drew from her effortlessly. She’d been craving this for so long. It felt as if a lifetime had passed, instead of just hours, since he’d touched her like this.

She opened her mouth for his tongue, which teased hers. He ran it along the roof of her mouth and then drew back, catching her lower lip between his teeth and suckling her.

She shifted closer to him on the seat, needing more of him. Shivers of desire coursed through her body. She put her hands on his face, touched his jaw and then slid her fingers into his hair.

It was thick and silky. She tilted her head to the side and he drew her even closer to him as his mouth continued to explore hers.

He drew back from her and she opened her eyes, staring up at him. “I can’t get enough of you,” he said.

“Is that a bad thing?” she asked. Her lips were tingling from the contact with his.

“Of course not. I am French. We live for physical love.”

“And romantic love?” she asked, because she knew deep inside that she was falling in love with him. The seeds had been planted long before she’d known him as anything other than an attractive man who was her boss.